Stepping out of Fear

Last week, if you want a title, it says, Stepping Out of Fear. Do any of you have a pen that

works on this? Okay. Stepping Out of Fear. So last week we said that some of the things

that really affect us or keep us back from working with the Holy Spirit is the fear of

man, the fear of foolishness, the fear of God failing us, the fear of failure, the fear

of losing control, and the fear of a loss of security. That's what we said last week,

that these are the things that prevent us from walking or working with the Spirit of

God. The fear of man, the fear of foolishness, the fear of God failing us, the fear of failure,

the fear of losing control, and the fear of a loss of security. And so I want to start

with the fear of God failing us because most of us go through this thing where, what if

me up? It's like the little child who wants to jump off a couch or jump into the pool

and the question in the mind of the child as the child grows up. When the child is joys

age, it doesn't matter. They leap off and then expect you to be there. But once you

get to a certain age, you begin to think, Daddy, what if you don't catch me? And so

it's the same with God where most of us or all of us, I wouldn't say most of us, all

of us, at some point or the other, begin to get scared about what if God doesn't? Because

there have been times where it's happened and now you're gun shy. That aside, petty

disappointments accumulate over time and these petty disappointments keep adding up. And

we don't realize the weight of it, but one disappointment after the other add up and

once they add up, you begin to increase in doubts and you begin to lower your faith

and your expectation. It undermines your faith, undermines your expectation, and it increases

doubt. And there's nobody here who doesn't go through this. Some of the best men in the

Bible went through this. Moses, when God is speaking directly to him at the burning bush,

he has this visible expression of something divine that's happening right in front of

him. And God is saying to Moses, listen, I need you to go to Pharaoh, but Moses has fled

Egypt. He's been a shepherd for the last 40 years. And he says, no. The same thing happens

to Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 15, 18, Jeremiah is pretty resentful and he says to God, you

are like a deceptive brook. Never know whether you're going to come through or not. That's

harsh words from one of God's favorite prophets. God's response is, if you don't separate the

nonsense or the vile from that which is wholesome, you cannot be my spokesman. But Jeremiah had

the same doubt. Gideon, Joshua chapter 6, verse 13, Gideon says, if you are calling me a myself,

Joshua 6:13

a mighty warrior, and if you're saying you're going to turn up, then tell me why are we

where we are at, where these guys come and ravages again and again and again. And so

Gideon's scared to trust God, though he's got an angel standing in front of him. So

this is not a good thing, but it's a normal thing. And so all of us are scared of God

failing us. But the fact is God does not fail, but the quality of faith and the outcome does

fail in our lives. God does not fail because he doesn't know how to, and he's God. That's

why God, it's not part of his equation, but the quality of faith and the outcomes can

fail. And so how does that play out? Sometimes you see that nothing is happening even though

you think you had something that God promised you. Nothing is happening immediately, and

nothing is happening over a long period of time. Sometimes it's worse. Exactly the opposite

begins to happen. Then it gets a little worse. It's happening for others that you think don't

deserve it, but it isn't happening to you. And finally, whatever is supposed to happen,

whatever the promise was, whatever the spoken word to you was, it just withers and dies.

And this is again common to our experience. Must face up to it that this does happen,

yeah? Because if you don't face up to it, then we don't get a starting point. Sometimes

what has been said does not happen. Sometimes you've been waiting for long, and it begins

to wither and die because there's no more strength left. Or sometimes it's happening

for others, but it isn't happening for you. Or sometimes, and this has happened to me,

where I'm so sure God said it'll happen, and on the day that he said it'll happen, exactly

opposite starts happening. That really is sucky, huh? When you're waiting in great anticipation

and goes the other way. I'm assuming that this is also your experience, that I'm not

the only one going through this? Okay. You had such stoic faces, it was like, don't know

what you're talking about. Okay. So why does it wreck you? When this happens, why does

it wreck you? It wrecks you because you and I have been taught, you hear me talking about

it, you talk to yourself about it, the Bible says that you and I expect faith to be rewarded.

And so why does it wreck us so much? Why does it make us God shy or gun shy, once bitten,

twice shy and all that stuff? Because you expect faith to be rewarded and nothing is

happening. You are so sure that you heard God or that the word was for you or a prophetic

word was uttered. There were so many things that confirmed what you heard and it's still

not happening and really begins to wreck you. The third thing you think is, you expected

it, you prayed, you trusted God, how come there's nothing to show for it? Or if he has

the power and you look at him as father, why isn't the father who has power, why isn't

he intervening? Why does it just go on and on and on? And worse, you've gone ahead and

told people and others are watching and they're beginning to question you, they're beginning

to question your God and they're beginning to question your faith. That's why it wrecks

us when these things happen. And the longer we stay there, the less likely we are to begin

to trust him the way we used to trust him. And we live with this continuous thought that

he is sovereign, he is God, he can't be relied on because he'll have some wonderful reason

that you don't know of because he won't do it. And once you get into that rut, it's very

hard. Any questions or anything you want to add to it? Okay. So when this happens, how

do you and I respond? Some of our responses will be, can't trust God with things that

are big. Got to make sure that these big decisions, got to make sure that there are things that

are big. Got to make sure that there is a backup plan. Got to make sure that, yeah,

I'll trust God, but if it doesn't come through, I've got a backup plan. Or, can't trust God

fully with it, I've got to find other ways to get what I need also in case it doesn't

work out. So the first thing is can't trust God. The second thing, and each one is sometimes

worse than the other, the second thing is you won't attempt faith. You won't risk faith.

You won't attempt faith because you don't want to be disappointed. Because really, sometimes

the hardest thing to recover from, it works. It works there. Okay, the sermon just got

longer. It's not my fault today. Okay, so one, you can't, ha, you can't trust God. You

can't. I couldn't trust her, you see. I can't. So, ha, ha, ha. So you can't trust God. That's

the first thing that happens when your faith doesn't have reward and it wrecks you. You

start not trusting God. The second thing, and this I think is worse, you won't attempt

faith. You won't attempt, hey, this makes my writing look better than it is. I got like

a thingy today. You won't attempt faith. That's sad, eh? Because strangely enough, you may

think that it's people that can disappoint you most, but for believers who are trusting,

when faith is disappointed, it really stings, eh? It hurts. And so you stop attempting faith

because you don't want to go through it again. Because we are in relationship with an invisible

one, and that itself is amazing, but when that doesn't work, what do you do? So you

won't attempt faith. You change your expectation and confession. You change your expectation

meaning you start expecting less or you dilute your expectation and you change your confession.

You don't say what you would normally say about stuff. In Genesis 15, verse 2, at some

Genesis 15:2

point Abraham, because he's a little unsure of what will happen, when God tells him you're

going to have a son, and it's been a while he hasn't had a son, and now God is saying,

again, you'll have a son. Abraham's response in Genesis 15 to it is, oh, thank you, God.

Yes, my son, my servant, Eliezer, will bear me a son. So he's already gone from him having

a son to, yeah, you're right, oh God, bless your name. Thank you for Eliezer, who will

have a son for me. He's lowered his expectation and he's diluted his confession. If you don't,

some of us choose not to attempt faith. Some of us change our expectation and lower our

confession. What else? This is a common one. Resentment builds against God. Resentment

builds against God. This is why Jeremiah says, you're a deceptive brook, you cannot

be trusted. That's basically what he's saying. My pain is perpetual, you're a deceptive brook.

So resentment builds against God, and it distorts his face, it distorts his face, and he's

not going to be trusted. He's not going to be trusted. He's not going to be trusted.

So resentment builds against God, and it distorts his face, it distorts his face, as in you

don't see him as kind or willing anymore, and your trust is hollowed out. Your trust

vanes. And these experiences, these experiences,

these experiences affect you deeply and they become a stronghold. They become a stronghold.

A stronghold is built over time, where brick by brick you now have a fortress in your mind

that prevents you from trusting him. It becomes a stronghold, and strongholds can be occupied

by spirits. You know, if you listen to what I've preached thus far, you would think I

was anti-God, that I'm trying to convince you that God cannot be trusted. But this is

reality. So you see Israel, after having worked as slaves in Egypt for long, when they brought

out into the desert, what's their response to Joshua and Caleb? Joshua and Caleb said,

they are like bread to us, but Israel says, no, can't believe that. We've been slaves

for long. Israel used to face Goliath every day for 40 days, and when David turns up,

they're not willing to go with David, because Goliath's been fighting them 40 days morning

and evening, right after the morning sacrifice and the evening sacrifice. God hasn't showed

up, and they don't have the courage. So these are the things that begin to happen to us.

Once resentment builds against God, we disguise it, because we are believers. We know God

is good, but everything around us and our mind tells us that, yes, God may be good,

but he's not good to you. Once that begins to poison the well of the heart, it becomes

very difficult. And in each of our lives, at this present moment, there are specific

situations, sometimes one or two, sometimes three or four, that have taken such deep root,

and it is almost impossible to go beyond it, because it has become a stronghold. So take

a minute to think about it. To think about some things that are so deep-rooted now, that

you're beginning to give up hope, because you don't think anything will change, because

you trusted him. And all these things are active in your life. Occasionally, you see

a glimmer, but it is like, it's like tofu. It's not real meat. Yeah?

Think of something that has done this to you.

One of the tricks the enemy tries is, can I convince Jacob that God is able, but not

willing? One of the tricks that the devil tries very well, is very effective at, is

can I convince Jacob that his God is able, but his God is not willing? And if he can

get me to any point in my life where I'm looking for something, where I know he's able, I'll

still go to him, but I'm hesitant about his willingness. Once I get there, I'm sunk. Because

if someone is not willing, it's very hard to go to that person with a free, open heart.

I don't think Christians have a problem believing God is able. Christians have a problem believing

God is willing. So how do we correct this? Yeah, go ahead.

Yeah. So you heard the question? Okay. Too bad. I'm kidding. So there are, he's a just

God. There are consequences to things we do. How do we, how do we then, in talking about

this, how do we deal with the consequences of things which may affect outcomes? So one

of the things we have to, if we want to correct this, one of the things we'll have to hold

sacrosanct that is inviolable is the very thing we were singing about, that he is a

father. The attempt is always to push him from being father to being master, to being lord,

to being savior, to being healer, to being redeemer. All are true of him. But the moment

I lose the centrality of who God is, which is that he is a father, everything falls apart.

That if I leave, everything collapses. So let's talk about consequences then. I do something

wrong in, while I'm pursuing God for something, I do something wrong. There are consequences.

How does a good father, how does Matt deal with consequences? Is it, is it a, is it a,

is there a finality to it, or based on what he's saying, is there a consistency to help

mold his child through the consequence into a place where the child begins to prosper

again? If I lose the one sight of God as a father, everything falls apart. How does a

father deal with the consequences? But as long as I can hold him as father, I know that

even if I did something terribly rotten, that I am not removed, sidelined, set aside, never

happens. One of the cool stories that I remember hearing was Ann Lotz. She's the daughter of

Billy Graham. Billy Graham was quite famous then. She marries a guy that she's not supposed

to marry. Her dad tells her not to. She still goes there and marries. He messes up. She

can't stay with him anymore. And the camera crew is there because Billy Graham's daughter

is now divorced. Her husband has done something wrong. And so they're waiting to catch her

leaving her home. And she leaves through the back door. And she knows there's only one

place to drive to. But she knows that's the last place she should drive to. Because she's

Billy Graham's daughter. People will be waiting for her there. She'll ruin her dad's reputation

and she drives. And he lives in this ranch-like place. And so she's driving up and there's

a curve that leads to her house. And as she's turning the curve, she's weeping, thinking,

my God, the shame that I brought him and his ministry when he had told me not to go into

this marriage. And as she's driving up that long curve into the house, she sees a man

walking down the curve. Who's that? Her dad. Why? Because her dad knew that she would come

home. But instead of waiting inside, waiting for the gates to open, waiting for a knock

on the door, he starts walking down the curve. And he meets her while she's driving up. I

love the story because there was something about him that made him realize that, yes,

his child has done something terrible. It'll ruin his reputation. It may ruin her reputation.

But she is still his daughter. And yes, there will be consequences for the choices she's

made. But he has to be there. Ibeli Graham, a mere mortal, sinful, mere mortal, can do

that. If I can just hold this God as a father through my ups and downs, through my darkness,

without distorting his face, that's the hardest thing to do. And the only way you can do it

is if you hold him as father. There's something instinctive about every believer sitting here

which makes it almost impossible for us, even in the darkest situations, to look at the

father's face and think that there's something wrong with him as a father. It's just impossible

for us. It doesn't compute. That's part of the reason we've been given a new spirit.

I often say this, and maybe I've said this recently to you, Christians sometimes believe

in not a triune God but four gods. There's God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy

Spirit, and then there's a God we blame for everything. When you really think of it, if

you actually begin to think of the Holy Spirit, how in the world can you blame him? He's the

one who makes everything new, everything beautiful, everything adorable, everything we've done

today that was worth anything, was made real to us because of him. When you look at Jesus,

if you actually looked at him, if you looked at his nail scarred hands, if you just looked

at his face, or if he just was chosen, how do you blame that Jesus? If you look at the

father, oh my God, he's so blooming good, it's best not to look at him because then

you can't make God a scapegoat. So what do we do? There's a triune God and then there's

God the scapegoat. And that is the God we feel resentful towards. Every time you feel

resentful towards God, go to the father. You will regret it because now you won't be able

to be resentful. But as long as it's God, you've got someone to blame. Hold him secure

through dark times because it's very hard for his face to be distorted, very hard. That's

the first one. Second, sometimes when things disappoint us, laziness sets in and people

use what has happened as an excuse not to work towards restoring things. Hebrews 6,

Hebrews 6:12

verse 12 says, hey, make sure you don't get sluggish in your pursuit of God, where you

become lethargic, where you say, and I've heard this a lot of times, and sometimes you

know what you're doing, you're not doing it right. You're not doing it right. You're not

doing it right. Sometimes you know the person is using it as an excuse. When people come

up for prayer and they say stuff like, you know, I can't trust God, he doesn't come through,

I'm not able to discern whether it's coming from deep hurt or trouble or whether it's

just sheer laziness. I'm telling you, many times it's laziness because to go back into

the discipline of finding time, seeking God out, connecting with him, it requires time.

Sometimes it's sheer laziness. Hebrews 6, verse 12. Discern that, eh, because otherwise

Hebrews 6:12

you'll spend hours listening to a sob story that you shouldn't be listening to. Sorry,

I'm not trying to be funny, but, yeah. Next thing, use the axe head principle. What's

the axe head principle? You've heard it before. Where did the axe fall? Elisha tells them

to go cut down trees to build a school for the prophets. Elisha's word was like God's

word. They go borrow an axe, they start to work, the axe head flies off, falls into the

water, their staff remains, and they go and say, alas, alas, master, this axe head was

borrowed, it's very expensive, what in the world are we going to do? And Elisha says,

show me the spot where it fell, and they point towards the spot where it fell, and he says,

throw the staff, they throw the rest of the axe, the metal axe head floats up, and he

picks it up and they continue. The point being, where was the last time you were sure you

were on track with God? Go back to that place and start again. Most women do that when

they're driving. They go back to the last place where they were lost. Most men don't.

They just go around in circles. But women go back to the last place and then they say,

oh yeah, yeah, I remember this spot, and then they call their husbands. But the point is,

that you go back to the last place where you tracked with God. You must try this. It's

worth it. There's nobody like God. There is no plan like God's plan. There is no promise

like God's promise. There are things about him that are so guaranteed that if the guarantee

is not working, go back to the guarantor and say, your company said this works, this is

not working, fix it. He then begins a process where he says, all right, May, I said this.

All right, Evan, I said this. All right, hip, I said this. And start from there again. It's

critical. So many things don't work in my life. Like every week there's something that's

not working in my life. Just so you know, we're all in the same boat. I have to go back

to that spot and say, but Father, you said this, and start afresh. And it doesn't take

25 years, and it doesn't take 40 years, even if your name is Joseph or Abraham. Yeah? It

takes much lesser time now. So go back to the last place you heard him and restart.

The other thing is, can you not beat yourself up first? You know, I've been in the business

of healing. Because then you'll need healing for that also. You don't have problems without

that. Yeah? So try not to beat yourself up when things don't happen. Oh, it must be my

sin. It must be that I watched that or I said that or I did that. One of the scriptures

in the New Testament that I'm going to take out of context to highlight what I want to

say is that he does not count your sins against you first. He does deal with your sins, but

he does not count them against you first. We are the ones that count it first. If someone

does something and they come up for prayer, my immediate thing is, ah, they're doing this,

this, and this, so that's why this won't work. That's how we think. But God does not count

our sins against us first. He will deal with it because he is holy, but he doesn't count

it against us first. And so don't beat yourself up first. Because

there's time for that. But not in the beginning, because then you're a loser. Do they still

do this? No, it's an old thing. Okay, just checking. Here's another one. These are important

steps, guys. If you're stuck, please use them. I'm stuck. I'm going to use them. I mean,

go ahead, Meg. Oh, I do have a question. Well, you do have a question? Go ahead. So what's

your question? Yeah. So we're going back to the last place that you knew you and God

were on track before you got lost, before things began to fall apart. So you're going

back to that space where there was a point where you thought you were tracking well with

God. Everything was happening as God had promised, and then suddenly everything stops. So you're

going back to the last place saying, Father, I remember things going well while I was in

this spot. So I'm asking you once again from this spot what you want me to do. Where do

you go when you lose an earring or you lose something? Where do you go to recover it first?

You go to the last spot you touched your ear. And you're sure it fell there. Or if you are

married, you say, but I gave it to you. And then the other one will say, no, no, no, you

didn't give it to me. But regardless, you go to the last spot where you think you lost

it. Does that answer your question? How about holding on to the encounter? You... Yeah.

This is not holding on to an encounter. This is holding on to the promise of God that he

gave at a certain time. It's not holding on to an encounter. It's holding on to a promise

that God gave at a certain time. So it was very normal in the Bible for people when they're

praying to God and say, oh God, you said, oh God, you said, you said you would do this.

Now do it, oh God. So it's going back to that place where a promise was given because you

knew it was true then and starting from there. And laziness, laziness is when you use what

has happened to you as an excuse to stay where you are because you don't want to take the

trouble of working towards fixing it. You know how in your washroom the shower curtain,

you pull it hard and it yanks off and it's now hanging? And do you realize how many days

it hangs there like that? Every time you think, I must put it back and you don't because it's

just hanging there. This is not my experience. I'm talking about other people's experience.

It's this thing where all you have to do is stretch and put it, but tomorrow, tomorrow,

tomorrow, laziness is one of the excuses we use to not get back with God. And we begin

to love resentment. When a Christian begins to love resenting God and saying woe is me

and self-pity, there's a problem with Christianity. And it's a trick of the enemy that we swallow

away. And please, if that's happening to you, don't go down the road of, oh, the Lord is

taking me to the wilderness. He's molding me. He's not. Repent of resentment. Repent

of resentment. Repent of resentment. Ask God to forgive you. Recall the words you spoke.

Repent, saying, Father, I said it because this is how I felt and it's still how I'm

feeling, but it's just not you. But you have to talk to the Father. Talk to the Father.

It becomes easier to talk to the Father. The other affords God. He's easy to blame.

You know, I read about this man who had a sure prophetic word from God. Like it was,

he had absolutely no doubt as to the word that was given to him from God on his life,

and it promised him favor and it promised him unparalleled purpose like very few on

the earth. And then shortly after he receives that promise, he starts being pursued by the

police. And then people begin to shoot at him with intent to harm. And so he goes into

hiding and when he approaches his friends, his friends abandon him. He thinks he has

comfort with his wife, but his wife despises him. He has children and in the midst of

all this trouble, his son rapes his daughter. Another son goes ahead and murders his sibling

and then turns against the father. And so he's now in dire straits and then he loses

two of his children, one at birth and the other in war. He's in such a bad situation

that he commits adultery and murder. Then his entire family is kidnapped by cruel terrorists

while he's facing about 400 men who are ready to stone him. And yet, yet through all those

circumstances David's heart would always be infused with God's ways. How? How when David

went through all these things I mentioned? Because I'm talking about David. How when

David went through all these things I mentioned, how did he keep his heart intact? Psalm 77

Psalms 77:6

verse 6. That's what he lived by. It was a psalm written by Asaph, but it's what David

lived by. He would begin to sing, he would begin to meditate and he would begin to search

the scriptures. Psalm 77 verse 6, if you read it from, Psalm 77 verse 6, if you read it,

Psalms 77:6 Psalms 77:6

it says, it says, it says, it says, it says, it says, it says, it says, it says, it says,

I remembered my songs in the night, my heart meditated and my spirit asked. Remember that,

eh? It's critical. I remembered my songs at night. Remembering songs that really mean

something to you in this situation. I, my heart meditated as in I began to give it thought

and my spirit began to seek diligently or my spirit began to search out answers. My

spirit began to ask questions. Habakkuk says the same thing. I have a complaint against

God. I'm going to climb up the watchtower and I'm going to ask God for an answer to

my complaint. And that is when God says, at an appointed time, this answer will come.

Write it on a billboard. It's in response to Habakkuk's complaint. This is what I mean

by getting lazy. But you know why we get lazy? The reason people get lazy today is because

of a lack of time. You get lazy because you do not have time. Some of the critical issues

of life are not dealt with because the less important issues of life crowd you. Please

hear me. We live in a very, very difficult world where the one thing that we will always

be robbed of is time for relationship with the Father. It's the main thing. It's the

main thing and it will always be robbed. The reason we are lazy is not because we are lazy

people. The reason we are lazy is because we do not have time. Kirkhud said this and

I've repeated many times and I love repeating this. Your heart cannot be formed if you

don't give things time. The heart is formed only when time is given. I must form my heart.

God must form my heart, but it requires time. So David used to deal with this like this.

I mean if there was a guy who was under pressure, it was David. I just gave you a list of things

that happened within four or five years in his life. Next one. Find the key. I mean,

I'm going back to her question. There are consequences. So why did it happen? And you've

got to go and ask the Father because the Father who has a son coming and saying, I messed

up. Can you tell me what went wrong? How do I fix this because I'm in deep trouble. So

Jacob, if you give us all these things, we don't have time anyways and you're giving

us seven other things to do, go and ask God to help you pick one. Start with any which

one. Go and say, Father, which one should I pick? Let the Spirit of God direct you.

But you still start with the idea of the Father. I go without saying that at the end of the

day, the word drives away doubt. But I'll put it in just in case you don't think. I

think the word is important. Read the word to dismiss doubt. As in, in your situation,

the Bible doesn't have scriptures for all your situations. The Bible has scriptures

for broad topics. But you will find something that will bring you courage or peace or hope

because the Spirit and the word work together. Romans 5 says the Spirit of God brings hope

to my heart or expectation to my heart or confidence to my heart and it doesn't disappoint.

That's what it says in Romans 5. These are sure words. God is not a liar. He's not a

man that he should lie. But do I have time for this? Time is not two and a half minutes.

It's our greatest enemy, guys. It is our greatest enemy, time, at present in this world. It's

our greatest enemy. It is not our greatest enemy because there is no time. It is our

greatest enemy because we know how to fill our time with things that are not as important.

Right now, if I took a toll, took a poll, we would find that at least 160 hours will

be spent between now and midnight on Instagram or Facebook. I'm just talking about between

now and midnight. Rachel's saying, oh, I wish for those days. All this needs time and it's

the one thing that will be constantly robbed off, not because there isn't enough of it,

but because there are things to fill it. And then we've gotten so not used to using time

that when we do find the time, we suffer from something called mental drift. Mental drift

is when you're looking at something that is either from scripture or you're trying to

hear God and your mind begins to drift. And it goes so many places. It's like Air Canada

vacation package. Mental drift. Here are some questions you can ask. In your situation,

what is the lie? You are believing. What is the lie you're believing? Every stronghold

requires a lie to build on. Every negative stronghold requires a lie to build on. The

lie is the foundation. What is the lie I'm believing which prevents me from agreeing

with God or trusting Him or attempting faith? I'm not going to believe that. I'm going

to believe that. What is the lie I'm believing which prevents me from agreeing with God or

trusting Him or attempting faith or getting rid of the resentment? What is the lie that

I have begun to believe so strongly that it colors and affects everything? What is the

lie? The next question is that you can ask is, Father, what is the truth about your nature?

That I can lean on right now? It's a beautiful question. My dad would come. I remember when

he was taking me on the back of his bicycle and my right leg got caught in the spoke of

the back wheel and I had a fracture. I remember my dad picking me up because the bike stopped

if we fell. He picked me up. He ran into the house of a stranger because my leg is bleeding

and it's broken. He runs into the house of a stranger. He doesn't care whose house it

is. He takes me and asks the guy to give a bed or a sofa and he puts me on the sofa and

he's weeping and he's just telling me who he will be for me so that I can stop crying.

He's not concerned about how to fix the leg. He's not concerned about the fact that it's

bleeding. He's put a towel from a stranger's home and the stranger's looking at him thinking,

gosh, this man just walks in with a... But what do you do? And all he's doing is not

telling me that my leg will be okay. He's not telling me it's broken. He's not a doctor.

He's a father and he keeps telling me who he is and what he'll do for me and I begin

to calm down. So what is it, oh God, about your nature that I can lean on right now and

if I lean on it, it won't solve the problem but my God, it'll bring peace to my soul.

Peace is the best substance for anything of God to find traction in. If I don't have that,

nothing of God seeds, nothing of God roots. Dads do this so naturally. I'm talking about

us mortal dads, physical dads. We do this. You see that in the picture with Tia and Hip.

Ooh, he's doing a plane thing and she's going, oh.

That's not how to do it.

Ask what the truth is that you can lean on and then ask, what scripture do I use? What

scripture do I use to move from the dead to the living?

How I feel to the truth. How I feel to the truth. What scripture do I use? Any questions?

These are guaranteed ways tried by Old Testament and New Testament people and people who have

lived since that has always, always helped someone inherit the promise through faith

and patience. The only other thing I'd add is find another

person who can pick you up when you return to resentment, laziness, and sorrow.

So on. Any questions? No questions? Will you try this? Because there's nobody in this

room who's not going through something. Sometimes you're not going through something,

but every time you think of what awaits, you begin to get scared. I hate it when I think

of something and it scares me because it's not supposed to scare me. I hate it when I

think of something and it scares me because it's not supposed to scare me.

If someone who cares for me, loves me, and I'm very sure they love me, if they promise

me something, even though they're mere mortals, I'm at peace because I know they'll come through.

But for some strange reason when it comes to God, I'm scared. I don't like the fact

that I'm scared that he may not come through, which means that there is a doubt that exists.

There's a distortion that exists.

I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do that. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able

to do that. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do that. I'm not sure if I'm going

to be able to do that. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do that. I'm not sure

if I'm going to be able to do that. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do that.

I believe it takes more than two minutes. The point being that this requires work. You've

heard me say this before, but please understand, Yahweh is not a cosmic vending machine where

you throw in a few hallelujahs and out pops a can of your answer. He's not that.

So, if this is how we deal with the fear of God failing, what about the fear of man? What

about the fear of man? It's in Proverbs 29, verse 25. Listen to what Proverbs 29, verse

Proverbs 29:25 Proverbs 29:25

25 says if you take all the different versions and put them together. The fear of man. These

are things again that everybody in this room suffers from. The fear of man and human opinion.

The fear of man and human opinion. It doesn't matter how badly I write it, it comes out

good. Because I know how I'm writing, but it's turning out good. The fear of man and

human opinion lays a snare, lays a snare, lays a snare, lays a snare, lays a snare,

and disables you, and disables you holding. If I spell a word wrong, will it correct it

there? No. Holding you back. This is what Proverbs 29, verse 25 says. The fear of man

Proverbs 29:25

and I have it. The fear of man and human opinion, meaning people's opinion, lays a snare, as

in sets up a trap, and it disables you holding you back. That's what the fear of man does.

And everybody here has it. That's another crime. That's another crime. That's another

crime. Everybody here has it. That's another crippler. We won't finish it today. We'll

just start it. It devours your relationships. It devours your convictions. It completely

changes your response, and either you perish or you put it to death. But here's what the

fear of man stems from. People become big to the point of becoming idolatrous in my

life. People become big and grow to idolatrous proportions in my life. And I think that's

the first thing. And God becomes smaller. When people become big and grow to idolatrous

proportions in my life, God becomes smaller. And then the second thing is, that's A. B,

the thing that causes me to be fearful of man, is it's not that I care about others.

It's that I care about what others think of me. And I think that's the first thing. And

so the situation here is, I become bigger than anything else. It's kind of pride really,

but we don't give the second one much oxygen. We think the first one, yeah, that's true.

People become so big in my view. They become so important. It's almost to idolatrous proportions

when now it bothers me, and God becomes less. And so I would rather please them than please

God. That's one side of it. The other side of it is the one that's subtle, where it's

not that I care about you. It's that I care about what you think of me. And so I think

that's the other side of it. So my identity is derived from looking into the mirror of

your face. My identity is derived from looking at your reaction. The ideal solution is not

to diminish people. Ah, I'm going to change this. I don't care what Don thinks. Who does

he think he is? Look at his last name. And so you can go down that route. But that's

not the way. I used to play ping pong with this guy called John. He's been to Axe 29

20 years ago. And so John would always lose when he would play ping pong with me. So he

began this new tactic. He would trash talk me. You're useless, Jacob. You're not good

at all. You're a lousy ping pong player. I'd still beat him, but he thought if he trashes

me he'll get better. So the solution to this is not to trash what others think. Not to

trash others. The solution is can I begin to begin to see God as much bigger than mere

mortals? Hebrews 13 6 says, the Lord is my helper. Why should I fear? What can mortal

man do to me? We won't get there today. There are so many scriptures that we can use as

a means of countering how our minds begin to think. So the way to deal with these two

things is to not diminish others. The idea is not to diminish others or their opinions

or their expectations, but to elevate God. Can the bigness of God quiet my fear of you.

Can the bigness of God quiet my fear of you? Can the bigness of God free me to love you

without giving me a fright of you. Can the bigness of God free me to love you without

being afraid of you. I'm speaking to husbands now. I'm speaking to wives now.

Can you get to a point in your relationship where there is no torment,

there is no fear? Can the bigness of God bring you to a place where you are free

to love but are not afraid of the one that you love? Can the bigness of God

quiet my fear? What's a trap? The trap is that I define my life through the eyes

of other people and my identity is wrapped up in how you think of me.

That's why sometimes you have to do something so undignified there's no

shred of dignity left to save. It's so hard.

Any questions?

Who do you look at to see yourself? Crazy question. Who do you look at to see

yourself? There have been people in my life where how they saw me mattered so

much that I would look at them to get a sense of who I was. It doesn't mean

their opinions don't matter anymore. It doesn't mean that their expectations are

not good but now I'm learning how to look at someone else and then look at

them because otherwise I would not be able to disagree with them because I

would couch my words even if I disagreed so that they wouldn't be

offended because I didn't want them to think that I thought differently from

them. Everything I would say would matter. The way I would behave, my likes, my

dislikes would all come together so that the ones that are important to me be

pleased. You know how crippling it is to the work of the Spirit or even to the

even to the proclamation of the gospel? Do you know how offensive the gospel is

to most people? Do you know how difficult it is for us to go and talk to anybody

about Christ? Why? Because it matters to us how they think of us. Nothing about

Jesus is hip, cool or trendy and I'm not talking about him. Nothing. I can't get

over this because I'm so scared of what a stranger who's never met me before

will think of me. He's not gonna go to sleep tonight thinking, oh that handsome

guy who spoke to me, he's not thinking that at all but I'm so scared. Why is it

that we require this kind of boldness man to talk to people? It is not because of

anything else but because of the message we carry which is so not cool.

I'm trusting that this is also one of your problems. I'll finish in three

minutes.

I hate it when people don't like me or think well of me so I will tailor what I

say depending on where I am so that I agree with and don't stifle beliefs and I

stifle beliefs that they don't agree with. Pleasing becomes more important than

being truthful. We'll stop there. We'll go to the antidote for it later. Please

understand that most of us receive our identity from others. Please understand

that most of us receive our identity from others. Two things that I'm... This is

why guys, the fear of foolishness that we talked about, one of the things we have

to do is to start being foolish in little things. You cannot be foolish in

big things without being foolish in little things. There's another word for

It's called being childish. Please equate both of them. To be foolish is to be

childish. But it is not possible to be foolish for God in big things if I don't

foolish in little things. It's not possible. The older you get, the easier it

will become but then you miss out on about 30 or 40 years of your life. At this

stage in my life, there's hardly anyone left to impress. So it becomes much

easier but then think of the 30 years that I've gone by where you held your

stomach in and you could hardly breathe once you enter the elevator. Any

questions? That's a great note to end on. Sorry, go ahead Diana. If it's about the

stomach and holding it in, I'll have to talk to you about it later. Sorry.

Yeah, Psalm 27 verse 1. I love the opening in the message. The message puts

Psalms 27:1

it this way, light, space, zest. With God on my side, why should I be afraid? Tell

me something. When was the last time this week that you tasted light, space,

zest in life? I want to live like that. Light, space, zest. With God on my side,

why should I be afraid? To live like that. And so this idea of

returning to child-likeness and beginning to enjoy things, to have wonder,

to have awe, to have amazement. Again, what do you need for it? Time. You know

that guy who is very famous, I don't remember his name, he doesn't have limbs,

arms and legs, Nick. That guy, you look at him and I really believe he's not

putting on an act. It doesn't matter what situation you video him in, he has this

thing of light, space, and zest without limbs. I find it's overwhelming to think

of someone like that because he's caught on to something. I don't know him so I

can't say, I mean I can't vouch for him, but surely we can begin to enjoy this.

This is why it thrills me to watch Joey and Judah and Phoebe and Emmanuel and

all over the place. Light, space, zest. There's something about it. Sure they

need discipline. Sure they need to be told to sit down. Sure they'll poke

someone's eyes out with the flag. Those things might happen and we must prevent

that because we need our eyes. But otherwise we'll all have to wear those

industry glasses for the first three rows. We'll be supplying it next week

with the logo too. Yeah. But this idea of light, space, zest is so precious

guys. And this is just a personal, there it comes.

Don't you wish that? There's a song I used to sing. The last line was, I remember

it every second week. Oh what a shame that our children grow up into people. Oh

what a shame that our children grow up into people. And at my age, I'll be

getting really old in a month, at my age one of the things I deeply desire is to

recover childlikeness and to have light, space, zest so that in front of you I can

come jumping like a graceful deer as you saw me do today and jiggy it up. Whatever

the word is because I could feel a lot of parts in me moving that I thought of

myself, hold it in. But it doesn't matter. It's okay to be undignified because I

want to live in the light, space, and zest of God. Why am I being so silly? Why

am I being undignified? Because I want life back. I want a quality of life

that is childlike, that is free. This is what I was born for. And I'm saying to

you, you don't have to wait till you turn my age for this. And some of you are

older, well then join me. This is amazing movie. I'm done. These are just

conversations after the eating. There's this amazing movie called Secondhand

Lions. If you get a chance, watch it. I've watched it long ago. If there's a

scene that disturbs you, I'm sorry. But it's these two really old guys.

Secondhand Lions, the things they do. They fly planes into barns. They do stuff

like that. Die in your boots, man. On that note, let's pray. Father, Spirit of God,

let there be an excitement that rises in our hearts right now, please. There's a

quality of life. Man, you must have been so fun to be with Jesus.

On one hand, they call you the man of sorrows because you bore the

sorrow of the entire earth. But what was it like to be with you? The life spring

of all joy, of peace, of rest, of calm, of promise, of hope, of a good father that

you had. What is it like? And yet you live in me. Jesus, I want this. And when I say

I want this, I'm speaking for all of us. There's not a single person here who

doesn't want it. Give us this, oh God. Take away the fear of man that cripples

us. That my identity is being formed by looking at others when it should be first

you and then them. Yes, it matters what Don thinks of me. Yes, it matters what

Crystal thinks of me, but not before what you think of me. Once that is solidified,

Father, I can be freely what you want me to be with Crystal and with Don, Father.

Granted, oh God, we break this stand now in the name of Jesus Christ that disables

us, that holds us back. It's a trap that is set. We break it off our feet right

now, saying, oh God, teach us how to skip and jump and do whatever. Granted, Father,

granted in the middle of our circumstances, in the middle of our

loneliness, in the middle of what feels like broken promises, we look to you,

Father. We look to you and we see your face and we don't see anything else but

kindness and trueness. You're straight as an arrow, Father. Can you combine these

things together? Please? I want to sing that song, oh God, that says anything that's in

the grave will come alive. I want to end with that.