When I Feel Afraid

Well, uh, if it's your first time to his hands, welcome.

My name's Justin.

Um, one of the things that we are really passionate about, and I think it really comes through in how we worship this morning, is that we believe that the answer for all of our lives is Jesus.

That at the end of the day, you know, everyone's searching for something.

We don't think the answer is something, we think it is someone.

And when you live your life connected to Jesus, who is alive, who is the God who created us, it changes everything.

And so at the end of the day, no matter where you're at, whether you've been here a thousand times or this is your first time, maybe you're not even sure where you stand on the whole God Jesus thing.

We just want you to know on the forefront, A, we love you, we're so glad you're here, and B, there is a God who lives and he knows you and he loves you, and you can know him too.

And that's something that we just hope everybody experiences.

Last Sunday we started a new series called When I Feel.

When I feel, and we're talking about all about feelings.

And we're not just talking about those surface-level feelings that all of us have that sometimes you just have to sort of power through.

Like, like if you feel frustrated or you feel like a little disappointed, most of the time the answer to that is kind of like get over it.

Because it's just a feeling, and we all deal with frustration, and we all deal with disappointment, and you'll be fine.

Like we do live in a culture that sort of elevates feelings to a level that they shouldn't be, and and that's not that's just not a healthy way to live.

It's not going to do any of us any good.

But there are those those deeper feelings.

There are those those feelings that take root deep within us, and they're they're inescapable.

And you can't just ignore them.

You either deal with them or they deal with you.

And often it's these feelings that that sort of dictate the experience that we have in life.

It's these deep, deep feelings that for us dictate the amount of joy and fulfillment that we actually experience in life.

In fact, very often, much of the joy and fulfillment that we're experiencing has far more to do with the way we feel things are going in our life, in our lives, than actually the way things are going at all.

It's how we feel about it that affects us more than how it's actually going.

So we have to learn, if we have any hope of living the life that Jesus has told us He has for us, this life that is full, it is satisfying, this life where we know who we are, we know what our purpose is.

If we have any hope of actually living that life, we've got to be people who at some level have the ability to deal with these deep emotions.

Last week we talked about emptiness.

Very often, if we find ourselves feeling angry or jealous or bored, it's indicative of a deep emptiness.

Something isn't filling us that should be.

And so last week we talked about that.

We talked about how we have to deal with the leaks in our lives, the lids, the things that are keeping us from being filled in the first place, and lesser things.

How sometimes we we run so hard after things that just do not satisfy.

And Jesus is not a lesser thing.

And he can take the lid off and he can patch the leaks.

And so that was last Sunday.

Today we're gonna talk about another deep feeling.

It's fear.

Now, very often we don't say like I'm afraid.

Beyond like seventh, eighth grade, maybe even beyond like first grade, we very rarely go to people and say, I'm scared.

We say things like, I'm anxious, I'm nervous, I'm worried, I'm stressed.

But all of that, all of that anxiety, anxiousness, nervousness, worry, stress, whatever word that you use, those are all rooted in fear.

It's very easy to live our lives afraid.

In fact, we we live in a world that wants us in many ways to be afraid.

That works really hard to keep us afraid, because when you're afraid, you're motivated to make sudden decisions.

And there's people who benefit from those decisions.

But as followers of Jesus, if you've given your life to Jesus, you are not meant to be afraid of anything.

And so today we're gonna talk about how we deal with fear.

Now, I don't know if you can remember the first time in your life you were like truly afraid.

I do.

I was seven years old and I was watching one of the Freddie Krueger movies.

Um, as you know, seven-year-olds do.

So a little bit of backdrop here.

I I have an older brother, and he is eight years older than me.

And he's my half-brother, but I give him full credit, so it's all good.

So, Brant, if you're watching, even though you're half-brother, you know, full credit.

So my older brother, eight years older.

So when I'm seven, he's 15.

And because he was my half-brother, my dad had had partial custody with with uh with his mom.

And so every other weekend, my older brother and sister would come and stay with us.

And it was like, for me, as a seven-year-old kid, my 15-year-old brother is gonna come hang out for two days and he can't escape me.

It was amazing.

It was like, and he was just he was cool, he's 15, and he was so much bigger than me, so much older than me.

I loved him.

And I thought he he walked on water in my world.

So when he came home, it was a big deal.

And his bedroom was in the basement of our house.

It was the only bedroom down there.

We had a little TV room, kind of a play area, and then it was his room.

And when he came and stayed, my parents let me stay up as late as I wanted to with my brother.

But the parental supervision ended around 8 p.m.

And my brother would always bring VHS movies that he had had either rented or borrowed from somebody, he would always bring movies with him.

And there wasn't like my mom wasn't screening the movies at the door.

I don't even think she knew these were a thing.

But about you know nine o'clock, he'd bust out a movie.

And I would watch these movies with him.

These are some of my earliest memories are watching movies with my older brother at that age in our basement.

The negative of that is that none of them were appropriate, like absolutely none of them at all.

And so I have like, you know those movies you saw when you were a kid and you have deep nostalgia for?

Like you love them because it just because you saw them when you were young, and so naturally you're like, I love this movie.

None of mine are movies I can watch with my children.

It's just how I it's how I grew up.

And so, like, one of the movies I have the deepest nostalgia for, like, to me, it's like a kid's movie that I was the movie Predator.

Like, I saw that movie seven years old and thought it was amazing.

Again, it I'm not I'm not recommending that as a movie.

I'm not saying that this is how it should be.

I'm just saying I saw it at seven with my brother, thought it was awesome, and then later in life was like, oh man, my son's getting a little older, my oldest, maybe I'll watch some movies with him from my childhood, Predator be awesome, watched about 20 minutes, but was like, no way.

Why?

Not just why was I watching that at seven, why did my brother have that movie?

Like, who I don't know what was going on.

So it was movies like that.

You know, Die Hard, best Christmas movie of all time.

Like, I saw that at seven years old.

And, you know, I got married.

Megan had a different childhood than me, especially when it comes to the media filters.

And so she's like, What's what's your favorite Christmas movie?

And I was like, Die Hard.

And she's like, It's a wonderful life.

I said, I've never seen that.

And she'd never seen Die Hard.

So, you know, we we we watch each other's movies.

It's good.

So my brother would come home and he would bring these movies with him.

And I remember at seven years old, he puts in this movie.

And it's it's one of the, I don't know which one, just one of the Freddie Krueger movies from the 80s.

There were a lot of those movies in the 80s, like slasher stuff, horror movies.

And I have this distinct memory of sitting on this couch next to my brother, wanting to like cry and hide under a blanket.

But like, no way.

I'm next to my big brother, I want him to think I'm cool.

He was laughing at it, and like, because you know he's a teenager, he's 15, like, it's cool to him, and I'm sitting there like, ha ha ha ha.

But inside, I'm like, please, God, if you're real.

I don't even know if I knew about God at that age, but like, oh, I was terrified.

And I remember going to bed after that.

Just like, I'm gonna die.

Like, that's the I'm going to die.

I was so afraid.

I was so afraid.

In fact, the only thing that even got me through it at all was just the fact that I was with my older brother.

And when I was around him, I was a little bit more brave.

Fear is perhaps the most common emotion that we as people struggle with.

And when you're young, very often, you know, hopefully, depending on your life and your circumstances, when you're young, a lot of times the things that we're afraid of are fantastical, right?

It's it's monsters under the bed, it's it's some crazy scenario that is very unlikely to play out.

And then we get older, and the things that we become afraid of are very, very real.

They're very tangible.

And if we're not careful, we can become people whose lives are dominated by fear.

Where almost every decision we make is simply based in avoiding anxiety or stress or worry.

And if we're honest with ourselves, sometimes our lives are just us making decisions completely focused on avoiding fear and the things that make us afraid.

But that is not the life that God has for you.

2 Timothy chapter 1, verse 7.

2 Timothy 1:7

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

Some translations say a sound mind.

God has not given us a spirit of fear, but rather one of power, love, and self-discipline.

That's one of the interesting things about being a Jesus follower that we have to understand is that if you've given your life to Jesus, there is a deeper part of you than your emotions.

It's your spirit.

And your spirit is not afraid.

The Holy Spirit lives inside of you.

Whatever language you want to use, your spirit has come alive.

It's been awakened by God.

And that spirit inside of you is the deepest part of who you are.

And I promise you, no matter what you're facing right now, no matter what situation you're in, no matter what your mind, no matter what your flesh can imagine happening that you're afraid of, the Holy Spirit inside of you is afraid of nothing and no one.

So you have a spirit within you that is not afraid.

Ever.

Alright, ask Jesus, what are you scared of?

Nothing.

And we've got to learn, as Jesus' followers, to live out of that spirit.

But it's not easy.

It's tough.

There's a lot to be afraid of.

So let's examine a few things this morning.

Number one, let's let's start at least by acknowledging this truth.

Fear is a bad filter.

Our lives have to be at some point rooted in deep truths.

Those truths that are foundational.

And I think this is one of them.

Fear is a bad filter.

I've never heard someone say that they made the best decision of their lives while terrified.

I've never heard someone tell a story like I was afraid, I was so worried, I was so stressed, and in that fear, in that worry, I made just the most amazing decision.

And my life has been forever better because of that.

I was so afraid I made the best decision of all time.

Never, never heard that.

No, fear is a bad filter.

When you think through fear, you always come to conclusions that don't actually work out.

Great example of that.

1 Samuel chapter 13.

1 Samuel 13 · chapter mention

Saul is the first king of Israel.

And he hasn't been king for very long.

And he's about to go into a battle.

He's been given this very simple instruction by the prophet who anointed him to be king.

This man's name was Samuel.

Samuel said, Hey, before you go into battle, I, Samuel the prophet, need to make a sacrifice to the Lord.

That's the way their culture worked.

He says, So wait for me.

I'll be back in seven days.

So Saul waits.

But here's what it says.

Verse 8, Saul waited there seven days for Samuel, as Samuel had instructed him earlier, but Samuel still did not come.

Saul realized that his troops were rapidly slipping away.

So he demanded, Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings, and Saul sacrificed the burnt offering himself.

Just as Saul was finishing with the burnt offering, Samuel arrived.

Saul went out to meet and welcome him.

But Samuel said, What is this that you've done?

Saul replied, I saw my men scattering from me, and you didn't arrive when you said you would.

And the Philistines are at Mi'kmash, ready for battle.

So I said, The Philistines are ready to march against us at Gilgal, and I haven't even asked the Lord's help.

So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering myself before you came.

How foolish, Samuel exclaimed, You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you.

Had you kept it, the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.

But now your kingdom must end.

For the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart.

The Lord has already appointed him to be the leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord's command.

Now this might seem harsh, it might seem sudden, but the reality is if you're the king, your decisions really matter.

And Samuel knows this, God certainly knows this, that he's gonna have a lot of tough decisions to make as king.

And if every time he gets a little worried, he's rash and takes matters into his own hands, that's gonna be disaster for his nation.

And it's interesting because Saul says, I felt compelled to offer these sacrifices.

Well, what compelled him?

It was fear.

I mean, he said it, I saw my men were slipping away.

I saw that they were slipping away, and I felt compelled.

Fear was my filter, and I made a decision out of fear.

I made a decision that was motivated by mitigating my own fear and the fear of the people around me and and disaster.

Fear is a bad filter.

If we let fear be the filter that we think through when we make our decisions in life, it will always disappoint us.

I have a friend who had a job years ago, and and at his his company they got this really cool piece of equipment.

I think it was a certain type of camera.

And it was way ahead of its time.

It was really, really cool, but it was the company's camera.

But not many people really used it.

And so it would kind of just sit for days and days and days, and every once in a while they'd use it for a project, but it was mainly just on a shelf.

And he had this thing going on in his personal life, and he's like, ooh, man, I want to use that camera to capture this.

And he kind of wanted to play around with it anyway, get better at it, and so he just took it home one night.

And he forgot to bring it back the next day.

And someone noticed that the really expensive new camera was missing, and so this company-wide email goes out saying, Has anyone seen this camera?

And he got that email and he panicked because it's at his house.

And so he he decided, in in fear of what would happen to him, to bring it back the next day secretly and put it somewhere strange.

And then he found it.

Right?

He he found it.

And so he sort of said, Hey, I I found the camera.

It was it was over here in this weird place.

And at first everyone was like, oh, awesome.

But then people started going, why was it there?

That doesn't make, it doesn't make any sense.

Who put it there?

And so finally people think through it and they go, hey, come on, tell us the truth.

And he had to fess up, okay, I took it home.

And I got that email and I was I was scared.

And so here's what I did.

And he ended up losing that job.

Now he he got a new one and he's doing great.

And he learned his lesson, but it was a hard lesson to learn.

But the reality is, just like Saul, his decision was motivated by fear.

Oh no.

I've messed up.

I can either own it, which takes some courage, or I can try to find a way around it.

I can try to do something to mitigate the fear of people finding out, and it backfired completely, just like Saul.

Fear is a bad filter.

Now, for some of us, this might just be like, okay, thanks for the information, but for others of us, we might be right now in the midst of a major decision.

And whatever that decision is, just know that if your primary filter in the decision that you need to make is fear, you will not make the right decision.

If you say, I'm making this decision because I'm afraid, I'm afraid that if I I don't, this might happen.

I'm afraid of what this person might think.

I'm afraid of if fear is the primary filter that you use to make your decisions, it will always backfire.

Because fear is a bad filter.

Fear is irrational.

It's like we're driving in the car the other day, and one of my kids in the back screams because there's a spider.

And let's just be honest, how many of us, just out of curiosity, are afraid of spiders?

Like any spiders are gross and weird and creepy.

They have eight legs, eight eyes, they shouldn't exist.

Like it shouldn't be, right?

They're monsters.

They are monsters.

They actually are.

A lot of things in the world are actual monsters.

They're just little monsters.

But there is no rational reason why you should ever be afraid of a spider.

Like you just shouldn't be.

They're tiny.

You can kill them with your finger.

There's no reason to ever, can we just agree?

There's no reason to ever be afraid of anything you can kill with one of your fingers.

Right?

That's why God is afraid of nothing.

Because one of his fingers can do anything, I guess.

I don't know.

But like, seriously, fear is a bad filter.

It's irrational.

Don't make decisions out of fear.

They will not guide you well.

Not only is fear a bad filter, let's just take it a step further.

Fear is it is not of God.

There are certain things that come from the Lord.

Like wisdom comes from the Lord.

Understanding comes from the Lord.

Courage comes from the Lord.

Real love, the kind of love that we're called to live in, that comes from the Lord.

You can't just muster that by your own strength.

But fear does not come from the Lord.

That's why constantly in Scripture we're told, people everywhere are told, don't be afraid.

Matthew 10, 28, for example, says, Don't be afraid of those, this is Jesus talking, I love this.

Don't be afraid of those who want to kill your body.

They cannot touch your soul.

Fear only God who can destroy both body and soul in hell.

That's like a scary thing that Jesus said that might make you feel afraid.

That's not his intention.

He's telling people, don't be afraid of people.

All they can do is kill your body.

Big deal.

It's gonna die anyway.

Like that's literally what Jesus is saying, and he's saying this to people who are gonna face certain death for following him.

But he's saying, like, look, just if you're gonna be afraid of anyone, logically, be afraid of God.

But don't be afraid of people.

Don't fear.

Joshua chapter 1, verse 9.

Joshua 1:9

God says, This is my command, be strong and courageous.

Do not be afraid or discouraged.

For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Isaiah 41, 10.

Don't be afraid, for I'm with you.

Don't be discouraged, for I'm your God.

I will strengthen you and help you.

I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

Hundreds of times in Scripture, we are told not to be afraid.

Do not be afraid.

Hundreds of times.

Maybe it's in the Bible hundreds of times because we really struggle with fear.

But God tells us, do not be afraid.

Jesus actually had a hard time in certain moments understanding why his followers were afraid.

One of the best stories for that, Mark chapter 4, verses 35 through 41 says, as evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, Let's cross to the other side of the lake, which was actually a small sea called the Sea of Galilee.

Mark 4:35–41

So they took Jesus in the boat and they started out, leaving the crowds behind.

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.

I love this mental picture.

The disciples woke him up shouting, Teacher, don't you care that we're going to drown?

Which is a horrible way to wake somebody up.

Right?

And when Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, Silence be still.

Suddenly the wind stopped and there was a great calm.

And then he asked them, Why are you afraid?

Do you still have no faith?

The disciples were absolutely terrified.

But now they're terrified of him.

Who is this man?

They asked each other.

Even the wind and the waves obey him.

Now, it says they were terrified.

It's a good kind of fear.

The Bible does say that we should have a healthy fear of the Lord.

That doesn't mean that you're trembling and worried that he's going to smite you or something like that.

What it means is you should like reverently recognize that God is God.

And he's amazing and he's loving, but he should also probably be taken seriously.

Kind of like Jesus mentioned earlier.

The fear they felt when they woke.

Jesus up was that fear that motivates so many of us.

We're anxious, we're worried, we're stressed.

What's gonna happen?

Or is this it?

Is this how it's gonna end?

What am I gonna do?

I have no idea what to do.

I'm drowning here.

Like literally, we're about to drown.

And they wake Jesus up, and Jesus is perplexed.

Why were you afraid?

That should be an obvious answer.

The boat was sinking, Jesus.

Why were you asleep?

That's maybe more the logical question.

Why were you afraid?

But to Jesus, he's like, why in the world did you wake me up from my nap?

Because of a storm?

You thought.

Do you not realize who I am?

See, fear is not from God.

Fear is a bad filter.

It is not of God.

And ultimately, what this story reminds us is that fear is not our friend.

Fear is not meant to be your companion in life.

It is not meant to be your traveling buddy.

Some of us have been living life with fear in either the driver's seat or, at the very least, a backseat driver much of the time for far too long, and it's time to kick fear out of the car.

Fear is not your friend.

Fear never leads you in the right direction, but I'll tell you who is your friend.

That is Jesus Christ.

See, go back to some of the scriptures that we we just read.

Joshua 1.9.

This is my command: be strong and courageous.

Do not be afraid or discouraged.

For the Lord, why?

Why shouldn't you be afraid or discouraged?

Because the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

God's with you.

Isaiah 41, 10.

Don't be afraid.

Why?

For I am with you.

Don't be discouraged, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you.

I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

Psalm 23, 4 says, even when I walk through the darkest valley, the valley of the shadow of death, some translations say, I will not be afraid.

Why?

For you are close beside me.

For you are with me.

Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.

Jesus basically says to his disciples in the boat, Why were you afraid?

I'm right here.

I'm with you.

And we said this last week, guys.

There are things people will promise you that Jesus says, or people will say that Jesus promises that are just incorrect.

Jesus never promises us a life that is freed of problems, challenges, struggles.

He never promises us endless wealth.

He never promises us like whatever our wildest dreams are.

He blesses us with those things very often.

That's great.

And he'll bless us as we work really hard and focus on those types of goals.

Sure, go for it.

But he never promises us that if we follow him, all of these things will just come falling into our laps.

But he does make us some really deep promises.

We talked about one last week.

Like we talked about being empty.

One of the things Jesus promises is to fill us.

He said, Come to me all of you who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness, for having a right relationship with God, and I will fill you.

You will be filled.

Jesus promises to give us a full life.

That's why he said that the thief, talking about our enemy, Satan, comes to steal and kill and destroy, but I give you a full life.

Some translations say a rich and satisfying life.

So Jesus promises to fill us.

If we live with him, we don't have to be empty.

He also promises to be with us.

In fact, when he talked to his disciples right before he ascended, right as he gave what we call the Great Commission, where he said, Go out to all nations, teaching them to be my disciples, and baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

He said, For I am with you.

I am with you.

Jesus is with you.

He's with you.

Whatever you're going through right now, he's there.

He's with you.

And he's awesome.

Whatever you're struggling with right now, whatever you're stressed about right now, he's with you.

You don't always feel his presence.

But you know, I have this memory, I think I've shared this before.

But I remember when one of my kids was maybe four or five years old, and everyone else was out of the house.

And I was somewhere in the house that my child wasn't aware of.

They were taking a nap, I was listening to some music, doing something, and all of a sudden I hear a scream.

And I go up the stairs, and there's my my child just frantic.

I mean, absolutely losing it, scared to death, tears streaming down their face.

And I'm like, hey, and they told me I thought I was alone.

And I realized, oh, this is a child who's never been by themselves.

You know, four or five years old, they've never woken up and and not known that their mom's there, their dad's there, their siblings are there.

They've never been by themselves.

And just the thought, the first time ever in their mind, I'm alone, even though they're in their house, was terrifying.

Sometimes, guys, we're like that.

We we're terrified because we think we're alone.

We don't necessarily feel God's presence.

It's not obvious to us that he's there and that he's working.

But if you follow Jesus, you are never and will never be alone.

He is always there, he is always present.

Even if you cannot feel him, even if you're unaware of his presence, just like my child was unaware of mine, but I was there.

God is with you.

He's with you.

I said earlier, the the only thing that got me through the Freddy movie, and I wish I had just left, but you know, whatever.

You need those scars in life.

You need to be a little jacked up by the time you're you're 10 years old.

And so it's good.

The only thing that got me through it was that I was with my big brother, and I said that being around him just made me a little bit more brave.

And he was just a scrawny 15-year-old.

I'm bigger than him now.

And I'm not even that big.

Jesus is.

Well, he is our big brother.

I talk about that from time to time.

It's cool to think about because it says in Scripture that if we give our lives to Jesus, we're adopted into the family of God.

He becomes our father.

That makes Jesus our older brother.

Are you more brave because of him?

Are you filled with courage?

Because you live your life in the conviction that your big brother Jesus is alive.

And he's powerful.

And there's nothing, there's nothing that he can't overcome.

See, that's when fear truly gives way.

That's when fear truly gives way.

I had a conversation with a gentleman earlier this week who's going through some really hard things.

And he was sharing with me the stuff that he's he's afraid of.

And it's serious stuff.

It's major life, life crisis type stuff, you know, a business that might fail, or the financial consequences of that, and he's going through it.

And on one hand, my heart is just breaking for him because that's really hard.

On the other hand, I've known so many people who have been through that.

And I've seen them go through it with Jesus and come out the other side of it, and they're fine.

Because Jesus has already conquered everything.

Whatever you're going through right now, no matter how difficult, it's not something Jesus hasn't already defeated.

Countless times.

I'm not just talking about in some conceptual sense, like, oh yeah, Jesus is the King of Kings, and so, yay, he's bigger than my problems.

It's like, no, no, no.

He has actually overcome your specific situation more times than you would even know.

You are surrounded by people right now who have been through things with Jesus that you're not aware of, the very thing that you're going through, they've been through it, they've been through it with God, and they've come out the other side of it and they're fine.

That's when fear truly gives way.

When you recognize this reality that whatever you're most afraid of, whatever the worst thing you could imagine happening to you is, if it happened to you, if your deepest fear actually came true, because you have Jesus in your life, you would be okay.

You would be fine.

Not saying it would be pleasant, not saying it'd be like the best moment of your life, but you would make it.

Even death.

Jesus is alive.

We don't, we don't, that's worth clapping for, right?

Absolutely.

He's alive.

He's alive.

And and like that's one of those concepts that we sing about, and it's fun to sing about.

Like we're saying that this morning.

Jesus is alive.

And it's it's not just a historical declaration, although it is.

I mean, one of the coolest things about evidence for Jesus' resurrection is the fact that when Jesus died on the cross, his followers freaked out and they all ran for their lives.

They were scared to death.

Every single one of them was in hiding, and then something changed.

A few days later, something happened, and these people went from being terrified, hiding, afraid for their very lives, to being the most bold people that this earth has ever seen.

Unafraid of death at a level that does not make any sense.

The original followers of Jesus who took the message of Jesus, every single place that they could go, that started this movement that we're still part of, they faced certain death.

There were no benefits.

It wasn't like, oh, you can become rich by following Jesus.

Like, no, no, no, no.

That didn't exist.

There were no giant churches to take advantage of or anything like that.

All the stuff that we see in the church world that's like icky and gross, and we're like, ah, none of that was there.

There was no opportunity.

It was literally follow Jesus and die.

And they weren't worried about it at all.

Because something had changed, something had happened that had removed that fear completely.

And that something is that they saw the very Jesus that died on that cross alive again.

Alive again.

And so Jesus has defeated death itself.

And he's defeated disease.

He's defeated guilt.

He's defeated anything you can imagine, anything you could go through, Jesus has already defeated it in his life and in the lives of countless people.

And so whatever you go through.

I like those.

It always starts on this side.

This side.

You guys gotta start a clap one.

Not now.

Don't do it now.

But I knew it.

That's good.

But Jesus is alive.

And here's what that means.

And we'll we'll wrap up.

We don't gather together to talk about, sing about, worship some dead guy that lived a really cool life and did really cool things and said really deep, amazing things.

We don't, that's not what we do.

We're not living to honor the memory of a great person who inspires us to live differently.

We gather together to be in the presence together.

Because he's everywhere.

He's always with you, but if he's with you and you and you and you, and he's with you, and he's with you, and we're all together, he's with like he's here.

That's why we feel his presence here so often.

But he is alive, he is active, he is doing things.

And I know that because I see Jesus change people's lives all the time.

And dead people can't change anything.

But Jesus is alive, so when you pray, he hears you because he's alive.

When you cry out to him, he hears you because he's alive.

And he's not alive and powerless, and he just sends you his well wishes.

He's alive, and he can either overcome and conquer your problems or he will walk you through them in such a way that you will come out the other side of them different, better, and changed.

Because he's alive, and that's what he does.

So, what are you most afraid of?

Better not be spiders.

It's just silly.

What are you most afraid of?

What is your deepest fear?

Whatever it is, it is not your friend.

It shouldn't be your filter.

It is not from God.

And in the presence of Jesus, it has to do what all lesser things do in the presence of Jesus.

Just fall down and fade away.

For years, my deepest fear was missing missing it with my family.

When I was 21, I had to do some blood work, and I had super high cholesterol at 21 years old.

Like super high.

And, you know, now to my I worked at a restaurant, and the first thing I did every day on my shift was I would grab a tray of fries and some ranch dressing.

And I dip the fries in ranch.

And I was a college kid, I could do whatever I wanted.

So I didn't prepare for that blood test right.

Like I definitely had a lot in my system that shouldn't have been there.

But still, I it it created this fear inside of me.

Like I was doomed.

Because I was healthy and active, I was an athlete.

I but I had this super high cholesterol, and I was like, oh no, I'm I'm doomed.

And you would think that that would have motivated me to be this incredibly self-controlled, like I eat right, and I'm actually it did the opposite for many years.

I I felt like it was over.

I just I had this, it's stupid and silly, but I was like, uh I didn't do anything to deserve this.

I didn't do anything, I have this thing, and I'm probably gonna die young and and I'm gonna miss things.

I'm gonna miss things.

That was my deepest fear.

And that fear only led me to do more of the things that would speed that up.

Does that make sense?

Like I just like because when I'd be afraid and I just eat worse food.

Ah, cheeseburgers, I'm gonna die.

I would think that often when I ate cheeseburgers.

But you know, I and I'll be honest, that fear still pops up, because that's what fear does.

And then what you do when you're afraid is you you look at your wife and you say, like, am I gonna die?

And she's like, not today, probably.

Stop it.

And that's why, you know, you have a spouse.

To speak some sense into you.

But honestly, that was my fear.

I'm gonna miss it.

I'm not gonna miss anything.

Because Jesus is alive.

And I'm gonna live for all eternity with my king.

And however many years of memories I end up having on this earth, no matter what happens in my life, like I'm gonna have countless years in eternity with my God and everybody else.

I'm not gonna miss a thing.

See, fear is foolish in light of Jesus.

And so what are you most afraid of?

Whatever it is, I want you to, like, in your mind, it's kind of a cheesy thing, but uh, but but imagine that fear personified, grab it by the hand and walk it to Jesus.

And it will fall on its face and fade away in his presence.

Because nothing can stay on its feet in the presence of our King.

So what are you afraid of?

Nothing.

Do not live in fear.

Give your worries, your anxieties, your stresses, your fear, whatever it is, whatever word you use, give it to God and be like, God, here's this.

And he's gonna be like, yeah, I got it.

That's fine.

I don't know if you know I beat death.

Right?

Jesus can say that.

So even if it is death, like, yeah, I've been there, I've done that, I beat it.

There's nothing to fear.

Jesus says this as we'll close.

John 16, 33.

I've told you all this so that you may have peace in me.

Here on the earth, you will have many trials and sorrows.

But take heart, because I have overcome the world.

That's our big brother.

And you should be more brave when you're standing next to him.

If you haven't given your life to him, it's super easy.

You gotta do it.

Like peer pressure, like you gotta.

All of us are like, you have to do it.

It's it's the cool thing to do.

No, it's honestly, it changes everything.

If you're here today, you're watching from home, and you have never surrendered your life to Jesus, just know that you either surrender your life to the King of Kings, or you surrender your life to something less.

And very often we live our lives surrendered to fear and worry and stress.

But if you would turn to him, he will conquer all of that.

Because he's already overcome the world.

So give your life to him, get baptized, go all in, see what happens.

We're gonna finish with Lord's Supper this morning.

And so if you have a cup when you came in, these were on the tables.

If you didn't grab one, by the way, like you can throw it on the ground, whatever you want to do.

Uh no, you can go grab one real quick.

You're never gonna mess something up by going and grabbing one of these.

You're not like, ooh, I it's not the walk of shame, okay?

This meal, it represents everything we're talking about.

This this meal comes from a moment that Jesus had with his closest followers right before he faced death itself.

And this meal reminds us of his death.

The bread is his body that was broken on the cross, and the the juice is his blood that was spilled.

This is his death.

This represents his death.

And it was a horrible death, and it was a brutal death, and it was also a very temporary death because Jesus defeated death.

So there's nothing to be afraid of.

And this little meal can remind us of the courage that we have simply because he's alive.

So if you don't mind, let's take the bread.

Let's pray together.

Father God, thank you so much for this bread.

Thank you, Lord, for all that it represents.

Thank you, Lord, for reminding us of that moment that you faced something so horrific that any of us would naturally be afraid.

And you wrestled with fear, Jesus.

You did.

You you prayed and asked if there was another way, let it be so.

And when it was clear that this was the only way, you surrendered to that and said, All right, and you faced it.

You faced it with courage and intensity, so much passion for us.

So, Lord, as we take this, we ask that you displace the fear in our hearts and fill our hearts with courage.

Because you are our older brother and you've defeated everything, even death.

Just like this piece of bread reminds us, Lord, we thank you for that.

Let's take the bread.

Let's take the juice.

Father, thank you so much for this cup of juice, for what it means.

Your death, horrible as it was, it didn't last very long.

And it's a reminder, Lord, that the heaviest things, the scariest things that we face, the most terrifying circumstances that we can imagine, they just fade away in your presence.

No differently than death itself just had to fade away in your presence.

Remind us of that as we take this today, Lord.

Let's take the juice.