WEBVTT NOTE Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver Episode: Stepping out of Fear Publishing Date: 2025-06-15T06:04:44-07:00 Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/stepping-out-of-fear/ 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:24.580 Last week, if you want a title, it says, Stepping Out of Fear. Do any of you have a pen that 00:00:24.580 --> 00:00:33.940 works on this? Okay. Stepping Out of Fear. So last week we said that some of the things 00:00:33.940 --> 00:00:40.080 that really affect us or keep us back from working with the Holy Spirit is the fear of 00:00:40.080 --> 00:00:54.900 man, the fear of foolishness, the fear of God failing us, the fear of failure, the fear 00:00:54.900 --> 00:01:03.260 of losing control, and the fear of a loss of security. That's what we said last week, 00:01:03.260 --> 00:01:07.880 that these are the things that prevent us from walking or working with the Spirit of 00:01:07.880 --> 00:01:19.920 God. The fear of man, the fear of foolishness, the fear of God failing us, the fear of failure, 00:01:19.920 --> 00:01:28.160 the fear of losing control, and the fear of a loss of security. And so I want to start 00:01:28.160 --> 00:01:36.760 with the fear of God failing us because most of us go through this thing where, what if 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:43.400 me up? It's like the little child who wants to jump off a couch or jump into the pool 00:01:43.400 --> 00:01:48.320 and the question in the mind of the child as the child grows up. When the child is joys 00:01:48.320 --> 00:01:52.800 age, it doesn't matter. They leap off and then expect you to be there. But once you 00:01:52.800 --> 00:01:58.680 get to a certain age, you begin to think, Daddy, what if you don't catch me? And so 00:01:58.680 --> 00:02:04.020 it's the same with God where most of us or all of us, I wouldn't say most of us, all 00:02:04.020 --> 00:02:11.020 of us, at some point or the other, begin to get scared about what if God doesn't? Because 00:02:11.660 --> 00:02:18.660 there have been times where it's happened and now you're gun shy. That aside, petty 00:02:18.940 --> 00:02:25.940 disappointments accumulate over time and these petty disappointments keep adding up. And 00:02:26.940 --> 00:02:32.020 we don't realize the weight of it, but one disappointment after the other add up and 00:02:32.020 --> 00:02:39.020 once they add up, you begin to increase in doubts and you begin to lower your faith 00:02:39.540 --> 00:02:45.140 and your expectation. It undermines your faith, undermines your expectation, and it increases 00:02:45.140 --> 00:02:51.180 doubt. And there's nobody here who doesn't go through this. Some of the best men in the 00:02:51.180 --> 00:02:56.380 Bible went through this. Moses, when God is speaking directly to him at the burning bush, 00:02:57.180 --> 00:03:04.180 he has this visible expression of something divine that's happening right in front of 00:03:04.340 --> 00:03:10.140 him. And God is saying to Moses, listen, I need you to go to Pharaoh, but Moses has fled 00:03:10.140 --> 00:03:16.900 Egypt. He's been a shepherd for the last 40 years. And he says, no. The same thing happens 00:03:16.900 --> 00:03:23.900 to Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 15, 18, Jeremiah is pretty resentful and he says to God, you 00:03:23.980 --> 00:03:30.980 are like a deceptive brook. Never know whether you're going to come through or not. That's 00:03:32.980 --> 00:03:39.980 harsh words from one of God's favorite prophets. God's response is, if you don't separate the 00:03:40.180 --> 00:03:46.620 nonsense or the vile from that which is wholesome, you cannot be my spokesman. But Jeremiah had 00:03:46.620 --> 00:03:53.620 the same doubt. Gideon, Joshua chapter 6, verse 13, Gideon says, if you are calling me a myself, 00:03:53.900 --> 00:03:57.420 a mighty warrior, and if you're saying you're going to turn up, then tell me why are we 00:03:57.420 --> 00:04:02.820 where we are at, where these guys come and ravages again and again and again. And so 00:04:02.820 --> 00:04:08.900 Gideon's scared to trust God, though he's got an angel standing in front of him. So 00:04:08.900 --> 00:04:15.900 this is not a good thing, but it's a normal thing. And so all of us are scared of God 00:04:16.900 --> 00:04:23.900 failing us. But the fact is God does not fail, but the quality of faith and the outcome does 00:04:27.900 --> 00:04:34.060 fail in our lives. God does not fail because he doesn't know how to, and he's God. That's 00:04:34.060 --> 00:04:41.060 why God, it's not part of his equation, but the quality of faith and the outcomes can 00:04:41.900 --> 00:04:48.900 fail. And so how does that play out? Sometimes you see that nothing is happening even though 00:04:51.540 --> 00:04:58.540 you think you had something that God promised you. Nothing is happening immediately, and 00:04:59.100 --> 00:05:06.100 nothing is happening over a long period of time. Sometimes it's worse. Exactly the opposite 00:05:06.660 --> 00:05:13.660 begins to happen. Then it gets a little worse. It's happening for others that you think don't 00:05:13.660 --> 00:05:19.820 deserve it, but it isn't happening to you. And finally, whatever is supposed to happen, 00:05:19.820 --> 00:05:24.940 whatever the promise was, whatever the spoken word to you was, it just withers and dies. 00:05:24.940 --> 00:05:29.940 And this is again common to our experience. Must face up to it that this does happen, 00:05:29.940 --> 00:05:35.060 yeah? Because if you don't face up to it, then we don't get a starting point. Sometimes 00:05:35.060 --> 00:05:39.860 what has been said does not happen. Sometimes you've been waiting for long, and it begins 00:05:39.860 --> 00:05:45.380 to wither and die because there's no more strength left. Or sometimes it's happening 00:05:45.380 --> 00:05:49.540 for others, but it isn't happening for you. Or sometimes, and this has happened to me, 00:05:49.540 --> 00:05:54.140 where I'm so sure God said it'll happen, and on the day that he said it'll happen, exactly 00:05:54.140 --> 00:05:59.740 opposite starts happening. That really is sucky, huh? When you're waiting in great anticipation 00:06:00.060 --> 00:06:07.060 and goes the other way. I'm assuming that this is also your experience, that I'm not 00:06:08.100 --> 00:06:13.980 the only one going through this? Okay. You had such stoic faces, it was like, don't know 00:06:13.980 --> 00:06:20.620 what you're talking about. Okay. So why does it wreck you? When this happens, why does 00:06:20.620 --> 00:06:26.820 it wreck you? It wrecks you because you and I have been taught, you hear me talking about 00:06:26.820 --> 00:06:33.820 it, you talk to yourself about it, the Bible says that you and I expect faith to be rewarded. 00:06:36.060 --> 00:06:41.660 And so why does it wreck us so much? Why does it make us God shy or gun shy, once bitten, 00:06:41.660 --> 00:06:48.660 twice shy and all that stuff? Because you expect faith to be rewarded and nothing is 00:06:48.740 --> 00:06:55.740 happening. You are so sure that you heard God or that the word was for you or a prophetic 00:06:56.060 --> 00:07:00.820 word was uttered. There were so many things that confirmed what you heard and it's still 00:07:00.820 --> 00:07:07.820 not happening and really begins to wreck you. The third thing you think is, you expected 00:07:11.780 --> 00:07:18.780 it, you prayed, you trusted God, how come there's nothing to show for it? Or if he has 00:07:19.780 --> 00:07:26.780 the power and you look at him as father, why isn't the father who has power, why isn't 00:07:29.260 --> 00:07:36.260 he intervening? Why does it just go on and on and on? And worse, you've gone ahead and 00:07:36.260 --> 00:07:39.860 told people and others are watching and they're beginning to question you, they're beginning 00:07:39.860 --> 00:07:46.860 to question your God and they're beginning to question your faith. That's why it wrecks 00:07:46.860 --> 00:07:53.860 us when these things happen. And the longer we stay there, the less likely we are to begin 00:07:55.700 --> 00:08:01.980 to trust him the way we used to trust him. And we live with this continuous thought that 00:08:01.980 --> 00:08:08.540 he is sovereign, he is God, he can't be relied on because he'll have some wonderful reason 00:08:08.540 --> 00:08:15.540 that you don't know of because he won't do it. And once you get into that rut, it's very 00:08:15.540 --> 00:08:22.540 hard. Any questions or anything you want to add to it? Okay. So when this happens, how 00:08:31.580 --> 00:08:37.940 do you and I respond? Some of our responses will be, can't trust God with things that 00:08:37.940 --> 00:08:44.940 are big. Got to make sure that these big decisions, got to make sure that there are things that 00:08:45.540 --> 00:08:49.780 are big. Got to make sure that there is a backup plan. Got to make sure that, yeah, 00:08:49.780 --> 00:08:55.140 I'll trust God, but if it doesn't come through, I've got a backup plan. Or, can't trust God 00:08:55.140 --> 00:09:01.460 fully with it, I've got to find other ways to get what I need also in case it doesn't 00:09:01.460 --> 00:09:05.500 work out. So the first thing is can't trust God. The second thing, and each one is sometimes 00:09:05.500 --> 00:09:11.220 worse than the other, the second thing is you won't attempt faith. You won't risk faith. 00:09:11.220 --> 00:09:17.620 You won't attempt faith because you don't want to be disappointed. Because really, sometimes 00:09:17.620 --> 00:09:24.620 the hardest thing to recover from, it works. It works there. Okay, the sermon just got 00:09:31.820 --> 00:09:38.820 longer. It's not my fault today. Okay, so one, you can't, ha, you can't trust God. You 00:09:41.780 --> 00:09:48.780 can't. I couldn't trust her, you see. I can't. So, ha, ha, ha. So you can't trust God. That's 00:09:52.580 --> 00:09:59.580 the first thing that happens when your faith doesn't have reward and it wrecks you. You 00:09:59.660 --> 00:10:04.940 start not trusting God. The second thing, and this I think is worse, you won't attempt 00:10:04.940 --> 00:10:11.940 faith. You won't attempt, hey, this makes my writing look better than it is. I got like 00:10:13.420 --> 00:10:20.420 a thingy today. You won't attempt faith. That's sad, eh? Because strangely enough, you may 00:10:24.260 --> 00:10:31.260 think that it's people that can disappoint you most, but for believers who are trusting, 00:10:32.260 --> 00:10:39.260 when faith is disappointed, it really stings, eh? It hurts. And so you stop attempting faith 00:10:41.180 --> 00:10:46.780 because you don't want to go through it again. Because we are in relationship with an invisible 00:10:46.780 --> 00:10:52.580 one, and that itself is amazing, but when that doesn't work, what do you do? So you 00:10:52.580 --> 00:10:59.580 won't attempt faith. You change your expectation and confession. You change your expectation 00:11:01.900 --> 00:11:08.420 meaning you start expecting less or you dilute your expectation and you change your confession. 00:11:08.420 --> 00:11:15.420 You don't say what you would normally say about stuff. In Genesis 15, verse 2, at some 00:11:20.540 --> 00:11:27.340 point Abraham, because he's a little unsure of what will happen, when God tells him you're 00:11:27.340 --> 00:11:31.700 going to have a son, and it's been a while he hasn't had a son, and now God is saying, 00:11:31.700 --> 00:11:37.500 again, you'll have a son. Abraham's response in Genesis 15 to it is, oh, thank you, God. 00:11:37.500 --> 00:11:44.140 Yes, my son, my servant, Eliezer, will bear me a son. So he's already gone from him having 00:11:44.140 --> 00:11:49.300 a son to, yeah, you're right, oh God, bless your name. Thank you for Eliezer, who will 00:11:49.300 --> 00:11:56.300 have a son for me. He's lowered his expectation and he's diluted his confession. If you don't, 00:11:56.980 --> 00:12:01.740 some of us choose not to attempt faith. Some of us change our expectation and lower our 00:12:01.740 --> 00:12:08.740 confession. What else? This is a common one. Resentment builds against God. Resentment 00:12:08.740 --> 00:12:15.740 builds against God. This is why Jeremiah says, you're a deceptive brook, you cannot 00:12:15.740 --> 00:12:20.740 be trusted. That's basically what he's saying. My pain is perpetual, you're a deceptive brook. 00:12:20.740 --> 00:12:27.740 So resentment builds against God, and it distorts his face, it distorts his face, and he's 00:12:27.740 --> 00:12:32.740 not going to be trusted. He's not going to be trusted. He's not going to be trusted. 00:12:33.740 --> 00:12:40.740 So resentment builds against God, and it distorts his face, it distorts his face, as in you 00:12:40.740 --> 00:12:47.740 don't see him as kind or willing anymore, and your trust is hollowed out. Your trust 00:12:49.580 --> 00:12:56.580 vanes. And these experiences, these experiences, 00:13:03.420 --> 00:13:10.420 these experiences affect you deeply and they become a stronghold. They become a stronghold. 00:13:10.420 --> 00:13:15.420 A stronghold is built over time, where brick by brick you now have a fortress in your mind 00:13:15.420 --> 00:13:19.740 that prevents you from trusting him. It becomes a stronghold, and strongholds can be occupied 00:13:19.740 --> 00:13:25.260 by spirits. You know, if you listen to what I've preached thus far, you would think I 00:13:25.260 --> 00:13:30.180 was anti-God, that I'm trying to convince you that God cannot be trusted. But this is 00:13:30.180 --> 00:13:37.180 reality. So you see Israel, after having worked as slaves in Egypt for long, when they brought 00:13:37.300 --> 00:13:42.900 out into the desert, what's their response to Joshua and Caleb? Joshua and Caleb said, 00:13:42.900 --> 00:13:48.060 they are like bread to us, but Israel says, no, can't believe that. We've been slaves 00:13:48.060 --> 00:13:53.620 for long. Israel used to face Goliath every day for 40 days, and when David turns up, 00:13:53.620 --> 00:13:57.720 they're not willing to go with David, because Goliath's been fighting them 40 days morning 00:13:57.720 --> 00:14:02.280 and evening, right after the morning sacrifice and the evening sacrifice. God hasn't showed 00:14:02.280 --> 00:14:09.280 up, and they don't have the courage. So these are the things that begin to happen to us. 00:14:10.560 --> 00:14:15.800 Once resentment builds against God, we disguise it, because we are believers. We know God 00:14:15.800 --> 00:14:22.100 is good, but everything around us and our mind tells us that, yes, God may be good, 00:14:22.100 --> 00:14:26.640 but he's not good to you. Once that begins to poison the well of the heart, it becomes 00:14:26.640 --> 00:14:33.640 very difficult. And in each of our lives, at this present moment, there are specific 00:14:33.840 --> 00:14:40.560 situations, sometimes one or two, sometimes three or four, that have taken such deep root, 00:14:40.560 --> 00:14:45.760 and it is almost impossible to go beyond it, because it has become a stronghold. So take 00:14:45.760 --> 00:14:52.760 a minute to think about it. To think about some things that are so deep-rooted now, that 00:14:52.760 --> 00:14:59.760 you're beginning to give up hope, because you don't think anything will change, because 00:14:59.760 --> 00:15:06.760 you trusted him. And all these things are active in your life. Occasionally, you see 00:15:06.880 --> 00:15:13.880 a glimmer, but it is like, it's like tofu. It's not real meat. Yeah? 00:15:13.880 --> 00:15:20.880 Think of something that has done this to you. 00:15:43.880 --> 00:15:50.880 One of the tricks the enemy tries is, can I convince Jacob that God is able, but not 00:15:54.920 --> 00:16:01.920 willing? One of the tricks that the devil tries very well, is very effective at, is 00:16:03.080 --> 00:16:09.720 can I convince Jacob that his God is able, but his God is not willing? And if he can 00:16:09.880 --> 00:16:15.880 get me to any point in my life where I'm looking for something, where I know he's able, I'll 00:16:15.880 --> 00:16:22.880 still go to him, but I'm hesitant about his willingness. Once I get there, I'm sunk. Because 00:16:26.720 --> 00:16:33.720 if someone is not willing, it's very hard to go to that person with a free, open heart. 00:16:33.720 --> 00:16:40.720 I don't think Christians have a problem believing God is able. Christians have a problem believing 00:16:44.200 --> 00:16:51.200 God is willing. So how do we correct this? Yeah, go ahead. 00:17:03.720 --> 00:17:10.720 Yeah. So you heard the question? Okay. Too bad. I'm kidding. So there are, he's a just 00:17:22.200 --> 00:17:29.200 God. There are consequences to things we do. How do we, how do we then, in talking about 00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:36.920 this, how do we deal with the consequences of things which may affect outcomes? So one 00:17:37.400 --> 00:17:42.560 of the things we have to, if we want to correct this, one of the things we'll have to hold 00:17:42.560 --> 00:17:48.600 sacrosanct that is inviolable is the very thing we were singing about, that he is a 00:17:48.600 --> 00:17:55.600 father. The attempt is always to push him from being father to being master, to being lord, 00:17:56.600 --> 00:18:03.120 to being savior, to being healer, to being redeemer. All are true of him. But the moment 00:18:03.120 --> 00:18:10.120 I lose the centrality of who God is, which is that he is a father, everything falls apart. 00:18:12.120 --> 00:18:18.820 That if I leave, everything collapses. So let's talk about consequences then. I do something 00:18:18.820 --> 00:18:24.280 wrong in, while I'm pursuing God for something, I do something wrong. There are consequences. 00:18:24.440 --> 00:18:31.440 How does a good father, how does Matt deal with consequences? Is it, is it a, is it a, 00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:38.280 is there a finality to it, or based on what he's saying, is there a consistency to help 00:18:38.280 --> 00:18:43.000 mold his child through the consequence into a place where the child begins to prosper 00:18:43.000 --> 00:18:50.000 again? If I lose the one sight of God as a father, everything falls apart. How does a 00:18:54.280 --> 00:18:57.680 father deal with the consequences? But as long as I can hold him as father, I know that 00:18:57.680 --> 00:19:04.680 even if I did something terribly rotten, that I am not removed, sidelined, set aside, never 00:19:07.320 --> 00:19:12.360 happens. One of the cool stories that I remember hearing was Ann Lotz. She's the daughter of 00:19:12.360 --> 00:19:17.720 Billy Graham. Billy Graham was quite famous then. She marries a guy that she's not supposed 00:19:17.720 --> 00:19:24.720 to marry. Her dad tells her not to. She still goes there and marries. He messes up. She 00:19:25.160 --> 00:19:31.880 can't stay with him anymore. And the camera crew is there because Billy Graham's daughter 00:19:31.880 --> 00:19:37.360 is now divorced. Her husband has done something wrong. And so they're waiting to catch her 00:19:37.360 --> 00:19:41.680 leaving her home. And she leaves through the back door. And she knows there's only one 00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:45.800 place to drive to. But she knows that's the last place she should drive to. Because she's 00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:51.320 Billy Graham's daughter. People will be waiting for her there. She'll ruin her dad's reputation 00:19:51.320 --> 00:19:58.320 and she drives. And he lives in this ranch-like place. And so she's driving up and there's 00:19:58.600 --> 00:20:02.800 a curve that leads to her house. And as she's turning the curve, she's weeping, thinking, 00:20:02.800 --> 00:20:07.440 my God, the shame that I brought him and his ministry when he had told me not to go into 00:20:07.440 --> 00:20:12.120 this marriage. And as she's driving up that long curve into the house, she sees a man 00:20:12.120 --> 00:20:18.800 walking down the curve. Who's that? Her dad. Why? Because her dad knew that she would come 00:20:18.800 --> 00:20:23.440 home. But instead of waiting inside, waiting for the gates to open, waiting for a knock 00:20:23.440 --> 00:20:30.440 on the door, he starts walking down the curve. And he meets her while she's driving up. I 00:20:30.960 --> 00:20:35.720 love the story because there was something about him that made him realize that, yes, 00:20:35.720 --> 00:20:41.080 his child has done something terrible. It'll ruin his reputation. It may ruin her reputation. 00:20:41.240 --> 00:20:45.840 But she is still his daughter. And yes, there will be consequences for the choices she's 00:20:45.840 --> 00:20:52.200 made. But he has to be there. Ibeli Graham, a mere mortal, sinful, mere mortal, can do 00:20:52.200 --> 00:20:59.200 that. If I can just hold this God as a father through my ups and downs, through my darkness, 00:20:59.520 --> 00:21:04.280 without distorting his face, that's the hardest thing to do. And the only way you can do it 00:21:04.280 --> 00:21:10.440 is if you hold him as father. There's something instinctive about every believer sitting here 00:21:10.600 --> 00:21:16.480 which makes it almost impossible for us, even in the darkest situations, to look at the 00:21:16.480 --> 00:21:22.120 father's face and think that there's something wrong with him as a father. It's just impossible 00:21:22.120 --> 00:21:29.120 for us. It doesn't compute. That's part of the reason we've been given a new spirit. 00:21:30.520 --> 00:21:34.520 I often say this, and maybe I've said this recently to you, Christians sometimes believe 00:21:34.520 --> 00:21:40.880 in not a triune God but four gods. There's God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy 00:21:40.880 --> 00:21:47.880 Spirit, and then there's a God we blame for everything. When you really think of it, if 00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:55.720 you actually begin to think of the Holy Spirit, how in the world can you blame him? He's the 00:21:55.720 --> 00:22:01.600 one who makes everything new, everything beautiful, everything adorable, everything we've done 00:22:01.600 --> 00:22:06.800 today that was worth anything, was made real to us because of him. When you look at Jesus, 00:22:06.800 --> 00:22:10.000 if you actually looked at him, if you looked at his nail scarred hands, if you just looked 00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:17.000 at his face, or if he just was chosen, how do you blame that Jesus? If you look at the 00:22:17.040 --> 00:22:21.520 father, oh my God, he's so blooming good, it's best not to look at him because then 00:22:21.520 --> 00:22:28.520 you can't make God a scapegoat. So what do we do? There's a triune God and then there's 00:22:28.520 --> 00:22:35.520 God the scapegoat. And that is the God we feel resentful towards. Every time you feel 00:22:36.280 --> 00:22:43.280 resentful towards God, go to the father. You will regret it because now you won't be able 00:22:43.840 --> 00:22:50.840 to be resentful. But as long as it's God, you've got someone to blame. Hold him secure 00:22:50.840 --> 00:22:57.840 through dark times because it's very hard for his face to be distorted, very hard. That's 00:23:02.120 --> 00:23:09.120 the first one. Second, sometimes when things disappoint us, laziness sets in and people 00:23:09.120 --> 00:23:16.120 use what has happened as an excuse not to work towards restoring things. Hebrews 6, 00:23:17.760 --> 00:23:24.760 verse 12 says, hey, make sure you don't get sluggish in your pursuit of God, where you 00:23:24.760 --> 00:23:28.760 become lethargic, where you say, and I've heard this a lot of times, and sometimes you 00:23:28.760 --> 00:23:33.760 know what you're doing, you're not doing it right. You're not doing it right. You're not 00:23:33.760 --> 00:23:40.760 doing it right. Sometimes you know the person is using it as an excuse. When people come 00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:50.720 up for prayer and they say stuff like, you know, I can't trust God, he doesn't come through, 00:23:50.720 --> 00:23:57.720 I'm not able to discern whether it's coming from deep hurt or trouble or whether it's 00:23:57.720 --> 00:24:04.720 just sheer laziness. I'm telling you, many times it's laziness because to go back into 00:24:06.480 --> 00:24:13.480 the discipline of finding time, seeking God out, connecting with him, it requires time. 00:24:17.880 --> 00:24:21.920 Sometimes it's sheer laziness. Hebrews 6, verse 12. Discern that, eh, because otherwise 00:24:21.920 --> 00:24:28.920 you'll spend hours listening to a sob story that you shouldn't be listening to. Sorry, 00:24:31.880 --> 00:24:38.880 I'm not trying to be funny, but, yeah. Next thing, use the axe head principle. What's 00:24:38.880 --> 00:24:45.880 the axe head principle? You've heard it before. Where did the axe fall? Elisha tells them 00:24:53.560 --> 00:24:59.560 to go cut down trees to build a school for the prophets. Elisha's word was like God's 00:24:59.560 --> 00:25:05.560 word. They go borrow an axe, they start to work, the axe head flies off, falls into the 00:25:05.560 --> 00:25:11.080 water, their staff remains, and they go and say, alas, alas, master, this axe head was 00:25:11.080 --> 00:25:15.680 borrowed, it's very expensive, what in the world are we going to do? And Elisha says, 00:25:15.680 --> 00:25:20.280 show me the spot where it fell, and they point towards the spot where it fell, and he says, 00:25:20.280 --> 00:25:25.920 throw the staff, they throw the rest of the axe, the metal axe head floats up, and he 00:25:25.920 --> 00:25:32.360 picks it up and they continue. The point being, where was the last time you were sure you 00:25:32.360 --> 00:25:38.640 were on track with God? Go back to that place and start again. Most women do that when 00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:45.640 they're driving. They go back to the last place where they were lost. Most men don't. 00:25:45.640 --> 00:25:51.640 They just go around in circles. But women go back to the last place and then they say, 00:25:51.640 --> 00:25:58.640 oh yeah, yeah, I remember this spot, and then they call their husbands. But the point is, 00:25:59.520 --> 00:26:06.520 that you go back to the last place where you tracked with God. You must try this. It's 00:26:07.520 --> 00:26:12.960 worth it. There's nobody like God. There is no plan like God's plan. There is no promise 00:26:12.960 --> 00:26:19.200 like God's promise. There are things about him that are so guaranteed that if the guarantee 00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:26.040 is not working, go back to the guarantor and say, your company said this works, this is 00:26:26.040 --> 00:26:33.040 not working, fix it. He then begins a process where he says, all right, May, I said this. 00:26:33.040 --> 00:26:40.040 All right, Evan, I said this. All right, hip, I said this. And start from there again. It's 00:26:43.120 --> 00:26:49.560 critical. So many things don't work in my life. Like every week there's something that's 00:26:49.560 --> 00:26:55.880 not working in my life. Just so you know, we're all in the same boat. I have to go back 00:26:55.880 --> 00:27:02.880 to that spot and say, but Father, you said this, and start afresh. And it doesn't take 00:27:02.880 --> 00:27:09.200 25 years, and it doesn't take 40 years, even if your name is Joseph or Abraham. Yeah? It 00:27:09.200 --> 00:27:16.200 takes much lesser time now. So go back to the last place you heard him and restart. 00:27:18.480 --> 00:27:25.480 The other thing is, can you not beat yourself up first? You know, I've been in the business 00:27:25.880 --> 00:27:29.400 of healing. Because then you'll need healing for that also. You don't have problems without 00:27:29.400 --> 00:27:36.400 that. Yeah? So try not to beat yourself up when things don't happen. Oh, it must be my 00:27:36.920 --> 00:27:43.080 sin. It must be that I watched that or I said that or I did that. One of the scriptures 00:27:43.080 --> 00:27:46.520 in the New Testament that I'm going to take out of context to highlight what I want to 00:27:46.520 --> 00:27:52.040 say is that he does not count your sins against you first. He does deal with your sins, but 00:27:52.040 --> 00:27:56.640 he does not count them against you first. We are the ones that count it first. If someone 00:27:56.640 --> 00:28:00.360 does something and they come up for prayer, my immediate thing is, ah, they're doing this, 00:28:00.360 --> 00:28:07.360 this, and this, so that's why this won't work. That's how we think. But God does not count 00:28:08.160 --> 00:28:14.620 our sins against us first. He will deal with it because he is holy, but he doesn't count 00:28:14.620 --> 00:28:21.620 it against us first. And so don't beat yourself up first. Because 00:28:22.760 --> 00:28:29.760 there's time for that. But not in the beginning, because then you're a loser. Do they still 00:28:30.280 --> 00:28:37.280 do this? No, it's an old thing. Okay, just checking. Here's another one. These are important 00:28:37.280 --> 00:28:44.280 steps, guys. If you're stuck, please use them. I'm stuck. I'm going to use them. I mean, 00:28:57.560 --> 00:29:04.560 go ahead, Meg. Oh, I do have a question. Well, you do have a question? Go ahead. So what's 00:29:07.280 --> 00:29:14.280 your question? Yeah. So we're going back to the last place that you knew you and God 00:29:21.920 --> 00:29:27.380 were on track before you got lost, before things began to fall apart. So you're going 00:29:27.380 --> 00:29:31.800 back to that space where there was a point where you thought you were tracking well with 00:29:31.800 --> 00:29:36.520 God. Everything was happening as God had promised, and then suddenly everything stops. So you're 00:29:36.520 --> 00:29:40.560 going back to the last place saying, Father, I remember things going well while I was in 00:29:40.560 --> 00:29:47.560 this spot. So I'm asking you once again from this spot what you want me to do. Where do 00:29:47.560 --> 00:29:54.560 you go when you lose an earring or you lose something? Where do you go to recover it first? 00:29:54.840 --> 00:30:01.840 You go to the last spot you touched your ear. And you're sure it fell there. Or if you are 00:30:01.840 --> 00:30:04.960 married, you say, but I gave it to you. And then the other one will say, no, no, no, you 00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:11.600 didn't give it to me. But regardless, you go to the last spot where you think you lost 00:30:11.600 --> 00:30:18.600 it. Does that answer your question? How about holding on to the encounter? You... Yeah. 00:30:18.840 --> 00:30:25.840 This is not holding on to an encounter. This is holding on to the promise of God that he 00:30:35.280 --> 00:30:40.040 gave at a certain time. It's not holding on to an encounter. It's holding on to a promise 00:30:40.040 --> 00:30:46.880 that God gave at a certain time. So it was very normal in the Bible for people when they're 00:30:46.880 --> 00:30:53.120 praying to God and say, oh God, you said, oh God, you said, you said you would do this. 00:30:53.120 --> 00:30:58.400 Now do it, oh God. So it's going back to that place where a promise was given because you 00:30:58.400 --> 00:31:05.400 knew it was true then and starting from there. And laziness, laziness is when you use what 00:31:06.760 --> 00:31:10.920 has happened to you as an excuse to stay where you are because you don't want to take the 00:31:10.920 --> 00:31:17.920 trouble of working towards fixing it. You know how in your washroom the shower curtain, 00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.640 you pull it hard and it yanks off and it's now hanging? And do you realize how many days 00:31:29.640 --> 00:31:35.320 it hangs there like that? Every time you think, I must put it back and you don't because it's 00:31:35.320 --> 00:31:41.200 just hanging there. This is not my experience. I'm talking about other people's experience. 00:31:41.200 --> 00:31:45.680 It's this thing where all you have to do is stretch and put it, but tomorrow, tomorrow, 00:31:45.680 --> 00:31:52.080 tomorrow, laziness is one of the excuses we use to not get back with God. And we begin 00:31:52.080 --> 00:31:58.080 to love resentment. When a Christian begins to love resenting God and saying woe is me 00:31:58.080 --> 00:32:05.080 and self-pity, there's a problem with Christianity. And it's a trick of the enemy that we swallow 00:32:05.320 --> 00:32:12.320 away. And please, if that's happening to you, don't go down the road of, oh, the Lord is 00:32:19.560 --> 00:32:26.560 taking me to the wilderness. He's molding me. He's not. Repent of resentment. Repent 00:32:27.560 --> 00:32:34.560 of resentment. Repent of resentment. Ask God to forgive you. Recall the words you spoke. 00:32:44.480 --> 00:32:51.480 Repent, saying, Father, I said it because this is how I felt and it's still how I'm 00:32:51.880 --> 00:32:58.880 feeling, but it's just not you. But you have to talk to the Father. Talk to the Father. 00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:07.000 It becomes easier to talk to the Father. The other affords God. He's easy to blame. 00:33:07.000 --> 00:33:14.000 You know, I read about this man who had a sure prophetic word from God. Like it was, 00:33:24.960 --> 00:33:30.360 he had absolutely no doubt as to the word that was given to him from God on his life, 00:33:30.360 --> 00:33:36.600 and it promised him favor and it promised him unparalleled purpose like very few on 00:33:36.600 --> 00:33:43.280 the earth. And then shortly after he receives that promise, he starts being pursued by the 00:33:43.280 --> 00:33:50.280 police. And then people begin to shoot at him with intent to harm. And so he goes into 00:33:51.400 --> 00:33:58.400 hiding and when he approaches his friends, his friends abandon him. He thinks he has 00:33:58.400 --> 00:34:05.400 comfort with his wife, but his wife despises him. He has children and in the midst of 00:34:05.960 --> 00:34:11.880 all this trouble, his son rapes his daughter. Another son goes ahead and murders his sibling 00:34:11.880 --> 00:34:17.760 and then turns against the father. And so he's now in dire straits and then he loses 00:34:17.760 --> 00:34:23.520 two of his children, one at birth and the other in war. He's in such a bad situation 00:34:23.680 --> 00:34:29.480 that he commits adultery and murder. Then his entire family is kidnapped by cruel terrorists 00:34:29.480 --> 00:34:35.000 while he's facing about 400 men who are ready to stone him. And yet, yet through all those 00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:42.000 circumstances David's heart would always be infused with God's ways. How? How when David 00:34:43.080 --> 00:34:47.200 went through all these things I mentioned? Because I'm talking about David. How when 00:34:47.200 --> 00:34:53.320 David went through all these things I mentioned, how did he keep his heart intact? Psalm 77 00:34:53.720 --> 00:34:59.040 verse 6. That's what he lived by. It was a psalm written by Asaph, but it's what David 00:34:59.040 --> 00:35:06.040 lived by. He would begin to sing, he would begin to meditate and he would begin to search 00:35:06.040 --> 00:35:13.040 the scriptures. Psalm 77 verse 6, if you read it from, Psalm 77 verse 6, if you read it, 00:35:15.040 --> 00:35:22.040 it says, it says, it says, it says, it says, it says, it says, it says, it says, it says, 00:35:23.320 --> 00:35:30.320 I remembered my songs in the night, my heart meditated and my spirit asked. Remember that, 00:35:30.840 --> 00:35:37.840 eh? It's critical. I remembered my songs at night. Remembering songs that really mean 00:35:38.360 --> 00:35:45.360 something to you in this situation. I, my heart meditated as in I began to give it thought 00:35:46.360 --> 00:35:53.360 and my spirit began to seek diligently or my spirit began to search out answers. My 00:35:58.800 --> 00:36:05.320 spirit began to ask questions. Habakkuk says the same thing. I have a complaint against 00:36:05.320 --> 00:36:10.480 God. I'm going to climb up the watchtower and I'm going to ask God for an answer to 00:36:10.480 --> 00:36:15.840 my complaint. And that is when God says, at an appointed time, this answer will come. 00:36:15.840 --> 00:36:22.840 Write it on a billboard. It's in response to Habakkuk's complaint. This is what I mean 00:36:23.160 --> 00:36:30.160 by getting lazy. But you know why we get lazy? The reason people get lazy today is because 00:36:30.440 --> 00:36:37.440 of a lack of time. You get lazy because you do not have time. Some of the critical issues 00:36:40.520 --> 00:36:47.520 of life are not dealt with because the less important issues of life crowd you. Please 00:36:49.600 --> 00:36:54.720 hear me. We live in a very, very difficult world where the one thing that we will always 00:36:54.720 --> 00:37:00.040 be robbed of is time for relationship with the Father. It's the main thing. It's the 00:37:00.040 --> 00:37:05.560 main thing and it will always be robbed. The reason we are lazy is not because we are lazy 00:37:05.640 --> 00:37:12.640 people. The reason we are lazy is because we do not have time. Kirkhud said this and 00:37:18.520 --> 00:37:25.280 I've repeated many times and I love repeating this. Your heart cannot be formed if you 00:37:25.280 --> 00:37:32.280 don't give things time. The heart is formed only when time is given. I must form my heart. 00:37:35.840 --> 00:37:42.840 God must form my heart, but it requires time. So David used to deal with this like this. 00:37:44.040 --> 00:37:47.880 I mean if there was a guy who was under pressure, it was David. I just gave you a list of things 00:37:47.880 --> 00:37:54.880 that happened within four or five years in his life. Next one. Find the key. I mean, 00:38:05.560 --> 00:38:12.560 I'm going back to her question. There are consequences. So why did it happen? And you've 00:38:14.080 --> 00:38:18.720 got to go and ask the Father because the Father who has a son coming and saying, I messed 00:38:18.720 --> 00:38:25.720 up. Can you tell me what went wrong? How do I fix this because I'm in deep trouble. So 00:38:26.760 --> 00:38:30.040 Jacob, if you give us all these things, we don't have time anyways and you're giving 00:38:30.040 --> 00:38:36.080 us seven other things to do, go and ask God to help you pick one. Start with any which 00:38:36.080 --> 00:38:42.720 one. Go and say, Father, which one should I pick? Let the Spirit of God direct you. 00:38:42.720 --> 00:38:49.720 But you still start with the idea of the Father. I go without saying that at the end of the 00:38:49.720 --> 00:38:56.720 day, the word drives away doubt. But I'll put it in just in case you don't think. I 00:39:01.440 --> 00:39:08.440 think the word is important. Read the word to dismiss doubt. As in, in your situation, 00:39:15.440 --> 00:39:18.320 the Bible doesn't have scriptures for all your situations. The Bible has scriptures 00:39:18.320 --> 00:39:25.320 for broad topics. But you will find something that will bring you courage or peace or hope 00:39:25.920 --> 00:39:31.160 because the Spirit and the word work together. Romans 5 says the Spirit of God brings hope 00:39:31.160 --> 00:39:38.480 to my heart or expectation to my heart or confidence to my heart and it doesn't disappoint. 00:39:38.480 --> 00:39:43.440 That's what it says in Romans 5. These are sure words. God is not a liar. He's not a 00:39:43.440 --> 00:39:50.440 man that he should lie. But do I have time for this? Time is not two and a half minutes. 00:40:00.480 --> 00:40:07.480 It's our greatest enemy, guys. It is our greatest enemy, time, at present in this world. It's 00:40:08.440 --> 00:40:13.520 our greatest enemy. It is not our greatest enemy because there is no time. It is our 00:40:13.520 --> 00:40:20.080 greatest enemy because we know how to fill our time with things that are not as important. 00:40:20.080 --> 00:40:26.440 Right now, if I took a toll, took a poll, we would find that at least 160 hours will 00:40:26.440 --> 00:40:33.440 be spent between now and midnight on Instagram or Facebook. I'm just talking about between 00:40:33.440 --> 00:40:40.440 now and midnight. Rachel's saying, oh, I wish for those days. All this needs time and it's 00:40:55.600 --> 00:40:59.920 the one thing that will be constantly robbed off, not because there isn't enough of it, 00:40:59.920 --> 00:41:06.520 but because there are things to fill it. And then we've gotten so not used to using time 00:41:06.520 --> 00:41:12.400 that when we do find the time, we suffer from something called mental drift. Mental drift 00:41:12.400 --> 00:41:17.520 is when you're looking at something that is either from scripture or you're trying to 00:41:17.520 --> 00:41:24.520 hear God and your mind begins to drift. And it goes so many places. It's like Air Canada 00:41:24.520 --> 00:41:31.520 vacation package. Mental drift. Here are some questions you can ask. In your situation, 00:41:31.520 --> 00:41:38.520 what is the lie? You are believing. What is the lie you're believing? Every stronghold 00:41:38.520 --> 00:41:45.520 requires a lie to build on. Every negative stronghold requires a lie to build on. The 00:41:45.520 --> 00:41:52.520 lie is the foundation. What is the lie I'm believing which prevents me from agreeing 00:42:02.000 --> 00:42:09.000 with God or trusting Him or attempting faith? I'm not going to believe that. I'm going 00:42:09.000 --> 00:42:12.880 to believe that. What is the lie I'm believing which prevents me from agreeing with God or 00:42:12.880 --> 00:42:18.640 trusting Him or attempting faith or getting rid of the resentment? What is the lie that 00:42:18.640 --> 00:42:25.640 I have begun to believe so strongly that it colors and affects everything? What is the 00:42:25.640 --> 00:42:32.640 lie? The next question is that you can ask is, Father, what is the truth about your nature? 00:42:39.000 --> 00:42:46.000 That I can lean on right now? It's a beautiful question. My dad would come. I remember when 00:42:59.520 --> 00:43:05.600 he was taking me on the back of his bicycle and my right leg got caught in the spoke of 00:43:05.600 --> 00:43:12.600 the back wheel and I had a fracture. I remember my dad picking me up because the bike stopped 00:43:14.280 --> 00:43:20.480 if we fell. He picked me up. He ran into the house of a stranger because my leg is bleeding 00:43:20.480 --> 00:43:24.280 and it's broken. He runs into the house of a stranger. He doesn't care whose house it 00:43:24.280 --> 00:43:29.440 is. He takes me and asks the guy to give a bed or a sofa and he puts me on the sofa and 00:43:29.440 --> 00:43:36.440 he's weeping and he's just telling me who he will be for me so that I can stop crying. 00:43:36.760 --> 00:43:41.400 He's not concerned about how to fix the leg. He's not concerned about the fact that it's 00:43:41.400 --> 00:43:46.120 bleeding. He's put a towel from a stranger's home and the stranger's looking at him thinking, 00:43:46.120 --> 00:43:51.240 gosh, this man just walks in with a... But what do you do? And all he's doing is not 00:43:51.240 --> 00:43:55.440 telling me that my leg will be okay. He's not telling me it's broken. He's not a doctor. 00:43:55.440 --> 00:43:59.880 He's a father and he keeps telling me who he is and what he'll do for me and I begin 00:43:59.880 --> 00:44:08.880 to calm down. So what is it, oh God, about your nature that I can lean on right now and 00:44:08.880 --> 00:44:15.880 if I lean on it, it won't solve the problem but my God, it'll bring peace to my soul. 00:44:16.080 --> 00:44:23.080 Peace is the best substance for anything of God to find traction in. If I don't have that, 00:44:23.360 --> 00:44:30.360 nothing of God seeds, nothing of God roots. Dads do this so naturally. I'm talking about 00:44:32.040 --> 00:44:39.040 us mortal dads, physical dads. We do this. You see that in the picture with Tia and Hip. 00:44:39.120 --> 00:44:46.120 Ooh, he's doing a plane thing and she's going, oh. 00:44:46.960 --> 00:44:53.960 That's not how to do it. 00:44:59.080 --> 00:45:06.080 Ask what the truth is that you can lean on and then ask, what scripture do I use? What 00:45:08.200 --> 00:45:15.200 scripture do I use to move from the dead to the living? 00:45:16.440 --> 00:45:23.440 How I feel to the truth. How I feel to the truth. What scripture do I use? Any questions? 00:45:34.400 --> 00:45:41.400 These are guaranteed ways tried by Old Testament and New Testament people and people who have 00:45:41.400 --> 00:45:48.400 lived since that has always, always helped someone inherit the promise through faith 00:45:49.840 --> 00:45:56.840 and patience. The only other thing I'd add is find another 00:45:56.840 --> 00:46:03.840 person who can pick you up when you return to resentment, laziness, and sorrow. 00:46:26.840 --> 00:46:33.840 So on. Any questions? No questions? Will you try this? Because there's nobody in this 00:46:33.840 --> 00:46:40.840 room who's not going through something. Sometimes you're not going through something, 00:46:40.840 --> 00:46:47.840 but every time you think of what awaits, you begin to get scared. I hate it when I think 00:46:57.240 --> 00:47:04.240 of something and it scares me because it's not supposed to scare me. I hate it when I 00:47:04.240 --> 00:47:11.240 think of something and it scares me because it's not supposed to scare me. 00:47:22.480 --> 00:47:28.860 If someone who cares for me, loves me, and I'm very sure they love me, if they promise 00:47:28.940 --> 00:47:35.940 me something, even though they're mere mortals, I'm at peace because I know they'll come through. 00:47:36.980 --> 00:47:41.100 But for some strange reason when it comes to God, I'm scared. I don't like the fact 00:47:41.100 --> 00:47:45.020 that I'm scared that he may not come through, which means that there is a doubt that exists. 00:47:45.020 --> 00:47:52.020 There's a distortion that exists. 00:47:58.860 --> 00:48:05.860 I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do that. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able 00:48:05.860 --> 00:48:12.860 to do that. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do that. I'm not sure if I'm going 00:48:12.900 --> 00:48:19.900 to be able to do that. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do that. I'm not sure 00:48:19.900 --> 00:48:26.900 if I'm going to be able to do that. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do that. 00:48:29.860 --> 00:48:36.860 I believe it takes more than two minutes. The point being that this requires work. You've 00:48:42.860 --> 00:48:48.100 heard me say this before, but please understand, Yahweh is not a cosmic vending machine where 00:48:48.100 --> 00:48:55.100 you throw in a few hallelujahs and out pops a can of your answer. He's not that. 00:48:59.260 --> 00:49:06.260 So, if this is how we deal with the fear of God failing, what about the fear of man? What 00:49:08.100 --> 00:49:15.100 about the fear of man? It's in Proverbs 29, verse 25. Listen to what Proverbs 29, verse 00:49:19.940 --> 00:49:26.940 25 says if you take all the different versions and put them together. The fear of man. These 00:49:27.060 --> 00:49:34.060 are things again that everybody in this room suffers from. The fear of man and human opinion. 00:49:37.660 --> 00:49:41.660 The fear of man and human opinion. It doesn't matter how badly I write it, it comes out 00:49:41.660 --> 00:49:48.660 good. Because I know how I'm writing, but it's turning out good. The fear of man and 00:49:48.980 --> 00:49:55.980 human opinion lays a snare, lays a snare, lays a snare, lays a snare, lays a snare, 00:49:57.940 --> 00:50:04.940 and disables you, and disables you holding. If I spell a word wrong, will it correct it 00:50:11.540 --> 00:50:18.540 there? No. Holding you back. This is what Proverbs 29, verse 25 says. The fear of man 00:50:18.540 --> 00:50:25.540 and I have it. The fear of man and human opinion, meaning people's opinion, lays a snare, as 00:50:28.460 --> 00:50:35.460 in sets up a trap, and it disables you holding you back. That's what the fear of man does. 00:50:37.220 --> 00:50:44.220 And everybody here has it. That's another crime. That's another crime. That's another 00:50:44.220 --> 00:50:51.220 crime. Everybody here has it. That's another crippler. We won't finish it today. We'll 00:50:54.580 --> 00:51:01.580 just start it. It devours your relationships. It devours your convictions. It completely 00:51:03.780 --> 00:51:10.780 changes your response, and either you perish or you put it to death. But here's what the 00:51:11.140 --> 00:51:18.140 fear of man stems from. People become big to the point of becoming idolatrous in my 00:51:25.020 --> 00:51:32.020 life. People become big and grow to idolatrous proportions in my life. And I think that's 00:51:40.780 --> 00:51:47.780 the first thing. And God becomes smaller. When people become big and grow to idolatrous 00:51:56.140 --> 00:52:03.140 proportions in my life, God becomes smaller. And then the second thing is, that's A. B, 00:52:10.780 --> 00:52:17.780 the thing that causes me to be fearful of man, is it's not that I care about others. 00:52:30.500 --> 00:52:37.500 It's that I care about what others think of me. And I think that's the first thing. And 00:52:41.460 --> 00:52:48.460 so the situation here is, I become bigger than anything else. It's kind of pride really, 00:52:59.620 --> 00:53:06.380 but we don't give the second one much oxygen. We think the first one, yeah, that's true. 00:53:06.380 --> 00:53:13.380 People become so big in my view. They become so important. It's almost to idolatrous proportions 00:53:14.100 --> 00:53:20.540 when now it bothers me, and God becomes less. And so I would rather please them than please 00:53:20.540 --> 00:53:25.380 God. That's one side of it. The other side of it is the one that's subtle, where it's 00:53:25.380 --> 00:53:32.380 not that I care about you. It's that I care about what you think of me. And so I think 00:53:36.380 --> 00:53:42.500 that's the other side of it. So my identity is derived from looking into the mirror of 00:53:42.500 --> 00:53:49.500 your face. My identity is derived from looking at your reaction. The ideal solution is not 00:53:49.500 --> 00:53:56.500 to diminish people. Ah, I'm going to change this. I don't care what Don thinks. Who does 00:54:08.500 --> 00:54:15.500 he think he is? Look at his last name. And so you can go down that route. But that's 00:54:15.500 --> 00:54:21.340 not the way. I used to play ping pong with this guy called John. He's been to Axe 29 00:54:21.340 --> 00:54:26.180 20 years ago. And so John would always lose when he would play ping pong with me. So he 00:54:26.180 --> 00:54:31.060 began this new tactic. He would trash talk me. You're useless, Jacob. You're not good 00:54:31.060 --> 00:54:35.740 at all. You're a lousy ping pong player. I'd still beat him, but he thought if he trashes 00:54:35.740 --> 00:54:42.740 me he'll get better. So the solution to this is not to trash what others think. Not to 00:54:43.540 --> 00:54:50.540 trash others. The solution is can I begin to begin to see God as much bigger than mere 00:54:50.900 --> 00:54:57.900 mortals? Hebrews 13 6 says, the Lord is my helper. Why should I fear? What can mortal 00:54:58.500 --> 00:55:04.460 man do to me? We won't get there today. There are so many scriptures that we can use as 00:55:04.460 --> 00:55:09.780 a means of countering how our minds begin to think. So the way to deal with these two 00:55:10.340 --> 00:55:17.340 things is to not diminish others. The idea is not to diminish others or their opinions 00:55:17.380 --> 00:55:24.380 or their expectations, but to elevate God. Can the bigness of God quiet my fear of you. 00:55:26.120 --> 00:55:33.120 Can the bigness of God quiet my fear of you? Can the bigness of God free me to love you 00:55:33.180 --> 00:55:39.040 without giving me a fright of you. Can the bigness of God free me to love you without 00:55:39.040 --> 00:55:44.000 being afraid of you. I'm speaking to husbands now. I'm speaking to wives now. 00:55:44.000 --> 00:55:48.400 Can you get to a point in your relationship where there is no torment, 00:55:48.400 --> 00:55:54.600 there is no fear? Can the bigness of God bring you to a place where you are free 00:55:54.600 --> 00:56:01.360 to love but are not afraid of the one that you love? Can the bigness of God 00:56:01.360 --> 00:56:09.800 quiet my fear? What's a trap? The trap is that I define my life through the eyes 00:56:09.800 --> 00:56:16.400 of other people and my identity is wrapped up in how you think of me. 00:56:16.400 --> 00:56:23.000 That's why sometimes you have to do something so undignified there's no 00:56:23.000 --> 00:56:32.280 shred of dignity left to save. It's so hard. 00:56:40.280 --> 00:56:43.280 Any questions? 00:56:43.280 --> 00:56:58.200 Who do you look at to see yourself? Crazy question. Who do you look at to see 00:56:58.200 --> 00:57:06.280 yourself? There have been people in my life where how they saw me mattered so 00:57:06.280 --> 00:57:14.200 much that I would look at them to get a sense of who I was. It doesn't mean 00:57:14.200 --> 00:57:18.200 their opinions don't matter anymore. It doesn't mean that their expectations are 00:57:18.200 --> 00:57:24.480 not good but now I'm learning how to look at someone else and then look at 00:57:24.480 --> 00:57:31.960 them because otherwise I would not be able to disagree with them because I 00:57:31.960 --> 00:57:35.920 would couch my words even if I disagreed so that they wouldn't be 00:57:35.920 --> 00:57:39.360 offended because I didn't want them to think that I thought differently from 00:57:39.360 --> 00:57:44.360 them. Everything I would say would matter. The way I would behave, my likes, my 00:57:44.360 --> 00:57:50.200 dislikes would all come together so that the ones that are important to me be 00:57:50.200 --> 00:57:56.080 pleased. You know how crippling it is to the work of the Spirit or even to the 00:57:56.080 --> 00:58:00.800 even to the proclamation of the gospel? Do you know how offensive the gospel is 00:58:00.800 --> 00:58:04.520 to most people? Do you know how difficult it is for us to go and talk to anybody 00:58:04.640 --> 00:58:10.160 about Christ? Why? Because it matters to us how they think of us. Nothing about 00:58:10.160 --> 00:58:22.480 Jesus is hip, cool or trendy and I'm not talking about him. Nothing. I can't get 00:58:22.480 --> 00:58:26.880 over this because I'm so scared of what a stranger who's never met me before 00:58:26.880 --> 00:58:32.360 will think of me. He's not gonna go to sleep tonight thinking, oh that handsome 00:58:32.600 --> 00:58:41.240 guy who spoke to me, he's not thinking that at all but I'm so scared. Why is it 00:58:41.240 --> 00:58:50.520 that we require this kind of boldness man to talk to people? It is not because of 00:58:50.520 --> 00:58:55.560 anything else but because of the message we carry which is so not cool. 00:58:55.560 --> 00:59:06.440 I'm trusting that this is also one of your problems. I'll finish in three 00:59:06.440 --> 00:59:07.440 minutes. 00:59:07.440 --> 00:59:29.480 I hate it when people don't like me or think well of me so I will tailor what I 00:59:29.600 --> 00:59:38.120 say depending on where I am so that I agree with and don't stifle beliefs and I 00:59:38.120 --> 00:59:43.080 stifle beliefs that they don't agree with. Pleasing becomes more important than 00:59:43.080 --> 00:59:53.960 being truthful. We'll stop there. We'll go to the antidote for it later. Please 00:59:53.960 --> 01:00:00.240 understand that most of us receive our identity from others. Please understand 01:00:00.240 --> 01:00:05.920 that most of us receive our identity from others. Two things that I'm... This is 01:00:05.920 --> 01:00:09.920 why guys, the fear of foolishness that we talked about, one of the things we have 01:00:09.920 --> 01:00:15.120 to do is to start being foolish in little things. You cannot be foolish in 01:00:15.120 --> 01:00:19.880 big things without being foolish in little things. There's another word for 01:00:20.760 --> 01:00:26.760 It's called being childish. Please equate both of them. To be foolish is to be 01:00:26.760 --> 01:00:39.400 childish. But it is not possible to be foolish for God in big things if I don't 01:00:40.240 --> 01:01:00.760 foolish in little things. It's not possible. The older you get, the easier it 01:01:00.760 --> 01:01:07.000 will become but then you miss out on about 30 or 40 years of your life. At this 01:01:07.000 --> 01:01:20.600 stage in my life, there's hardly anyone left to impress. So it becomes much 01:01:20.600 --> 01:01:24.400 easier but then think of the 30 years that I've gone by where you held your 01:01:24.400 --> 01:01:36.440 stomach in and you could hardly breathe once you enter the elevator. Any 01:01:36.440 --> 01:01:40.880 questions? That's a great note to end on. Sorry, go ahead Diana. If it's about the 01:01:40.880 --> 01:01:45.600 stomach and holding it in, I'll have to talk to you about it later. Sorry. 01:01:49.160 --> 01:01:56.040 Yeah, Psalm 27 verse 1. I love the opening in the message. The message puts 01:01:56.040 --> 01:02:02.400 it this way, light, space, zest. With God on my side, why should I be afraid? Tell 01:02:02.400 --> 01:02:07.500 me something. When was the last time this week that you tasted light, space, 01:02:07.500 --> 01:02:22.200 zest in life? I want to live like that. Light, space, zest. With God on my side, 01:02:22.200 --> 01:02:30.960 why should I be afraid? To live like that. And so this idea of 01:02:31.000 --> 01:02:35.680 returning to child-likeness and beginning to enjoy things, to have wonder, 01:02:35.680 --> 01:02:47.760 to have awe, to have amazement. Again, what do you need for it? Time. You know 01:02:47.760 --> 01:02:53.200 that guy who is very famous, I don't remember his name, he doesn't have limbs, 01:02:53.240 --> 01:03:01.080 arms and legs, Nick. That guy, you look at him and I really believe he's not 01:03:01.080 --> 01:03:05.600 putting on an act. It doesn't matter what situation you video him in, he has this 01:03:05.600 --> 01:03:10.960 thing of light, space, and zest without limbs. I find it's overwhelming to think 01:03:10.960 --> 01:03:18.200 of someone like that because he's caught on to something. I don't know him so I 01:03:18.200 --> 01:03:30.280 can't say, I mean I can't vouch for him, but surely we can begin to enjoy this. 01:03:30.280 --> 01:03:41.280 This is why it thrills me to watch Joey and Judah and Phoebe and Emmanuel and 01:03:41.280 --> 01:03:47.120 all over the place. Light, space, zest. There's something about it. Sure they 01:03:47.120 --> 01:03:50.160 need discipline. Sure they need to be told to sit down. Sure they'll poke 01:03:50.160 --> 01:03:55.280 someone's eyes out with the flag. Those things might happen and we must prevent 01:03:55.280 --> 01:03:59.800 that because we need our eyes. But otherwise we'll all have to wear those 01:03:59.800 --> 01:04:03.680 industry glasses for the first three rows. We'll be supplying it next week 01:04:03.680 --> 01:04:10.040 with the logo too. Yeah. But this idea of light, space, zest is so precious 01:04:10.040 --> 01:04:17.720 guys. And this is just a personal, there it comes. 01:04:24.200 --> 01:04:33.760 Don't you wish that? There's a song I used to sing. The last line was, I remember 01:04:33.760 --> 01:04:37.680 it every second week. Oh what a shame that our children grow up into people. Oh 01:04:37.720 --> 01:04:45.000 what a shame that our children grow up into people. And at my age, I'll be 01:04:45.000 --> 01:04:50.880 getting really old in a month, at my age one of the things I deeply desire is to 01:04:50.880 --> 01:04:56.120 recover childlikeness and to have light, space, zest so that in front of you I can 01:04:56.120 --> 01:05:04.600 come jumping like a graceful deer as you saw me do today and jiggy it up. Whatever 01:05:04.600 --> 01:05:09.720 the word is because I could feel a lot of parts in me moving that I thought of 01:05:09.720 --> 01:05:15.680 myself, hold it in. But it doesn't matter. It's okay to be undignified because I 01:05:15.680 --> 01:05:20.920 want to live in the light, space, and zest of God. Why am I being so silly? Why 01:05:20.920 --> 01:05:27.160 am I being undignified? Because I want life back. I want a quality of life 01:05:27.160 --> 01:05:32.680 that is childlike, that is free. This is what I was born for. And I'm saying to 01:05:32.680 --> 01:05:36.760 you, you don't have to wait till you turn my age for this. And some of you are 01:05:36.760 --> 01:05:45.720 older, well then join me. This is amazing movie. I'm done. These are just 01:05:45.720 --> 01:05:50.200 conversations after the eating. There's this amazing movie called Secondhand 01:05:50.200 --> 01:05:55.120 Lions. If you get a chance, watch it. I've watched it long ago. If there's a 01:05:55.120 --> 01:06:01.680 scene that disturbs you, I'm sorry. But it's these two really old guys. 01:06:01.680 --> 01:06:09.840 Secondhand Lions, the things they do. They fly planes into barns. They do stuff 01:06:09.840 --> 01:06:22.560 like that. Die in your boots, man. On that note, let's pray. Father, Spirit of God, 01:06:22.560 --> 01:06:29.400 let there be an excitement that rises in our hearts right now, please. There's a 01:06:29.440 --> 01:06:35.840 quality of life. Man, you must have been so fun to be with Jesus. 01:06:35.840 --> 01:06:40.320 On one hand, they call you the man of sorrows because you bore the 01:06:40.320 --> 01:06:48.720 sorrow of the entire earth. But what was it like to be with you? The life spring 01:06:48.720 --> 01:06:57.600 of all joy, of peace, of rest, of calm, of promise, of hope, of a good father that 01:06:57.640 --> 01:07:05.280 you had. What is it like? And yet you live in me. Jesus, I want this. And when I say 01:07:05.280 --> 01:07:08.880 I want this, I'm speaking for all of us. There's not a single person here who 01:07:08.880 --> 01:07:14.840 doesn't want it. Give us this, oh God. Take away the fear of man that cripples 01:07:14.840 --> 01:07:20.800 us. That my identity is being formed by looking at others when it should be first 01:07:20.800 --> 01:07:26.280 you and then them. Yes, it matters what Don thinks of me. Yes, it matters what 01:07:26.320 --> 01:07:32.400 Crystal thinks of me, but not before what you think of me. Once that is solidified, 01:07:32.400 --> 01:07:38.120 Father, I can be freely what you want me to be with Crystal and with Don, Father. 01:07:38.120 --> 01:07:44.280 Granted, oh God, we break this stand now in the name of Jesus Christ that disables 01:07:44.280 --> 01:07:50.120 us, that holds us back. It's a trap that is set. We break it off our feet right 01:07:50.160 --> 01:07:57.320 now, saying, oh God, teach us how to skip and jump and do whatever. Granted, Father, 01:07:57.320 --> 01:08:00.840 granted in the middle of our circumstances, in the middle of our 01:08:00.840 --> 01:08:05.400 loneliness, in the middle of what feels like broken promises, we look to you, 01:08:05.400 --> 01:08:11.960 Father. We look to you and we see your face and we don't see anything else but 01:08:11.960 --> 01:08:19.320 kindness and trueness. You're straight as an arrow, Father. Can you combine these 01:08:19.320 --> 01:08:29.240 things together? Please? I want to sing that song, oh God, that says anything that's in 01:08:29.240 --> 01:08:34.600 the grave will come alive. I want to end with that.