The Fearless Life

Open your Bibles to Psalms 118 and meet me at verse 24, Psalms 118, verse 24.

Psalms 118:24

Didn't Jeannie do a great job last week bringing a word? Let's give her a hand,

brought a magnificent word that blessed the house.

Psalms 118, 24. And the word of the Lord says, this is the day that the Lord has made.

We will rejoice and

be glad in it the Lord

spoke to us this year about the theme enjoy the journey enjoy the journey the

journey is just simply the path the course that we are on in life And it is

very easy for you and I to become distracted,

to become interrupted,

to become sad, depressed, upset, anxious,

worried, fear-filled.

All these things can take place during this journey.

But there was a strict command from the Lord to you and I this year that we

are to enjoy the journey, to celebrate, to find something to be thankful for in the journey.

I know oftentimes you and I want to be somewhere else.

It's like our heart is somewhere that our feet is not.

We want to be further along. We want to be married. We want to have this better

job. We want to be debt free.

We want to be so further along than we already are.

And we forget to simply rejoice in the Lord. We forget that this is the day

that the Lord has made that we should be glad, Not sad.

Not anxious, not disturbed, not upset, not depressed. We should be glad. We should be cheerful.

We should be excited about what the Lord is doing. Even though we can't see

it. Even though we may not feel it.

Even though it may not look like things are working out.

We're to be thankful in everything. Now, not for everything,

but in everything, we're to give thanks.

We're to celebrate. We're to have joy. We should be waking up every morning

just enjoying the life, the breath that God has given us for today.

We should make it a quality decision that I'm going to rejoice today and be glad.

I'm going to enjoy the journey today and be glad.

Yes, there's going to be temptations that come. Yes, interruptions.

Yes, somebody's going to cuss you out maybe today. Yes, somebody's going to

get disturbed and mad at you, but I'm going to rejoice in the Lord and be glad

because I'm going to enjoy my journey.

And this is the day that the Lord has made. Say that.

This is the day that the Lord has made. And I will rejoice.

Say that. I will rejoice.

And be glad. Not sad.

See, the joy of the Lord is our strength, and sadness zaps us of strength.

If you notice when you're sad, you get down. You get weak.

But when you're glad, you start feeling a little more joy. And you'll start

getting stronger on the inside of you.

And over the last several weeks, we've been talking about what I would call some joy killers.

Some joy killers. We talked about worry, being a joy killer.

We talked about impatience, right?

You can literally stop enjoying the journey if you're operating with impatience.

I mean, you can be, you could lose the calling on your life by just simply being impatient.

And so that's a joy killer, being impatient. And today, I want to talk about

another joy killer. I know last week Jeannie mentioned about interruptions and distractions.

Those are joy killers. Today I want to talk about another joy killer that I

believe will be a blessing to you.

Turn with me to 1 John chapter 4 and meet me at verse 7.

1 John 4 · chapter mention

1 John chapter 4 and verse 7. Matter of fact, Josh, bring my Bible up here if you don't mind.

1 John 4 · chapter mention

Please, sir. I'm going to read it from my Bible. Thank you, sir.

1 John chapter 4 and verse 7.

1 John 4 · chapter mention

I encourage you this week to read the entire book of 1 John,

specifically this fourth chapter.

Let's look at verse 7. He says, Beloved, or be loved, or you are loved.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God.

Love comes from God. Love is the source which comes from and originates from God.

And everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

In this, the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent his only

begotten son into the world that we might live through him.

In this is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and he sent his

son to be the perpetuation or the sacrifice for our sins.

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Now let's skip down to verse 17.

Love has been perfected among us in this, that we may have boldness in the day

of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.

Now let's pause here for a second. And I want to talk to you about a joy killer today.

And this joy killer is fear.

We'll get into this a little deeper as we continue on, but fear can cause you

to not enjoy the journey.

And one of the things you and I must recognize when we gave Jesus our life,

when we received his fresh new life, we became a son and daughter of the Most

High God, who calls himself Father.

And one of the greatest things that a father will do, a good father,

is he will love his children.

He will love his children. And scripture here is telling us that God is love.

It's not that God has love. We know he has love. It's not that he has it.

It's actually who he is.

God is love. And there's a lot of emphasis that's placed on,

especially in religion, how much we love God.

There's a lot of teaching, a lot of preaching on where you got to love God more.

And you, I mean, you just don't love God enough. And you got to love him with

all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength.

You just got to love him. And I'm thinking, how in the world can I love him like that?

I mean, I got to love him like that. And a lot of emphasis. And one day I was

watching TBN and there was a preacher on talking about the seven steps to love God.

And he had them written out. And I was listening to him and the Lord spoke to

my heart. Nothing wrong with the minister, Erica, but this is what the Lord spoke to my heart.

The Lord spoke to my heart and said, that's not what I want you to focus on.

I said, well, Lord, what do you want me to focus on? He said,

I want you to focus on how much I love you.

See, we put a lot of time and energy on how much we love God,

but I believe we're to be focused on how much God loves me, what he's done for me.

We see here in verse 10, it says, in this, the love of God was manifested.

Well, how was it manifested? By Jesus becoming the substitutionary sacrifice for our sins.

He showed how much he loved us by sacrificing himself for us.

He wanted to take the sin out of the enmity that was between us and God,

and he wanted to eliminate the sin.

So a sinless one named Jesus came as a man on the earth.

Didn't commit any wrong, was always right, did everything right,

died a horrible graphic excruciating death

on the cross became sin for

you and I he never sinned but he became sin for you and I so that there would

not be any space between us and God and he did it so that he can call us beloved

and so that he could love us in a way that we've never been loved before.

See, he was made sin. He was righteous, but he was made sin.

You and I always sin, but we've been made righteous.

This is all simply because of the work of Jesus.

Jesus on the cross made us in right standing with God so that we could be sons and daughters of him.

And so I submit to you that God the Father doesn't want you and I waking up

every morning fearful for our lives.

God the Father doesn't want you waking, going to bed every night,

fearful for your life. He loves you.

Say, he loves me. Say it again. He loves me.

Now, he loved you before you did anything right, before you accepted him,

before you embraced him, before you followed him.

He loves you. But there's a different love when you do embrace him.

It's like I love Sierra and I

love Zavin my son up here but if

Sierra messed with Zavin Sierra gonna get in trouble you know because I have

a different love for my son right I love him differently than I love Sierra

I got his back I'm gonna protect Sierra too but if she messed with him I got

his back that don't mean you can't

correct him in in worship you can still correct them. Praise the Lord.

And so the love that I have for him is going to be different than I love to

have for others. God is the same way.

The love he has for his children is different than the love he has for the world.

You look at me like, what? It is. He'll protect

his children from the world and

he doesn't want you waking up every single day scared fearful afraid terrorized

full of dread it's because he loves you a friend of mine I asked could I tell

this story and he said I could.

He went and bought some chicken wings, okay? Follow me, follow me on this.

He bought some wings, okay? He said he bought the wings for the whole family,

you know? He's got a family of four and eight.

And he gathered some wings up and went to the wing spot and brought them home.

And when he brought them home, all the wings were burned.

He said they were shriveled up, they were burned, they were terrible.

And we couldn't eat them, they were in bad condition. He said,

I went back to the store, took the wings back to the store, met with the manager,

and the manager said, I am sorry. He saw what the wings looked like. He said, I apologize.

I'm going to make you not just the 30 you had then. I'm going to make you 30

additional wings on the house.

So now you have 60, and I apologize.

I'm sorry. It'll never happen again, et cetera.

He grabbed the rings, the 60 wings. Now he only bought 30. Now he's got 60.

He grabbed them. And as he was driving home, something said to him,

the manager didn't spit on those wings.

The manager didn't damage those wings. You need to throw those wings home.

I mean, throw those wings in the trash when you get home. And so he said he

went home and he threw all the wings in the trash.

And he called and told me about it. I said, brother, next time that happens,

bring those wings to my house.

Don't throw them away because that man did.

Why would that manager make you additional 30 wings that you didn't pay for

just so he could spit on them?

Just so he can, you know, because he didn't like you.

Why would he do that? He was like, I didn't think about that.

I said, fear has gripped your life.

He said, I didn't realize that. That was fear talking. I said, that was fear talking.

That wasn't the Holy Ghost. That was fear. If it happens again,

bring them to my house, and we're going to eat them, and we're going to gladly

eat them, and we're going to pray over them, and we're going to keep it moving.

Somebody say amen to that.

See, there are things that happen in our lives that's been orchestrated by fear.

There are things that you're not doing.

Because you're afraid. There are some things God's asked you to do.

God's asked you to be a part of. God's asked you to step out of the boat, but you are afraid.

Zayvon and I went to the Hornets game a couple of weeks ago,

and we were up in the, we was in the nosebleeds. We was way up there.

Needed some binoculars, praise God, but we was in nosebleeds,

and a particular young lady,

she was 27 she sat she

sat by me and then there

was another group and I realized she came along I said

I turned to her I said did you come to the game by yourself she said I did I

said wow I said I am amazed at 27 I wouldn't have done that I wouldn't have

went to the game by myself I I'm amazed I said that is awesome and she said

yeah sometimes I come to the games by myself I said,

that is pretty bold. I'm very proud of you.

And she said, yeah, I'll go to concerts by myself too.

I said, that's amazing. By yourself?

I said, wow, that is awesome. She goes, but I won't go to the movies by myself.

I said, well, why not? She said, somebody could come in with a gun.

And I said, my goodness, fear is dictating our actions.

Fear is telling us what we can and can't do.

On one end, she's stepping out in boldness. And on the other end,

she won't even go to the movies.

Fear, fear. And God wants us to enjoy the journey that we're on and not be consumed

with a spirit of fear, anxiety,

dread, terror, or any of those kinds and cousins of fear.

God does not want us to be consumed with this. He wants us to know how much we're loved.

How much that he loves us, that he wants us to understand the breadth,

the length, the depth, and the height of the love that he has for us.

And in verse 17, we see here in first John, it says, watch this.

It says, love has been perfected among us in this, that we may have boldness. Somebody say boldness.

Say it like you mean it. Boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.

Notice God wants us to have boldness. Boldness simply means fearless confidence.

Fearless confidence. And it says in scripture here in the day of judgment.

Now, I don't know about you, but when I grew up in Mount Olive Baptist Church,

I used to think that God had a video of my life, and he was recording everything

in my life with this camera, and everything I thought,

everything I did wrong, everything I said wrong, any sneakiness that I had done,

I used to believe that God was recording it, and then when I would die,

He would show the film, and everybody would watch.

How many had some of these same thoughts?

Everybody would watch all of the bad stuff I did, and there was always some

fear associated with judgment.

I'm going to die, and God knows what I've done.

He's going to show the video, and everybody's going to laugh and see.

And I was always afraid of Jesus coming back.

Oh, Jesus coming back. Oh, and that's not something I wanted to,

I didn't want to participate in that. Right?

Oh, Lord, if Jesus come back, there's fear associated with Jesus coming back.

I submit to you that that was wrong.

We should have boldness in the day of judgment. And let me tell you why,

because there are two separate judgments.

Judgment means punishment. But watch this.

There's the judgment seat of Christ, which is what the believer,

you and I, those that profess Jesus as Lord, will participate in the judgment seat of Christ.

There's another judgment called the great white throne judgment.

Now, the great white throne judgment is for the unbeliever.

Those that willfully and intentionally reject Jesus as their Savior,

they'll participate in the great white throne judgment, and they will receive

punishment, and they're going to go to the lake of fire.

But the judgment seat of Christ is for you and I, the believer.

That is not a time of punishment. It's actually an award ceremony.

It's the time where God looks at what you've done in the earth.

Did you help build my kingdom?

Did you share my name on the earth? Did you do what I asked you to do?

Were you obedient to what I've called you to do? And if you were,

you're going to receive an award, a crown. You're going to receive something.

That's the time to be excited. And so Jesus is coming back and we'll see him.

We're not supposed to be afraid of that.

This is where we're supposed to be bold. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. I can't wait to see you.

There should be no fear of punishment in the judgment seat of Christ.

Now, if you don't know Jesus, you should be afraid, very afraid.

And I'm going to give you a chance to meet him when we dismiss today.

You should be afraid. But if you know him, how many of you know Jesus in the

house today and online? How many know Jesus?

There is no fear. Matter of fact, John tells us here, we are to have boldness in that day of judgment.

Look at verse 8. Well, let me stay at 17.

Because as he is, so are we in this world.

How and what is Jesus doing right now?

Now, notice this verse and say, as he was on the earth, so are we in this world.

It says, as he is currently.

What is Jesus doing right now? Well, I'll let you know what he's doing. He is sitting down.

Scripture says he is seated. That's a place of authority. That's a place of rest.

That's a place of knowing who you are. Right now, he's seated right next to the Father.

And they're in communication. and they're

talking and Jesus is interceding for

you and I and he's having a love relationship with

father God as Jesus is so are we guess what we're seated with him in heavenly

places scripture says in Ephesians far above all principality and powers and

rulers and dominions of the darkness. We're seated with him.

And so if Jesus is in right standing with God in heaven right now,

you and I are also identified in the right standing with God,

but we're just here on the earth.

And so as he is, so are we.

He's in a loving relationship with the Father.

So are you and I. You don't have to be afraid of the Father.

He loves you. You don't have to be fearful of the father. He loves you.

I would be heartbroken if my kids were scared to come talk to me.

I would be devastated if they were terrified of me.

No, I want them to see me as a loving father.

Now, I will discipline just like God will, but he still loves you.

You only love someone, you only discipline someone that you love.

If you don't love or care about them, you just let them do whatever they want to do.

But as he is, he's next to the father right now, having relationship and conversation.

So are we. We can have right now a loving relationship on this earth with our

father because he loves us.

We are to enjoy this journey because we are loved by the father. And look at verse 18.

This is one of my favorite verses in scripture. It says, there is no fear in

love, but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment.

He who fears has not been made perfect in love.

Let's break this down. There's no fear in love.

Fear cannot be present inside of the unconditional love of God.

This word love is the word Greek word agape, which means unconditional love.

It's a love by choice and not by chance.

It's a love that he has for you. It's not like the old Janet Jackson song,

what have you done for me lately?

It's not that kind of love. It's the love that's consistent and constant and

remains the same throughout the ups and downs of life. His love for you will remain the same.

There can be found inside of that love, no fear.

Fear cannot exist in the agape love of God.

Hallelujah. There is none, not an ounce of fear in the love of God.

And so while we try to get rid of fear through effort, through some form of

discipline, through some rituals, that's not how fear leaves.

Fear leaves when you understand and recognize and know how much you are loved.

We were flying back from Colorado.

This was several years ago. And I took my son Zavin with me.

He was young. We were flying back from Colorado. I went to visit there for some meetings.

And I had told my son, little Zavin at the time, he's bigger than me now.

But at the time, little Zayvon, I told him that when we take off,

the plane's going to be rocky.

For some reason, that plane is always rocking in Colorado, right?

I said, it's going to be rocky. And sure enough, we took off.

And that plane was doing, I mean, it was, it was doing this.

I kid you not, it was doing this. So the plane was doing.

And so I knew that would happen. So I was just sitting in my seat.

And I looked to the right. And Zayvon was sitting here.

And he looked at me. He said, dad.

I said, oh buddy. And I grabbed him and I held him.

And we finally got up over the wind and the mountains, et cetera. And I held him.

And, and then, you know, at that, then, you know, he kind of got me off of him

then, you know, all right, get off me, you know, and it kind of got off of him then.

And we, we flew on home, but the Lord spoke to me.

The Lord said to me, he said, notice what your son did when he was afraid.

He turned to his dad. Why, when we get afraid, we turn to all type of other stuff?

We don't go to the father. We go to everything else.

We run to everybody else. And God said, run to me. He turned to me.

He said, dad, I grabbed him and I held him.

We got through it together. Praise God. Why?

Because he knows that when he comes to dad, dad loves him.

Dad cares about him. dad's gonna defend him and take care of him not gonna let

anything bad happen to him he knows he's loved so what did the fear do the fear

rushed out because the next part of first john 4 18 says there's no fear in

love but perfect love casts out fear,

love that's been developed and matured, love that you are thinking about and

cultivating and working on is a type of love that will flush out, expel, evict,

throw out like an intruder the fear that it is in your life.

It's the love of God that'll do it.

And too many of us are walking around afraid.

When God's love said, I will never leave you.

I'll never forsake you. I'm always with you. I'll protect you.

I'll put the angels around you. I'll guard you personally, but we are so afraid.

I'm afraid that this may happen. And you'll even say, well, I'm afraid.

Well, I'm afraid. Yeah, well, I'm afraid. I better not do that. I'm afraid.

Stop being afraid and start trusting in the love of God.

Somebody say amen to this today.

Stop being so fearful and start enjoying the journey and trusting how much God loves you.

Perfected love will cast out fear, will expel it.

I don't know if you've ever had an eviction notice, but an eviction notice on

your door means you got to get out.

And you got to get out by a certain date, this is what the love of God will do.

It'll tell fear you've got to go in Jesus' name.

Come on, somebody say, I'm loved. Say, I'm greatly loved.

When you are loved, fear has to go. Why?

Because fear, the next part of the verse says, fear has torment.

There is no fear in love, but perfected love, love that you're working on and

developing and you're cultivating and you're allowing to be deposited in your heart.

That love will cast out fear because fear has mental anguish, distress.

Fear is torture, mental torture.

You can't even sleep at night because of the torturing thoughts.

Fear says, what if God doesn't come through? And that is the greatest fear,

by the way, that you and I as believers has. Our greatest fear is not death.

I mean, actually, that's one of the best things that could happen to a believer.

Are you listening to me today? The world will say the greatest fear is death.

That's actually not because we're going to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

It's not the greatest fear. Now, I don't want you leaving before it's time for

you to go or your assignment is not complete. Right.

Stay here as long as you can. But that's not the greatest fear.

They'll tell you the greatest fear is the fear of death. Not for the believer.

No, we're going to be with the Lord if that takes place. And so what you and

I ought to be thinking about is God is faithful. We sung that today.

He's going to come through. He's not going to fail me. But the greatest fear

to the believer is God will somehow not come through.

That's what the devil and his tactics will tell. God has forgotten about you.

God doesn't remember you.

God's not going to come through this time. He's not going to be faithful to you this time.

Here's one. Can I be transparent? Here's one that I've been overcoming.

The fear of embarrassment.

The fear, oh, you're out doing big things for the Lord, and what if it don't work?

That's a fear that tries to jump on. Well, what if it doesn't work?

But what if it does? Hallelujah.

What if it does? What if God is actually faithful?

What if he's loyal and reliable and consistent and constant and he loves me,

and I'm walking in obedience and doing exactly what he's asked me to do? What if it works?

But fear will tell you, you're going to be embarrassed. Don't step out. Don't be bold.

See, that's what fear does. Don't be bold because you're going to be embarrassed.

And a lot of us won't step out and do what God's called us to do because of

the fear of embarrassment.

We won't give like God told us to give.

We won't sacrifice like God told us. We won't make that next step like God told

us to do because of the fear of what if it doesn't work.

And a lot of hostages are in prison with mental anguish even right now because of fear. Fear.

Fear. Fear is not what the Lord wants you and I to be involved in.

He wants us actually to enjoy this journey.

But fear is causing you and I not to enjoy the journey because it is paralyzing you and I.

Fear will paralyze you, cause you literally to stop.

There was a time that I used to be afraid to get in a swimming pool.

Don't laugh at me, but I can swim a little better than I used to. I don't like to swim.

I still don't like it. My kids love it.

And they'll daddy get in, and I only get in because they say, daddy get in. That's it.

I don't get in because I want to get in. Daddy get in. Okay,

I get in. And I'm probably in there for like, what?

How long? 13 minutes or something, and then I'm out. Okay. I'm out.

I'm out. But I used to be terrified to really get in. You know, I don't want to get in.

Me and the water, you know, we just don't get along and I don't want to.

Don't look at me like I'm crazy. Y'all got some fears I could bring up here too.

And the one way I overcame it was the love of God. I kept saying, my father loves me.

My father loves me. He loves me. I'm not going to drown in this.

My father loves me. He loves me.

Today is not my day to go to heaven. My father loves me. He loves me. He loves me. He loves me.

And there was one particular time we had this big old blob.

So I went to this youth meeting, and a blob is a big old air balloon at the

bottom of, like sits on a lake, and I was on a ramp about to jump down.

If you jump on the air balloon, it would push the person on the air balloon

up in the air, and they would get in the water, and it's a whole lot of fun.

Except they were like, Pastor Devon, jump on the block.

Jump. And I said, no.

I said, I'm going to pass. And somebody said, are you scared?

And I said, where's my belt at? No, I'm just joking.

I said, I said, no, I'm not scared. And I felt the Holy Spirit say, are you scared?

I said, oh, shoot, I am scared. And I got up there. I said, I'm getting up there.

And I got up on top of the ramp.

And I said, I need a life jacket. Okay. Somebody gave me a life jacket.

Praise God. Amen. I ain't a fool.

Hey, I said, I ain't a fool. Okay. I got some wisdom. I said, I need a life jacket.

And if I put a life jacket on, I said, I need everybody in the boat.

I said, I need boats all around here.

Because when I get out, I need somebody to get me out as soon as I get in. Okay?

Boats. So they had these boats. And I stood at the top. And this young person was down there.

Jump, jump, jump. And I was, my father loves me.

My father loves me. He loves me. He loves me. He loves me.

He loves me. And the guy behind me said, if you don't jump, I'm going to push

you. I said, you're going to die today.

I said, don't you touch me. Back him up.

I stood on that edge and I said, my father loves me. He loves me. He loves me. He loves me.

Oh, how he loves me. He loves me.

Today is not my day to go to heaven. He loves me. He loves me. He loves me.

What's the worst thing that happened? You're going to die. I'm not dying today.

He loves me. And finally, I said finally, because it was a while.

Finally, I think I slipped. I didn't even jump. I just kind of slipped off the

thing and I hit and that poor little kid, you know, he just rolled over in the

water. It was no impact whatsoever.

And the guy behind me said, it's my turn. Here he comes. I said,

hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. I forgot that they were going to get me.

He come didn't waste no time, jumped off. I went straight up in the air.

I just was spinning around fell in the water,

came back up life jacket on somebody on the boat came and got my guy in the

boat and you know what I felt good afterwards amen I said I conquered that hallelujah.

It was by the love of God. And then I had to act, Shana, on what I believed.

I had to act. I believe God loves me and I need to overcome this. Now today I'll jump in.

Matter of fact, you can ask my wife. First thing I do is I run and jump in the

water because I can overcome it now pretty quickly now.

But it took knowing how much he loves me.

Now use wisdom. But wisdom doesn't always say no.

Listen to me. Sometimes fear disguises itself as wisdom.

Well, I'm not going to do that because wisdom says, why does wisdom always have to say no?

Wisdom can say yes, but we're really fearful. But then we'll say wisdom. I remember doing COVID.

Some people, I'm using wisdom. I'm not going to the mailbox.

That's fear. That ain't wisdom. that's fear

trying to disguise itself as wisdom

no god loves me and the next part

of that verse says it says there is no fear in love but perfect love casts out

fear because fear has torment and the next part says but he who fears has not

been made perfect in love what is that verse telling us,

saying if there's an area of your life that you're operating in fear,

it's an area of your life that you don't have revelation of the love of God.

Let me say it again. If there is an area of your life that you're operating

in fear, that's an area that a revelation of the love of God has not been fully

developed, Sean, in your life.

If you're operating with fear, you have to ask yourself, what am I afraid of?

As a matter of fact, in Mark chapter 4, Jesus asked the disciples when they

Mark 4 · chapter mention

were scared and the wind and the waves were blowing and rain was getting in the boat.

And Jesus stood out and he spoke to the wind and the waves ceased he turned

and said, what are you afraid of?

Now he didn't wait for their answer but I think it's a question you need to

answer what am I afraid of?

Seriously, if there's fear tormenting you, you need to answer that question. What am I afraid of?

And once you answer it, start developing the love of God in that area.

It ain't going to be by brute strength. It's going to be by the development

of God's love in there. So what am I afraid of?

I told you full disclosure, one of the areas is here we are.

We're going for something big, guys. we're about to purchase a church facility.

Hallelujah. That's a big deal.

It's a really big deal to do that. We're not talking about tens and twenty dollars, okay?

We're talking about believing God for hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars.

And this fear tried to come on me as I'm going to bed at night.

I'm like, what in the world is that? And the Lord said, deal with it. What is it?

It's a fear of embarrassment. What are you embarrassed of? What if it doesn't

work? Can I be transparent with you today?

What if it doesn't? I'm going to get up and I'm going to be embarrassed.

And the Lord said, that's an area of your life that you're going to have to develop my love.

And can I submit to you that I would rather be embarrassed than suffer from regret.

I would rather pick myself up from embarrassment than to say, I wish we would have.

We let that opportunity pass and I wish we would have stepped out in faith and

boldly and believe God for it, right?

I said, I would rather suffer from embarrassment than suffer from regret.

And so the love of God. I've been working and cultivating and meditating and

factoring in God's love. He loves me.

He loves me. He loves me so much. He don't want to see me embarrassed.

He don't want to see me fall fly on my face. He loves me. He loves me.

I'm a bold, risk-taking leader.

Amen. He loves me. This is what you have to do. Find the area. Answer the question.

What are you afraid of?

You get ready to do something. Oh, I'm not going to do that.

Ask yourself, what am I afraid of?

Can you be real with yourself? I know I hit a certain age that I just started being real with myself.

I just wasn't as great as I thought I was. In my 20s, I thought I was great.

I was God's gift to the, you know, to the world, you know?

Now I'm in my 40s. I'm like, I'm not so great. I got issues and problems that I need to address. Amen.

My wife will probably tell you all of them, but praise God.

I got to answer them and say, okay, what am I afraid of? And be honest.

Because that's an area of your life that you have not allowed the love of God to impact.

And in the next verse, in verse 20, he says here, I like it, or 19, I should say.

He says, we love him because he first loved us.

Our love for him is a response to his love for us.

So there's a sequence, and I'm going to do it backwards, okay?

Just follow me. He loves us.

We receive his love.

His love matures in us.

The mature love that God has for us that we realize begins to expel fear.

And the only thing that remains is boldness, fearless confidence,

boldness, but we've got to receive his love, believe his love.

Verse 16, 1 John 4, 16, put on the screen, guys.

1 John 4, 16, it says, for For we have known and believed the love that God has for us.

God is love and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him.

Notice you can know something and not believe it.

Jesus loves me this. I know we saw that as a kid. I don't know if I believe that or not. I knew it.

But I had to develop through testing, trials, come on somebody,

temptations, fear, anxiety before I started to really believe it.

You can know it and not really believe it.

We have known, put it on the screen one more time guys, We have known and believed

the love that I have for God. Is that what it says? No.

He wants us to emphasize the love that he has for us.

We have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love.

He who abides in love abides in God and God in him. We must know and believe

the love he has for us. that love that we know and believe will cause boldness to appear.

We will have confidence in him in an expel fear as we develop it,

mature in it, cultivate it, grow in it, and think about it over and over. I'm loved.

I'm loved. Some of y'all a hundred times a day should be saying, you know, I am loved.

I am loved. I am loved. God loves me. He loves me. He loves me.

My father loves me. This is how you get rid of fear.

I'm loved. I'm loved by God. I am loved. I am loved. I am loved.

We are to enjoy the journey.

By refusing to allow fear to cause us to be stopped.

We are to enjoy the journey because God loves us. Watch this.

Let me read this to you real quick.

Are y'all still with me today? Are y'all getting some out of this?

Say this out to me. Because I know God loves me.

Fear has no place in my life.

Future. In Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. Now watch this. I want to show you something. Let me read this to you.

The purpose of God's love is to produce fearless confidence in his people.

Fearless confidence in his people. The purpose of God's love is to produce fearless

confidence in his people.

Fear is a love revelation problem.

Fear is a love revelation problem.

The more you understand God's unconditional love and commitment to you,

the more fearless you will become.

Let me say it again. The more you understand God's unconditional love and commitment

to you, the more fearless you will become.

The more you understand God's love and commitment to you, the more fearless you will become.

I'm going to end by reading this verse in Ecclesiastes chapter 5.

Ecclesiastes 5 · chapter mention

I want to give you some background real quick. The book of Ecclesiastes is written by Solomon the king.

Solomon turned his back on God, but I believe he came back around and he wrote

this book of Ecclesiastes. It's a very good read.

I encourage you to read it. But in chapter 5 verses 18 to 20 in the message translation.

He says, after looking at the way things are on this earth, here's what I've

decided is the best way to live.

Take care of yourself, have a good time, and make the most of whatever job you

have for as long as God gives you life. And that's about it.

That's the human lot. Yes, we should make the most of what God gives,

both the bounty and the capacity to enjoy it, accepting what's given and delighting in the work.

It's God's gift.

God deals out joy in the present, the now.

It's useless to brood over how long we might live.

That's a powerful statement that God wants us to enjoy this life and have joy now in the present.

Not wait till something happens, not fear dread or terror or anxiety,

but to really enjoy the moment.

Enjoy the day and don't worry about how long you're going to live or not, right?

Bombarding us all the time is you may die.

Everything comes to you may die. My friend with the chicken wings,

he didn't eat them because he thought he was going to die.

And like I said, bring them by my house next time. We will eat them.

Notice that this fear is causing us not to enjoy life.

Get fear out of your life. Pastor, how do you do that? With the love of God.

The love of God will put an eviction notice on fear in your life and say, you got to go.

Because God loves me and I am bold. I am confident.

I know who I am in Christ. As he is, so am I in this earth.

I'm in right standing with him. He loves me. He died for me.

Say this, I'm needed. Say that, I'm needed.

See religion doesn't teach us this but God actually needs you in the earth.

Oh we've been taught you don't need you if you don't he'll get somebody else

well in his sovereignty he can do what he wills but the truth is why would he

grow you up and raise you up and put you in this great church and hear all this

amazing teaching and ministry that comes from here so that he don't use you in this earth,

No, he needs you.

You're the body of Christ in the earth.

And so fear is trying to stop you from fulfilling what God has called you to do.

And all the while, you are to enjoy the journey.

This is how you experience true life.