Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: You ought to get baptized at the end of the month.
There's a prophetic word over this house that God is going to create in the water in the legacy park there, a pool of Bethesda. It's going to be a pool of healing. And so I'm really believing, even beyond our expression of faith, the transformation that happens in the water, I actually believe there's miracles that are going to begin to transpire in those waters as well. So if you need a miracle, you want to seal your faith, whatever it is that's in your heart, get baptized.
We're going to have our prayer meeting this Wednesday out at those waters, and we're going to pray around it. So it's going to be great. I want you to stand as we honor the reading of God's word.
We're in part two of a trilogy. Pastor Jim and Becky will be back this next Sunday, man. If you guys. How many of you have enjoyed, like, what the worship and what all the. Like, our actors and all the different pieces. Hasn't it been a blessing? It's been awesome.
It's not over yet. It's gonna get bigger. But I want you to look with me first. Peter, chapter one in verse three. This is our theme for our trilogy, and this is what it says. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his abundant mercy, has begotten us again. We have been born again to a living hope. Everybody say living hope.
We've been begotten again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And I want to read another passage out of Matthew 28. This is just after Jesus has been crucified. He's been put in the tomb. And the Bible names a number of women Mary and Mary and Mary. Literally, there's three Marys that go and Joanna. A number of other women go to anoint his body. But when they get there, this is what happens. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning. His clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid. Everybody say afraid.
The guards were so afraid of him, they shook and became like dead men. Wow. The angel said to the women, you don't be afraid. Everybody say afraid. Don't be afraid. I know that you're looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. This is a spoiler for next week. If you didn't know this part of the story. He has risen he's risen, just like he said.
Come and see the place now where he lay. Then go quickly and tell the disciples he has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee.
There you will see him now. I have told you so. The women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy. And they ran to tell the disciples. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is God's word. And that's right. We believe it to be true. You may be seated.
It's a powerful testimony and one that highlights fear.
I don't know if you feel the same way that I do, but I believe there was a shift that happened a number of years ago. Feel like in 2020, there were so many things that began to shift over our nation.
Pandemic, economic, governmental, so many things that were shifting. But as I look at the last number of years, I feel like one of the biggest shifts that has happened that is very negative and has become far, much more far reaching than even a pandemic or sickness is the onslaught of fear, anxiety.
I'm seeing studies that are coming out and nearly half this was a government study that was done just a couple years ago. And more than half of the nation says I am more anxious today than. Than I was 10 years ago. We're watching where students, where young people, second graders, committing suicide, anxious, depressed. I'm looking at this and I'm just thinking like, man, when I was a second grader, all I cared about was when is recess and what are we having for lunch today I wasn't anxious over anything. I don't know what my grades were back then and I didn't care. But today we're watching this assault of the enemy. I think it's a spiritual shift that has happened where anxiety, where fear, where worry has gripped individuals on a level that I don't know that we've ever seen. Some have attributed this to the pandemic. Some have said it's political. Social media is a major factor. Now, will they like it? Will they dislike it? Do I have anything to post? Technology.
And the list goes on and on.
We've been talking for a number of weeks now that we have a living hope.
Hope is joyful expectation, that we have this expectancy that, you know what, something good is coming my way, that God's blessing, that God's favor, that God's kindness, that there's a breakthrough that's coming. I may not have my healing yet, but it's on the way. I may not have that breakthrough for my business, but something good is coming. My way. This is hope. Everybody say hope.
The opposite of hope is anxiety. It's a fearful expectation. Man, something bad is about to happen. Something. I don't know, like, things are okay right now, but I just feel like all hell's about to break loose. I might be doing all right, but I'm about to have another breakdown. My finances are okay, but, boy, it's about to go downhill from here. Fearful expectations. This is anxiety.
Fear, I believe, has become one of the great challenges of the day. But I would submit to you, whether hope or fear, both of these are fueled by faith.
Let me explain this. What do you have faith in? Where have you placed your faith? Pastor a number of months ago talked about how faith is the substance. Literally what we stand under. Is it hope or is it fear? Do we have a faith posture that says, good things are coming my way, or do we have a faith posture that says everything's going wrong?
Where have we placed our faith? We all have faith. Do you know this? The Bible says you have all been dealt a measure of faith. We all have the capacity to believe. The question is, how do you use it? Where do you place your faith? In fact, we all have gifts. Pastor Tim was mentioning during the offering message that we are to increase in the gift or the grace of giving. We all have gifts. Some have gifts of encouragement. I was just, you know, Robert and Juana Griffin, they're elders in our church. He's an elder in our church. Up. And, man, those guys encourage me every single time they talk to me. What is that? That's a gift. It's the prophetic that's on their life. Just constantly encouraging. You know, God puts these graces on our life even before you're saved. You've ever met a generous person that has nothing to do with Jesus. They're out there. You know, I was an evangelist before I ever got saved. It was a gift that God birthed in me from the time that I was born. I don't know what it was, but I'd see a movie and think, man, this is a great movie. And I became an evangelist for that movie. You need to watch this movie. You need to go to the theater. Everybody needs to experience what I just experienced. When I dove into the world of drugs and became an addict, I didn't go alone. I became an evangelist for that poison. You need to experience what I've experienced. You need to come and you need to try this. When I see a girl that I like, she was dating somebody other than me. Listen, you need to Dump that guy. You need to come spend some time with me.
That's evangelism. But see, don't abuse the gifts of God. I'm just telling you.
But something happens. You see, religion will tell us, man. You need to squash the desires. You need to suppress those things in your life. And I, I don't know that that's necessarily scripture. What I would encourage you to do is not to kill those things or to squash those things, but to reorient them. See, when I got born again, I just became an evangelist for different things.
I began to experience Jesus. And now all of a sudden, you need to experience what I've experienced. The God who has set me free. He's available for you. You can experience, Experience him. I'd have a great encounter in a prayer meeting or a worship service. In life, man, you need to come with me. People always talk about, like how we always, we always roll deep, we never go anywhere alone. It's evangelism. I always want to take somebody with me. I, I did the same thing with Leah. Like, who's this guy you're talking to? You need to leave that guy, quit talking to him, and you need to spend time with me. That's evangelism. It's the exact same thing. And so even today, what I want to encourage. This may be a strange thought for some of you, but I actually believe that some of the most anxious and fear filled people are the most faith filled people.
They just haven't learned where to focus their faith. They put faith in wrong things. They have faith in their sickness. They have faith in the storm. They have faith in the enemy. They have faith that everything's about to go wrong. And God's not telling you to squash your faith. He's saying, I need you to redirect this and I need you to put it in the living hope. Put it in Jesus, put it in the lamb that was slain. Put it on my word and on the promises of God.
Faith is a big deal. Where you place your faith is the difference between a life that will be dominated by fear or a life of overcoming fear. Where do you want to live in Revelation 21. This is one of those famous lists in the Bible talking about everyone who will have their place in the lake of fire. And it names idolaters. You're worshiping other gods, murderers, liars. In fact, you might even know this. Did you ever sing this song growing up?
Revelation. Revelation 21:8. 21:8.
Liars go to hell. Liars go to hell. Burn, burn, burn, burn, burn. Burn?
I don't know. Was that a Baptist thing? I don't know. Maybe I just grew up hearing that.
Anybody else? They wonder why we have trauma. We wonder why we're bound in fear.
Stupid songs like that, I'm telling you.
But here's the interest. It's not just liars. It's not just idolaters or murderers. Like those things make sense to me. Like I understand why, why God would punish that. But do you know what the first thing on the list in Revelation 21:8 is? Bring it up here. It says this. But the fearful, the unbelieving, abominable, murderer, it goes on this entire. These will have their place in the lake of fire. The very first thing on the list.
Fear.
We must deal with fear. Because fear, my friend, leads to unbelief. And this is not from God. But what begins to happen is we begin to receive fearful imaginations that say, God could never be gracious towards me. God has no plan for me. I have sinned too greatly. God can't even hear my prayers. And you disqualify yourself from the grace of God. It's not his choice. But if we allow fear to dominate us, it will separate us from the grace of God. Let me give you an example. The very first time we see fear in the Bible is in the garden. Adam and Eve were deceived. They ate of the fruit. And God still shows up for his walk in the garden with Adam and Eve every day. He walks with them, but they hide.
In Genesis 3, verse 9, it says, when the Lord God called to Abraham and said, where are you?
Adam said, I heard your voice in the garden. And I was afraid because I was naked. I hid myself.
Hear me, Adam hid. And I've heard my entire life that sin separates from God. But I would submit to you that the separation we experience is not on the part of God.
It's not that he has separated himself or. Well, I'm just too holy to touch you. That's Islam theology, my friend.
I'm serious. I'm too holy to touch you. No, it's not like God showed up in the garden to walk with Adam and Eve and came in close proximity. Oh, he hit this force field of sin and. Well, I can't talk to you now. No, he came to show up and to talk to them. But Adam had already disqualified himself. I'm not worthy. I'm naked. I have sinned, I have partook, and I am unworthy. But what does God do?
He comes to Adam and Eve and he provides a covering he sheds the blood of an animal and he covers their sin. He covers their nakedness. This is the nature of God. You may be in a place where you feel separated from God. I'm unworthy. And you have this fearful expression, expectation of God's judgment on your life. Can I remind you, on this Palm Sunday, Jesus came. Hosanna. They were crying out for a Savior, for a Messiah who would come and who would save them.
In the very same way God continued to come to Adam. I'm telling you, Jesus Christ has come to us. Yes, we were bound in sin. Yes, we were unclean. But Jesus provided a solution. He came to this earth. He lived a sinless life. He shed his blood as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And he has covered over your sin, over your shame, so that you can have access to God Almighty.
Separation is not on God's part. The door has always been open. It's like the prodigal. The Father standing at the edge of the driveway. He's not waiting to beat his prodigal son because he squandered his inheritance. No, he is waiting for his son to come home. And when he sees him coming down the road, what does he do? Grabs his whip? Grabs his chains? No, he runs to him, he covers him, affirms his identity and throws a party. You need to know, this is the nature of God. This is his disbelief position. This is why we've been in this whole deal of grace, grace. I need you to know, on the Authority of Scripture, 30 plus times. He is patient, he is merciful. He is slow to anger. He is of great kindness, and he relents from doing hard harm. His desire is to bless you.
That's Bible. Someone say, thank you, Jesus.
The question is, where is your faith?
You've heard me say many times, you will have what you believe for, so stop believing for things you don't want.
You will have what you believe for, so stop believing for things you don't want.
I saw this study a number of years ago on hypochondriacs. You know what a hypochondriac is? This is a person that's, like, fearful of, of sickness. I'm going to get sick. I can't touch the handle. I can't ride in the car. I can't go in a public bathroom. You know, some of that, some of that is understandable, but they've actually, they've. They've changed the name recently. If you search this online, it's not called hypochondriac. Anymore. It's actually called illness anxiety disorder.
Illness anxiety disorder. And I remember as I began to study this, it's a fascinating ordeal. You know the first phase of hypochondriacs is this moment where they self diagnose. There's this perpetual fear, this anxiety. Something is wrong with me, I'm experiencing symptoms. I think there's man, something's out of order with me and it's this constant paranoia and it results in a withdrawal from public settings. It's a fear self diagnosis with typically no evidence that there's anything wrong. But the second phase of hypochondria, they call it senso hypochondria. It's when you actually begin to feel in your body symptoms of sickness. My stomach hurts, my head hurts, I think I have a lump. There's something wrong, I just feel it. There's something not right. And you'll watch these individuals, they begin to go to doctors and they run the examinations and sure enough, there's nothing wrong with them, but I just know it. I feel like something is off in my body.
People live like this for years. But the third phase of hypochondria, this is mind blowing to me.
The third phase of hypochondria is when they actually produce in their body that which they feared.
I just know that I have cancer. I just, I know it, it's been in my family line and, and I just feel that something is wrong. You go to the doctor, check it out. No, there's nothing there. You're fine, Your blood is clean. There's nothing. No, I just know it. And after they're declaring it, after they're speaking it, after they're believing for it, next thing you know, they have exactly what they have declared. This is Bible. Faith works both way, my friend. You will have what you believe for. So stop believing for things you don't want. You just imagine if you took that nervous energy. It's like Job. Did you know that Job in Job chapter three in verse 25, this is just after his family has perished. All of his world is falling apart. And this is what he says. The thing that I greatly feared has come upon me. What I dreaded has happened to me. You will have what you believe for so what I challenge you today is what if you took all of that nervous, anxious, fearful energy and you began to shift your prayers.
I'm getting stronger and stronger.
I don't have sickness that's growing in me. No. I have the divine nature of God Almighty growing in. And it's cleansing me. It's purifying me. Oh, my marriage isn't falling apart. No. My marriage is getting better and better. We're on a 20 year honeymoon. Hallelujah. My wife is going to be faithful. I'm going to be faithful. Our marriage is going to be incredible. What if you took all this stuff that you felt freak out about? Well, what's wrong with my kids? Are they gonna be okay? Are they gonna backslide? Are they gonna. No. What if you shifted that and said no? God, you've got a call and you've got a destiny over their lives. God, you're gonna use them the very same way you've used me. The gifts that are in my life. You're gonna multiply and use even greater in my children to greater levels. You just imagine what would happen if you began to take and reorient your faith. What are you believing for?
So I want to show you something. We read that text out of Matthew 28.
There was an earthquake. The angel descended from heaven. The guards shook for fear. Everybody say fear.
The guards shook for fear. And they probably should have. They were a part of the group that murdered Jesus and still guarding that tomb were resisting the work of God. They had reason to fear. And the Bible says that they fell down and they were as dead men.
That's fear.
But then these women show up, the married group, right? Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, I believe, Mary of Bethany. All of these women, Joanna, a number of women, they all show up there at the tomb and the angel greets them, don't be afraid.
You notice every time an angel shows up, he says, don't be afraid. You want to know why angels are scary, man?
Angels, every time you read about them, these hulking, flaming beings, I mean, these guys are mighty. If they were little imps or if they were just babies floating on clouds, they wouldn't have to tell you. I mean, maybe that'd be scary if that popped up in your room in the middle of the night. Baby floating.
Maybe.
But I'm telling angels, every description you read about them, they're frightening because they're powerful. Conversely, you'll notice that every time you see demons in scripture, they're cowering, they're fearful. What have you to do with us, Jesus? Don't judge us before our time. Constantly they are in fear. You need to understand whose side you're on, who's fighting your battles.
He's a. You know, we use this phrase, the Lord of hosts. You know what hosts he's talking about? It's the hosts of angel armies who are ready and able to fight on your behalf.
And if my theology is correct, and I think it is, you realize that angels outnumber demons at least two to one.
Alright, that's a bonus point for you. What do you got to be afraid of? So the angels, they tell the ladies, hey, don't be afraid, but I want you to go and tell the other disciples that Jesus is risen. And so they go out quickly from the tomb, the Bible says, with fear and great joy.
Now this made me study because you see fear mentioned there three times. Fear with the guards, understandable.
Don't fear, the angel said to these ladies. Then they left with fear and great joy. You're like, well, help me understand this. So the Greek word for fear is the Greek word phobos. It's where we get the word phobia. And it means to be put in fear, alarm or fright, to be afraid, exceeding fear or terror. Now what's interesting is the same word, phobos is used to describe the guards and to describe the women.
Both had fear, both had fright to be afraid, exceeding fear or terror. But these women also had joy. That means a calm, delight, gladness, great exceeding joy.
Now you say, wait a second. How do these two things work together? How can you have terror, exceeding fear? How can you be afraid and have calm, delight, gladness, great exceeding joy. How do these two things work together? Well, when you understand the Greek word that is used here for joy, you'll probably recognize this if you've been hanging around a little bit. It's the Greek word, Kara.
It's the very same word. The same root word is used to describe the gifts that come from God, the grace of God and the joy of the Lord.
This is what the Lord distributes as he visits. He's pouring out his chara, his charisma. He's distributing gifts, he's pouring out his grace in his favor and he's distributing the joy of the Lord. So what you'll notice, in fact I gave you a formula here to help you remember. If you have fear, but you have no God, fear minus God is worry.
Fear without God is worry. This is anxiety, this is terror, this is that overwhelming dread. But if you have fear and you add God, if you add his grace, if you add his gifts, if you add his joy, wonder, you have wonder.
Now this is exactly what happened. These ladies come to the tomb and they have fear. But then they receive the good news of how the power, resurrection power, has encountered Jesus. He's been raised from the dead. And they leave the tomb not with terror, not with dread, but with this awe and this wonder. Wow. As they go to tell the disciples exactly what's happened. So how can we walk in this confidence?
How can we see our fear broken? How can we shift to something that is awe inspiring and opens the door for miracles? I believe all of this is possible if we can receive the kara, the joy, the gifts, the grace of God and it impacts our fear.
How did Peter do it? Well, the Bible says this first John, chapter four, in verse 18, there is no fear in love. Everybody say, no fear.
I feel like that was a quarter of the room.
Everybody say no fear.
There we go. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. Second Timothy 1:7 says, For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. This is what I'm believing is going to happen today. I'm believing that those of you who have been plagued by, gripped by, oppressed by fear, that which has held you back. I can't take that step in my business. I can't move forward in my marriage. I can't believe for my prodigal, I can't respond to a healing call. I can't get right with God. I'm believing that today, those of you who have been gripped by fear, anxiety today, by the power, by the love and by the authority of God's word, there is going to be freedom released in the mighty name of Jesus.
It's going to start in the house of God. We have chaplains in all of our schools and we're going to begin to see a shift as people who carry the peace and the presence of God move into the schools. All of a sudden the staff and faculty become informed, affected by this power, this love and this soundness of mind. And all of a sudden, this atmosphere which used to be tense and anxious and fearful, worrisome all of a sudden. Now what is this peace that we feel on the campus? What is this grace that we feel? Oh, well, we'll talk about how we get there.
Think about Peter, a man who denied Jesus to a girl.
And yet before the story is done, we know that Peter is boldly preaching to the very people that crucified Jesus. What happened with Peter? Well, here's keys to courage in a fear filled world. Keys to courage in a fear filled world. I want you to write this down. Power.
Everybody say power.
Come on, look at your neighbor and say power is the power of the Holy Ghost. I know this Is like very elementary. I. If you're, if you came for deep theology, this isn't. Come back next week. Pastor Jim will be back.
But this is pretty self explanatory. How did Peter go from denying Christ to save his own skin to preaching powerfully to the very people that crucified Jesus?
Power.
Power.
So what Jesus prophesied just before he ascended to heaven, you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you will be witnesses for me in Judea and Samaria into the very uttermost parts of the earth. And that's exactly what happened. They're there in the upper room. Acts chapter two. And suddenly as a mighty rushing wind, the power of God sweeps into that room. They become overwhelmed. The fire of God, the power of God comes upon them. And Peter boldly steps out on the balcony and begins to preach under the authority, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. And begins to confront the very accusers and the murderers of Jesus, but boldly calls them to repentance. And 3,000 respond. 3,000 are baptized that very day.
Power.
Oh, we need the power of God.
We need the power. You want fear shattered off of your life. There's nothing like knowing God is with you and God is in you and God is around you and God is going before you and he's coming behind you and he is fighting for you.
And he will empower you to do everything that he has called you to do.
In Matthew chapter 8, the disciples are in a boat and Jesus is taking a nap.
Praise God. You talk about someone who is operating in living hope, someone that is not fearful over the storms of life. Jesus is taking a nap.
And in Matthew chapter 8, the disciples wake up Jesus. Don't you care that we're perishing in this storm? And this is Jesus response. Why are you fearful? Oh you of little faith. Where are you putting your faith? Why are you fearful? So he arose and rebuked the wind and the sea. Everybody say power.
He rebuked the winds and the seas. And there was a great calm. So the men marveled.
Who can this be that even the winds and the sea obey him? Do you see what happened?
Fear.
And Jesus meets that fear with power.
And what is the response?
Wonder. The awe. Do you see how this works? I'm telling you, you can look through scripture. All of these fear encounters when the gift of God, when the grace of God, when the joy of the Lord begins to touch and impact these situations. What was a fearful dread all of a sudden shifts to wow, who is this? That Even the weather obeys him. Who is this who preaches with authority? Who is this who can speak to demon powers? And they go. They were constantly marveling over the things that had brought them fear just moments before.
Because the power of God came.
Fear met the power of God and they marveled. These are keys to courage in a fear filled world. Number two, I want you to write this down.
Love.
I know this is simple, but this is going to help you. Perfect love. The Bible says cast out fear.
Perfect love. Now listen, when I got saved, I came out of drugs, man. The power of God came on me and that's what I went after. Like I would skip CF and I classes that had to do with this lovey dovey stuff because I just went, no, we need revival. We need the power of God.
Some of you knew me, knew me when I was on staff here before. And that's like, that's all I went after, man, was power.
But as I have become, as I've grown in this love of God, this awareness that I am beloved of the Father, that the motivation behind Jesus coming to the earth was his great love for us, even while we were sinners. Romans says, while we were sinners, he died for us. The Father gave his son because of his love for you before you ever earned it or deserved it.
God is crazy about you. And how many know love is a great motivator.
I'm telling you what, I love my kids and I would do anything for my kids. I will work for my kids.
I will kill for my kids. You say, well, that's not very pastoral. Watch House of David. I think it's actually very pastoral. I would do anything for my kids.
[00:35:23] Speaker B: Why?
[00:35:24] Speaker A: Because of my love for them.
And as much as I have a capacity to love, and I think that capacity is pretty great, Imagine God, who is love and what motivates him, how great a love that he has lavished on us that we could be called children of God. God is crazy about you. God will do anything. He is willing to die for you.
That's his love. Notice that this is exactly what happens with the Apostle Peter. Peter had been fearful. He had denied Jesus to save his own skin. And then Jesus shows up in John 21 and he's recreating certain scenes.
He recreates the first miracle that ministered to Peter. Hey boys, you've been fishing all night. Throw your net on the other side. And he redoes the very same miracle that had opened the door of faith for Peter and his brothers.
Then they come and begin to Converse on the beach by the water again where Peter had first surrendered his life. He's recreating. Do you remember how much I love you? Do you remember how I encountered you? He's recreating scenes. Jesus is standing by a campfire cooking breakfast. Just days earlier, Peter had denied Jesus in front of a campfire. And here they are around a campfire. Jesus recreating scenes.
And now he affirms Peter's faith. You denied me three times, but I'm going to give you the opportunity. And what does he do? He affirms not forgiveness, not power, not presence, but he affirms love.
Peter, do you love me?
Peter, do you love me?
Peter, do you love me?
And the answer is yes, of course.
I believe this is part of the process by which Peter was having fear broken off of his life. He experienced the power that gave him great boldness. But Jesus also affirmed, I need you to love me and I need you to stay in love with me. And if you can do that, I'm going to use you, Peter, to even strengthen the love of the others.
Walk in this love. I find it interesting that John, the writer of the Gospel of John and one that we portrayed through acting these last number of weeks, he's the only one who stayed close to Jesus in the midst of his trial in his crucifixion. He's the only one who was there at the feet of Jesus as he hung on the cross.
But you notice how John constantly identifies himself. John the disciple whom Jesus loved. He knows his identity. Listen, if you're here today and you're living in fear, I want you to know that God loves you. Jesus loves you more than you can possibly imagine. When the Spirit of God surrounds you, he's not surrounding you just with power, but it's literally a baptism of love that he wants to surround you in and affirm your identity. You're safe in the arms of God. You're safe. I'm with you. I'm around you. I'm fighting for you. If you're here today and you battle fear, we're going to pray in just a few moments that you would encounter the power of God and the love of God.
But thirdly, you want to walk in confidence, boldly with authority in a fear filled world, you're going to need a sound mind.
Everybody say sound mind.
We need to have the mind of Jesus.
We need to have the mind of Jesus. First Corinthians 2:16 says that we have the mind of Christ.
In Romans chapter 8, 26 and 27 talks about how you and I can receive the mind of the Holy Spirit by praying in the Spirit.
This is just a simple key, but if you're ever battling this fear or anxiety, these worries, I'm just telling you friend, begin to ask Jesus, Jesus, what do you think about this? Give me your mind in your heart if you don't know what to pray. That's literally what Romans 8 talks about. With groans that are too deep. This is overwhelming. I don't know how I'm going to handle this.
And all of a sudden the mind of the Spirit begins to come upon you.
You begin to hear his thoughts and his heart and his mind. This is the way the apostle Peter said it. 1st Peter 1:13.
Prepare your minds for action and exercise self control. Put all your hope, faith in the gracious salvation that will come when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. Prepare your minds, prepare your minds for action and self control.
I like the way the King James says, it actually says to gird up the loins of your mind.
You say, what in the world does that mean? Well, if you understand, like in this day, men would wear robes that would hang down, you know, around their ankles. But when they would begin to move into battle or if they were to run in a race, they would gird up their loins. They would literally roll up their robe and they would tuck it their belt so that they could run unhindered, so they wouldn't be snagged up or caught up or delayed in any way. They're not tripping, they're not falling.
And this is what Peter says you need to do with your mind.
You need to gird up the loins of your mind. You need all these loose, straggling, wavering thoughts. These things that catch you up, these things that distract you, these things that cause you to stumble and fall, this unbelief that constantly plagues you. No, you need to bring this all in together. Take these thoughts captive. You have the mind of Christ, you have the mind of the Holy Spirit. You are one with God and you can think as he does. Jesus, what are you saying over this?
Wow.
Change your focus.
If your imagination runs rampant, worst case scenarios, violence, immorality, shift your focus.
I said it earlier, I believe the most anxious people are actually some of the most faith filled. You just need to learn to focus your faith.
Worship team, if you'll come.
One of the great battles that I faced with fear was a little over a year ago. I ran with my wife and pastor Becky. My first triathlon. I completed that triathlon. But it was not an easy process to get there.
I'll never forget. I could handle the bike, I could handle the run, but I had a mile swim that I had to conquer. And if you haven't grown up around water, I'm talking a mile. You swim a half a mile out into the open ocean. There's sharks in that water.
People drown in that water. It's not shy. It's not a pool, it's not floating down a river. No, you're swimming out into the open ocean a half a mile, and you swim back a half a mile. One mile total. Crazy. But I remember as I was training for this, a few days into our training, I go swimming with my wife, one of our friends, Leanne.
And the water's kind of choppy that day. Waves were coming in, and I'm mostly comfortable in the water, but a few things happen at the same time. We're swimming, and I get about a quarter of a mile out into the open water, and all of a sudden, I turn my head to take a breath, and a wave pounds me in the face. That was unpleasant. And I put my face in the water, notice that the sand has been kicked up. I can't even see the bottom of the ocean anymore.
I look up and there's waves. But far out, I can see my wife and our friend out there swimming, but they're far from me. And I look back the other direction, and it's a quarter mile to the shore.
And all of a sudden, fear.
I mean, panic.
Anxiety. How did. How did we describe that earlier? Yeah, terror. Alarm. Exceeding terror. That's exactly how I felt in that moment. I literally. I'm looking around, and I'm not kidding you, I had the thought, I'm gonna die out here.
It was terrifying.
But what ends up happening is my wife swims back over to me. She notices that I'm just. I'm not following with them anymore. And I don't know how she swims so quickly. I mean, her arms are so small, but she's so fast. It's because she grew up in Hawaii. She's just grown up around it. So she comes back to me and she puts her hand on me, and she just says, it's going to be okay. You're okay. She knows that. I'm like, I'm losing it.
Don't laugh at me. You swim out in the ocean a mile, it's scary. But she puts her hand on. I'm just kidding. She puts her hand on me, and truly, I'm not kidding. Her love, it brought peace to me in that moment. Her love. I want to be okay. And I've trained for this. I can make it back to shore. And I did. I swam back, I prayed, and I thanked God when I got back to shore. But a couple weeks later, I'm training. I'm swimming, I'm in the pool. And we go out there. It's a nice day, flat waters. And I'm once again swimming out into the open ocean.
And this time I get to that quarter mile and that same panic hits me.
But this time I begin to pray in the spirit and I begin to sing. The song that came to mind was oceans. I know it's old, but I'm out there on the ocean. Spirit, lead me where my trust is without borders. That's just what came. And so I start humming this to myself while I'm swimming through the water. I was. What was I doing? I'm girding up the loins of my mind. I'm pulling in these anxious and these fearful thoughts, and I'm saying, no, no, I'm going to do this. I'm going to overcome this. Remember, we hit that quarter mile and then we hit a half a mile. And then we hit our mile marker. And then my wife, our friend, they turned to me and they say, you know, the Half Iron man is only just a little further. Let's go. We went, we hit that. Then they said, the Ironman buoy is just a little further. What is that, 2.4 miles?
Boy, I blew that goal out the water.
I overcame that fear. I swam more than double the length that I needed to to complete that triathlon. It was in the mind.
It was in the mind.
We must have a sound mind if we're going to conquer fear.
Jesus prophesies over Peter. You want to talk about.
He restores him, pours out power, affirms his love. And then he says this. I tell you the truth, Peter. When you were young, you were able to do as you liked. You dressed yourselves, you went wherever you wanted to go. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, others will dress you and take you where you don't want to go. And Jesus said this to Peter to let him know by what kind of death he would glorify God and then tells him, follow me.
Jesus affirmed to Peter, I have a calling, I have a purpose. It's not going to be easy. You will lay down your life.
But if you read the gospels, if you read the writings, the epistles of Peter, On a number of occasions, he says, I've got limited time. I'm gonna lay down my life.
But until then, I have work to do. Until I die, I'm gonna preach this gospel, and then it'll be my honor to lay down my life for Jesus.
I have more that I could say about this. But rather than continuing to preach it, I want to show you guys exactly what I'm talking about with the Apostle Peter.
I'm going to tell you a story.
What's it going to be like one day when you died and you've gone to heaven? You've made it in, and there's that banquet table that you've heard all about. It's time for the marriage supper of the lamb. You look around and you see all the faces of every believer who's ever lived.
An angel greets you and says, come, this is where you're to sit at the marriage supper. Imagine who will be at that table. Heroes of the faith, your loved ones who've gone to be with the Lord. Imagine the conversations you can have with revivalists through all the ages. Heroes of the faith from all history.
I just imagine sitting across from Peter.
Peter, tell me the stories. What was it like to walk with Jesus? You saw Lazarus raised from the dead. Food multiplied. Tell me about Pentecost. 3000 baptisms in a day. Oh, I can only imagine.
[00:49:32] Speaker B: I got to walk with Jesus. I got to see his miracles firsthand. After the upper room, we built this church in Rome, and lives were being changed by the thousands. But it was not easy.
[00:49:47] Speaker A: You see, at that time, Nero was the emperor in Rome. He killed Christians for sport, putting them in coliseums, crucifying them, burning them at the stake was not easy. Being a follower of Jesus, always in.
[00:50:04] Speaker B: The back of my mind, I had these words that Jesus would tell me that. That I would die with my arms outstretched like he did. And even though we were having these powerful services and. And miracles were taking place, I had friends at the same time that were being crucified and burned at the stake. Some even had to perform in the Coliseum.
This was our reality.
[00:50:30] Speaker A: One day, as they were in a prayer meeting, Peter was arrested. When they were asked what the charges were, they accused him of burning down part of the city. Of course, the emperor himself had his men set fire to part of the city. They blamed the Christians.
[00:50:48] Speaker B: They arrested me, they. They beat me, they paraded me through the streets and. And told all of these lies about me, but I wasn't afraid. In fact, I felt like I was given another chance. You see, the first time, I had denied Jesus in the face of persecution. But I told myself, not this time, Peter, not this time. Never again would I do that. Now I was just thankful that I could even suffer for the sake of his name.
[00:51:18] Speaker A: The day came. They led Peter into a courtyard in the Emperor's palace.
As I looked around, he could see his friends, his brothers, his sisters hanging on crosses and impaled on stakes.
[00:51:35] Speaker B: It gave them great pleasure to watch fear grip their prisoners as we walk through this hall of death. But the only thing that I was thinking about wasn't fear. It was Jesus.
Understand, I wasn't afraid to die.
But not like this.
[00:51:55] Speaker A: As they prepared to crucify Peter, he turns to the guards, please, please don't.
[00:52:04] Speaker B: Crucify me like this. Not like my Master was crucified.
I wasn't afraid to die.
I just didn't consider myself worthy to even suffer the same way that he did.
[00:52:17] Speaker A: The guards honored Peter's request.
They crucified him upside down.
[00:52:25] Speaker B: And as I closed my eyes and I took my final breath, all of a sudden I was standing here again. I was standing with Jesus again. Everything that I, that I lived, I breathed, that I died for, has now come to life and was more real than anything that I had ever imagined.
[00:52:51] Speaker A: And now at that moment, Peter looks across the table at you.
In the midst of the greatest celebration in the history of the universe, he looks at you and he says, enough about me.
[00:53:10] Speaker B: Tell me your story.
[00:53:29] Speaker A: I remember when I began to understand the marriage supper of the Lamb.
And it truly hit me that one day I'm going to see Peter face to face.
I'm going to see these disciples, these apostles, these great martyrs and heroes of the faith.
And one of these days they're going to ask me, tell me your story, Church. I live every day with the awareness that this is going to happen for real.
One day you're going to sit at that table and you're going to tell the stories.
I don't want to have lame stories. I didn't have time for church. I was just so busy with this and that. How's that going to sound? On that day, I want to be able to look at Peter and say, listen, I wasn't persecuted in Rome. My friends did not get crucified. But man, we were able to have open air meetings. We set up tents in downtown, we had Jesus clubs, we opened churches all over the state. I want to be able to say, man, we went crazy for Jesus. We hosted miracle meetings. And let me tell you about the things that God did.
I want Peter to look at me and say, man, that sounds awesome.
What are we living for?
I want you to stand. We're going to sing a song, and then I'll pray a closing prayer. This isn't the time to leave, but this is our original song that we just released a couple days ago.
It's a great song of reflection on the life that we have, the joy of living with Jesus. So come on, we're going to sing this together. Let's worship. Don't leave yet. We're going to pray in closing in just a moment.
