WEBVTT 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:05.839 Hey, this is Andrew Demazio, lead pastor of Rose Church here in Portland, Oregon. 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:06.879 Welcome to our podcast. 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:13.679 Our mission here at Rose is building big people, becoming like Jesus in community while growing in our faith. 00:00:13.839 --> 00:00:20.559 Whoever you are, wherever you are, I pray today's message challenges you and encourages you on your walk with Jesus. 00:00:20.719 --> 00:00:22.079 Thank you so much for listening. 00:00:22.239 --> 00:00:24.320 Enjoy today's podcast. 00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:28.160 You know, when I was growing up, I played basketball. 00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:30.000 You can probably tell. 00:00:30.559 --> 00:00:34.479 Um that wasn't fun, that wasn't meant to be a joke. 00:00:34.560 --> 00:00:36.000 That's weird that you laughed. 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:45.280 Um my my son, uh, who became a better basketball player than me, both of my sons are better basketball players than me. 00:00:45.439 --> 00:00:47.920 My wife is a better basketball player than me. 00:00:48.159 --> 00:00:58.079 My daughter, my grandchildren are better basketball players than me, but uh my son was coming to me one winter and he kept complaining that his basketball kept losing air. 00:00:58.560 --> 00:01:05.200 And I realized that uh it was because he kept leaving the basketball in the garage. 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:10.000 And the garage isn't insulated, so overnight it gets really cold. 00:01:10.159 --> 00:01:19.760 And when you have a basketball that's got air in it, what happens when it gets cold is the air kind of compresses inside of the basketball. 00:01:19.840 --> 00:01:30.400 It doesn't necessarily lose air, it's just the air inside of the basketball isn't expanding, it's compressing because of the environment. 00:01:31.200 --> 00:01:32.319 But I found something out. 00:01:32.480 --> 00:01:40.560 Have you ever tried to pump up a basketball and you were looking for like a pump and a needle? 00:01:40.879 --> 00:01:41.920 It's the weirdest thing. 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:48.159 You can you can either find the pump or the needle, but you can never find both at the same time. 00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:54.640 So I'll never forget one of my friends told me, he said, bro, you can throw a basketball in the dryer. 00:01:56.000 --> 00:01:56.799 You're like, what? 00:01:56.879 --> 00:01:58.719 Somebody's gonna chat this right now. 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:09.599 You can throw the basketball in the dryer and turn the dryer on, and it'll break your mom's dryer, but you'll get a little bit of air into your basketball. 00:02:09.680 --> 00:02:11.599 And I I thought, how is this possible? 00:02:11.759 --> 00:02:16.879 Because the air cannot get into that little space where the needle goes in and blows the air into the basketball. 00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:20.560 So I pull the basketball out and it's actually bouncing a little bit better. 00:02:20.719 --> 00:02:21.280 Why is that? 00:02:21.520 --> 00:02:30.319 Because the heat from the dryer caused the air that was already in the ball to expand. 00:02:30.719 --> 00:02:36.319 That's why it's important that you put yourself in the right environments. 00:02:37.520 --> 00:02:45.520 Because you are filled with presence, you are filled with spirit, you are filled with air. 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:53.759 And if you stay in the cold too long, it will compress and you will think you need more air. 00:02:54.080 --> 00:02:56.159 You just need a little bit of heat. 00:02:56.479 --> 00:02:57.439 I just want to one. 00:02:57.680 --> 00:03:04.960 I'm just wondering today, is there anybody in the room thankful for the heat that God provides in his presence? 00:03:06.560 --> 00:03:12.800 Some of you came in depressed today, a little low, but now because of worship, you're feeling a little bit different. 00:03:12.960 --> 00:03:16.960 It's not that you got more air, sometimes it's just that you got in the right environment. 00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:21.520 And the air that was already in you began to expand in the presence of God. 00:03:21.599 --> 00:03:26.400 And I'm believing that before you leave today, that's gonna be the case for every single person in this room. 00:03:26.560 --> 00:03:34.479 Can you, by faith, say, I'm leaving different than how I came in in Jesus' name. 00:03:34.719 --> 00:03:35.599 Come on, one more time. 00:03:35.680 --> 00:03:38.479 Can we give God a praise in the room? 00:03:43.039 --> 00:03:47.599 I say one more time, like that's the last time I'm gonna ask you, but it's not. 00:03:47.840 --> 00:03:50.479 We're gonna go to 1 Kings chapter 17. 00:03:50.639 --> 00:03:52.479 I'm so grateful for your pastors. 00:03:52.560 --> 00:03:54.800 I'm so grateful for this church family. 00:03:54.960 --> 00:03:56.800 Are you thankful for your pastors? 00:03:57.120 --> 00:04:00.479 Come on, can we make some noise for Pastors Andrew and Julia? 00:04:01.120 --> 00:04:02.080 I love them. 00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:03.919 I love them a lot. 00:04:04.479 --> 00:04:11.360 And um, your pastor is away preaching this weekend because other people like to hear him too. 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:13.520 That's good news. 00:04:14.159 --> 00:04:17.199 Maybe if nobody else wants to hear your pastor, you got a problem. 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:20.000 But that's that's a whole different thing. 00:04:20.079 --> 00:04:30.720 But God is using him and his wife Julia to transform not just this city, but places all over the country and the world, and we're grateful for that. 00:04:31.199 --> 00:04:47.920 And so you should be very honored that you get the opportunity to release your pastor to bless somebody else, especially a city like Los Angeles, where God is doing some incredible things despite what they say about it on the news. 00:04:48.160 --> 00:04:50.160 I found this out about Portland. 00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:55.680 The news tried to tell me y'all were wild out here, just wilding in the streets every day. 00:04:55.759 --> 00:04:59.759 And I'm sure there are some spots where you don't want to drop me off. 00:05:00.959 --> 00:05:05.600 But that is not the whole story of what God is doing in your city. 00:05:05.839 --> 00:05:07.439 Can somebody say amen? 00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:15.360 Alright, so I want to preach a message to you today called the end of survival mode. 00:05:15.839 --> 00:05:17.519 1 Kings chapter 17. 00:05:17.600 --> 00:05:20.399 I'm gonna start in verse 1. 00:05:24.560 --> 00:05:31.680 Elijah, prophet from God, the Bible says, announces a famine. 00:05:32.560 --> 00:05:40.560 He says, There will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years, except at my word. 00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:44.079 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah. 00:05:44.720 --> 00:05:46.560 God told him, Leave here. 00:05:47.360 --> 00:05:50.800 Turn, hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. 00:05:51.279 --> 00:05:56.800 You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there. 00:05:56.959 --> 00:05:58.000 It's interesting, isn't it? 00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:03.600 Sometimes we think that the word God gives us for somebody else is only going to have an impact on them. 00:06:04.639 --> 00:06:11.600 It's amazing that this prophetic word didn't just impact Elijah's enemies, it impacted him as well. 00:06:12.399 --> 00:06:22.959 What that means is you serve a God who is not always going to protect you from droughts, but he will keep you in the middle of a drought. 00:06:23.279 --> 00:06:24.720 Are you thankful for that? 00:06:24.879 --> 00:06:30.000 And there's a profound difference, and then watch what God does to him. 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:35.040 He takes him from this Karah ravine where there's water and ravens. 00:06:35.600 --> 00:06:40.639 And the Bible says that he went to this widow. 00:06:40.800 --> 00:06:41.040 Why? 00:06:41.199 --> 00:06:47.519 Because verse 7 says, Sometimes late, sometime later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. 00:06:47.920 --> 00:06:52.240 Then the word of the Lord came to him, go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. 00:06:52.319 --> 00:06:56.079 I've directed a widow to supply you with food. 00:06:57.120 --> 00:06:59.040 It's another wild thing, isn't it? 00:06:59.199 --> 00:07:10.399 That God sends him a man in need, not to a place where there is plenty, not to a person who has wealth and riches, but to someone else in need. 00:07:11.519 --> 00:07:17.920 Could it be that you're missing God's provision because you think God's provision is only in places where provision already exists? 00:07:20.079 --> 00:07:29.040 Sometimes God is trying to send you a person in need to a person in need because your collective faith, you've got a word, but they've got the supplies. 00:07:35.600 --> 00:07:46.480 And if Elijah had judged God's promises by the widow's circumstances, he would have probably concluded that he had not heard from God. 00:07:47.279 --> 00:07:51.199 And how many times has God directed you to do something? 00:07:51.279 --> 00:07:55.600 And because of the circumstances, you looked at it and thought, that can't be God. 00:07:55.920 --> 00:08:07.360 God would only send me to the palace, God would only send me to barns overflowing, God would only send me to rivers flowing, but sometimes God sends you to widows with nothing. 00:08:08.959 --> 00:08:13.759 And watch this, he needed her just as much as she needed him. 00:08:16.720 --> 00:08:17.519 Keep reading. 00:08:21.839 --> 00:08:22.399 Verse 10. 00:08:22.480 --> 00:08:24.800 So he went to Zarephath when he came to the town gate. 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:26.639 A widow was there gathering sticks. 00:08:26.959 --> 00:08:32.639 He called her and asked, Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink? 00:08:32.879 --> 00:08:39.120 As she was going to get it, he called and bring me, please, a piece of bread. 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:50.159 As surely as the Lord your God lives, she replied, I don't have any bread, only a handful of flour in a jar, and a little olive oil in a jug. 00:08:50.240 --> 00:08:59.600 I'm gathering a few sticks to take home and make myself a meal for myself and my son that we may eat and die. 00:09:00.960 --> 00:09:23.759 Elijah said to her, Don't be afraid, go home and do as you have said, but first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son, for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says the jar of flour will not be used up, and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land. 00:09:23.919 --> 00:09:25.279 Father, we thank you for your word. 00:09:25.600 --> 00:09:31.759 We're asking over these moments that we have together that you would speak to us, we need to hear from heaven today. 00:09:32.240 --> 00:09:36.399 In Jesus' name we pray, and everybody said, Amen. 00:09:37.600 --> 00:10:10.320 I think one of the most dominant emotions that I hear in the voice of so many of my friends, so many of the people that I pastor, whether it's a coffee or a dinner, a conversation before church or after church, conversation in a small group or just hanging out at a basketball game or a baseball field, one of the most common emotions that people are carrying, I think it's it's I like to describe it as kind of a low-grade fear. 00:10:10.960 --> 00:10:12.320 Not full on panic. 00:10:12.399 --> 00:10:34.080 And now somebody in the room might be in full on panic mode, and I've been in full on panic mode, but I I feel this sense of just this constant internal pressure, whether it's from what they're watching, they're reading, or experiencing this constant internal pressure that has them asking all of these different kinds of what-ifs? 00:10:34.240 --> 00:10:36.080 What if things get worse? 00:10:36.960 --> 00:10:38.480 What if I fail? 00:10:38.639 --> 00:10:40.399 What if I can't keep up? 00:10:40.639 --> 00:10:43.200 What if the future collapses? 00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:45.440 What if I never recover from this? 00:10:45.600 --> 00:10:47.200 What if there's not enough? 00:10:47.360 --> 00:10:49.360 What if interest rates never come down? 00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:52.879 What if food prices never resolve themselves? 00:10:53.039 --> 00:11:05.200 And people are exhausted in this culture because this modern life is constantly training our brains to anticipate more disaster. 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:12.240 And when fear goes unchecked for long enough, it changes the way you experience your reality. 00:11:12.879 --> 00:11:18.240 That's why the peace of God is such an important thing in your life. 00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:22.639 Peace is so powerful because it is not the denial of your problems. 00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:36.320 Peace is what happens when you stop interpreting life through the assumption that God is against you, people are against you, the economy is against you, your friends are against you, your boss is against you. 00:11:36.480 --> 00:11:41.440 When you start to understand that if God be for me, then who can be against me? 00:11:41.679 --> 00:11:45.039 Then it changes every part of your life. 00:11:45.200 --> 00:11:51.120 And what I came today to preach to you is I'm trying to get you to change your relationship to fear. 00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:57.120 It's not that there isn't going to be fearful situations, it's not that there aren't gonna be things that aren't scary. 00:11:57.200 --> 00:12:00.240 I'm 47 years old and I'm still scared of dark basements. 00:12:02.559 --> 00:12:06.720 You put me in a dark basement and I start hearing things, seeing things. 00:12:06.879 --> 00:12:15.919 If I'm at the if I'm at the bottom of the steps and somebody at the top of the steps turns the lights out before I get to the top of the steps, I'm gonna hurt that person. 00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:24.879 You ever walk up the steps of a dark basement and you're like, uh, not running, but really worried somebody's gonna grab your feet? 00:12:25.200 --> 00:12:34.240 Especially those steps that nothing is covering that side, you're like 47. 00:12:34.639 --> 00:12:37.440 Still have some fears, still have some doubts. 00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:48.000 But I came to tell somebody that whatever the greatest place of your fear is, God wants to bring you peace into that space. 00:12:48.240 --> 00:12:53.759 A peace that passes all understanding that guards your heart and mind. 00:12:55.360 --> 00:13:01.279 So peace is what happens when you stop interpreting life through the assumption that everything is against you. 00:13:02.159 --> 00:13:07.600 A fearful mind experiences every difficulty as confirmation of abandonment. 00:13:08.639 --> 00:13:11.440 Every setback becomes, see, I knew it. 00:13:12.639 --> 00:13:16.399 Nothing works, it's all falling apart. 00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:21.679 And here's the thing about fear so much of our fears are associated with our real pains. 00:13:22.399 --> 00:13:29.840 The dangerous thing about pain is pain wants to not only predict your future, pain wants to rewrite your past. 00:13:31.279 --> 00:13:41.440 It wants to edit your past, it wants to make your past worse than it was, so that this thing that is currently happening to you has been the thing that has always been happening to you. 00:13:41.679 --> 00:13:50.960 So when you're experiencing something difficult, your pain goes back and it searches for evidence to confirm that what you're feeling right now is what you've always been feeling. 00:13:51.120 --> 00:13:57.120 And so you will assume in this moment that they've always been against me, they never loved me, they were never faithful. 00:13:57.360 --> 00:14:01.840 God never answers prayer from one painful moment. 00:14:03.519 --> 00:14:10.799 It doesn't want to just tell your future, it wants to rewrite your past so that it can destroy you in your present. 00:14:10.879 --> 00:14:15.759 Because fear doesn't just affect emotions, it affects vision. 00:14:15.919 --> 00:14:20.639 This is why the scripture repeatedly says, do not fear. 00:14:21.360 --> 00:14:27.360 And this whole story with Elijah and this widow, it turns in this moment. 00:14:27.759 --> 00:14:34.639 Not when the flour and the oil never run out, not when the rain comes. 00:14:35.600 --> 00:14:40.720 Everything changes when she changes her relationship to what she's most afraid of. 00:14:43.360 --> 00:15:00.080 So this sentence that she gives the prophet when he asks for some water and a piece of bread, she says in 1 Kings 17 and 12, she says, I'm gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die. 00:15:01.679 --> 00:15:05.759 That sentence is way bigger than just the experience of starvation. 00:15:06.720 --> 00:15:12.399 She has emotionally accepted scarcity as a permanent. 00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:22.639 Emotionally preparing for disappointment before it even arrives. 00:15:24.399 --> 00:15:26.960 Bracing ourselves constantly. 00:15:27.759 --> 00:15:35.039 You ever had somebody go in to punch you or grab you or tickle you, and you're like, you tense up before they even touch you? 00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:39.600 That's how I see most of the people that are living on planet Earth today. 00:15:39.919 --> 00:15:51.919 Just constantly bracing for some sort of impact, some sort of rejection, some sort of failure before it ever arrives, assuming that it's gonna hurt before it even hits you. 00:15:52.799 --> 00:15:56.480 My wife likes to grab my arms, and there's not a whole lot there. 00:15:56.639 --> 00:15:59.279 So when she does, I flex really hard. 00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:01.039 I'll never forget. 00:16:01.120 --> 00:16:13.279 I was at the beach one time, and and my uh brother-in-law, who should not look the way he does, he never eats, he he he has lots of ab muscles and all of those things. 00:16:13.360 --> 00:16:17.360 And I'm just looking at him at the beach like this is not real, this is not fair. 00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:23.120 And so, like all day I'm flexing, just flexing all day at the beach. 00:16:23.279 --> 00:16:24.879 Wake up at 3 a.m. 00:16:25.279 --> 00:16:29.200 My stomach starts cramping to the point that I fall out of bed. 00:16:30.320 --> 00:16:34.159 Because I'd been I'd been flexing all day. 00:16:36.720 --> 00:16:48.000 And so much of what you're experiencing, the exhaustion that you feel, some of the anxiety that you feel, some of the pain that you're going through, is not really the result of something that is actually happening to you. 00:16:48.159 --> 00:16:52.799 It's the result of stuff you think is going to happen to you and the bracing that you're doing. 00:16:54.320 --> 00:16:56.559 Trying to keep yourself from feeling. 00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:00.879 This is the turning point of the story. 00:17:01.600 --> 00:17:06.720 When she changes her relationship into fear, not the flower, not the oil. 00:17:09.279 --> 00:17:15.200 Fear had become the lens with which she interpreted her future. 00:17:16.319 --> 00:17:18.799 Fear likes to magnify limitation. 00:17:20.880 --> 00:17:23.519 It becomes obsessed with what's running out. 00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:27.200 And religion doesn't very often help this. 00:17:27.279 --> 00:17:28.720 Sometimes preachers don't help this. 00:17:28.880 --> 00:17:33.119 We get caught up in the same kind of hysteria that the world gets caught up in. 00:17:33.279 --> 00:17:37.200 We're always focusing on what's running out of, what we're running out of. 00:17:37.440 --> 00:17:41.599 Time, money, energy, volunteers, resources. 00:17:41.759 --> 00:17:42.960 We're always running out. 00:17:43.279 --> 00:17:52.160 Have you noticed that fear likes to focus on the limitation and not just focus on it, but magnify it as the biggest problem? 00:17:52.319 --> 00:17:54.559 And so we become obsessed with what's running out. 00:17:54.640 --> 00:18:04.000 There's not enough time, there's not enough money, there's not enough strength, there's not enough energy, there's not enough opportunity, there's not enough hope, and fear narrows your life down to just surviving. 00:18:04.079 --> 00:18:08.640 And survival mode is dangerous because eventually you stop living creatively. 00:18:09.599 --> 00:18:17.680 You stop thinking of solutions to problems, and you just start managing the decline of your life. 00:18:17.920 --> 00:18:24.559 You start you stop living generously, you stop living spiritually, you stop living lovingly, you stop living hopefully. 00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:28.319 That's why scripture treats fear as more than just an emotion. 00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:31.599 It's a way you perceive your life. 00:18:31.759 --> 00:18:40.319 When Adam sinned in the garden, in his interactions with God, right off the bat, we see what fear does. 00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:44.640 The Bible says in Genesis 3, chapter 10, watch this, it says, I was afraid. 00:18:44.880 --> 00:18:46.640 So I hid myself. 00:18:46.880 --> 00:18:51.519 It immediately changes how he thinks God sees him. 00:18:51.759 --> 00:18:59.680 Even though when God shows up and he begins to talk to Adam, he's asking Adam where he is, and Adam says, I was afraid, I I hid from you. 00:18:59.839 --> 00:19:00.880 And watch what God says. 00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:04.480 He doesn't say you should have been, he says, Who told you? 00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:13.839 Fear becomes the narrator, the storyteller of your life instead of God. 00:19:14.160 --> 00:19:16.079 Fear made Adam retreat. 00:19:16.319 --> 00:19:17.680 Fear shrinks people. 00:19:17.839 --> 00:19:27.759 Numbers 13 and 33 says Israel looked at themselves compared to the giants that were in Canaan, and they saw themselves as grasshoppers. 00:19:28.079 --> 00:19:38.160 Notice this that God can think about you in ways that are so wonderful and beautiful, but it doesn't make a difference until you believe it. 00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:45.359 They saw themselves, they perceived themselves. 00:19:46.720 --> 00:19:52.079 What's crazy about the story of Israel is so many times they're afraid of their enemies. 00:19:52.160 --> 00:19:53.519 And for us, it's the same way. 00:19:53.680 --> 00:19:55.519 We're afraid of our enemies. 00:19:55.759 --> 00:20:00.799 When the reality is your enemies are afraid of your God. 00:20:01.759 --> 00:20:09.519 When they actually sat down with people that in Canaan, the people in Canaan were like, no, no, no, homie, we're afraid of you. 00:20:09.680 --> 00:20:11.519 Like, we heard about what your God did. 00:20:11.599 --> 00:20:17.839 We heard about how he delivered you from Egypt, how he parted the Red Sea, how he made a way where there seemed to be no way. 00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:24.160 We have heard about the greatness and the grandeur and the amazing power of your God. 00:20:24.319 --> 00:20:26.319 Our hearts are melting in fear. 00:20:26.559 --> 00:20:30.799 Why is it that the enemy can see God correctly and not God's people? 00:20:33.359 --> 00:20:34.480 Why is that? 00:20:34.880 --> 00:20:38.160 Because we just allow these narratives to develop in our lives. 00:20:38.319 --> 00:20:48.079 And what's interesting is even though the culture has created this sort of perpetual apocalypse, the world is always ending. 00:20:48.720 --> 00:20:50.240 They learned it from the church. 00:20:51.039 --> 00:21:09.920 We took some instruction from Jesus in Matthew 24 and Mark 13 and Luke, and we turned those instructions to the first century church about signs that they were to look for, about wars and rumors of wars before the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in the first century, and now we want to superimpose them over every generation for all time. 00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:21.680 And we've trained Christians to look for what's this, to look for the will of God in famines, in earthquakes, in wars. 00:21:22.880 --> 00:21:24.880 No wonder we are so fearful. 00:21:25.279 --> 00:21:36.319 No wonder we are so exhausted because our brains, our hearts are constantly scanning the world, looking for evidence that the world is falling apart. 00:21:38.880 --> 00:21:43.279 This is a strange thing to do on a Sunday morning, but can I actually give you some good news? 00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:50.000 You can get that out, you'll figure that out on your way home. 00:21:52.640 --> 00:21:55.359 Can I just give you some statistics that you won't hear? 00:21:55.440 --> 00:21:59.759 Because the Bible says in Proverbs that if you look diligently for good, you will find it. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:02.000 But if you seek evil, you will find it. 00:22:02.160 --> 00:22:04.480 Notice you have to diligently look for good. 00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:07.759 You can passively look for evil and find it. 00:22:10.319 --> 00:22:10.960 Just some thoughts. 00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:11.680 Did you know this? 00:22:11.759 --> 00:22:12.480 I didn't know this. 00:22:12.720 --> 00:22:20.400 That global extreme poverty fell from 38% of the world's population in 1990 to about 8.5% today. 00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:25.839 But if you if you read the news, you would think poverty is worse than ever. 00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:28.240 It's there, but it's not worse than ever. 00:22:28.480 --> 00:22:29.519 Let me give you another thought. 00:22:29.680 --> 00:22:33.839 Child mortality has been cut by more than half since the year 2000. 00:22:34.079 --> 00:22:49.599 According to UNICEF and the UN, the global underage, under-five mortality rate dropped from 77 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2000 to 37 in 2023. 00:22:49.839 --> 00:22:52.319 That's a 52% decline. 00:22:52.880 --> 00:23:04.640 Millions of children who would have died from pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, birth complications are now surviving today because of sanitation, nutrition, vaccines, medical care. 00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:07.039 But nobody wants to talk about that. 00:23:07.200 --> 00:23:12.480 Did you know that global literacy is higher than at any point in human history? 00:23:13.759 --> 00:23:17.680 We have more people that know how to read today than ever before. 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:23.279 Do you know that humanity has become dramatically safer from violent death over time? 00:23:23.519 --> 00:23:28.319 While news coverage makes violence feel like it's just everyday constant and normal? 00:23:28.559 --> 00:23:39.119 The 20th century saw catastrophic wars, but long-term historical data shows that many regions now experience lower rates of violence than ever before in history. 00:23:39.279 --> 00:23:50.799 Did you know, yes, there is a war in Iran right now, but did you know that in Iran there is the fastest growing population of Christians in the entire world right now? 00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:54.640 You don't hear these stories because you gotta look for God. 00:23:56.720 --> 00:23:58.079 You gotta look for it. 00:23:58.160 --> 00:24:01.039 You gotta diligently look for it. 00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:07.599 Fear attacks soundness of mind. 00:24:07.680 --> 00:24:10.160 This is what Paul told Timothy. 00:24:10.319 --> 00:24:15.839 He said, God has not given you a spirit of fear in 2 Timothy 1.7, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:18.720 Fear attacks the soundness of your mind. 00:24:20.160 --> 00:24:24.960 It rewires your brain to constantly expect danger. 00:24:25.440 --> 00:24:29.440 It rewires your mind to re-but this is what peace does. 00:24:29.680 --> 00:24:41.920 Peace rewires the mind to remain open to hope, to goodness, to possibility, and to connection. 00:24:42.640 --> 00:24:51.920 Philippians 4 7 says, and the peace of God will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. 00:24:52.559 --> 00:24:58.960 Anybody got an extremely oversensitive smoke alarm in your house? 00:25:01.680 --> 00:25:02.960 They're really important. 00:25:03.839 --> 00:25:09.680 But I don't need it to go off when I'm making toast, like every time I make toast. 00:25:23.519 --> 00:25:33.039 I have this dog, and it's like you have known me for nine years now, but every time I walk in this house, you still bark at me. 00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:35.119 It's oversensitive. 00:25:35.359 --> 00:25:42.480 See, a healthy smoke detector protects you from danger, but an overly sensitive one goes off. 00:25:42.640 --> 00:25:50.400 Everybody burns, every time somebody burns the toast, and that's how a lot of people are living right now emotionally. 00:25:51.599 --> 00:25:57.039 Everything feels threatening, everything feels dangerous, everything feels like collapse. 00:25:57.200 --> 00:26:04.720 And when the alarm system never shuts off, I thought I could take the batteries out, didn't realize it, it was hardwired into my house. 00:26:05.519 --> 00:26:09.039 Then I cut the wires, and the fire department shows up at my house. 00:26:09.440 --> 00:26:12.319 They're like, that's not something you want to do, sir. 00:26:13.839 --> 00:26:22.720 It's that temptation that when we are experiencing something, there is a this part of us that wants it to end, to stop. 00:26:23.039 --> 00:26:23.759 It's annoying. 00:26:23.839 --> 00:26:24.640 I'll never forget. 00:26:24.720 --> 00:26:35.440 I was I was really young and I was jumping uh bicycle ramps on bicycles and um just one bicycle, not multiple bicycles, but jumping a ramp on a bicycle. 00:26:35.759 --> 00:26:42.559 And I had had my tongue out when I landed one time and I bit my tongue and it's just barely hanging on. 00:26:43.279 --> 00:26:45.119 So my dad takes me to the hospital. 00:26:45.279 --> 00:26:51.759 We get to the hospital, and the doctor there is like, I want to sew your tongue back on. 00:26:52.240 --> 00:27:02.160 Um, so we're gonna, we're gonna have to, we're gonna have to, it's gonna, it's gonna hurt for a minute because we're gonna have to put some needles in your tongue to numb you so we can operate on your tongue. 00:27:02.319 --> 00:27:06.000 And I'll never forget, I said, cut it off. 00:27:13.200 --> 00:27:16.400 Now looking back, that seems really stupid. 00:27:17.119 --> 00:27:25.279 But how many of you in the middle of something, you'd rather just cut it off than have to deal with it? 00:27:25.440 --> 00:27:35.119 How many of us have aborted destiny purpose, the things that God had for us, because in the moment of pain, in the moment of fear, we just would rather cut it off and run away. 00:27:35.279 --> 00:27:37.599 But God says there's some beauty in some stuff. 00:27:37.680 --> 00:27:41.599 Like, could you imagine listening to me today if that doctor would have listened to me? 00:27:42.559 --> 00:27:50.400 How many of you are thankful for the times God didn't listen to you when you told him to cut it off, when you told him to get rid of it, when he just kept walking you through? 00:27:51.359 --> 00:27:52.000 Amen. 00:27:54.000 --> 00:28:09.279 When that alarm system never shuts off, this internal warning system never stops, and that that fear doesn't just predict outcomes, it shapes behavior. 00:28:09.839 --> 00:28:28.720 This would probably be my greatest warning to you today is that a person who fears abandonment, for instance, can become so guarded, so suspicious, so needy or reactive that they push people away. 00:28:30.079 --> 00:28:43.200 And that person who feared abandonment is now alone, and they're not alone because people are awful, they're alone because they created the environment for what they feared to happen happening. 00:28:45.359 --> 00:28:58.559 A person who fears failure may procrastinate, overthink, avoid risk, and never start, creating the exact stagnation they were afraid of. 00:28:58.960 --> 00:29:09.039 A person who fears not having enough can become so consumed with scarcity that they stop seeing opportunity, generosity, and provision. 00:29:09.200 --> 00:29:17.599 Fear doesn't just change your perception, it changes your decisions and it creates the environment that you live in. 00:29:17.759 --> 00:29:25.839 And could it be that the things you greatly feared come true because you created the environment for them to come true in? 00:29:29.279 --> 00:29:34.240 That's why Proverbs says, as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. 00:29:49.839 --> 00:29:58.319 Not because danger never exists, not because there aren't difficult things, not because there aren't awful things happening in the world. 00:30:00.799 --> 00:30:07.599 But because living in fear distorts the way we interpret those things. 00:30:07.920 --> 00:30:10.400 Peace is not passive, by the way. 00:30:11.759 --> 00:30:15.599 It's not ignoring what is happening around you. 00:30:17.680 --> 00:30:25.680 It's just seeing it and knowing that God is for me. 00:30:32.000 --> 00:30:33.200 He's with me. 00:30:35.039 --> 00:30:36.559 It doesn't make sense right now. 00:30:36.720 --> 00:30:41.920 Life feels like I'm just gonna eat this meal and die. 00:30:42.079 --> 00:30:47.119 Okay, Sarah, Sarah, whatever will be, it will be. 00:30:47.680 --> 00:30:52.480 And so many of us have fallen into this trap. 00:30:53.119 --> 00:31:04.559 When you believe God is with you, man, you stop treating every uncertainty like it's some sort of prophecy of doom and gloom. 00:31:04.640 --> 00:31:08.559 You stop rehearsing disaster all day long. 00:31:08.720 --> 00:31:13.680 You stop creating environments where your worst fears become more likely. 00:31:13.839 --> 00:31:18.480 Job said in Job 3.25, he said, the thing I greatly feared has come upon me. 00:31:22.640 --> 00:31:28.720 We live lives that say, if I stay prepared for pain, pain can't surprise me. 00:31:29.839 --> 00:31:35.599 If I stay prepared for disappointment, disappointment won't surprise me. 00:31:35.920 --> 00:31:40.720 If I stay prepared for rejection, then rejection won't surprise me. 00:31:41.039 --> 00:31:43.599 And so you stop imagining a future. 00:31:44.880 --> 00:31:45.680 You have no vision. 00:31:45.920 --> 00:31:49.519 Proverbs 29, 18 says, where there is no vision, people perish. 00:31:58.319 --> 00:32:16.000 One of the deepest sources of fear in my own life is sometimes believing my inner critic, believing that voice on the inside of me that constantly feels like God is disappointed with me. 00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:23.359 This sense of like, did anybody experience this when you were growing up? 00:32:23.519 --> 00:32:28.480 Like, did your mom ever say to you, wait till your dad gets home? 00:32:30.559 --> 00:32:33.759 Oh man, that messed up my whole day. 00:32:34.079 --> 00:32:37.279 I had plans, I had adventures. 00:32:37.759 --> 00:32:40.480 I was gonna go outside, but nope. 00:32:41.440 --> 00:32:46.880 I'm just sitting in my bedroom, turn on some Michael Bolton. 00:32:48.559 --> 00:32:49.359 That was my guy. 00:32:49.759 --> 00:32:51.839 Some of y'all don't know who Michael Bolton is. 00:32:52.079 --> 00:32:57.599 Play some Mario Brothers and just cry until dad came home. 00:32:59.680 --> 00:33:03.839 Didn't want to hang out with my friends, didn't want anybody to come over. 00:33:04.319 --> 00:33:06.799 It affected everything about my day. 00:33:06.960 --> 00:33:16.240 And here's the thing some of you in your Christian life, you live with a perpetual wait until your dad gets home. 00:33:17.839 --> 00:33:21.200 There's this constant looming threat over your shoulders. 00:33:21.359 --> 00:33:22.240 Yes, God loves you. 00:33:22.319 --> 00:33:23.839 Yes, you're saved by grace through faith. 00:33:23.920 --> 00:33:28.000 It's not about works, but there's this constant looming threat over your shoulders. 00:33:28.160 --> 00:33:31.839 Wait till your dad gets home. 00:33:33.519 --> 00:33:37.519 That's why John says perfect love casts out all fear. 00:33:37.599 --> 00:33:42.559 He says, because the one who fears, they still have an expectation of punishment. 00:33:44.960 --> 00:33:47.359 Your fear is connected to your expectation. 00:33:48.160 --> 00:33:54.960 And if your expectation is punishment, you will live with that sense of gloom and doom. 00:33:55.119 --> 00:34:03.440 No wonder you're hiding out in your house, no wonder you're not interacting, no wonder you're becoming more isolated, quieter. 00:34:04.000 --> 00:34:14.960 Some of us think that that's, you know, we're growing deeper spiritually, but man, listen, the way God created us was not to live in isolation, away from people, to close off our hearts. 00:34:15.199 --> 00:34:18.960 Listen, you're supposed to guard your heart, you're not supposed to shut it down. 00:34:19.119 --> 00:34:23.280 Come on, you're not supposed to build borders around it, you're supposed to guard it. 00:34:28.719 --> 00:34:32.639 Many of us intellectually are like, yeah, I know I'm saved. 00:34:33.360 --> 00:34:35.280 I know God loves me. 00:34:36.960 --> 00:34:40.159 But emotionally live like we're still under evaluation. 00:34:42.079 --> 00:34:46.239 You know, from the day you're born, they start to measure you and weigh you. 00:34:47.519 --> 00:34:52.400 And life becomes just system after system where you're being measured and weighed. 00:34:52.800 --> 00:34:54.480 Measured and weighed. 00:34:55.679 --> 00:35:02.880 Jesus shows up and he invites people into relationship, not of evaluation, but of rest. 00:35:03.440 --> 00:35:04.719 Matthew 11, 28. 00:35:04.800 --> 00:35:10.320 Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you not a test, rest. 00:35:10.960 --> 00:35:14.880 Oh, you'll be tested, but the test will come from rest. 00:35:16.079 --> 00:35:21.760 God doesn't invite you into a test first, he invites you into rest first. 00:35:22.400 --> 00:35:27.920 And if you're not facing tests from rest, you'll be overwhelmed. 00:35:28.639 --> 00:35:33.360 Because in the test, you're not being measured and weighed. 00:35:34.960 --> 00:35:37.360 You're being developed. 00:35:38.079 --> 00:35:53.360 And there is a big difference between somebody saying, Oh, you're seven pounds, you're seventeen inches long as a baby, and being inside the womb of your mother being developed. 00:35:54.000 --> 00:35:55.760 That's a big difference. 00:35:57.280 --> 00:36:00.559 We confuse God's development with God's measurement. 00:36:01.840 --> 00:36:06.079 God isn't measuring you, He's not weighing you, He's developing you. 00:36:06.239 --> 00:36:26.159 Religion measures you, culture measures you, family measures you, social media, their own expectations, people that are in your life that expect you to be something and do something that God never called you to do. 00:36:31.840 --> 00:36:36.239 When you live like that, there's this tension in your life. 00:36:37.119 --> 00:36:43.039 You can never truly rest around someone that you think is constantly evaluating you. 00:36:45.599 --> 00:36:53.599 This is why marriages fail a lot of times, is because we live in a house with someone we think is constantly evaluating us. 00:36:53.760 --> 00:36:58.000 I can never rest with this person because they are constantly evaluating me. 00:36:58.159 --> 00:36:59.039 How do I know it? 00:36:59.360 --> 00:37:02.639 Because, you know, you get home and it's like, uh, you know, what'd you do today? 00:37:02.800 --> 00:37:05.280 Well, you know, I was working, well, I was washing dishes. 00:37:05.440 --> 00:37:09.920 Well, oh, I was just, I, I, I, I, you know, I paid the electric bill. 00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:20.480 Well, I was watching the kids, and it just becomes this battle of instead of just this rest of like, I do what I got to do for the family, you do what you got to do for the family. 00:37:20.719 --> 00:37:25.360 The power of our union is gonna be wonderful, it's gonna work, it's gonna help us, it's gonna provide for us. 00:37:25.440 --> 00:37:31.440 But how quickly do even marital relationships become a competition, an evaluation. 00:37:33.280 --> 00:37:44.559 This fear-based type of spirituality in relationship with God makes people hide like Adam, but this love that God actually gives creates spiritual openness. 00:37:44.880 --> 00:37:48.480 Remember when Adam sins, what does God do? 00:37:49.280 --> 00:37:55.519 God comes down like he did every day to go on a walk. 00:37:57.760 --> 00:38:02.000 Adam hid himself, but God didn't tell Adam to hide himself. 00:38:04.000 --> 00:38:04.719 Adam did it. 00:38:05.199 --> 00:38:10.000 God was going to provide a covering, but Adam tried to provide his own. 00:38:10.960 --> 00:38:22.480 And when you realize Romans 8:15 says this, you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the spirit of adoption. 00:38:22.639 --> 00:38:23.599 Do you know what that means? 00:38:23.760 --> 00:38:26.079 That means God chose you. 00:38:27.840 --> 00:38:30.000 Adoption changes the relationship. 00:38:30.400 --> 00:38:36.880 If you're a servant, you fear rejection, but adoption means that you're a son and you rest in your belongings. 00:38:37.039 --> 00:38:38.639 Psalm 103, 13 through 14. 00:38:38.719 --> 00:38:39.760 Listen to this beautiful verse. 00:38:39.920 --> 00:38:46.639 As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him, for he knows our frame. 00:38:46.880 --> 00:38:48.719 He remembers that we are dust. 00:38:48.880 --> 00:38:54.719 Listen to me, God is not offended because you have weaknesses and issues and struggles. 00:38:54.880 --> 00:38:57.440 God is offended when you act like you don't. 00:38:59.920 --> 00:39:04.800 His frustration with you will never be that you just don't have it all together. 00:39:04.960 --> 00:39:08.559 His frustration will be that you present yourself like you do. 00:39:10.320 --> 00:39:15.599 Because you never get to experience his strength if you don't admit your weaknesses. 00:39:17.199 --> 00:39:29.119 This is the relationship that God is inviting you into, not one that has to prove itself, but one that said Jesus already proved for you what you can never prove for yourself. 00:39:29.199 --> 00:39:37.280 And I choose you, adopting you into my family, and I'm forever, eternally in love with you. 00:39:38.320 --> 00:39:41.840 You're not trying out for heaven. 00:39:44.400 --> 00:39:50.639 Some people say this is a dress rehearsal, and I understand what they're saying, but I I think that leaves the wrong impression. 00:39:50.800 --> 00:39:54.719 Maybe that we're we're kind of this is like an audition for heaven. 00:39:54.800 --> 00:39:57.199 No, this is not an audition for heaven. 00:39:57.360 --> 00:40:00.639 You don't get eternal life after you biologically pass away. 00:40:00.800 --> 00:40:04.000 You get eternal life when you put your faith in Jesus Christ. 00:40:04.159 --> 00:40:05.199 This is eternal life. 00:40:05.360 --> 00:40:10.079 John said, to know him and to know his son, Jesus Christ. 00:40:11.039 --> 00:40:12.880 I have eternal life now. 00:40:13.199 --> 00:40:17.920 I'm trying to earn it so that I can hope one day when I pass away. 00:40:18.079 --> 00:40:19.039 I get it. 00:40:19.280 --> 00:40:20.559 I have it now. 00:40:26.320 --> 00:40:37.599 If our ministry has been a blessing to you at all, whether through the podcast, online, or through socials, would you consider partnering with us financially to help us continue blessing people and reaching people with the gospel of Jesus? 00:40:37.760 --> 00:40:42.559