Live Free From Fear | World Outreach Church

But I'll say this before he left

on Monday morning, supposedly

[clears throat] Sunday afternoon, Monday

morning. I'm driving him to the airport

and he says, "Now, the weather they're

saying, whoever they are, that we could

have some bad you could have some bad

weather in Oklahoma towards the end of

the week." I said, "Well,

nope, nope, nope, not going to do it.

You know me and weather, I don't like

weather. Nope, not going to have that."

So I said, "Well, if it comes, I'm going

to tell you what to do. Just go in that

tornado safe room we have in the

garage."

And I looked at him I said, "I'll go in

the hall bathroom before I go in that

tornado safe room.

I have spent a hurricane I'm not a

hurricane see I grew up on the Gulf

Coast. A tornado in that bathroom with

my granddaughter years ago and my 110 lb

dog. We were all in this little tiny

half bath, not a full bath, tiny half

bath on the floor singing, singing,

worshiping, praising God." So I said,

"I'll just go in the half bath." He

says, "What is wrong with you?" I said,

"Didn't you have a tornado safe room in

the garage?" I said, "Yeah, but I've

never gone in it by myself and I don't

know if I can get out and no one would

find me for days."

Yeah.

We were in it one time years ago with

Tom and Judy. They would come down to

visit from Michigan and a tornado siren

went off in the middle of the night so

we'd wake them up. So we all four and my

Cherokee and my dog all went in that

safe room and it was really

close quarters but my husband was there.

So it was like, you know, it's okay.

So yesterday, so my best friend from

Iowa, I'm telling you this story, you'll

love it. My best friend from Iowa did a

surprise visit. She is my bestie. We are

like twins separated at birth. Our

husbands say we share a brain.

I'm not sure that's a compliment.

We laugh at the same things. We get we

don't get the same jokes. We you know,

and we laugh at nothing. We laugh until

we hurt. It's So she

texted me and said, "I'm coming into

town to see you." I'm like, "Oh, great."

So she got in about midnight, stayed

with her daughter in a hotel on Thursday

night but I picked her up Friday

morning. So we had literally one day

together. She left yesterday to go back

to Iowa. It was just a

it was a a random trip that her

daughter-in-law was making and said,

"Why don't I take you to go see your

bestie?" So it was the best thing that

could have happened. So she shows up. So

yesterday morning we sat

uh Friday morning we sat and had coffee

and talked talked talked talked talked

talked till about noon. And then we

said, "Let's go shopping."

So of course what do you do? You go

shopping. So I wanted to take her to the

Woodland Mall but you know, the weather

was looking kind of iffy, cloudy, yucky.

I said, "We don't need to go to the

Woodland Mall and get soaking wet. So

let's let's go to let's go to Tulsa

Hills. That's a pretty cool place. I

like Tulsa Hills." So she says, "I'm

with you wherever you want to go." So we

went to Tulsa Hills, we shopped until we

about dropped. So we ate lunch at

Cracker Barrel. We're having amazing We

are cramming everything in we can cram

in 24 hours. And so

so mid-afternoon my I pick up my phone

and it is blowing up with texts from

Brandy, my niece, saying, "Where are

you? Where are you? What are you doing?"

I'm like, "We're shopping."

And she goes, "Get home now. There's a

tornado headed towards Tulsa Hills." I'm

like, "What? What?" So I said, "Peggy,

we have to leave the store now. We have

to leave the store." She says, "Why?"

And I said, "There's a tornado headed to

Tulsa Hills. So let's get in our car and

let's go." So we go out the door of the

store and I'm like, "Run."

No exaggeration. This is why my husband

was really glad she came while he was

gone.

So we're running across the parking lot

of in Tulsa Hills. We get in our car and

I

I'm saying, [laughter]

"Okay, I'm going to drive. I'm going to

drive fast." So so I'm driving I'm

saying She says, "What are you doing?" I

said, "I'm trying to watch the clouds."

She goes, "Let me watch the clouds. You

drive." I said, "Okay, okay, okay." So

we got home. We ran inside the house. I

said, "Okay, we're good." So I'm telling

her on the way, "Okay, we have a we have

a storm shelter in our garage. It's a

it's a safe room and we're going to get

there. We're going to go grab a pillow

and a blanket and grab our water and

maybe a snack cuz you don't know how

long you're going to be in there."

[laughter]

She goes, "Okay, I'm with you. I'm good.

We're very I mean, it's going to be

okay." So all the way while we're

driving home I forgot the most important

part. We are quoting Psalms 91.

So we weren't just letting fear dominate

us. We were overcoming fear.

We were quoting Psalms 91 at the top of

our lungs.

You have said you'd give your angels

charge over us to keep us in all our

ways. So [laughter]

we are quoting the word, man. And so we

get we walk in the house and so I said,

"You go to your you go get your stuff.

I'll get my stuff." And she goes, "I

have to potty." I said, "I do too. We

have to potty cuz there's no potty in

the storm shelter." So

I feel like I love Lucy.

I'm not sure she's Lucy or Ethel but

either way we are I love Lucy, Lucy and

Ethel. So we go out there and we're

standing in front of the door and I

said, "Okay,

I said, "I don't I just want to make

sure we can get out." She's like,

"What?"

>> [laughter]

>> I said, "I'm going to go in

>> [laughter]

>> I didn't even think about it till later.

I'm like, "Oh, I left you in the

garage."

>> [laughter]

>> I said, "I'm going to go in this the

safe room. You stand outside the door

and let's just make sure we can get out.

That way if I can't get out you can let

me out." She said, "Whatever." So I go

in. She goes, "Are you in there?" I

said, "Yeah, are you out there?" She

goes, "Yes." I said, "Okay." She says,

"Well, come out." And I said, "I don't

know how." She says, "Push." So I pushed

the door and the door opened. So I said,

"Okay, we're good." So we went in there.

Pastor had these little chairs in the

bag, you know, the bag chairs. So we

opened them up and we sat we sat She

says, "Let's sit by each other." And

it's only I mean, let's just say the

chairs were half folded up but we were

sitting in them next to each other and

we had a bunt cake with us because we

had bought a bunt cake. Let's take our

bunt cake in there with us.

>> [laughter]

>> I don't know how long we were in there.

We were in there for probably 30 to 45

minutes. The alarm the sirens were still

going. All this time the sirens had not

stopped. She goes, "So So when will

those stop?" I said, "I guess they stop

when the tornado's not here." So

Brandy's text I'm text I had no Wi-Fi. I

couldn't get any you know, any

radar to see what was happening and so

she text me at one point. She goes,

"It's clear." And I said, "Oh, no, our

sirens are still going. We're not coming

out." So we had real close sisterly time

together in that shelter.

But we overcame our fear. I overcame my

fear of the storm shelter. Now I know I

can get in and I know how to get out. So

I will never again be afraid to go in

the tornado shelter. So you know,

I know that's huge for me, huge. I

overcame my fear. So guess what guess

what I was already preparing. I was you

know, actually I would I was home taking

a healing on Wednesday night. This was

the direction I was going to go

Wednesday night I thought. So then

Thursday um I was I was preparing for

this morning cuz I thought, "Well, I

didn't you know, of course he changed

everything, you know, I just love it

when that happens." I looked at my notes

and I thought, "These make absolutely no

sense."

Like I have no idea. What what? So I

threw them out the window, started all

over but I know that I know I have what

the Holy Ghost wants me to deliver this

morning and it had nothing to do. I

already had all this before all of that

happened with the tornado

um that ended up not coming towards

Tulsa Hills. It kind of over but I do

know it hit some other places. But you

know what? You got to know what to do

and you got to know how to overcome fear

when it tries to hit you.

And I that is what I want to share with

you this morning. You know, we are

living in a day where there are so many

opportunities to fear. Everything from

the war in the Middle East to potential

sleeper cells in America. You know, you

don't want to read too many headlines or

listen too much too much stuff because

all that does is instill fear in you.

And so um

in fact in Luke 21 it says that men's

hearts will fail them

because of fear.

Isn't that interesting? That rose up in

me when I was studying. Men's hearts

will fail them because of fear

of what's going on in the earth.

And I thought, "Well, you know what?

That does not have to be us.

Our hearts do not have to fail us

because we can learn how to overcome

fear in any and every situation."

So when we were preparing to go to

Israel uh a few weeks ago

uh Joe got a call from an ex-IDF Israeli

friend

that knew we were coming. Joe had text

him and said, "Hey, we're coming. We'd

love to see you." He called Joe and he

said, "Um I just felt like I would be

amiss if I didn't tell you what the

general consensus is here." He's still

very much connected to the military and

he said,

"The general consensus is that something

is going to happen. Something is going

to break out. War is going to break out

in the next 5 to 20 days."

And he said, "I just wanted you to know

that before you came in case you come

and it breaks out and I would feel

horrible for not telling you." So Joe

thanked him. He said, "So I suggest to

He said I to Joe says, "I suggest you

guys pray."

Well, we had prayed.

Beginning, we had peace but there was no

threat of war when we started preparing

to go, booking our tickets and all that.

So we the three of us said, "Okay, let's

pray. Let's just double check."

So we prayed, three of us separately.

The next day we came together and and we

all three

had absolutely no fear.

No fear. Not even Sometimes there'll be

thoughts hitting your head because fear

hits your head. Fear comes as a thought.

There was no fear. There were no

thoughts.

Just absolute calmness on the inside.

And the Bible says he leads us forth by

peace. So we knew it's okay, we're

going.

Everything's good. We were settled on

it. No doubt, no fear. So we

we were on our last leg, you know, that

was the tour of Europe that we got to

see

free

additional airports. Took us forever to

get there. So on our last leg from

Athens to Tel Aviv, we got on the plane

and Joe sat next to our this young guy

gets on and he calls over Joe. Joe's on

the end, pastor's on across the aisle.

We're I'm next to him and then Joe and

then this guy, this young guy gets on

the plane, sits down next to Joe.

So they started talking, immediately.

Talking, talking, talking, talking,

talking and

we're like, "Wow, they're having a good

conversation. I think I'm just going to

take myself a nap." So

So they the entire flight they talked.

And so at one point Joe leaned over to

Mark across the aisle and he said,

"You'll never believe the conversation

I'm having." And I'm like, "Oh, wow,

this is going to be exciting." So we get

off at the plane and we're standing in

line of passport control, getting ready

to go through the security and all of

that, which, you know, it's Israel. So

they are taking their time checking

everyone out and that's fine. We're

great. So we're just standing there and

so we're talking. He said, "So I need to

tell you, I want to tell you my

conversation." We said, "What What What

is going on?" He said he is an American

journalist

that had been uh positioned in Iraq.

He'd been in Iraq for some time. But he

got a call that said, "Get out of Iraq

ASAP. Go back to Israel."

So he's on the flight going back to

Israel.

And he said they said that something is

going to happen

in 5 to 20 days. So this is the second

time he's telling Joe this. So the next

thing he says is, "So

they're talking." He says, "Do you have

He says to Joe, "Do you have an escape

plan?"

>> [laughter]

>> Joe says, "Nope."

He says, "Well, let me tell you what to

do and where to go if something

happens."

So where he So So So Joe starts telling

us He's telling us this whole

conversation. And then when he said that

about he asked if we had an escape plan,

my eyebrows went up.

An escape plan?

He says, "Yeah." And he told us where to

go and what to do. I'm like, "Okay."

So I could feel fear.

I'm just going to be really transparent

with you today. You know, just cuz we're

pastors doesn't mean we don't get to

deal with what you get to deal with as

well.

So I could feel fear trying to grip me.

And I But I recognized it right off. I

thought, "Nope. No, you don't. No, you

don't." And I looked and remember,

reminded myself basically, of that

supernatural calmness we had even when

we had heard some of this news.

There was a supernatural calm And so I'm

like, "Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Not going

to go that route. Not going to allow

that fear to grip me."

That peace of God keeps me. Peace of God

keeps me. And I'm telling you it left

like that.

It never ever even hit me again. Never

ever ever. So we From that moment on

three of us started saying, "We will get

in

and we will get out.

We will get in and we I can't tell you

how many times we said it because our

faith was in the fact that we knew we

were in the middle of God will of God

and he will keep us when we're in the

middle of the will of God. He got us in

and he got us out."

So we were very glad to And then the war

hit. We came home, it hit a week later.

So we got in and we got out. But the

fear The fear will come. It will try to

hit you It will come in the form of

thoughts.

I'll just tell you that. So what do we

do? We deal with it.

We deal with it.

I started reading in the the stories of

Jesus in in the New Testament. You know,

the disciples were with Jesus day in and

day out. They had opportunities to fear.

You know, you think it's just a fear is

something that's, you know, this we're

the day we live in. Yeah, we have

opportunities, but they had

opportunities. They had opportunities to

fear, to either get into fear or to

overcome fear.

Imagine being a disciple.

You're with them every day, day in and

out.

You're hearing the teachings. You are

eyewitnessing first hand the miracles.

The blind eyes open. The deaf ears open.

The raising of the dead.

The man paralyzed coming down from the

the roof down into the middle of the

room and the man instantly paralyzed,

instantly healed. These guys were

witnesses to all of that.

But on this particular day

Jesus was sitting on a boat in a boat

on the lake

and the the multitude was on the shore.

He was just offshore because there were

so many people. They would just like

almost try to crush him. So the Bible

says he was sitting in a boat just off

the shore teaching this multitude of

people.

And the book of Mark records this event

this way.

As evening came, Jesus said to the

disciples,

"Let us cross to the other side of the

lake."

So they took Jesus in the boat and

started out

>> [clears throat]

>> leaving the crowds behind, although

other boats followed.

But soon a fierce storm came up. High

waves were breaking into the boat and it

began to fill with water.

Jesus was sleeping at the back of the

boat with his head on a cushion. The

disciples woke him up shouting,

"Teacher, don't you even care they were

going down, drowned, going to drown?"

When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind.

He said to the waves, "Be still."

Suddenly the wind stopped and there was

a great calm.

Then he asked them, "Why are you afraid?

Do you still have no faith?"

Jesus always taught by example.

And he demonstrated what to do when fear

comes. What did he do? He rebuked the

wind and he spoke, "Peace, be still."

to the waves. In other words, he used

his authority.

He used his authority and dealt with the

circumstances that caused the fear.

I'll say that again. He used his

authority and dealt with the

circumstances that caused the fear.

Jesus said to the disciples, "Why are

you afraid? Do you still have no faith?"

He connected their fear to a lack of

faith.

What did he say? He said to them, "Let's

get in the boat and let's go to the

other side." He did not say, "Let's see

if we can go to the other side." He said

He did not say, "Let's hope and pray

we'll make it to the other side." No. He

said, "Let's go to the other side."

How does that apply to us today?

When opportunities come for us to fear,

we do exactly what Jesus did and we put

faith in what he's already said to us.

What has he said? He said, "Behold, I

give you authority."

Jesus had authority, but what about us?

He said, "Behold, I give you authority

to trample on serpents and scorpions and

over all the power of the enemy and

nothing shall by any means hurt you."

Jesus gave us authority over all the

power of the enemy, but we have to use

our authority. It doesn't do us any good

if we never use it. He says, "I've given

you the authority over all the power of

the enemy. Nothing shall be by any means

hurt you." When we use our authority, we

can deal with the circumstances that are

causing the fear.

So let's look at another story of Jesus

teaching the disciples how

to overcome fear.

Jesus had just finished doing

feeding of the 5,000.

And he told his disciples, "Go ahead,

get in the boat, go to the other side.

I'm going to go up on the mountain and

pray. I'll catch up with you later."

So they did and Matthew's record

recorded this event. He said, "Between

This is the God's

word translation. He said, "Between 3:00

and 6:00

He was walking on the sea.

When the disciples saw him walking on

the sea, they were terrified.

They said, "It's a ghost." and began to

scream because they were afraid.

Immediately Jesus said, "Calm down. It's

me. Don't be afraid."

Peter answered, "Lord, if it's you,

order me to come to you on the water."

And Jesus said, "Come."

So Peter got out of the boat, walked on

the water towards Jesus.

But when he noticed how strong the wind

was,

he became afraid and he started to sink.

And he shouted, "Lord, save me."

Immediately Jesus reached out, caught

hold of him and said, "You have so

little faith.

Why did you doubt?"

I have a feeling that Peter and Jesus

had a nice little faith talk on the way

back to the boat.

But let's look at this closer. You know,

often times Peter is remembered as the

one that tried to walk on the water and

failed.

But stop and think about it. Peter was

the only one.

The only one

that had enough faith to step out of the

boat. He stepped out on one word,

"Come."

But then Peter got distracted.

He saw the effects of the wind and what

was happening around him and he took his

focus off Jesus.

He took his focus off Jesus

and he became afraid. And the minute he

became afraid, he began to sink.

But he did not He did not sink until he

noticed what was going on around him.

God is attention off on the

circumstances,

on the symptoms, on the pain. He lost

his focus.

When we When he lost his focus,

he also lost his focus on the word,

"Come."

That word that had been spoken to him.

Fear

disguised itself

as doubt.

And Peter doubted the ability of the

word, "Come,"

to be able to keep him from drowning.

Fear gripped him, and he began to sink.

When we read these stories in the Bible,

we we must remember that these disciples

were real people.

They're This is not a fairy tale. These

are not makeup make-believe people or

makeup stories. These are real things

that happened in the in in the Bible.

These are real stories, and they're in

there for a purpose.

For us to learn from them.

We cannot allow ourselves

to doubt the ability of the word working

in our lives.

Doubt is a disguise for fear. Every word

that's been spoken, every word that's

been spoken by God to us is enough to

keep us walking on the water, whether

it's in the area of healing, whether

it's in the area of having our needs

met, whatever it is,

his word will keep us walking out a

miracle.

All we have to do

is believe it.

Peter did not sink until he got his eyes

off the word

and became afraid.

Fear

Fear pulled him under like an undertow

current.

You ever been in

swimming in the Gulf of Mexico and

encountered an undertow current current?

They're very real. I can remember as a

little girl I was we were at the beach.

We lived in Pensacola, and my mom and my

aunt taken us um It was It was just me

at the time. I don't think my sister was

even born, so I was really little or she

was a baby. Anyway, they were uh

her two kids and and me and my sister.

We were swimming at the beach,

and all of a sudden undertow current

moved in,

and it got hold to my cousin, who was a

couple years older than me, and she

started She start She couldn't get back.

She couldn't She couldn't She was It was

carrying her under.

I remember my aunt my aunt started to

jump in, but she couldn't swim.

So, my mom jumped in

and saved my cousin's life because that

undertow current The purpose of it is to

take you under and drown you.

Fear is like an undercoat undertow

current. It will endeavor to pull you

under

and cause you to drown.

But faith

rescued him.

Faith rescued Peter. Over and over Jesus

said, "Fear not, only believe. Fear not,

only believe." Believe what? Believe

what he said to us. Believe who he said

we are, what he's made us to be. The

choice is ours.

We make the choice.

Fear focuses on the problem.

Faith focuses on God.

Fear

believes what Satan says.

Faith believes what God says.

Fear is an enemy to our faith. It is

designed Listen to this. Fear is

designed to keep our faith from working.

That's the whole purpose of fear, to

keep your faith from working. And also,

fear will paralyze us.

It will paralyze us. I remember as a kid

growing up with a fear of big dogs.

I was just little. My sister was 5 years

younger, so she was probably maybe 5. I

I might have been 10. I can still

remember. We would go ride in our

bicycles in our neighborhood, and and

time and time and time again there was

this German Shepherd

that would run loose in our

neighborhood, and every time we went out

to ride our bicycles, he would come out

of nowhere and start chasing us. Well,

my sister would pedal as fast as she

can. She would be like a block down the

road. I, on the other hand, pair got

paralyzed with fear. I would stop.

And I thought, "If If I don't move,

maybe he won't eat me."

And my sister She'd yell, "Janet, what

are you doing? Come on. Come on." And I

couldn't move.

Fear paralyzed me.

But that fear of dogs carried over to

boxers.

My best friend had a boxer.

Her name was Duchess.

And my best friend had a playhouse in

her backyard. So, anytime I would go

over there, we would be inside, and then

we would go we would go and play in her

playhouse. And I can remember I would

stand at the door

watching for Duchess.

And then I would run as fast as I could

to get in her playhouse.

I had a fear.

A fear gripped me.

A fear of big dogs.

So, years went by. You know, I was Years

went by, and I had I never even saw any

boxers as an adult. I was like, "This is

good. This is great. Boxers can stay

wherever they are. I'm good."

What's so funny is, you know, traveling

the first 20 years of our marriage, we

didn't have pets.

But when we started the church, uh my

niece Brandy and I decided that we

needed a dog.

Not just any dog.

I was open to I I mean, I wanted one of

these little cute foo-foo dogs

that I could put in a handbag and carry

on the plane.

That was Pastor Mark's greatest fear.

>> [laughter]

>> He says, "You ever notice that the

ladies that get on the plane with those

foo-foo dogs in a purse, there's never a

husband with them."

>> [laughter]

>> I said, "That's true. You have a very

good point there."

So, we ended up finding this ad

Actually, he found the ad, and I've

reminded him that through the years, of

this these dogs in Collinsville on this

farm that they were basically giving

away, and they were Great Pyrenees.

Well, if any of you know a Great

Pyrenees, they grow really big. Ours

grew to 150 lb.

But let's just say yeah, I overcame my

fear of big dogs.

So, yeah. So, then we downsized, and we

got a Newfoundland when when Dakota went

to heaven. We got a Newfoundland. She

was only 110 lb.

So, we're we're moving in the right

direction. My sister's like, "What in

the world is you with big dogs?" I said,

"I have overcome my fear of big dogs.

I have big dogs." So, now we've

downsized again, and and Atlas is only

Well, we had to put her put him on a

diet, but now he's like

>> [laughter]

>> 50

50 close I don't even know. 55 lb. I

think he's too skinny. I need to give

him some treats, but anyway.

Maybe that's why he got gained weight.

I'm not sure. But But we've downsized

every year. However, we moved about I

don't know, maybe 8 years ago to a

another house in another neighborhood,

and um lo and behold,

our next door neighbor

next door neighbor

had a boxer.

I thought, "You have got to be kidding

me. Of all the neighborhoods and houses,

I am going to live next door to a

boxer?"

So, I was fine as long as she stayed

behind her fence,

and I stayed in our yard.

The two will never meet.

So, this one time I was backing out of

the driveway,

pulled out, and when I looked, I saw

the boxer's name was Lulu.

I saw Lulu

running around their front yard, and I

thought, "I've never seen Lulu loose.

I wonder what I should do."

And I thought, "Eh, I'm not going to do

anything."

>> [laughter]

>> Then I thought again. I thought, "That's

really not very nice."

Oh, well. Something happened to Lulu.

>> [laughter]

>> So,

instead of being carnal, I decided to be

spiritual, and I said, "You know what?

I'm done. I am not going to let this

fear of boxers paralyze me." I really

didn't want to get out of the car. I

just wanted to leave, but I just

something in me was like, "Don't leave

the dog running loose."

So, I got out of the car, and I thought,

"Okay, I'm going to walk." He was going

crazy in the front yard. I thought, "I'm

just going to walk real slow down the

sidewalk to the front door."

So, I did. Rang the doorbell, stood

there. Nothing. I thought, "Great.

They're not home."

So, I walked real slowly back, you know,

I didn't want to move fast cuz I didn't

want him to eat me.

So, I made it really easy for him,

though. So, I moved very slowly back

back over to my driveway, and I'm

standing out there by my car trying to

figure out, "Okay, now what do I do?"

She's still running crazy in the front

yard.

So, I thought, "Well, I can't stand here

all day." So, I said, "Lulu, come."

Well, she started running full speed

towards me. It's very obedient.

I thought, "No, no, [laughter] no, no,

no, no, no." So, I start walking over by

the fence, and I open the gate, and I

said, "Come on. Come on, girl. Come on.

Come on. Go. Go. Go."

She went in the backyard again. So, I

closed that gate, put that handle thing

down.

I thought, "Oh,

>> [snorts]

>> I just overcame my fear. I'm so proud of

myself, and I rescued her. I saved her

life."

>> [laughter]

>> A few weeks later,

I'm pulling out of the garage again, and

I see our the the neighbor, the man of

the house. He's in his driveway. So I I

said, "Hey!" I said, "I want to tell you

what happened a few weeks ago." He said,

"What?" And I said, "I was leaving and

Lulu was loose. I rang your doorbell,

nobody was home. So I got her in the

backyard and I just wanted you to know

that somehow she got loose. I don't even

know how she got in the front yard, but

I wouldn't leave her, so I put her in

your backyard." I was so I proud of

myself. And he says to me, "What?"

"Oh,

so that's what happened."

His tone changed, totally changed. And

I'm like, "What do you mean? What

happened?"

He said, "Well,

when my wife got home from work, he

said, first of all, he said, we have a

doggy door

on the on the back side of our patio

that goes into our house."

And he said, "So when my wife got home

from work a few hours later, she walked

in

and she said,

'There was Lulu

and Oscar.'"

I said, "Who is Oscar?"

He said, "He's the other boxer that

lives a couple blocks away from us that

always gets loose and you let into our

backyard."

I went, "Oh! Wait, what are you saying?

Do you have puppies?" I mean,

I didn't know what to say. I was not

going there. I was not going there. I

said, "I'm so sorry. [laughter]

I had no idea there were two boxers in

this neighborhood." I wanted to go, "I'm

moving."

>> [laughter]

>> So, um, he wasn't overly friendly.

I don't think I've seen his wife or

spoken to her [laughter] since that

happened 8 years ago.

We're really good friends with the

neighbors on that side, but these

people,

I don't know. I don't think they

appreciated my kindness.

>> [laughter]

>> Maybe I should have just left and let

Lulu or Oscar or whoever this dog was.

How was I supposed to know it wasn't

Lulu? How was I supposed to know it was

Oscar?

I mean,

you can't Anyway, I had no idea it was a

boy.

I just thought they're all, you know,

anyway, so

anyway,

I overcame my fear.

That's the bottom line.

I overcame my fear.

I've had lots of opportunities to fear.

I could tell you story after story after

story. I have another one.

Because we can learn from these stories.

We need to learn and realize that, you

know what? You have fear, but it doesn't

have to eat you up.

You don't have to let fear knock you out

of the ballpark. You don't have to let

fear be greater than your faith. It's

our choice.

So sometimes we get in the middle of a

situation, though.

And we get so focused on what's

happening around us, like Peter,

that we forget what God has already said

to us.

Years ago,

the Keatons were back from the mission

field. This was back when they were

still living on the mission field. They

had come back from the mission field and

they were in they were home here in

Tulsa. And so we decided, "Hey, let's go

down to Lake Eufaula, rent a boat and

spend the day on the lake. Let's just go

have fun." And they were like, "Oh, that

sounds great." So we went down, got our

boat

and we took it to the other side of the

lake and we ate lunch at a marina and we

were having the best time. I am a I am a

water person. I am a boat person. I'm

happiest on the water in a boat just

cruising. So we were having a beautiful

day. We were sitting there at on the

edge of the water at the marina having

lunch and all of a sudden we noticed

that the sky was the sunshine was going

away

and the sky was getting dark.

And we looked at that and we said, "You

know what?

We better pay our bill, get back in the

boat and head back to where our car was

on the other side of the lake." So we

did. We got about halfway to where we

were going

and I'm telling you those dark clouds

broke and we were in the middle of a

thunderstorm,

complete with tons of rain, raining so

hard we couldn't see where we were

going, thunder, but with thunder there's

always lightning.

So there was lightning. And I, growing

up on the Gulf Coast, I knew the place

you never want to be in the middle of a

thunderstorm is in a boat on a lake.

So I'm like, "Okay, this is not good.

This is really not good."

So to make matters worse, we were going

very I mean, boats were flying. We were

flying and all of a sudden we hit

something

in the middle of the lake.

The waves have now turned into the Gulf

of Mexico. They are so big, they are

literally coming into our boat. I know

how the disciples felt felt when their

boat was filling up with water. Our

little boat was filling up water. The

waves I'm like, "This lake doesn't even

have waves. What is happening?"

So now we're stuck.

We tried to go forward, we couldn't go

forward. We tried to go backward, we

couldn't go backward. And we had no idea

what we've hit. But Lake Eufaula is the

third largest man-made lake in America.

I don't know if you knew that, but take

that fact home with you. And so they

filled in this lake over trees.

It's a very deep lake. So we thought we

have hit we've hit a tree underneath and

we can't see it.

So we're we're sitting there

and praying. Larry is praying in tongues

at the top of his lungs.

Angela is going, "Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!

Jesus!"

I am getting up. I'm staying very calm.

I get up in Pastor's ear and I said,

"Get us to the dock. Get us off of this

water now." And of course Pastor Mark is

like,

>> [laughter]

>> not saying a word.

Later I said, "Why didn't you get

[laughter] before we got stuck?" I said,

"Why didn't you get us to a dock?" He

said, "Because the wind was so strong,

it would have blown us into the dock. It

would have destroyed the dock and our

boat." And I'm like, "Okay, that makes

sense." So now we're we're stuck in the

middle of the lake in the lightning, the

thunder, the rain. And it's raining so

hard that whenever a boat would go by,

we'd see it for like 5 seconds. And we

would woohoo! Yeah, I mean, we're

screaming at the top of our lungs,

waving our arms, and the boat just kept

going, flying by trying to get to

safety.

So

we thought, "Okay."

All of a sudden I had this visual.

I could see the headlines

of news the next day.

Tulsa pastors and missionaries die on

Lake Eufaula.

Just like the devil.

And then the thought of what if we get

struck by lightning?

What if

what if nobody stops?

What if we die out here?

And when you're in a you're in a moment

like that, you know,

I should have known better, but I'm

like, "Yeah, what if?" Oh yeah, what

What ifs will always open the door to

fear.

You got to stop it before the what ifs

take hold of you.

So we're still

pray they're still yelling and praying

and calling on the name of the Lord. I

don't even remember what I think I got

paralyzed.

And I'm like, "Okay, God, you're going

to help help help." And so then this one

boat comes flying by. Again, it was I've

never been in such a rainstorm. But you

know, you can't we the shore

disappeared. There you couldn't see the

shore if we wanted to. There was the

rain was so heavy. So this boat flies

by. We're screaming and yelling and

we're like, "There he goes again." I

mean, I can't tell you how many boats

went by and left us, didn't even see us.

But then we know we go, "There he goes."

And then all of a sudden he slows down.

And he turns

and he starts coming back towards us.

And we're like, "Yes! [laughter] Yes!

Yes! Yes!" So he parked the boat ways

away,

threw an anchor over, got out. This man

gets out and he starts walking to us

on the water.

Honest to God, all four of us, well,

probably Pastor didn't. Larry and Angela

and I went, "It's Jesus!"

>> [screaming]

>> So the closer he got, we're like, "Wait.

How is he walking on the water?"

He was walking on a sandbar.

We had run onto a sandbar in the middle

of this area of the lake and got stuck.

We had no clue. So the first thing this

man yells to us is, "Do you have life

jackets?" We're like, "Oh, yeah.

We do. They're underneath our seats."

>> [laughter]

>> He said, "Put them on." We're like,

"Duh."

So we got out our life jackets. We put

our life jackets on.

But you know,

we forgot the most important thing that

we had on the boat that could have saved

our lives.

It was the life jackets.

They were doing us absolutely no good

in the seat,

under the seat.

Yeah, we had them.

We just hadn't put them on.

God has thrown us a life jacket.

It's the promises of his word.

No matter what we encounter,

we just have to put it on. Or apply

God's word to our situation. God said

he'd give his angels charge over us to

keep us in all our ways. God said, "With

long life I'll satisfy you." We weren't

going to die. We weren't going anywhere

because he said with long life I'll

satisfy you and show you my salvation.

He says no weapon formed against you can

prosper. And he says greater greater is

he that's in you than he that's in the

world. So, what do we have to fear? He's

thrown us life jackets that will keep us

afloat when the hard times come. It'll

keep us afloat when when everything

turns dark. When you can't even hardly

see your way because of the storm.

It keeps us safe.

It doesn't matter what the circumstances

are.

It doesn't matter what the devil says.

What has God said?

That's what matters. What has God said?

And building our faith

by speaking the word, getting it down in

our heart. Fear is of the head.

Faith is of the heart.

But we have to put the word in our

heart. It has to become life to us.

It's not just head knowledge. I used to

always love to hear Brother Hagin teach

on that. He'd said, "I remember the day

that it dropped from here. It was like

dropping money into a a coin machine."

He said it went from here ka-plunk and

it went here. There's a difference in

head knowledge and heart knowledge. We

better have heart knowledge when fear

tries to attack us.

Knowing what God said, speaking what God

said. Faith comes by hearing. Say it out

loud because faith comes by hearing and

it's you're the first one to hear what

you say. What are you saying about your

situations? What are you saying about

what's trying to hit your life? Are you

What are you doing about it?

Opportunities will come to all of us.

Won't be the same,

but opportunities I'm telling you

opportunities will come to all of us.

But, we overcome those opportunities

believing and saying what God said.

If there's a fear of the future, let me

tell you something. You don't have to be

afraid of the future. You don't have to

fear what the future holds because

Jeremiah 29:11 God says, "For I know the

Jeremiah 29:11

plans I have for you, plans for good,

not for disaster, to give you a hope and

a future." We don't have to fear the

future. God knows the future and he's

got a plan. He's a man with a plan.

You have to believe it. You need to say

it out of your mouth.

What about a fear of lack or a lack of

provision? A fear of of not being able

to make it and pay your bills, not

having enough.

I love Luke 12:24. It says, "Consider

Luke 12:24

the ravens.

God feeds them.

How much more valuable are you than the

birds?

God will provide what we need.

Or maybe there's a fear of death.

Psalm 23 says, "Though I walk through

the valley of the shadow of death, I

will fear no evil for thou art with me."

God's presence removes the fear of

death.

What about the fear of being alone?

Deuteronomy 31:6 says, "Be strong and

Deuteronomy 31:6

courageous.

Do not be afraid or terrified, for the

Lord your God goes with you. He will

never leave you nor forsake you." God

never abandons his people.

If you're dealing with fear of any kind,

any kind,

doesn't matter how little or how major,

fear is fear. And there ain't no such

thing as good fear.

No fear is good fear.

There isn't no fear that is good. It's

all bad because of where it comes from.

God does never sends God never

commissions fear. God never sends fear.

That comes from the pit of hell and

Satan is the author of it. So, what do

we do?

Jesus said, "Fear not,

only believe."

Fear not,

only

only all you got to do is believe.

Believe what he has said about you.

Believe what he has said about your

situation. Fear not,

only

believe.

If you're dealing with fear,

call it out.

Don't put up with fear.

If it's in your mind, renew your mind to

what God says.

Get rid of those thoughts cuz if fear

disguises itself as a lot of things. It

disguises itself as worry.

It disguises itself as as as doubt.

Don't allow the fear to take hold. It

will take root in your head

and then it will affect every area of

your life.

Do not allow fear to grip you. You don't

have to be afraid of tornadoes.

Okay, okay, people. We don't have to be

afraid of tornadoes.

You don't have to be afraid of

tornadoes.

Say, "I am not afraid

of anything

that the devil would try to throw.

I believe the word.

I will not fear.

I will only believe."

He can't do the believing for us.

I can't do the believing for you. As

much as I would love to. I'm a fixer.

That is my personality. I want to fix

everything.

I can't fix everything.

I can't fix what God has already done. I

can't fix

what God says. God has said it to you,

you have to do something with it. I

can't believe for you. You have to do

your believing. You have to fear not and

only believe.

He's provided a way of escape for us.

We just have to take it.

Take hold of that word. Don't let fear

pull you down, cause you to sink. Keep

your focus. Don't lose your focus. Don't

lose your focus. Keep your focus on him.

Keep your focus on his word. He and his

word are one.

In the beginning was the word, the word

was with God, the word was God. Keep

your focus. Keep your focus on what he

says about your situation. Refuse to

believe anything else. Close the door on

fear.

Well, it's just I just have this little

No.

Don't even uh put up with a little fear.

No fear is the best.

No fear. Fear not,

only

believe. Go ahead and stand.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. Father, we thank you.

We thank you

for your word.

We thank you for your plan for man.

We thank you that

we can go through life

free from fear.

Free from fear.

Free from fear. [music]

Spirit of fear, no, no, no, has no place

here.

Spirit of fear must go.

Haha.

That I do know.

We thank you

for freedom from fear. We thank you that

we can overcome fear in every situation

as we keep our focus and our attention

on you and on your word. We don't have

to know the whole word. We don't have to

know how to quote half the New

Testament. All we need is one word.

You said to Peter, "Come."

All we need is one scripture.

One word.

And it will dispel fear as long as we

keep our attention on what you are

saying

and what you've said to us.

So, we're so grateful.

We're so grateful

for a life

with no fear.

Haha.

A life

free from fear.

Because you're ever near.

Ever near. Haha.

No fear, no fear, no fear.

We thank you for it, Father.

Now, I could call people down here

you're dealing with fear to come up and

I could lay hands on you.

But to be quite honest,

when you walk out the door,

those thoughts will hit you again

and that fear will reattach.

So, this is something that we have to do

individually.

You have to make the choice.

I'm not going to fear.

I'm not going to be afraid.

I'm going to believe what he has said.

You have to make that choice.

I've instructed you from the word

how Jesus demonstrated to his disciples,

how Jesus functioned and what he said

and what he did to help his disciples

learn how to overcome fear. We can learn

from exactly what Jesus taught them.

But then we have to take the next step

and we can't just be a hearer, but we

must be a doer of the word.

So, today, moving forward, you have an

opportunity to not only hear about fear,

[music]

but to do what he said to stay free from

fear.

Stay free.

>> [music]

>> Bible says fear has torment.

Because it comes from the tormentor.

That's why it's had you have torment.

And I was thinking about that over the

last few days. Fear has Fear has

torment.

But you know, fear, again,

doesn't come up. The devil doesn't show

up in a red suit with a pitchfork.

He comes in the form of thoughts

talking to your head

trying to get you [music]

into fear, to get you to be afraid.

Put cast the thoughts down. The Bible

says casting down casting down every

thought every thought

bringing them into captivity reel those

thoughts in reel them in don't allow

them to go bonkers in your head because

no one knows what you're thinking but

you

and God.

Reel those thoughts in don't don't dwell

on the lies of the devil reel them in

replace those thoughts with what God

says about your situation build faith in

your heart and things will start [music]

to change. It wasn't until it wasn't

until

Jesus spoke to those took authority over

those circumstances that this

circumstances began to change. Use your

authority.

Use your authority.

Use your authority. Oh, I didn't think

about that. Use your authority.

You have authority.

You well

me? Yes, you.

If you be mealy-mouthed with the devil

he's going to walk all over you. I'm

just telling you he'll eat he will eat

you for lunch.

Don't [music] let him eat you.

Don't let him even push you around. He's

a bully.

Don't let him push you around. The Bible

says that he's under our feet. That

means you walk on top of the devil.

You walk on top of the devil. You're

having a hard time? I don't care where

you are. Put your foot down.

Put your foot down. Stomp on him. Remind

him who's in control. I have authority

over you buddy.

Get mean. Well, I'm not a very mean

person then get something.

>> [laughter]

>> I'm not either but don't mess with me.

Don't mess with me.

Devil don't mess with me.

Devil don't mess with my husband.

Devil don't mess with my family.

>> [music]

>> Don't mess with them. I'm telling you

I'm giving you fair warning. You better

get out of here and not come [music]

back. You have to talk to the devil. You

have to use your authority or he's going

to walk all over you.

He's not your buddy. He's not your

friend. He is your enemy. There's a big

difference in a friend and an enemy. A

friend is for you not against you. He on

the other hand is against you. He wants

you to fail. He wants you to drown. He

wants you to go under. Don't let him lie

to you. Don't believe his lies.

>> [music and singing]

>> If you have to go back and listen to

this message five times do it.

Get it in your heart. Not just head

knowledge. Again, we can have a head

full of knowledge but it's not going to

do us an ounce of good until that head

knowledge drops in

into your spirit because faith is of the

heart.

Fear is of the head faith [music]

is of the heart. What are you putting in

your heart?

You do it by meditating.

>> [music]

>> You do it by dwelling on it. You do it

by feeding on the word to where your

faith is greater than your fear.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Let's give them a

shout.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

HALLELUJAH.

WOO.

>> [cheering]

>> HAHA. [screaming]

HALLELUJAH.

We're free. We're free. We're free.

Haha. Hallelujah. I'm free from fear.

I'm free from fear. I'm free from fear.

I believe. I believe. I believe what you

said. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

>> [music]

>> Woo. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Glory to God and you know I was thinking

>> [music]

>> it's like when you preach on love

not being offended you

you'll have an opportunity to get

offended like probably by the time you

leave the parking lot.

Well, it's not any different. There will

be opportunities for you to make a

choice.

I'm just telling you [music] heads up.

The devil will test he'll come and try

to steal the seed of his word is what

he's doing.

As Bible tells us that's what he that's

what happens. Don't let him steal this

seed.

Be on guard. Be on guard with the word.

No, no no fear here. No, you don't. No,

you don't. Call him out and then resist

him. Bible says resist the devil and

what?

Say what? He will flee from who?

From me. Resist him. He'll flee from

you. He'll flee from you. Like really?

Really.

>> [music]

>> He'll flee from you. Don't put up with

lies of the devil. [music]

So

I don't know where Matt is.

Matt Mounts.

That's Matlock.

I know. We have a [music] lot of Macaia,

Michaela, Matt.

>> [snorts]

>> It just goes on and on. Too many M's.

No, not too many M's. I love all the

M's.

You know what I mean. But if Pastor Mark

has a book Fearless Living in Dangerous

Times.

This rose up in me while I was

preparing. Matt, we got we ready in the

Okay. It's a little tiny book that sells

for $5.

It's bigger than a mini book

but it's a $5 book. It's Psalms 91

>> [music]

>> broken down in a teaching format. There

it is. Today we're going to if you want

to buy one we'll give you one free to

give away. [music]

People are fearful everywhere. People

are scared in America. People are

scared. You know what? Chuck and Lisa I

had a text from them this morning when I

woke up. He said he went to went for a

walk.

I don't know what time of day cuz you

know it's you never know [music] what

time and all that. He said I went for a

walk today and he said the siren started

going off and I was too far. It was

night time. It was evening. He said the

siren I was too far to to go back to our

storm shelter and so um he said I saw

and he said he took a video of it. It

was that bomb that explodes and goes

into

>> [music]

>> lots of pieces whatever you call that

bomb that What is it?

Yes, the cluster cluster bomb. He said I

saw for the first time. I'm sure this

wasn't exactly how he wanted to see it

but he said I looked up and that the

cluster bomb and he took it on video.

The cluster bomb was going right over

his head and you could see all these

little tiny lights scattering.

They are living

in a dangerous situation but you know

what? There's no fear.

There's no [music] fear. Why? Because

they know they're in the middle of God's

word God's will and the word is

protecting them. So they are living and

quoting Psalms 91 on a daily basis

probably multiple times. That's why I

told you last week don't leave the house

without quoting Psalms 91.

>> [music]

>> I'm going to tell you again don't leave

your house without quoting Psalms 91.

You will always be at the and say this.

I I say this. I will always be at the

right place at the right time.

I believe it. I believe it. You need to

believe it. Fear not only believe.

You'll always be at the right place at

the right time. But I would encourage

you go by the cafe it's in the cafe. Buy

[music] one five bucks get another one

to get two for the price of one give one

away.

God will lead you who give it to but you

know what? Thank God we have the word.

We know the word but you know what?

There are a lot of people out there that

are very

>> [music]

>> nervous right now.

They don't they need to know they don't

have to be afraid.

They need to know there's an answer to

that fear.

So Father right now I pray blessings

over this house those who are watching

online I speak blessings. I thank you

for your word.

Your word your word that is greater than

any fear that would try to come near.

No, no, no, no. Your word is full of

power and it's just for this hour. Thank

you Father. Thank you Father. We thank

you for your word. We believe Psalms 91.

I thank you that angels are encamped

around about everyone under the sound of

my voice. No weapon. No weapon. No

weapon formed against them will prosper.

Haha. Because your word is covering

them. Haha. We thank you for it. We

thank you for it. No [music] fear. This

is a no fear zone. Haha. I am a no fear

zone. No, no, no, no, no, no. I thank

you for your word [music] and I believe

your word. We thank you for it.

>> [music]

>> Jesus name. Jesus name.