3 May 2026 - A Fear Free Heart - Pastor Deborah Clarance

Ephesians chapter 3, verse 14, it says, For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might through his spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width, the length, the depth, and the height to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:14

The height of a Christian life is to experience the love of God.

Our faith is based on the truth of a God who so loved the world, so loved the world, not just the good people, the smart people, the successful people in life.

God loves the world.

That speaks of the width of his love, the breadth of his love, how he welcomes each and every person into his embrace, rich or poor, young or old, men or women, whatever the background you may come from, whatever you've done to someone, whatever someone has done to you, it does not matter.

God loves you.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son.

And that speaks of the length of his love, the extent he was willing to go to show us his great love, that he would send his son into the world to die for the sins of mankind.

Now, a lot of us are parents here.

Would you for a moment even consider giving up your child to die in a place of wicked man deserving of their punishment?

No way.

Even if that person was a holy man, a righteous man, would you give up your child to die in his place?

But that's what God did for you and I.

That's what God surrendered, that's what he sacrificed for you and I.

And it's amazing that he did it while we were still sinners.

While we were still his enemies, he already decided that he loved us and that we was going to give his one and only son.

That is the length, the distance he would go for you and for me.

Jesus, his son, willingly gave up his life, took off his divinity, put on flesh, was born in the most humblest of places, in a manger to a virgin.

He dies on the cross, naked, broken, bleeding on a criminal's cross.

This he speaks about the depths of the love of God, how low he was willing to go.

The Bible says he was crushed for our iniquities.

That is the depths of his love for you.

He went to the lowest of places to show you how much you mean to him, how much he loves you.

And but he didn't just die, he rose again, he ascended into the heavens, and right now he is seated in the heavenly places.

He is seated at the right hand of the Father, and amidst the chorus of the angels, amidst the songs of heaven, he looks at you and me and he makes intercession for us.

He stands on our behalf, he is the advocate who stands for you and for me, and he pleads his blood, the blood that speaks a better word over your life, over your situation.

In the heights of all eternity is his height of love for you and for me.

He says to you today, I have loved you the way no one else could ever love you or will ever be able to love you.

I have loved you with an everlasting love.

Before you were formed in your mother's womb, I saw you.

In Ephesians chapter 1, in verse 4, it says that he chose us before the foundations of the world was laid to be holy and blameless before him.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

In love, what was his motive for all of this?

In love, think about that.

In love, he predestined us to be adopted as his son before one tree ever put its roots into the ground, before one bird ever sang its song into the evening sky, before one mountain peak ever experienced the warmth of the sun, God already decided that he was going to send his son to die in your place.

That he loved you with such a love that he was willing to give up what was most precious to him to show you who he was and to tell you how much you are worth.

Now think about this.

You weren't an afterthought of evolution or a biological accident.

Instead, you were a deliberate choice made when the universe was still a silent void.

And if this love began before you could do one thing, before you could talk, before you could speak, before you could work, before you could even exist.

This love already existed.

It follows that nothing you can do will make it go away.

Love isn't performance-based, it's foundational.

And in according to Ephesians chapter 3, it is a love that passes knowledge.

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

You know, we live in an age of information.

We think that if we could read enough books, gather enough information, analyze all the data that we can master any subject.

And so we try to study our way into wisdom, we try to research our way into peace.

But there is a place where intellect reaches its limit.

There is a realm where the mind must take off its shoes because the ground is too holy for mere logic.

Love is not a subject to be mastered, it is an experience to be inhabited.

If love could be learned, then the smartest among us will be the most loved.

Oh, you'll be the most loving, but that's not true.

And maybe you're here today and you say, you know, how can this holy God, this creator God, this all-powerful God, how can he love me?

I mean, do you know me?

Maybe Mother Teresa, yeah.

But me?

Do you know the things I've done?

Do you know the things I've seen?

How can he love me?

Well, if you're that person today, stop trying to figure it out and start letting it fill you.

The Bible says, taste and see that the Lord is good.

You know, honey, you can talk all about honey.

You can talk about how sticky it is, ooey gooey, the texture of it, you can talk about the color of it, the hue of it, you can describe its origin, where it came from, from a flower, but until honey touches your lips, all those words are redundant.

And here's the thing: no one can taste for you.

Your parents can't taste for you, they can't taste of the goodness of God for you, they can't taste of the love of God for you.

Your spouse can't taste for you, your pastor can't taste for you.

You've got to taste it for yourself.

And once you have tasted the reality of this love, your eyes will begin to see.

Seeing follows tasting.

You begin to see the world not as a chaotic mess, but a canvas of his grace.

The more you grow your roots in his love, the more you bear the fruit of his love.

The more you bask in the light of his love, the more you radiate with the brilliance of his glory, the more you fill yourself with the love of God, the more you are filled with all the fullness of God.

And it's an amazing thing that statement.

It's one thing to be filled with God, it's another thing to be filled with the fullness of God.

It's quite another thing to be filled with all the fullness of God.

Amen.

And that's what he wants you to experience today.

In Matthew chapter 17, we see the story of Jesus.

Matthew 17 · chapter mention

And he goes up this mount, his cow on Mount, Tabor.

And he brings three of his disciples, Peter, James, and John.

They go up to this mountain, and as Jesus begins to pray, he becomes transfigured.

And that what that means is his face begins to glow and becomes as bright as the sun.

His clothes begin to change, begins to shine in all of his glory.

Moses and Elijah come to meet him, they speak with him.

Peter says something really off.

And then the glory of God falls in the place, and God says something, and he says something audible.

He says, This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.

Listen to him.

Now, this is one of three times that God speaks audibly for others to hear.

The other time, the first time was when Jesus was coming out of the waters of baptism.

You all know this story.

As he comes out of the waters of baptism, the heavens open.

Spirit of God falls upon him like a dove, and the father speaks out loud.

You are my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.

The third time that God the Father speaks was before Jesus goes to the cross.

One week before he goes to the cross, he's in the temple, he's having his discourse, and as he speaks, he shouts out loud, Father, glorify your name.

And God the Father speaks audibly over his son, and he says, I have glorified it and I will glorify it again.

What he was saying is that, son, you're already bringing me glory.

Now, isn't that amazing?

Three times the father speaks audibly over his son, and he doesn't give a long list of do's and don'ts.

He doesn't reveal the mysteries of the universe, the sun, moon, space.

Three times when he speaks, he says, I love you.

I'm so pleased with you.

I'm proud of you, my child.

You are bringing me such glory.

Listen to this: there is no greater discovery that you and I will ever make than to know the love of the Father.

That's when you realize that the work of your life is not to earn his heart, but to remain in his heart.

Yes, the storms of life may roar, but they can no longer touch the depths of your soul.

Living in all the fullness of God begins and ends in remaining in the love of God.

Now I want you to notice what happens next.

Jesus goes up the mountain, he's affirmed by the Father of his identity, of the love of God for him.

He comes down the mountain and immediately he's met with an impossible situation.

You see the crowd at the village, you see the religious leaders, they're there, they're arguing.

And Jesus goes up to them and says, Hey guys, what's going on?

Immediately a man runs out and begins to explain the situation.

He says, I have a son, and his son has been afflicted by a spirit.

Since the time he was young, the spirit often tried to take his life, throwing him into the fire, throwing him into the water.

I brought my son, and your disciples could not um could not cast out the demon.

So they speak for a while, Jesus cast out the demon, and then when they go back, the disciples ask him, and in in Matthew chapter 17, in verse 20, they ask him, How come we couldn't get rid of the demon?

Matthew 17 · chapter mention

Jesus says this because of your unbelief.

For surely I say to you, if you have faith, as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.

Now that word faith comes from the Greek word pistis, P-I-S-T-I-S.

And a better translation for this word is actually trust.

If you have trust in God, another translation says confidence.

If you have confidence, reliance, allegiance, faithfulness, if you know what it means to have faith, to have trust, to have confidence that God is who he says he is, and you are who he says you are, that you are a beloved son, that you are a beloved daughter in whom he is well pleased, then nothing will be impossible for you.

Isn't that incredible?

You are now walking in all the fullness of God.

You know what a true struggle is for a believer to remember what God said to you on the mountaintop when you are walking in a valley.

The same God who shouted on a mountaintop, I love you, I have loved you from before you were born, I have loved you with an everlasting love.

There's nothing that you can do to take away this love that I have for you to remember that when you are walking through the valley of a shadow of death, that God is with you, He's not against you.

If you and I truly believe what He says about you on a mountaintop, then we will be untouched by the world.

Because the truth of the matter is this fear and love cannot occupy your heart at the same time.

Now I love the study of the mind.

I love to read about psychology, um, and I've discovered a simple but profound truth of how God designed our bodies.

Listen to me.

Your heart cannot hold two opposite worlds at the same time.

In psychology, they call this reciprocal inhibition.

I know that's a big word.

They say this out loud with me reciprocal inhibition.

You can go back and Google this now.

This will really bless you.

It's a fancy way of saying that your brain basically has a one-track mind.

You can't feel anger towards someone and empathize towards the person in that same moment.

Are those of you who struggle with temper, with anger, that's a good one.

You can't be paralyzed by helplessness while you are taking bold action.

The most profound version of this is a struggle between fear and love.

Think of your nervous system like a seesaw.

Everybody knows what's a seesaw, right?

On one side you have fear, the other side you have love.

When you are afraid, listen to this: your body flips a switch, your heart begins to race, your breath gets shallow, and your system floods with stress hormones.

You are in survival mode.

On the other side, you have love.

When you feel connected, when you feel safe, when you feel cherished, your body releases oxytocin and what scientists call the bonding molecule.

It calms your heart, tells your body it's okay to rest.

Now, here is the miracle of our design.

Biology shows us that when the love hormone enters the room, it walks straight over to the fear center of your brain and tells it to stand down.

It's an actual physical reality.

When love is active, it literally inhibits fear's ability to speak.

I love how science is catching up with the word of God.

1 John 4 18, there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.

Because fear involves torment.

But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

It's amazing.

It's amazing when we read the word of God, it's not just promises for our spirits, literally blueprints for our physical bodies.

You don't fight fear with fear, you don't try to beat down fear with your willpower.

I will not fear, I will not fear.

No, you don't do that.

You invite love in.

And fear simply has no choice but to leave the room.

Our bodies were built to let love have the final word.

It's written all over your DNA.

And I truly believe this.

Listen to me.

I truly believe this that fear is the root of a lot of our spiritual problems.

What is the greatest commandment that God gave us?

To love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, and to love others as you love yourself.

You can obey these two commandments, you obey everything in the law and the prophets.

Love.

Love.

Love is the greatest commandment.

Fear strips us of the ability to love and therefore obey God's commandments.

We are not able to be filled with all of the fullness of God.

Fear is an anticipation of evil that will happen to us.

Now I'm not talking about healthy fear, right?

Don't put your hand into the fire, you will get burned.

No, I'm talking about a fear that leads to anxiety, that keeps you up at night, that leads to torments.

Have you noticed this?

When your plans don't go the way you like it to, when your dreams don't happen the way you expect it to, fear comes in.

And what will happen?

We start to act unlovingly towards people, towards anyone, towards anything that gets in the way.

If love is God's ultimate goal for every one of us to experience his love, to allow that love to transform us, to allow that love to flow through us, then fear is the obstacle of that goal.

What overcomes fear?

Pistes, faith, trust in God.

In Psalm 56, verse 3, it says, Whenever I'm afraid, I will trust in you.

Psalms 56:3

In God, I will praise his word.

In God, I have put my trust.

I will not fear.

What can flesh do to me?

So, what's the antidote of fear?

It is trust.

It is faith.

If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, it says anything is possible.

Now, faith isn't just used to describe a religious belief, right?

A lot of us who say, I, you know, there's a Christian faith, there's a Hindu faith, there's all these different Faith.

No, faith is more than that.

Faith is part of a human experience.

At some level, we all live by faith.

I give you an example.

Um, Kevin, bring me a chair from down there.

Sorry, this wasn't planned.

So just yeah, bring this chair and put it up here.

So I give you an example.

See this chair now.

If I have no faith in this chair, it's a shaky chair.

Praise the Lord.

You know, then I'm not gonna sit on it.

Hello.

It's gonna fall under my weight, it's gonna embarrass me in front of all these lovely people here.

If I have no faith, I would not sit on it, right?

Okay, if I have weak faith, I might sit on it.

Please don't break.

Okay.

And we're kind of a bit nervous.

This is weak faith, you know.

Anytime it shows me any sign of breaking, I'm like out of it.

Like, don't fall.

If I have strong faith, I'm gonna put my weight on it.

I'm gonna relax.

I'm gonna be at peace.

I'm gonna be confident.

Faith.

Trust.

I will rely on it.

I will not be afraid.

At some level, all of us have faith.

The question now is who do you put your faith in?

What do you put your faith in?

Some of us put our faith in our bank account, in our property, in our children, in our spouse, in the government.

We put our faith in all these things.

And Jesus says to us, put your faith in him.

Live in reliance of him.

Put your trust in him.

Let your weight sink into him.

Be confident of him.

And as you put your trust in him and say, Jesus, I trust you.

I make you the Lord of my life, the savior of my life.

I believe who you say you are.

I believe that you love me.

I believe you sent your son to die for me.

I believe you rose again.

I put my trust in you.

And as you apprentice under Jesus, as you are a student of him, you begin to grow in your faith.

You begin to grow in your trust, like a baby that is born.

Your baby doesn't come out immediately pumping weights, running on marathons.

Baby is weak.

A baby is helpless, so we all don't come out strong in our faith.

We all start out weak.

Every obstacle that we face is an opportunity to grow in our trust of God, to work on our faith muscles.

So there's three levels of faith which I'm gonna go through and then we're gonna close.

The first is a transactional faith.

Now, this is where we all start.

Many of the Christians are still stuck at this level.

And I want to encourage you this morning to see which level of faith you're at, and I want to encourage you to go to the next level.

So the first is transactional faith, right?

A way of relating to God based on if I do this, then God will do this.

And there's a lot of good truth in that.

I live on this.

It's called biblical principles.

If I give, I will receive.

If I sow, I will reap.

If I bring up my children in the way of the Lord, when they are old, they will not depart.

All these biblical principles in which I live, in which you live, on which we teach our children to live.

Now, these are good things.

This is good faith.

It's but at some point, if we are not careful, it became can become a way of using God, of manipulating God, of trying to engineer the circumstances of our life for maximum pleasure and minimum pain.

Now it's not bad, but it's the beginning.

Because at some point, listen to me, you will face a situation where you did everything you thought possibly right.

You prayed the right thing, you gave the right thing, you spoke the right thing, you prophesied the right thing, you declared the right thing, you stood on the right thing.

But at the end of the day, the outcome was not what you expected.

You got hurt, you suffered pain, instead of a reward, you were disappointed.

And when that happens, you can either walk away.

Say no, all this is rubbish, la.

It's nonsense, it doesn't work, or you can step up.

Which leads me to the next level of faith, which is breakthrough faith.

Everybody say breakthrough, breakthrough faith.

Now, this level of faith is when an intervention from God is all you have.

You are at the end of the rope, the diagnosis has already been given, right?

This is like you know, God is my only hope for a miracle.

The dream has died.

The fear that I was so fearful of happening, it has come true.

The relationship has ended.

There's no other option for me than to believe God for a miracle.

This is Matthew 17.

Right?

The man who runs to Jesus, he comes with his son.

You know, I've tried everything from a time he was a child.

I went to the right doctors, I did this, I prayed that, I practiced that, but nothing has changed.

He comes to Jesus, the only hope for a miracle, and notice this he doesn't come with strong faith.

He comes with the little that he has.

And he says to Jesus, if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us.

What does Jesus do?

Jesus slowly coaches up his level of faith.

And Jesus says to him, if you can believe, all things are possible for him who believes.

Immediately the boy's father cries out, Lord, I believe.

Help my unbelief.

And some of us need to get real today and say, you know, I'm at the end of my rope, and truth be told, I don't have faith or for this thing to turn around.

Or my faith is so little, God, I pray.

And I believe, but even in this moment, help my unbelief, help my faith to grow, help my eyes to see that you are truly the God who loves me on the mountain as much as the God who loves me in the valley, that whatever I'm facing, you are able to work it out for my good.

For nothing is impossible with you.

You know, you cannot deny.

You cannot deny this.

As you look through scripture, you will see there is a direct relationship with our level of faith and the release of God's power in and through our lives.

Whenever someone gets healed, whenever someone gets set free, Jesus would say to them, What?

According to your faith, you have been healed, according to your faith, you have been made whole.

Listen to me.

Faith is spelled R-I-S-K.

You have to step out in faith to see God's power.

You have to risk embarrassment, you've got a risk, heartache, you've got a risk falling flat on your face if you want to see the power of God move in your life.

Whatever area you are struggling with now in your faith, whatever area that you are battling with, let your faith begin to rise.

Take that risk, step out in faith and watch God move like a muscle that is built in a face of resistance, your faith will begin to grow.

God does not respond to pity.

God pity me, pity me, look at me, have mercy.

He says, If you have faith, if you believe, nothing is impossible.

Hallelujah.

Nothing is impossible.

Now, this story has a happy ending, but I know of another story of a son who had to die, a son who cried out, Father, if this is your will, take this cup away from me.

But the cup was not removed.

The son had to drink the cup of suffering, and what a suffering it was.

A son who hung on the cross who cried out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

And the skies was dark.

The skies was dark.

There is a higher level of faith than just believing God for a miracle that we often don't talk about.

And this level of faith is called unshakable faith.

Come on, say that out loud with me.

Unshakable faith.

One more time, unshakable faith.

Now, this is where you are not just believing God for any particular outcome, this is where you are just believing in God.

This is Jesus saying, Nevertheless, not my will, but let yours be done.

If I could sort this out, if I could change this situation, if I could do something about it, but nevertheless, not my will, but let yours be done.

This is Job at the end of his story.

We all know the story of Job.

He says, I've heard of you by the hearing of my ear, but now my eyes see you.

Therefore, I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.

He's saying now, this is the end of it.

No more questions, no more demands.

You alone are God, and I am not.

This is Paul in prison.

He's waiting for a letter to come from Rome, whether to behead him or for him to be free, to for him to be set free.

What does he say in Philippians?

For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

My only prayer is that God is exalted in my body, whether by life or whether by death.

This is three Hebrew boys who stood in front of a fiery furnace who said, My God is able to deliver me from this fiery furnace.

But even if he doesn't deliver me, I will not bow down to your idols.

I will not worship your God.

This is unshakable faith.

It's the ability to hold the reality before you.

And yes, there is pain that looks back, and yes, there is hurt, and yes, there is disappointment.

There's no denial in what's happening.

You're not trying to sugarcoat it.

Yet, in the middle of it all, I can still give thanks.

In the middle of it all, I can still be grateful.

Come on, I can be content, I can be at peace with God because I know it is God loves me.

Before one tree ever put its root into the ground, before one bird began to sing, before one mountain beak felt the warmth of the sun, before the foundations of the world, he saw me, he loved me, and decided to give his life for me.

I am loved.

He delights in me.

The same God on the mountaintop is the same God in the valley.

I believe God full stop, and I don't have to be afraid.

Amen.

Amen.

Can we give God praise?

Let's give God a great clap offering.

He makes all things beautiful in his time.

Whether in life or in death, let God get all the glory.

By maintaining this deliberate posture of trust, of faith, we clear the way for God's presence, his purpose, his power to flow through us and into every situation.

God never leaves your life in a pit.

That's not how he works.

Jesus, who said, Not my will, let yours be done, was resurrected back to life, and now he is seated high above every principality and power and is given the name above every name.

If you are stepping into unshakable faith territory, let me tell you this: stay faithful.

Stay faithful to Jesus.

Even in the valley, keep walking, keep trusting that even in the darkness, He is there.

He never leaves us, He never forsakes us despite what we feel.

Trust Jesus as your good shepherd to pastor you day after day, knowing whatever happens, you do not have to be afraid.

Let his perfect love cast out all fear, and as you do, you will be filled with all the fullness of God.

So where are you in your faith today?

As I close, let me ask you, let's just bow our heads.

Where are you in your faith journey today?

Are you in transactional phase?

Do you find that your peace depends on how life is going your way?

And when it doesn't, you feel abandoned by God.

There is a greater measure of faith that God is calling you up to.

And maybe you are in breakthrough faith today, and God is stirring within your spirit.

You're standing at the edge of a cliff, and you realize that unless God moves, I have no other option.

If that is you, let me encourage you.

Faith is spelled R-I-S-K.

Take a wrist on God.

Your muscles are being built in this very moment of resistance.

And let me encourage you as well.

Get around, people of faith.

That's why we keep talking about next steps.

Get into a connect group, get into a team.

You need this, you need others to encourage you to stand with you, to pray with you, and be real with God.

God, I believe.

Yes, I believe, but with my little faith, I come to you and I pray and ask God, help my unbelief.

Give me a greater level of faith, of trust, of confidence in you.

If you believe nothing is impossible.

Maybe you are stepping into unshakable faith today.

You are reaching that place of trusting surrender.

Where you can look at your valleys in your life and say, you know, I desire for this to change, but I no longer need it to change to be at peace with my father.

I trust you, I love you no matter what.

You are my son, you are my shield, you are my exceedingly great reward.

Though my flesh and my heart may feel, God, you are the strength of my heart.

The strength of my heart and my portion forever.

It is you, God.

It is you.

Come on, let's stand to our feet.