Why Are You So Fearful?

Open your Bibles to Mark chapter 4. Meet me at verse 35. Mark chapter 4, verse 35.

Mark 4 · chapter mention Mark 4:35

And the word of the Lord says, On the same day when evening had come,

he said to them, Let us cross over to the other side.

Now when they had left the multitude, they took him along in the boat as he was.

And other little boats were also with him. And a great windstorm arose.

It was already filling, but he was in the stern, asleep on the pillow.

And they awoke him and said to him, teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?

Then he arose and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, peace, be still.

And the wind ceased and there was

a great calm but he said to them why are

you so fearful how is it that you have no faith and they feared exceedingly

and said to one another who can this be that even the wind and sea obey him.

I have a question for you this afternoon. How many of you have been walking

with the Lord by a show of hands for longer than five years?

If it's been longer than five years, let me see your hands. Longer than 10 years,

15 years, longer than 20 years.

Okay, I see your hands up there as well. Anybody longer than 25 years? Okay, I see hands up.

Longer than 25 years.

We have been talking about enjoying the journey this year. This has been our theme.

This has been the word that the Lord has given each of us for the year.

We are to enjoy the journey.

We are to wake up with Psalms 118 24 and say, this is the day the Lord has made.

I will rejoice and be glad in it.

We have been discussing how everything may not work out the way we think.

Things may not happen the way we think. I don't really know what the day holds

before me. But one thing I do know is I will rejoice and be glad.

I will celebrate. I'll be thankful. I'll be grateful.

I'll keep a great attitude. I won't respond the way people are responding to

me. I'm going to rejoice and be glad.

And we see in this passage of scripture that Jesus has been preaching all day long.

He said some powerful weighty things. if you

back up in Mark chapter 4 some great sermons

Mark 4 · chapter mention

and ministry and people were impacted and the

disciples were with him the entire time

they worked with him they ministered with him they stood with him wherever he

was they were they were with him and at the end of the day instead of Jesus

saying hey let's go get a hotel somewhere the man in Jesus you know said listen.

We are going to cross over to the other side.

Now, Stacey would have told me, come on, let's get, we've had a busy day.

Let's just spend the night here. Let's not go on to the next city.

And I would have been like, no, no, we've got to get there.

We're going there. And that's what Jesus said.

Evening had come. He said, let us cross over to the other side.

Now, some people say that the other side is the afterlife.

We're going to the other side. We're going to life after death.

But what if the other side is simply the next level that God wants you to head to?

What if the other side is another direction that God wants for you?

What if the other side is a place that God wants you to go that you've never

been before? And so they're tired.

It's evening had come. So it's dark outside.

Jesus makes a declaration, an announcement. Let us go over to the other side.

So they jump in the boat that he was already in.

Some other small boats went along with them and they began to go to the other

side while it is dark and it is pitch black.

How many of you have ever been on a cruise before or some sort of boat before

at night? At night, it is dark.

You can't see your hand. You can't see out there. All you hear is water.

It's super scary if you're on that top deck.

It's dark outside. And so imagine these disciples along with Jesus is in a boat, it's dark, and

all of a sudden it wasn't in the weather forecast.

The weatherman didn't tell us. We didn't know

it but a wind storm came out of

nowhere and began to blow a

great hurricane and this wind storm

began to blow so hard and so fierce

that it began to affect the waves and the

waves began to rage and the waves begin

to beat on the boat and the boat begin to rock

back and forth and rain is coming down

and the waves are beating so fierce that

water is getting in the boat not only is

it raining there's evidence of waves and

water in the boat and it appears that the boat is going down and we look for

Jesus where is Jesus and we notice that Jesus is in the bottom of the boat.

Asleep on a pillow now it's

dark outside the the wind is blowing and

raging the water is boisterous and

fierce it's raining there's water in

the boat which is the first sign that the evidence of the

boat is going down but Jesus is asleep

in the boat and they

being the disciples ran down to

Jesus and they said to him master

do you not care that we are perishing notice I want you to understand the question

that they asked the Lord Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God.

They said God.

Do you not care? Now think about this indictment, this question that's being asked of God.

Do you not care?

Do you not care? In other words, they said, we care more than you.

We care more than you that we're perishing.

In today's society in a

lot of believers minds there are people that really

believe that god doesn't care

they also believe that god cares

less than they care about something oh

i've talked to people that are pro-life and and and

and they're that they're you know standing in front of abortion clinics stopping

trying to stop people from going in and i've done some of that kind of work

like hey listen there's other alternatives you don't have to do this I've been

out there but some folks are out there it's like I care more than God about these babies,

and that's an indictment on God that you care more than God and they asked him do you not care,

that were perishing.

Now notice, the circumstances did not awaken Jesus. They're on a journey.

But the circumstances didn't awake him, the disciples woke him up.

They woke him up and said, do you not care? He wasn't even bothered by the circumstances.

The external, the exterior did not even affect him. He stayed asleep.

He stayed rested in the entire ordeal. Hurricane has taken place.

He stayed rested. But the disciples woke him up and said, do you not care?

Or I care more than you. You're down here asleep.

I care more than you. that I'm about to die. And Jesus wakes up.

And the first thing he did was he began to speak to the wind.

Now the wind is an invisible force.

You can't see the wind. You

see the effects of the wind but you

can't see the wind the wind

is invisible it blows no one has ever seen it it's blowing and Jesus addressed

the external first he was he spoke to the problem that was causing the wage of the waves.

The wind was causing the waves to rage, so he spoke to the wind.

And what he said to this invisible spiritual force, he said, peace, be still.

Some translations, if you do some study, says that Jesus said peace.

So peace was present but God himself was causing it to be still in the midst

of chaos peace is present,

But we have to cause it to be still. And peace is not the absence of conflict.

Peace is not everything is just working out for me.

Peace is the presence and the power and the promise of Jesus.

Jesus is with you. He's in the boat.

He'll never leave you. He'll never forsake you. He lives inside of you. He's with you.

And if we understand that he's with us, we can have peace.

Even when the external is chaotic.

And so he addressed the wind. Peace be still. And he told the water, stop it.

Scripture says that he actually rebuked the wind.

So he wasn't real kind to the wind. He sternly commended it to stop.

He told the wind, stop it now. He told the water, stop now.

And a great calm came over the entire situation.

I've noticed that we cannot control events.

Some events are going to happen that are out of your control.

You cannot control events. but what you can control is your response.

Your response to the event is completely under your control which will then

determine what type of outcome you will have.

So an event happens to you. You didn't know it was going to happen. It came out of nowhere.

Why did this event take place? You have no control over that but you can control how you respond to it.

I heard one man of God say this. A lot of people have taken credit for it.

I'm going to take credit for it. I said this. Okay, no.

I heard someone say this. That you can't stop the birds from flying over your head.

But you can stop them from laying a nest on your head.

You can't stop them flying. But I can respond by not letting them lay a nest on my head. Amen.

And that's in reference to your thoughts. You can't stop thoughts from coming.

But you can make a decision on which thoughts you will consider.

And so Jesus spoke to the wind, rebuked it, commanded it to stop.

He told the sea, be still and stop raging.

And a great calm came and Jesus turned to his disciples and he said to them,

why are you so fearful? Why?

Why are you afraid? This is a question that has been resonating on the inside of me for some time now.

Why are you so fearful?

Jesus addressed the external, but his correction was their internal.

The external was the wind and the waves. The problem was their response internally.

So he addressed the external and turned to them and addressed what they were

going through internally.

Why are you so fearful?

Why are you afraid?

This is a question I've been considering. because in context Jesus doesn't let

them respond they don't answer the question we don't have any record in scripture

where they responded to that but I believe you and I are supposed to pause,

and answer this question why am I so fearful.

Why am I so afraid? Now at the beginning of this message, I asked you,

how many of you walk with Jesus, hands up, 5, 10, 20, 25 years?

You proudly, proudly had your hands up.

My question to you is, why are you so fearful?

These disciples have been walking with Jesus all day, every day.

They've seen the miracles.

They saw his ministry. They saw results. Jesus turned to them and said, why are you so fearful?

He's talking to a specific group of people.

These people are with him. I've been with the Lord 10, 20, 25 years.

Why are you so afraid?

I've been meditating this question because we need to answer it.

We're going through life. We're on a journey. There's a path that he has us

on. He's making the crooked places straight.

We're going down roads that we never thought we would go down.

We hear things we never thought we hear. We've experienced things we never thought we experienced.

And we have to ask ourselves, Why am I afraid?

Why am I so fearful?

Now, anytime Jesus speaks, he's speaking the word of God and the word of God

is life to those that find it right. Health to all of our flesh.

We understand that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

Faith should have rose up on the inside of them when Jesus said we're going

to the other side. But that's not what took place.

Because of the external evidence, they begin to get fearful.

And they begin to be filled with dread and terror and begin to be anxious and overwhelmed.

And they begin to see, listen, there's water in the boat.

There's a reason to be fearful.

Now some people think that disciples should have gotten up,

and said just like Jesus I speak to the storm and I speak to the water and that

sounds good but I don't know if that's the case because we don't have any other

record of Jesus doing that,

we this is the first time we see him talking to the wind and talking to the

waves I don't know if that's how they should have responded I do know that you

and I should respond with more faith than we do,

if Jesus is asleep while the while the entire event is chaotic,

maybe we ought to be asleep too.

Thank you for the enthusiastic amen back there. Maybe, just maybe,

if Jesus is not worried about this, maybe I shouldn't be worried about it either.

If Jesus said we're going to the other side, we're going to get to the other side.

He never said it'd be a peaceful journey to the other side.

Everything was going to work out right for us. He just said,

we are going to the other side.

Maybe just maybe I'm supposed to walk with him without the fear.

Early in our marriage, and I've grown up, guys, I've matured.

I got a long way to go, but I've grown up and mature.

Early in our marriage, Stacy used to ask me this question.

And she would say, what is your greatest fear? And I used to go off on her. I'm sorry.

I would be like, I have no fear.

Fear is beneath me and I am going forward. I'm a man of courage.

I'm not a man of fear. Do not ask me my greatest fear because I move through the fear.

Fear doesn't stop me.

And I would do that. And she wouldn't ask it. And then a year or two later,

she'd be like, hey, we're going through something. You know, we go through stuff.

We're going through something. And God tends to ask us to do some big stuff and get out there.

There's been some times I was talking to a friend of mine. Yesterday, he's a minister.

He's like, God has asked you to do a lot of big stuff.

Like, you know, I left a nice salary at a ministry and moved to Charlotte.

And I leave a six-figure paying job. and I lead the church and we lead the building we're in.

And I mean, God has asked me to do some big stuff.

And I wish I could tell you I had no fear.

But I used to ignore it.

Listen to me now. Who am I talking to in here today? I used to ignore it.

No, no, no, no. I go forward. I'm courage. And over there, I've got pimples

coming and sweating and can't sleep at night.

But I tell Stacy, I'm a man of faith. don't ask me my greatest fear and as I've

matured over the years she'll ask me that question occasionally Devon what's your greatest fear.

And now, out of maturity, I stop and I consider the question.

I believe when Jesus asked the disciples, why are you so fearful?

They were supposed to stop and literally consider it.

And so now I stop. And I said, well, let me think about it, because I don't

think in terms of fear, but I know something's bothering me.

Come on, somebody say amen to that. Something's bothering me.

Something unknown is keeping me up at night

some worry some concern it's a distraction something's bothering

me she already know it is that's why she asked me what's my greatest fear

and I start knowing if the back of my neck start hurting that's

a telltale sign I'm holding on to something I shouldn't and

she'll and she'll say what's your greatest fear and

now because of maturity I pause

and I consider it and I'll

say you know my greatest fear and I shared with y'all last week was

you know we're making this big step and get into this building and it's

it's more money than we currently have but doesn't that sound like God to ask

you to do something more than you currently have I mean if I can do it without

God I wouldn't need faith but faith says with God,

all things are possible.

And so she asked me, she said, what's your greatest fear? And I thought,

I said, babe, my greatest fear is embarrassment.

So you look at me, oh, Lord, pastor has a fear. So do you.

And that's why I answered it. And she said, okay, if that's the greatest fear,

you already know what to do.

And I said, I know what to do. And I began to pray over it and I began to think

and this is when I came to the conclusion and I got more to tell you but I came

to the conclusion that I would rather suffer from embarrassment than to suffer from regret.

I would rather get up and announce to you we are getting that building and we're

moving in and God's going to get it and it's going to happen and it's going to be ours.

I would rather suffer from, hey, guys, it just didn't happen versus I wish we would have done that.

Man, it was a great opportunity there. We just let it go by because of fear.

And when you recognize this, the next question I want you to see that Jesus

asked him, number one, he said, why are you so fearful?

I want you to pause whatever you're

going through right now whatever comes your

way this week I want you to pause and

ask yourself that question what is my greatest

fear what am

I afraid of in this moment I want

you to answer it because the next question Jesus

asked them in verse 40 Mark chapter four and

verse 40 he said why are you so fearful the next

question he said or statement he said is how is it or that's the question how

is it that you have no faith and so we always contrast fear with faith but I

want to submit to you fear is actually faith in the opposite direction.

I fear spiders. That means you have faith in the spider's ability to harm you.

So fear is actually faith in the opposite direction.

Jesus asked them, why are you so fearful? We need to answer that.

The next part, he says, how is it that you have no faith?

Now, in Galatians chapter five, verse six, in the Amplified Classic,

Galatians chapter five, verse six, the back

half of the verse he says but only faith

activated and energized and expressed

and working through love understand

that faith only works and

is activated and energized and express through

love how much you know you are loved is going to determine how much faith you

have in God's word what he's telling you to do what he's commanding you to do

he's asking or He's asking them,

what happened to you hearing my word and believing me?

Much deeper the question he asked, are you ready for this? The Lord told me this last night.

Much deeper the question Jesus asked them was this.

When did you stop thinking I love you?

At what point did you stop thinking that I love you we're going to the other

side they're prepared to go to the other side a hurricane takes place they start

asking him do you even care at that moment they say he doesn't love us.

They stopped receiving his love when they asked him, do you not care?

They said, oh, at this moment, God has stopped loving me.

And I submit to you, at what moment do you feel that God has stopped loving you?

What event, what occurrence has happened that makes you think that God has stopped loving you?

There's been fears that have come after me just like they've come after you.

And the greatest fear of them all is God's promise is not going to come to pass in your life.

That's the greatest fear. We think fear of death is the greatest fear.

And that is very, very big on the list of fears.

The fear of death. People are afraid to die. But you and I as saints,

we should not be afraid to die because we know our next step.

We're going to heaven. We're just going to transition from this place right on the heaven.

The greatest fear, I believe, is the fear that God's promises will not come to pass in your life.

I believe we contend and we struggle with that.

God said, I'm going to do this. And immediately fear comes and says, God's not going to do it.

That's the greatest fear. His promise is not going to come to pass.

Jesus said, let's cross over to the other side. They said, that ain't going to happen.

He announced it, but it's not going to happen because there's a hurricane.

So that's not going to happen. He doesn't care about us. He doesn't love us.

I'm very afraid because I'm afraid to die. There's evidence because there's water in the boat.

And they stopped believing his love.

They stopped believing that God cared about them. and they used that and became

very fearful at what point I

submit this to you at what point did you stop believing that God loves you.

At what point? I take a look back over my life.

Some of the things I said earlier, but some of the things that the Lord has asked me to do.

Step away from this job. Step away from that job. Start this church. Leave this place.

Do this. These are all massive, big things that he's asked me to do.

However every single time

God has always come

through for me I can't name

not one time that God

has not come through for me it may not come

like I wanted but it came

he came through for me even in

better ways than I could even for myself he things just manifested and illuminated

and came together in ways I couldn't even imagine and so at what point.

When I go through something else, at what point do I say, you know what?

God's not going to come through for me anymore.

When you start saying that, that's an area that you stopped believing that God loves you.

In that specific area, some way, somehow you stop believing he loves you.

That's why Jesus says, how is it that you have no faith?

Essentially when did you stop believing

my love and the

and if the devil knows that if I can

get some external things to take place to cause

you to stop believing God loves you he'll do that every

single time and you're walking around full of fear full of anxiety full of depression

full of dread full of worry full of concern oh the gas prices go up yeah I went

got gas today and it was more expenses that I pay but I've got places to go

and I need to put gas in my tank and I believe God's going to provide for that.

Come on somebody say amen.

Matter of fact one particular time I went to the gas station y'all heard this

story? I went to the gas station I went up and.

The gas just started pumping. I thought, oh, okay, so I guess you pump it first

and pay. I said, that's really weird.

They're going to let me pump it first, and then I pay? And, you know,

I'm an honest man. I pumped it, and then all of a sudden it stopped.

It was a certain dollar amount on it. It stopped.

I thought, well, okay, I guess I'll go inside to pay. So I got ready to go inside,

and a man walked out and said, Pastor Devon.

I kid you not. I said no do we know each other he said no Pastor Devon he said

oh my goodness he said that was actually my tank,

my and I said well.

I mean I was right here but I mean I don't know how your car's not here he goes

no it's on the next one and I'm like oh he goes they made a mistake inside they

put the money on the wrong one I said well listen man let me go in there and I'll pay he said no

I'll pay and I said well no

no no man I appreciate that but you know I if

they made a mistake they may explain he said no I think this was

God ordained for me to pay for it for you I'll pay for that I said no bro he

said no no I got it now you know I know how to receive y'all said next I said

I receive say that I receive say it one more time I receive come on we got to

get used to being in receive mode.

And the Lord told me right then, he said, I can pay, I can put gas in your tank.

I don't care what the price goes to. I can put the gas in your tank. Say amen to that.

And so they asked him.

Or Jesus asked them, how is it that you have no faith?

When did you stop believing? We found out in 1 John chapter 4,

1 John 4:18

verse 18, which is one of my favorite verses of Scripture.

John tells us, there is no fear in love.

But perfect love casts out fear because fear has torment.

He who fears has not been made perfect in love.

Essentially what the Apostle John is telling us is that word perfect means fully

developed to completion, maturity, or even cultivation.

So there's no fear, none whatsoever in love because perfect love.

Love that has grown to maturity has no fear.

Love that you know that God has for you.

Love that you've been cultivating, love that you've been developing,

love that you've been meditating on, drawing back from the love from your past

experiences, that love will begin to develop and cultivate and mature in your life.

And when you are filled with love, you no longer have fear.

Fear is served an

eviction notice because you have put

love on the inside of you god's love is

in you so you have you are expelling

fear you are telling fear it has

to go you are flushing fear down the toilet because you are meditating and thinking

and contemplating and working on and maturing how much God loves you that the

fear has to leave because fear has torment.

How many of you know what I'm talking about? That fear, it will torment you.

Mental harassment, bombardment, distress, pimples, keeping you up at night,

unable to sleep, anorexia, anxiety.

Fear will torment you. You don't get rid of fear by discipline.

You don't get rid of fear by just, I'm going to fight it with my strength.

You get rid of fear by the meditation of how much God loves you,

how much he's thinking about you, how you're on his mind, how every hair on your head is numbered,

how he's considered you and fashioned you and created you and developed you

and gave you a purpose and filled you with the Holy Spirit.

You start thinking about that and fear will leave.

The torment will leave. The anxiety will leave. The dread will leave.

It will all leave when you know how much God loves you because fear has torment

and believers ought not be in torment.

I thought I'd get a better amen to that. Wake up and say amen.

Fear is your greatest enemy causing you not to do anything.

Oh, I'm scared to go to the movies. I'm scared to go drive down the road.

I'm scared to get on the airplane.

I'm just scared, scared, scared. You got to say God loves me and I'm getting

on this plane and nothing's going to happen on this plane because God loves me.

And I'm going to get to point A and point B and can be completely fine because

God loves me and he cares for me.

I was getting on the plane, coming back the other day from Colorado,

and every time I got on the plane, I touched the plane.

And I commanded, in the name of Jesus, I think I'm whispering, but maybe I'm not.

In the name of Jesus, plane, you are a tool to get me home or to get me wherever I need to be.

And I command that we will get to wherever we need to be safely and sound in Jesus' name.

Well, I said that. I touched the plane. I said it and the guy in front of me

turned around and said, amen.

I said, you agree with that? He said, I do. I said, well, we're going to get

home, ain't we? He said, yes, we are. And we went on about our thing. Amen.

I ain't scared. Say I ain't scared.

Why not? Because God loves you. When you know your purpose and your assignment,

you know it's not your time.

You know, you know, it's not time for me and I'm not going to go like this.

Because God loves me and he's got a plan for me,

and he's got a pattern that he's placed in front of me and I'm going to walk

and do what he's telling me to do now you got to be in the right place at the

right time doing the right thing with the right people,

say amen to that I mean you can't just be any old way I was down in the hood

3 in the morning walking around that ain't wise.

Can't do that. However, well, you can be in the middle of a war and God's love

cover you and you can be completely safe and sound. Say amen to that.

Amen. If that's where you're supposed to be, that's where the protection is.

That's where the cocoon is because you're right where you're supposed to be.

And so fear has torment.

But he who fears, watch this for Sean 418. he who fears has not perfected love.

So Jesus asked him, why are you so fearful? I'm asking you this question.

Why are you so fearful? Well, I'm afraid to run out of money.

Okay. That's an area that God has not revealed himself to you in such a way

that you know that he loves you so that you will no longer fear running out of money.

Because I've got to develop God is my provider. Jehovah Jireh.

Increase. I'm a tither. I'm a giver.

God knows that my heart is with him and he wants to take care of me.

And so as you develop this and you get the word, the seed of the word of God,

you find increased scriptures, provision scriptures.

You put that in your heart.

You'll begin to see that I'm God loves me he wants me to prosper he wants me

to be in health he wants me to increase he's not going to even allow me to run out,

one of the greatest fears I used to deal with that I was going to be homeless

I don't know why I ain't never been homeless,

matter of fact let me say this to you where fear is concerned one of my kids

was running around outside this morning because there was a waltz and he was running and screaming,

and I looked I said have you ever been bit by a wasp he said no I said now how,

do you know that you're afraid of it,

Say amen to that. A lot of our fears, we ain't never even heard of anybody going

through something like that before.

We just come up with it. We come up with some kind of conclusion.

And even if we did hear of it, you got to say this.

Say this. That cannot happen to me.

See, what happens is we use our words and invite those situations into our life.

I'm ministering to somebody right now to where we'll say we'll see something

crazy on the news like, oh, shoot, that's going to happen to me.

And that's the first thing we'll say.

Oh, I better be careful. That can happen to me.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. First thing you should say is that cannot happen to me.

You know what? A thousand may fall at my side, ten thousand at my right hand,

but it shall not come near me.

That's got to be the first thing. Why? Not because you're so beautiful and you

look so good and you're so handsome. No, because you're loved by God.

You say, no, that can't happen to me. No, no.

Oh, they're going, somebody was running down and they was driving down the road

shooting. Well, that ain't going to happen to me.

Why? Because I'm loved by God and he's going to protect me and I'm going to

be in the right place at the right time, doing the right thing with the right people.

Let me ask you this question this afternoon. Why are you so fearful?

Answer it. and then put the love of God on it.

Then you'll begin to say, you know what?

I've got to develop in this area of my life where God loves me.

I need to get some verses. I need to get some scriptures.

I need to listen to pastor's podcast. I need to get this in me.

I got to get this in me because when I get it in me, it'll drive out.

It'll drive out this fear. It'll cast out this fear.

It'll expel the fear. I've got to get it so much in me that the only thing that's

in me is the love of God and how much he loves me.

And he's not going to fail me because he loves me.

Psalms 34, 4, David says this, I sought the Lord.

Means I asked him some questions and he heard me.

And what did he do? And delivered me from all my fears, all of them.

I sought the Lord. I asked him some questions. He asked me some questions.

We had a conversation and he delivered me.

It's his love. In this journey, one of the greatest hindrances to the journey

that you and I are on is fear. Fear of the unknown.

Uncertainty. Fear of death. Fear that God's promises are not going to come to

pass. And we don't step out. We don't do what God has asked us to do.

We're timid. We're cowards. we have no courage. We're spineless.

We don't witness to the person next to us because we're scared of what they're going to think about us.

We don't step out and share the love of Christ with that person there because

we're scared they're going to reject us. And we're just so cowardly.

And Timothy tells us God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love and

of power and a sound mind.

Fear is our greatest enemy to enjoin this journey. It's our greatest hindrance to enjoin the journey.

We must begin.

To focus on how much we're loved by God.

And I submit to you, as I wrap up here this afternoon, I submit to you that

you need to start answering the question, why are you so fearful?

Why? And go down the line. Well, you know, my mom put that in me. Go down the line.

Mom, mom, that's, you know, I was, you know, I was, I was scared.

Of the dark because my mom used to hide under the bed and jump out and scare

me in the middle of the night. All type of craziness.

We don't, footnote, we don't scare people in our house.

We don't play with fear. We don't jump behind the door and scare that we're

not trying to perpetuate fear.

We're not trying to inject fear in anybody. We don't play that in our home because

fear is our greatest enemy.

Fright and terror is our greatest enemy. No, go down that line.

Why am I afraid of that? And then the Lord will talk to you about it.

And then this is how you get rid of it, with the love of God.

God, reveal yourself to me in a way that flushes this fear out, and he will.

He'll begin to show you and tell you through his word and through teaching, good teaching.

He'll begin to show you your love, your love. You are a masterpiece.

You're valuable to me. Matter of fact, I wrote your name in the palm of my hand, Isaiah 49, I believe.

You're so, so precious to me. And then you'll begin to believe it.

1 John 4, 16 says, for we have known and believe. We got to believe it too.

The love that God has for us. God is love.

And so we got to know it and also believe

it it'll drive out fear from our life and we

can then begin to live fearless be

free from fear be free from being a coward be free from anxiety be free from

terror just free from fear because we are loved by God and then we can really

begin to enjoy the journey that God has us on.

Everything God's going to ask you to do, going to ask you to give,

going to ask you to say, is going to terrify you.

But you're going to have to say, he loves me.

And if he takes care of the birds, he'll take care of me.

And I know that he loves me and everything's going to be all right.

This is how you experience true life.