Exodus: The Posture of Your Fear

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Let me ask if you would just have a seat.

Uh in our last service, Lindsay shared a little bit of what she shared with you earlier before that last song.

She talked about her past and the lies that she believed.

And uh just since the Holy Spirit in the last service say, hey, ask her to share a little bit of her story.

Because you hear a word like my past, and that's that's so such a pregnant word.

You're like, I don't know what that means.

And so uh she shared the last service, uh, and she didn't the first because we didn't, I didn't sense the Lord pumped in me.

And so I asked her if she would share again.

So I don't want you to look at Lynn.

This is Lindsay Freilich, by the way.

Some of you are like, hey, who's that girl that sings?

She has a name.

Uh uh, her and her husband Brandon, but there's a story behind her face, and so I just said, Hey, would you kind of just share a little bit of your story?

And then I want you to sing a prayer for our church.

And so Lindsay's gonna come.

And by the way, this will be part of the sermon today.

I I want her to share.

I'll cut my time because I want to give her a little bit of time.

You okay with that?

Don't be so excited.

Uh Lindsay, would you share?

Yes.

Good morning, everyone.

So I grew up in a Baptist church, but I never really understood relationship or intimacy with God.

God was kind of just always up there, God.

And um I believed the Bible, but I didn't understand how it could apply to my everyday life.

And so um as a as I was a kid, I really had some things pushed and shoved on me that that really no kid should really have to go through.

And um, I had my heart broken time and time again.

And as I entered into my first year in college, I was a very, very lost and broken soul.

And about a month or two into college, um, there was there was just a night that God totally saved me.

And it was a hundred percent, there wasn't anyone telling me um you should go to church, you should do this or that.

It was just it was a crazy night, and I accepted the Lord into my heart that night, and I remember taking the Bible from my closet, and literally it was a Bible that my church had given me for my senior year in high school at our baccalaureate service that I had not even opened the box, and so I pretty much picked up the box and blew the dust off of it.

And I took the Bible out and I said, Okay, God, if you're real, just speak to me.

And he did.

He he spoke very clearly through his word, and I wasn't very familiar with a lot of scripture.

And so the first verse that he took took me to, 1 Corinthians 10, 13, it was, do not let the temptations of this world overcome you.

My spirit in you is greater.

And so I just thought, wow, that that that's definitely God.

And so the next morning I went to the Baptist church because that's all I knew, and I I went down to the front and I received Christ and into my heart, and I truly started living 100% for him.

And through all of that, about a year later or less, God called me into the ministry, into full-time ministry.

So I went to a program called Master's Commission, which was similar to a Bible school, um, where we studied the word and then we applied it.

And so every afternoon was outreach ministry, and I was for the first time getting involved in worship ministry, which I felt very very drawn and called to by the Lord.

And just beginning to you know to walk in in the steps that God had prepared for me, and realizing for the first time in my life that that He truly had a plan and that I was called and I was chosen, like I believe each and every one of you in this room is.

And so um I met a guy who was 20 years old, and a year later, when I was 21, we got married, and we we automatically went into full full-time ministry.

He was a pastor's kid and a missionary kid.

And um we began a week after we got back from our honeymoon raising money so we could go do the work of the Lord, and we were so excited.

And one thing I shared before is that our priorities were really screwed up, and so my priority was first off my marriage, because I wanted this wonderful, beautiful marriage, and then our ministry, because we were boy, were we excited what God was doing and calling us to, but then God kind of got lost in that.

So instead of him being my number one, I would say he was probably third or fourth, somewhere down there on my list.

And then for my husband at the time, it was a ministry because his entire life, you know, he had spent on the mission field since he was in fifth grade, and knowing that that's what he wanted to do and that's what he was called to, and then his his relationship with God, and then our marriage was kind of somewhere down on the on the list.

So as you could see, our priorities didn't even line up together, nor did they line up with the word of God.

And slowly by slowly, little by little, our marriage began to fall apart.

And so we went to Venezuela, we went to Caracas, and we we we were youth pastors, and I led worship in a s in Spanish, which was a language that I was just starting to learn.

And um the ministry side of things was beautiful, and we were seeing people come to Christ.

We were doing street ministry, you know, on a pretty much a daily basis, and people were getting saved, and we were seeing miracles, signs, and wonders, healings over there.

It was incredible, and we kind of just rode this constant high of being on ministry, and when we would we would come home and shut the door, um things were not good behind closed doors.

I could watch my ex-husband pray and lay hands on people, but when he would get home, he didn't want to pray with me, and he didn't want to have a devotional life with me, and I believe that pride just really took over.

And so for the next two years of our marriage on the mission field, um, it it was falling apart, and we knew it, and God knew it, but no one else knew it.

And when we got home, I I walked out and I left him because I could not live in a life where I felt so trapped and so bound, and um I walked away from the Lord and I thought I'll never get married again.

And for years I believed that lie, and I would have I would I would have told you that I've been there, done that, got the t-shirt, I don't need marriage, it's not for me.

I will be single the rest of my life and be totally fine with that.

And um I lived that way for a long time, and I lived with a lot of anger really at myself and a lot of guilt for not thinking that I well, I did think that maybe there was more that I could do that I could have done.

And I just I am so happy for redemption through Christ and through people that spoke into me, even when I had turned my back on God.

And I realized through all of that, like years later, that God was the one that I turned my back on, but he was the one that wanted to heal me the entire time.

And here I heal my bitterness and my anger and just the fakeness that I saw in the church and people in ministry.

I was very, very hurt and felt very betrayed by that.

And I really didn't want to be a part of a church anymore.

And it wasn't because I didn't still believe in God, it was because people are just mean.

But you know what?

We are human, and if we're Christians or not, we're gonna fall.

And I'm so happy that now these days I'm able to keep my hope and my faith and trust in God and not on man.

And now the Lord brought an amazing man into my life.

A lot of you know my husband Brandon.

And we pray together.

He he was a baby Christian, really, when we first started dating.

Um, but this was the second church church that we visited and found, and we have just been, it's been so amazing to be able to grow at a pace together.

And although there are times we we pray together because we know we should, and and we really desire to have a prayer life together, there are times when he doesn't know you know the words to say, and sometimes I don't know what to pray.

Um, and that's okay because God knows our hearts.

But I challenge you again, I say all that to say I took my eyes off of God, and people are gonna mess up around us, maybe even people in the church, probably people in the church.

But truthfully, we just need to be here for each other and lift each other up.

And if you see your friend fall, just instead of just being negative about it, just what can I pray with you about?

What are you dealing with?

What sin are you dealing with right now that I can pray for instead of shunning people?

Um, because that's what the gospel is about.

That is what Jesus died for us for.

It's for our sin and for our past, for our regret.

I had a lot of regret and I said before a lot of guilt.

And I don't walk in that anymore.

And I don't believe it's a lie anymore that I'm not good enough.

And I believe that God can use me, and that he wants to use me, and that he wanted to all along, and that I'm the one that walked away from that calling.

And so as I have been coming back and experienced redemption through the Son and through the Spirit, I would just like to challenge you to do the same.

From beginning to the end, it'll always be, it's always been you, Jesus.

Be the center of my life Jesus be the center of my life from beginning to the air it'll always be, it's always been you, Jesus.

Oh Jesus, nothing counts back Nothing in this world will do Jesus be the centre, everything revolves around you.

Jesus be the center of your church, Jesus be the center of your church, from beginning to the air, it'll always be, it's always been you, Jesus.

From beginning to the end, it's always been, it's always been you, Jesus.

Jesus be the center of it all.

Let's pray, Lord.

Thank you that you're a God who redeems, that uh every one of us in this room has a past.

Thank you that we're not a prisoner to that, that doesn't have power over us, and that doesn't determine our destiny, that doesn't determine our future.

Thank you that uh Lindsay's not just a a beautiful, gifted, talented woman.

She's a she's she's a competent as a minister of the gospel.

She has a story to tell that people connect with.

And thank you that you're using her to preach some of the sermon today.

It's a Holy Spirit.

Thank you that you're in the business of using people uh who knew better and did it anyway.

And they get to taste redemption and forgiveness.

May all of us in this room taste redemption and forgiveness today.

That means we stop thinking wrongly about you and maybe think rightly about you.

So for anybody in this room today, God, that thinks wrongly about you, put a little right on them.

Don't let it be heavy, let it be juicy and intoxicating and attractional.

We pray all that in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open it up to Exodus chapter 20, and I want to preach about an 11-minute sermon.

Exodus 20 · chapter mention

You up for that today, Alan?

Amen.

Alan's excited about that.

Amen.

I don't think you can do it.

Uh I want to talk to you this morning about the posture of your fear.

Now, the posture of your fear, if you're with us visiting for the first time, uh, we've been going to the book of Exodus.

Exodus is the second book in the Old Testament.

If you don't have a Bible, I'm on page 61.

There's a black pew Bible in your row.

If you don't have a Bible and you'd like to have one, take that one home with you.

This church is so generous that we'll gladly get some more.

Amen?

Uh, and and and so what's happened up to this point is that God's been given the Ten Commandments, you know, the big ten, kind of like the law laying it down, thou shalt not murder, thou shalt not kill, don't steal, don't commit adultery, don't covet your neighbor's stuff, don't have any gods before me, don't make idols, this, that, and the other.

Uh, and I just want to preach one point of the sermon.

Uh uh and but I want to read uh from from Exodus chapter 20, verses 18 to 21.

Exodus 20:18–21

Now, here's what takes place.

Right after God gives the tenth commandment, he says this, it says, Now, when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, and the people were afraid and trembled, they stood far off.

And they said to Moses, You speak to us and we'll listen, but do not let God speak to us lest we die.

Moses said to the people, Do not fear, for God has come to test you that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.

The people stood far off while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

Now, I want to talk to you this morning about the posture of your fear because we all have fears.

I don't know if you realize this or not.

Uh, and so get ready, because in a minute, I'm gonna ask you what your fear is.

Matter of fact, I'm gonna walk down here and I'm gonna say to you, uh that in just a minute, I'm gonna ask you to stand up and kind of say, here's a fear I have these days.

I did it in the last two services.

One lady stood up and said, I have a fear of Alzheimer's.

And I'm saying, does that run in your family?

She goes, Nope, I'm just afraid I'm gonna get that.

One little boy said, I have a fear of spiders.

Now, if you're new today, I don't usually walk down here like the people in the front row, my friend Scott's like going, ooh, that's a whole lot of you right there, my man.

Get back up there on the stage, monkey boy.

Uh I just want to say, because it's easy to come to church and you got your shirt on, you got your shoes on, and look at the back of the head of the person in front of you, and just kind of wait for it to be over and then leave.

And you don't really know the people that are all around you.

And and then that, hey, because one of the things that the enemy, the devil does is he tries to convince you that you're the only person that feels the way that you feel.

Okay?

And I want to, you know, that's not the truth at all.

Like I said to my wife one time, I said, Hey, what this I thought this was an innocuous question.

I said, Hey, do you have any fears in you these days that I could be praying for?

And she goes, Yeah, I live with this low-grade fear that you're disappointed with me and you're just not telling me because you're too nice.

And I was like, What?

And I had a couple of thoughts.

One of them was, have I ever been accused of being too nice not to say something?

Let's start there.

But my second thought was, you really think that?

And she goes, All the time.

All the time.

I mean, you're just really good at a lot of stuff, and I don't think I ever mess you up, and I just think he's probably disappointed, but he's not just telling me.

He probably feels like he's stuck with me.

By the way, that's more of a statement about me than it is my wife.

Also, she went on to say this.

She goes, I have a fear that I'm screwing our kids up.

And she said, You know what I mean?

And because I'm so full of compassion, I said, No, I don't know what you mean.

Matter of fact, I think these kids, these kids should give me a Father's Day card once a month.

I'm so awesome.

And she goes, Yeah, I don't feel that way.

And then she's an incredible mom.

I mean, it is incredible, but lives with this low-grade fear that somehow I'm screwing my kids up.

And I say to her all the time, you are awesome.

You're not saying, Yeah, but they're gonna be on Oprah one day, going, well, my mom when I was 12 said, blah, blah, blah.

And in my mind, I think, what?

You really think that?

And so, by the way, I was watching 60 Minutes a couple weeks ago, Bubba Watson, the professional golfer, he's a neurotic a little freak, by the way, okay?

He has all kinds of fears.

Like they said to him, they said, Hey, we understand you got these fears.

He has a fear of tall buildings falling on him.

And I thought, as opposed to short buildings, like that'd be any better.

But yes, he consciously lives, he says, I have three big fears.

Number one is that tall buildings are gonna fall on me.

Secondly, I have a fear of heights, which is funny because if you watch him play golf on the back of his shirt right here, he has a monogram called net jets.

It's a corporate jet service.

He flies anywhere he wants in the world for free.

They endorsed him.

And so, but he's afraid of heights.

The other thing he's afraid of is crowds.

That's why if you watch him play golf, after he putts out on the green, he hands his putter to his caddy, puts his hands in his pockets and puts his head down and just walks to the walks through the the the crowd, his party behind ropes, but he just puts his head down with his hands in his pocket.

Why?

Because he's afraid of the people all around him.

Matter of fact, his caddies had his rookie season, they were at some tournament, no one knew who he was.

A 10-year-old kid came up to him and said, Hey, sir, can I have your autograph?

It so startled him, he almost had a breakdown.

He said, I panicked.

I was just like, ah.

This man is a multimillionaire.

He could never work another day in his life, and he lives with paralyzing fear.

So, having said all that, if you've got a fear you're dealing with right now, would you stand up and just say it out loud?

I was not gonna see that.

That magimum Yola, right there.

What is it, Connie?

Somebody else.

What she said was, I feel like my family thinks I'm crazy.

Yes, over here.

I have a fear of being a bad wife.

Howard.

I have a fear of heights.

Yes in the back.

I have a fear of not being good enough.

Dennis.

Speaking in front of people.

Stand up, Brady.

What?

A fear of failure.

Yes, over here, my man.

I have a fear of the future, and what's gonna happen?

How old are you, creepy?

Ten.

We have a special relationship.

Ten years old.

I have a fear of the future.

Anyone else?

Yes.

Fear of being forgotten.

Yeah, there's an anonymity to motherhood.

Why do I do that?

Because I've been asking people the question the past couple weeks here in our city as I go to Starbucks or go eat lunch or go whatever, I ask waiters and waitresses, just random people, hey, you got any fears these days?

No one says, No, I got nothing.

Everybody has something.

One guy said, My biggest fear is that Donald Trump's gonna be president.

One lady said, My fears that what I'm going through right now is never gonna end.

I said, What are you going through?

She goes, I can't talk about it.

One guy said, I think he said he was 66.

He said, 'Wh I found out his age because I said, What you got any fears these days?' He goes, 'Yeah, I'm gonna run out of money, I'm gonna outlive my money.' I retired two years ago and it's just been a downhill slide since then.

And I just, what am I gonna do?

Go back and get a job when I'm 68.

See, we live in this in in with it with these fears.

And here's the thing: that's why I want to talk to you about the posture of your fear, because you're gonna live either live in fear or you're gonna live from fear.

I want to just kind of draw your attention.

Let me just read again.

It says, now when all the people saw that the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, and the people were afraid and they trembled and they stood far off and said to Moses, You speak to us and we will listen, but do not let God speak to us lest we die.

Fear introduces three things into your relationship with God that should never be there.

Number one is distance.

The people were far, they stood far off, and they said to Moses, you go talk to God and come back and tell us what he says, but we don't want to let him come talk to us because we're gonna die.

So, but the first thing that fear introduces into your relationship with God is distance.

You were never supposed to be distant from God.

God wants you to be intimate, closely related to him.

Back in the garden, he comes to Adam and Eve and says, Where are you?

Because God came to fellowship just to walk with them and commune with them.

And so fear introduces distance.

The second thing that fear introduced into your relationship with God, it's a misunderstanding.

It's a misunderstanding.

What do you mean?

The people said, Don't let God talk to us lest we die.

Like God's gonna come down here and just consume us.

Hey, if God wanted to kill you, what stopped him already?

But see, fear does that.

You start you you you you start thinking wrongly about yourself and about God, and it's kind of like, man, I just I don't know.

I I don't know about this.

Let me give you another thing that fear does.

It introduces misappropriation into your relationship.

That's a big word you don't find in in church very often.

Misappropriation, what do you mean?

It's the people that are kind of like willing to live a secondhand life.

They're kind of like, hey, you know what?

They're misappropriating this opportunity to be close to God, to commune with God.

Now, God said, hey, you got to stay back because I want you to understand this.

But but but it's almost understandable if you get the context because there's smoke and there's lightning and there's thunder and this whole mountain is shaking.

And by the way, this has been going on the whole time the Ten Commandments have been given.

This is the context within which these people heard the Ten Commandments because they are kind of freaked out, but what they just cut the content to live what I call a secondhand life.

It's people that go to a concert and hold up a cell phone the whole time and record the concert and don't experience the concert, okay?

Let me just tell you something.

You are missing out.

So what?

Who cares if your friends get on your Facebook page and go, oh man, look at that?

I saw a picture a couple months ago of a Bruce Springsteen concert.

I don't know when the concert was, taken from the back of the auditorium, and all you could see was a sea of cell phones, people holding up.

Tape in the concert.

Let me tell you something, you young people, you don't take a cell phone to a concert.

You take a big lighter and you flick that bad boy and you hold it till you burn your thumb.

And then you go back home and your friends say, What'd you do this weekend?

You hold your thumb up and go, I went and saw the boss.

And they go, How was it?

And they go, it was awesome.

And you don't, oh, I got video and it's up on my page, and blah, blah, blah.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

Because if you're looking at your little screen, making sure you're getting the shot centered up, you're missing the concert.

You weren't there.

The children of Israel were guilty of misappropriating this opportunity because they were like, we're just gonna, Moses, you go up there and meet with God and film it and come back and put it on your Facebook page and we'll check it out and we'll give you a big thumbs up.

We'll like it.

That's not what you were created for.

By the way, when I was 16 years old, my 16th birthday, I was in the fifth row at a kiss concert.

And cell phones weren't invented.

And I just drink it all in.

And to this day, my wife is like, Well, what did you what else did you go do?

Oh, Ted Nuchick came to town.

Yeah.

Cat scratch fever.

You want me to sing every line of it for you?

No, I don't want to hear that.

Oh, it was awesome.

It was incredible.

She's like, what?

Nobody had cell phones, by the way.

Everybody had lighters.

Whoa! Now these people have their cell phones.

Look, my little flickering blue aura of appreciation.

If I had a gun, I'd shoot you all.

Give the ticket to somebody that wants to enjoy the concert.

And here's what God says.

Hey, by the way, fear introduces into our relationship these things that never should be here.

This distance, this misunderstanding, this misappropriation.

So what are you saying?

I just want to say this one point today.

There's a posture to fear.

Look at Exodus 2020.

I pray this for my kids.

I tell them, I want you to have Exodus 2020 vision.

Okay, Dad, I got it, I got it.

It's what the Bible says.

Moses said to the people, do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.

Now, wait a minute.

It's Moses bipolar.

He says, Do not fear.

God has come to test you so that the fear of him would be before you to keep you from sinning.

Wait a minute.

Do you want us not to fear, or do you want us to fear God?

Well, you have to understand there's a difference in these two kinds of fear.

Martin Luther, the great reformer, described it as this He says, there's first of all, there's what's called servile fear.

When Moses says to the people, do not fear, that's what he's talking about.

Servile fear.

It's the fear of a servant.

It's the fear of being punished.

It's the fear of, oh my gosh, I hear my master coming.

I'm gonna get beat.

I better look busy.

No.

It's the fear you have when you see a cop.

You just get off the brake automatic off the gas automatically.

Have you noticed that?

That pig paranoia, it destroys you.

That's servile fear because you, oh well, you just assume you're doing something wrong.

It's like someone says at work, hey, here comes the boss, look busy.

You never stay on your Facebook page and kind of go, What's up, big guy?

I'm killing this.

I'm taking a little break from work.

Check this out.

Have you seen this video?

I would say this Bruce Springsteen concert.

No.

No, that's servile fear.

It's the fear of being punished.

So that's what Moses is referring to when he says, by the way, do not fear.

And for our purposes today, that's a prison.

That is a prison that will eat you alive because you have this sense that you're never, ever, ever.

You don't have any peace.

You don't have any sense of understanding about identity, any certainty.

It's just always doing more and never being at peace with what you've already done.

Moses says, hey, do not fear.

Do not fear, for God has come to test you.

By the way, I don't have time to get into this this morning, but when God tests you, it's not for the purposes of failing you.

That's not God.

God tests us to so we get the experience of uh of reminding ourselves what we know, what what we believe.

God tests us to say, hey, let's remind ourselves what you're capable of here.

He says, hey, don't fear.

God has come to test you so that the fear, so that so that you may fear him, so that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.

See, there's this purifying and clarifying element to the fear of God.

This fear, servile fear, is a prison.

The second kind of fear he's talking about, Martin Luther said, is filial fear.

Filial fear.

That's a weird-sounding word, but it's the fear that's born of out of this context of relationship that says, I'm gonna miss some of the benefit and blessing of this relationship.

So I do not want to miss that.

For example, my wife and kids left on Thursday, didn't have uh school on Friday.

So they left Thursday, went up and saw our friends the Browns this weekend.

They get back later this afternoon.

Uh, you say, Who are the Browns?

People that I met when I was traveling, and I would stay at their house and hang out with them, and then I got married and had kids, and now they don't know I exist anymore.

When my kids go there, they go get pedicures and they eat lunch and they eat dinner and they hang out by the pool and they go play in the creek on the golf course, and I'm like, hello, I'm eating leftovers for the third time in a row.

See you Sunday, Dad.

They get out of school.

My youngest gets out at 4 o'clock.

She's home about 4:12, and about 4:30, they're loading up to go, and she says to me, Dad, you think we're gonna stop at Bucky's on the way?

And I'm like, I ain't going, maybe that's your mom think.

Well, Dad.

And what she's saying is what she knows, because I grew up with a stepmom that we anytime we go in a grocery store, we had to hold the side of the cart, and you couldn't put anything in the cart.

If you touched anything, she'd slap your hand.

Don't put anything in the cart.

I had deep thoughts as a seven-year-old.

One of them was this: why do we always have money for whiskey and cigarettes, but we ain't got no money for fruity pebbles?

What kind of a bad woman are you, you hag?

I'm seven.

Don't make your kids think that way about you.

And so we just roll through the grocery store.

So I now I get to be the parent.

So anytime we go to Dallas, I'm 45, we pull in the buckies, and we walk, when we get out of the minivan, I look at my girls and say, Come on, girls, it's your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom, my wife.

I hate that.

Because here's what that means: my kids go ape crazy in buckies.

I mean, they act like they're not gonna eat again.

They got like an armful of stuff.

They just load it there on the counter.

And then they go, Oh, I forgot to get some gum.

And the other one's like, Oh, I forgot to get gum too.

And my wife's like, Really?

Really?

You don't have to do this.

You think I do this because I have to?

Really?

Come on.

No, dad's great.

We love dad.

We like to travel with dad.

Mom says, you get one, you get something to drink and one snack.

And dad says, It's your father's pleasure to give you the kingdom.

I'm not kidding it.

My kids have to walk out with a bag out of buckets.

It's 30 bucks.

I can't get out of 30.

And my wife, the whole time, 30 bucks?

We could have bought a bunch of groceries for$30.

Yeah, but then you would have had to cook and you ain't got time to basket my awesomeness.

I'm gonna do something with your awesomeness.

And by the way, when we leave Dallas and start coming back home, first question I get asked from the back seat, Dad, you think, wait, who am I?

Okay, Dad, wake me up when we get to Buckeys.

Why?

They have filial fear.

They don't want to miss out on anything this relationship is going to afford them.

Do you hear that?

Don't get lost on the illustration.

Filial fear says, I don't want to miss out on anything.

It's not, oh, oh, don't beat me.

No, it's he's my dad.

He's the God that in Isaiah 30 says, if I stray to the left or to the right, I'm gonna hear a voice behind me saying, This is the way, walk in it.

Why?

Because something's coming, and you're gonna miss out if you don't walk in my ways.

That's filial fear.

It's this is the prison.

This is a perspective that produces a posture in you.

This is a this is a perspective.

That's why Moses says, so that the fear of the of the Lord will be before you.

And by the way, it'll keep you from sinning.

See, here's the thing about fear.

When we live in fear, what what we believe tends to shrink, it gets real small.

And fear is the byproduct of believing that the wrong thing is true and obligating yourself to live inside this small, insufficient thing for the rest of your life.

Let me say it again.

Fear is a byproduct of believing that the wrong thing is true.

By the way, if you read the book of Job, after all this stuff happens to his kids in chapter one, Job says, the very thing that I feared has come to pass.

We have a counselor, a Christian counselor in our church.

He came to me after the last service.

He said, By the way, I read this this week and I didn't know you were preaching on this, I sent it to you.

But fear is a reflection of our wants.

I was like, oh, oh, okay, Sigmund Freud, say that again.

And he said, What we fear is really what we want.

We just we fear we take a posture of fear towards it because we don't trust God to give it to us.

Like we we we fear being rejected because we want acceptance.

I was like, oh, okay, I got it.

I I hear what you're saying.

I just think we live in fear, and when we do that, what we believe in tends to shrink.

And pretty soon it's it's not it's not sufficient.

So I want to enlarge the place that you live in.

So I just want to finish this morning by just kind of reading some passages from the Bible over you, and we'll be done.

Here's the first one.

Before I read it, this is from Jeremiah chapter 29, verse 11.

Jeremiah 29:11

Now, by the way, let me give you the context within which God says these things.

These people are in captivity, okay?

This is the Babylonian captivity.

It's not going well for them, okay?

They've been taken hostage to a whole other country because they didn't believe God and they didn't trust God.

They kept violating God's law.

And the consequence of that is God says you're going to go into captivity.

And while in captivity, so if you're here this morning, look at me.

We're done in four minutes, all right?

Look at me.

If you're here this morning, you're like, I'm so far from being in the will of God.

What's this got to do with me?

This is what God says to people that are in experiencing punishment.

He says, I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord.

Plans for welfare, not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Hear that again.

I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord.

Plans for welfare, not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

If your kids are off the reservation, you should tell them this every once in a while.

And don't tell them like this, oh, God's got a plan for you and you're screwing it up, blah, blah, blah, smoking marijuana, listening to Rick James records.

Y'all remember who Rick James is, do you?

Y'all like, who?

I was listening to Boston the other day in my office at home, and one of my kids goes, Who's that?

You're grounded.

That is one of the greatest rock bands ever.

More than a feeling, and I just cranked it up.

She's like, Oh, dad, what's that?

That's air guitar.

I used to do that when I smoked marijuana.

I'm telling mom, how do you think I got her to bury me?

That's not funny, Dad.

Well, I know who Boston is.

Well, what's that mean?

I'm smarter than you and I have better taste in music.

End of story.

Here's the three words.

Don't, oh, he says, I know the plans I declare I have for you, declares the Lord.

Plans for welfare, future, and hope.

By the way, this is a secret, don't tell anybody.

I grew up on welfare, okay?

So when you hear the word welfare, don't think, because I think welfare, oh great, that wasn't great.

Every two weeks, a caseworker would come to our house, she'd have a cardboard box, have three things in it.

This sleeve, I'm kidding you not, it's like two feet long, square, gold can of potted meat.

That's what you'll eat in hell for the rest of your life.

Uh then they had a big silver, goldish tub of peanut butter, and then a white box with black letterings and USDA on it, and it was powdered milk.

And every time the lady left it, she would say the same thing to us.

This is just as good as regular milk.

No, it's not.

No, not at all.

Matter of fact, every once a while I'm at the grocery store and I open that little case to get milk, and right above the regular milk, they have this little half-gallon jug of Promised Land chocolate milk.

It's like$9.

I don't care.

I get it and put it in the cart and take it home.

My wife's like, really?

Really?

Do we need that?

No, I need to remind myself I ain't gotta drink powdered milk anymore.

Because we were so poor, my stepmom would thin out the powdered milk.

It's bad enough for drinking powdered milk.

We're so poor, we gotta like not make it full strength.

It's like cloudy water on your cereal.

You're talking about bitter as a kid.

I had a lot of anger issues.

So once in a while, I go to the grocery store, I'm a grown man.

I get my grown self some promised man, promised land chocolate milk, and I'll call my kids in and pour some up and go, drink up and taste and see that the Lord is good.

Have you ever had powdered milk before?

No, sir, we never have.

That's because God's great.

Don't screw it, don't live your life in such a way that you screw it up, and God's got to make you taste powdered milk to appreciate it.

Okay, Dad.

All right.

And my wife's like, well, if there's any left, I got I'll take some.

My wife grew up in the church.

She has the guilt gene.

I didn't get that gene.

I pour some for all my for my kids, and I just drink from the jug.

You want some?

No.

Hey, when I all week long spent my meditation, plans for welfare.

God didn't say, Oh, I'm gonna send you a to you you to a land of powdered milk and dehydrated honey.

It's as good as real milk.

No, no, it's not.

He also says this in the 23rd Psalm, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, makes me lie down in green pastures, leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul, he leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake.

And even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you're with me, your rod and your staff that comfort me.

My friend Tom Holton's been battling a brain tumor, had surgery, not been doing good.

Went to his house this last week and read this over him and said, I looked at his wife, Carol, other side of the hospital bed, and said, Hey, we're we're in the valley in the shadow of death, Carol.

We're close.

It's low in the valley and it's dark.

You're gonna be frustrated with this.

You're gonna be you're gonna be tempted to think, why is God letting my husband die?

Your husband's dying because we weren't created to live in this world like it is forever.

We could only live in paradise forever as redeem people with glorified bodies.

And she's like, Oh, I know.

When about yesterday put my hands on his head and opened his eyes and said, Tom, this is Neil.

Open your eyes and look at me.

This may be your last chance to see me.

He looked at me like, uh, you again.

And I quoted 2 Corinthians 5 to him and said, Hey, when we strike our earthly tent, the Bible says we move into our heavenly dwelling.

Cancer is ravaging your tent.

Time you're getting ready to pack up your tent.

You know why?

Because you're gonna move into your permanent dwelling.

That's what that's what you were created for, where your mom and dad and your sister are, okay?

Carol's gonna be fine.

Woke up this morning to a text from Carol.

Tom went home to be with the Lord at 3:40 this morning.

I was holding his hand.

We're at peace.

Only the gospel does that.

So let me just tell you: if you're single and you meet some sorry little boy, you think we want to get married, we want to go see Pastor Neil, do our premarital counseling.

First thing I'm gonna say to you is, are you prepared to hold her hand while she dies?

And guys are always like, oh, well, uh, uh, well, see, uh, what it was, well, uh, well, uh you mean, and I told one guy a couple months ago, hey, hey, so you want to sleep with a woman?

How hard is that?

Won't you grow up, ladybug?

You want to bury her parents?

You want to buy houses?

You want you want her to pick out houses that have the kitchen she wants, and you just suck it up because she's happy, and maybe you're not so happy, and that's okay.

Well, that's a big commitment here.

Yes, it is.

And if you ain't ready for that, you shouldn't get married.

Well, man, you're hating on me.

I'm not hating on you, I'm just saving you from getting a divorce.

Because I think you want you want the fruit of marriage, you don't want the responsibility of marriage.

And so when I read the text and she said, I was holding his hand when he passed.

I I was stealed in my resolve to say that to the next couple who comes to me for premarital counseling.

Hey, you want you you want to hold his hand while he dies?

I'll walk through the valley in the shadow of death.

I'll fear no evil.

You're with me, your rod and your staff that comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

I'll just skip to the last one.

This is Luke chapter 12.

Luke 12 · chapter mention

Hot out of the mouth of Jesus.

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life.

And why would Jesus say that?

Because he's looking at people that were anxious about their life.

What will you eat?

Lord about your body, what you'll put on, for life is more than food and the body more than clothing.

Consider the ravens, they neither sow nor reap.

They have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them.

Of how much more value are you than the birds?

That's a question you should take out of here today.

Of how much more value am I than the birds?

Does God really care about me?

And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life?

If then you're not able to do as a small thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?

Consider the lilies, how they grow.

They neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all of his glory was arrayed like one of these.

But if God so clothes the grass which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you?

Oh, you have little faith, and do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried, for all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your father knows that you need them.

Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

Fear not, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

If you're considering getting a tattoo today, I suggest that verse right there.

Yes, mom and dad, I just told your kids that.

And you're gonna get in a car here in a few minutes, and they're gonna go, see, Pastor Neil said it was okay.

No, I didn't, Christian.

I didn't say it was okay.

I'm saying if you're going to get one, that's a good one to get.

Why?

Because Jesus says, Fear not, O little flock.

But it's your father's good pleasure.

Do you know that God has good pleasure in his heart towards you?

If you're not careful, if you grew up in church, if you went to one of those churches that believe the Bible and they were mad about it, you think that God's some filching moralizer and he's just mad he has to give you a dime so you can buy milk at school.

But the Bible says don't be afraid.

If it is your father's good pleasure, you don't create, you don't put pleasure in God for you.

That's manipulation.

It is your God has uncaused pleasure in him with your name on it.

It is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

And here's the question I want to end with this morning.

If it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom, what else will he not give you?

That's why Jesus says, fear not.

Because if you really believe in the name and the nature of God, fear doesn't have a place in you.

Let's pray together.

Just take a moment if you're a guest.

We'd like to just teach the Bible and think about what it says.

Hey, am I living in a prison?

Or am I living or am I living from a perspective?

Am I in fear or am I living from fear?

Is the fear of the Lord before me and is it keeping me from sinning?

I'm not afraid.

I have a deep reverence and awe.

I'm in a relationship and I don't want to miss any expression of this relationship God has in his heart for me.

Let's think about these things for a minute.

You need to cover what I already see.

Cause I love you before you knew what was love, and I saw it all.

So I chose the cross, and you were the love that I was thinking of when I rose from the grave.

Now rid of the shackles, my victory's yours.

I tore the veil for you to come close.

There's no reason to stay at a distance anymore, you're not far from.

Oh I'll be your lighthouse, your lost hands.

I will illuminate everything.

Oh, just throw off your fear, come running me.

I saw it all.

So I chose the cross.

Yeah, you were the one that I was thinking of when I rose from the grave now.

Rid of the shackles, my victory's yours.

I saw the there for you to come close.

There's no reason to stay at a distance anymore.

You're not far from all yeah.

Lord, because all that's true, we don't trust information or intensity.

We don't we're not want to walk out here today and say, I want to be the most spiritually intense person anybody knows.

We want to be intimate with you.

We want to live in close proximity to you.

We don't want to have a favorite podcast preacher that tells us Jesus facts.

We we want to press into that that that that dark cloud that surrounds you, that cloud of unknowing.

We want to walk in what we were made for.

And so, Lord, our confession is that you're the lighthouse and that when we're lost at sea, unless you shine some light on some situations in our life, we're gonna put this thing on the rocks, God.

Then we're gonna try to spend the rest of our life treading water, convincing people we can swim.

And just somehow in us, we we we we we we intuit, we know that we were made for more.

And so, Lord, just kind of shine some revelation on some areas before we we screw this thing up.

That's our prayer, God.

We pray in Jesus' name, and everyone said, Amen.

Stand to your feet and we speak a blessing over you.

Hold your hands out.

Do not fear, little flock.

It is your father's deep and abiding pleasure to give you the kingdom.

In the name of the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.