At The Wheel: Who's Driving | Marcus Nuaimi

0:06 Is your life organized around the words of Jesus or is it just inspired by them? I think that our greatest struggle in our culture with our witness today is that we try to go do for Jesus or pretend that we are following Jesus without ever being with Jesus. We give people permission to follow Jesus publicly while the character that they show and they display does not demand a private life. Look, look for me, I think that our doing is often weak in the church because our being with him is very absent. [music] What do you need to change to prioritize being with him so that you can do for him in a greater capacity? All right. Well, beautiful people of water of life. How are we doing this morning? Good. Yeah.

0:52 [cheering and applause] Good to be with you guys today. Um, like pastor Julianne said, my name is Marcus. I'm one of the pastors here on staff and excited to be able to teach this morning. Um, it's a blessing to be able to uh bring the word here whenever I get the opportunity to. So, I'm I'm just blessed by it. If you are joining us online or joining us in here in the room for the first time, we want to welcome you um and hope that we can connect after service at the at connection point or at the welcome center. Um one of our team would love to help you kind of find your way here at Water of Life. But you are joining us at a great time. We are starting a new series today called At the Wheel. It's a very bright graphic on the screen. Um and we get to talk about everyone's favorite topic for the next few weeks. You guys ready for what it is? We get to talk about fear for the next few weeks. It's going to be great. I know that no one is excited about that. No, I think it's going to be

1:38 really helpful, really good um and really good opportunity for us to grow in our one likeness of Jesus and our relationship with Jesus as well because there is so much going on in the world around us. There are so many reasons, so many opportunities to fear or to trust the Lord. And if you were in here and you were a follower of Jesus, the hope would be or that I would imagine the assumption is if I were to ask you what's driving your life or what's leading your life, who's leading your life, your answer would be Jesus. Um there's also a reality too that fear plays a factor that fear is real and fear is a real experience of the human I don't know condition. Like just look at the world around you. We have wars everywhere. Gas prices are insane. Food prices are insane. Pretty soon you're going to be paying for oxygen. Um you're going to get taxed every time you want to breathe here, especially in

2:24 California. They're going to double the tax. Um it's just it's crazy. Like things are are I mean our world is wild and that's just that's on a grand scale. What about individually? What about your individual life? There's I'm sure there's something going on in your world today, your specific world, your specific life, your family that is caused for fear, that is caused for anxiety. And while we would say that Jesus is the driving force of our life, that God is, you know, driving us, I'm going to encourage you to not think of Carrie Underwood and Jesus take the wheel for the rest of this series, for the next few weeks. But if we, as much as we'd like to say that Jesus is at the wheel and he has control of your life, there's also a reality that some of us in here, if we're honest with ourselves our ourselves, fear is driving. Fear is the driving force. You'd like to think you're driving. We like to think that we're in control. There's some things

3:10 you're in control of in your life today. What you do after church, you have control over that. Maybe you get to make the decision, but really you're just a passenger. If God is is and God's kind enough that maybe he gives you shotgun, but you're you're a passenger in your life. You don't you're not in control. you you don't get to control the things that come your way. I mean, that's just that's a maybe harsh truth, but that's the reality. We don't get to control the things that we endure in this life. No matter how hard we try to control it, there's still things that we face that are so far beyond our control that it's not even funny. What we can control is who's driving. Is it is it our faith and our dependence and trust in Jesus? or is it the multitude of fears that could be driving our decisions and our relationships and

3:56 our our motivation, our perspective? So, you know, as we talk about a series called at the wheel, like who is at the wheel in your life? Who is who's driving? What's driving? My hope and my prayer is at the end of this series that there's um a little bit more of an awareness of how fear can play a part in your in your life, in your perspective, the different kinds of fears. We'll cover them over the next few weeks. But at least for today, I want to start with this question that who is driving? And if it's fear, I want to maybe challenge you with this idea that fear reveals where our trust actually is. And that what we trust, who we trust, what we trust to be true, determines how we live our life. Who you think has the most power in your world, in your universe, is the person

4:41 that you look to. I mean, when you're a kid, it's your parents. when you're on a when you're on a team, if you played sports, it's your coach. But I mean really with your life, if you think that God is almighty, all powerful, all able, all capable, then there's nothing in this life that is insurmountable for you. But if God's ability and God's character is questionable in your mind, then anytime you face anything, you're going to be shaken. So on that light note, [clears throat] we're going to start with fear. We're going to start with Genesis chapter 3. If you want to open up your Bibles or turn in your phones, turn in your phones, go in your phones, whatever it may be. Um, if you don't have a Bible or if you're not aware of the Bible, you're not sure where Genesis is at, guess what? You're in luck. It's the first book. [clears throat] And we're going to start in the very beginning.

5:28 For those of us that didn't grow up in a faith context or grow up in the church, maybe grow up with an understanding of Genesis and of Adam and Eve. Really, here's the picture for us to understand is that God creates everything. He creates all of creation. um and at the end of it creates Adam and Eve with the intention and the the desire to be in relationship with them. He creates humanity, us um in his image, imagebearers to participate and to be co-laborers together in the garden, maintaining it um ordering it, keeping it in order. And there's there's some intention here for us to be a participant in what God is doing in the garden. But also God creates with boundaries. He creates with boundaries in place for

6:15 us people like us with expectations or I'm sorry with limitations for the things that we can or cannot do. So we're not creator right? We we did not get to create the garden humanity just participants. But he does also create us in his image with some authority to make decisions with free will with autonomy. And what we get to see in the garden is unfortunately how those that free will plays into the birth of fear in our existence. So we're going to pick up in Genesis chapter 3:es 8-10. And this is after they have partaken of the tree that they were told not to partake of. This is after the serpent deceives and lies. This is after the serpent questions the character and

7:00 the intention of God and Adam and Eve partake. And it says in verse 8, "And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. [snorts] But the Lord God called to him and said to him, "Where are you?" And he said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was, what's the word there? >> Afraid. Because I was naked and I hid myself." See, God creates all of creation. He creates the garden and puts limitations in place for the good of humanity, for the good of Adam and Eve, for their benefit. God's intention, God's desire in all this in in in all of his creation is for good, is for something that is at

7:47 peace and at harmony. It's in, you know, in the Hebrew, the shalom. So, after every single day, he creates something. And he looks back on what he created and he says it's what? >> It's good. Okay. Three people. He says it's what? Good. >> Good. So even the things that he creates and the limitations that he puts in place for people are for their good. It's for their benefit. But the first time that we see fear take place in scripture is a byproduct of humanity determining what is good for themselves. See verse 6, we didn't see that in verses 8 through10, but in verse six, it goes back further. This is right after the serpent calls God's God's design and God's character and his his intention into question. Verse six, it says, "So when the woman saw that the tree was

8:33 what? >> Good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate as well." The first time we see fruit take place, it is a byproduct of humanity determining what is good for themselves. When the first time we see fear take place in Genesis, in Genesis chapter 3, fear is a byproduct of misplaced trust. This relationship that Adam and Eve, it's easy. Everyone's like, "Well, it's Eve's fault." I'm like, "No, it literally just says there in the text right there that she took from the tree and her husband who was there parttook as well." So, it's this is not this is not the the copout. We're like, "Thanks a lot, Eve." No, this is both of them. They are both complicit in this.

9:19 This is not just one person. This is all of us. This is the human condition that while we have this relationship with God, we still are tempted in moments of of of difference to question his intention and we are tempted to question his intention, question his character, question his goodness. And when we do that, what we see is we see fear take place. See, this is the core of sin. This is the foundation of sin. When we talk about sin, we often talk about sin in these like very singular individual actions. I did this, therefore I sinned. God told me not to do this thing. This is this is sin. at the foundation of sin, the very the very like core nucleus of sin and what it is, it is humanity determining what is good for themselves as opposed to what God has said is good. Ultimately, in layman's terms, us

10:05 playing God and taking God out of his seat. Us us making the determination of what is good for ourselves. We know what God says. They knew clearly what God had said and with some temptation and some motivation, negative motivation, still making the decision to determine what is good for themselves instead of trusting and leaning on the Lord. Fear is a byproduct of determining what is good on our own. Fear is a byproduct of misplaced trust. They once trusted God. They were tempted not to and they misplaced their trust in themselves or the circumstance. And I would love to say that this is an issue that was resolved in the garden, but unfortunately it's not. Because if you know anything about the Old Testament, you know anything about these people called Israel that we see throughout the entirety of the Old Testament. This is the story of Israel. God making it very

10:52 clear to them, do this. I want to be your God. I want you to be my people. This is how you are to live. This is how you are to function. And they say, cool. What do we want to do? This is this is the story of humanity from the very beginning. This is this is God's people and what we get to pick up to or pick up with today in Exodus. If you don't know where Exodus is, guess what? You're in luck. It's the next book. Exodus chapter 14. [clears throat] This isn't just something that we do. This is from the beginning of time. [sighs] Exodus chapter 14. Up until this point, we see we have seen God do the miraculous on behalf of Israel. All I mean, if you grew up in the church, you know this. The craziest stories that you learn about in Sunday school generally take place within the context of Israel.

11:39 If you watch Veggie Tales growing up, Jericho falling, Israel, the Red Sea splitting Israel the plagues, Israel, God doing what he does. I mean, forever. It's been Israel. It's been with his people. And it's not just for them, but it's been for us. But this is where we kind of see this this this picture take place most prominently is they are literally up until this point at Exodus 14, where we're going to pick up in just a second, as they have seen the hand of God on full display. They have been they were in slavery in captivity in Egypt for 400 plus years. God saw his people was moved by their their their their grief and their sadness. Brought Moses out of the desert, sent Moses back into Egypt, equipped Moses, and Moses was the man.

12:24 Like Moses was just out there with a staff and he was like, "Watch this." But it was really God through Moses doing these incredible works. These are, you know, typically called like theophies. These are these moments where we get to see God intervene, the power of God take place in the the natural realm. And the most places we see it take place is in Exodus Exodus chapter basically 1 through13 where where God is revealing to Israel and revealing to the people of Egypt, this is who I am. This is what I do. This is what I'm capable of. This is what I'm capable of doing. So what we pick up is right after Pharaoh gives permission to Moses to take the people of Israel out of Egypt and out of captivity and then he changes his mind with a hardness of heart and he pursues them.

13:10 But keep in mind that what we're about to read is about a week or so after they leave Egypt. So they have seen these miraculous wonders. They have seen the hand of God at on display for their benefit, for their good. And this is where we pick up. Exodus 14, we're going to be verses 10 through 14. We will read verses 13- 14 together, but I'm going to read the first few on my own. So, it says this. When Pharaoh drew near. So, they're at the bank of the Red Sea. That's the other thing I should have told you beforehand. Sorry. [clears throat] Verse 10. When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. This is normal. And we're going to talk about this in just a little bit. There's a difference between an encounter and experience of fear and letting fear drive your life.

13:57 See, I would I would imagine that every single one of us in here has encountered something that has caused fear. If you haven't, please tell me your ways. Like there's you're you're superhuman at this point. We have all encountered something that we haven't experienced and it triggers fear. That is a normal experience. If you have been in in captivity in Egypt for 400 years, you finally get set free and you walk up to a sea and you're like, "So, where are we going?" And you turn around, you're like, "Oh, there's Pharaoh. That's actually me." So, [laughter] we like, of course, there's going to be fear. Fear is fear is not sin. Experiencing fear is not a sinful act. It is a human experience. Where they take a turn is where we see moving forward from this point on. They said to Moses, oh I'm sorry, verse 10. And they feared greatly. And the people of Israel called out cried out to

14:43 the Lord and they said to Moses, "Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt? Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians. For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. And this is where we read together. Verse 13. And Moses said to the people, "Fear not. Stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians you you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you and you have only to be silent. They have this encounter of fear.

15:29 They see the Egyptians coming after them, right? You can almost kind of see this in like a movie term. Like you're like, "What's going to happen?" They're riding after them. Fear is normal. Fear is a normal human experience. And that then it takes a turn when they start to call out or call into question Moses's intention. call out and call into question God's intention in bringing them out. And a week after they are set free, their perspective is now driven by fear. I would like to think that I would have more faith in the people in this in the story. I don't think I have that much faith in myself. I think I would probably have the same encounter as them. Even though I've just seen God do these incredible things, I now see another impossible scenario before me and I'm going to question. And for them, they start to question not

16:16 just what God is going to do, but what what Moses is going to do, but God's intention and Moses's intention in bringing them out. They've already forgotten his incredible works. And now they start to critique the plan of Moses and God. Here we going to pick back up in verse 12. Look back at it. It says, [clears throat] "Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians, for it would have been what? >> Better for us to have served the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness." This is really important for us. This is where the Hebrew language or the Greek language are really important for us to understand more of what God is doing and and really the text and what's happening throughout the thread of scripture. When I say like, "Hey, you want to learn the Hebrew or learn the Greek?" That's not us showing off about that we know Hebrew and Greek. I barely barely passed my Hebrew class in Bible college. All right? So, I'm not showing off here at all, but this is just for us to

17:02 understand that the like the human condition here in Genesis 3:6 when it says that Eve determined that it was good, that it was tove to partake that it was good food. It's the same language that's being used here in in Exodus chapter 14 that they said that it would have been better. It would have been tove it would have been good for them to stay in Egypt. And the same thing takes place that takes place in Genesis chapter 3. Anytime humanity starts to determine what is good for us, we lose perspective of who God is. Any time anytime we start to determine what is the right path for us, what would actually be good for us as opposed to what God has determined is good for us is when we start to question not only what God is doing, but God's integrity,

17:48 God's character, God's ability. We start to question God. And when we do that, we then insert ourselves with a better plan. It would have been better for us to stay in Egypt. You were suffering for 400 years. What do you mean it would have been better for you to stay in Egypt? Do you not Do you not remember what God just did on your behalf? But how crippling and how deceiving can fear be? Or the moments of fear can be if not surrendered and given to the Lord? [snorts] Because what it ends up doing is it then purs then it filters our perspective of who God is. And if we're honest with ourselves, this isn't just Israel's story. This is ours as well. Each and every one of us. I don't care who you are. I don't care how good of a follower of Jesus you think you are. This is our encounter almost weekly if not daily on small scales and grand

18:36 scales that we face something and this is typically how it plays out. We encounter something that we deem as a threat or not an ideal situation or worrisome or maybe it's like grave. It's like a tragedy that's taking place in your life. And I'm not going to say that hey there's like these small things that happen these big things that happen and try and put them on an even playing field to try and minimize the big things. I'm I'm hopefully, you know, when I say circumstance, when I say the word circumstance, this is really a vague term for you to fill in the blank because you may be walking through something small right now. You may be walking through something that is dire. You may like, and here's what ends up typically happening is we get overwhelmed in the dire situations like a loss of family, a loss of a job, a a a sickness diagnosis from a doctor, whatever it is. And then there's the

19:22 small things that we think we can control because they're small. We'll let God take the big stuff, but we'll control like the conflict in my family. We'll control the conflict in a friendship. We will like I have this coworker that drives me nuts. So, I'm going to figure out the the right No, no, no, no. These both of these scenarios God cares about. Both of these scenarios, God has an approach for us to employ and to walk out. But what ends up happening is we find ourselves encountering something. Like I said, sickness, loss of a job. You didn't get into the school you wanted to get into. You didn't get the job that you wanted to get that you thought you deserved. You have a conflict in a friendship or a conflict in your family. Your kids are going crazy. Your parents are going crazy. I don't know. Parents sometimes were crazy, too. Amen. We encounter something that feels unal

20:09 what God is doing in it. And that's not a problem. But there's a difference between questioning what God is doing and questioning why God let it happen. There's a difference between qu questioning what God is doing in it and questioning why God had ever let let it happen in the first place. Here's the difference. God, I don't know what you're doing in this. I don't know why you've let this happen, but Lord, I trust you and I look to you. As opposed to, God, why would you let this happen to me? I thought you loved me. I thought you had my good in mind. And this is where the the enemy loves to kind of creep in as the serpent does in Genesis chapter 3 and say, "God doesn't have your good in mind. God doesn't have your best interest. God is busy taking care of these other people whose problems are bigger than yours. God's busy taking care of these people who actually love

20:54 him, not you. You're a sinner. You messed up like four times this week. So, what ends up happening is whether we live in this, there's really kind of like a fork in the road. If you choose, if we choose to in that moment, whether it's a big circumstance or a small one, to say, "God, I don't know what you're doing, but you're doing something and I'm going to trust you." We find ourselves in a place where God is still in control of our situation. Many of us, if not all of us, find ourselves in this place at times where fear then starts to drive the narrative of our life. God is not present. God does not care. God does not hear me. God does not see. So, I need to take over. God doesn't care about what I'm walking through right now. So, I need to determine what is good for myself. And when we start to determine what is good for ourselves, what happens? Fear takes over. And we start to come up with our own plan. And we start to take control of our life. But friends, this is how the world navigates chaos. This is how

21:41 the world navigates tragedy. This is how the world navigates circumstances that are beyond their control. This is not how people that follow and believe in Jesus are meant to. But we often find ourselves doing these very things where we try to take control of our life. Any control freaks in the house? >> Yeah. >> Amen. Okay, you guys are more honest than last service. Good for you, self-aware group of people. Good for you. All right, we're going [clears throat] to talk about control in the next couple of weeks. So, just buckle up. Some of us, when things feel out of control, we look to anything that we can possibly control, relationships, people, jobs. We take on more work because at least I'm doing something. I'm being productive. Or maybe for some of us, we look to self-protect and we isolate our ourselves from more people and we just we deem anything that we deem a threat or possibly dangerous to us, we just separate ourselves from it. Some of us are worst case thinkers.

22:27 Anybody fatal thinker in here? >> Amen. I raise my hand in in confession that the wor like the smallest thing happens to me. I'm like, we're all dead. I'm dying. We're dying. Like I have a sniffle. I'm like, this is it. This is my end. Jesus, I'm coming home. I'm like, "No, it's like, and I'm not the only one. Some of us function this way. The smallest thing throws you into a tail spin. And even if it's not the smallest thing, even if it's a big thing, our our perspective is immediately negative." I'll unpack that a little bit more in just a second. Don't worry. But then when we start to think fatally, we start to make decisions from an urgence from an urgent place. And we make unwise decisions and we make unwise statements

23:13 and we make hurtful statements and then we start finding ourselves in a tail spin within our life and one tragedy begets another tragedy and we in pain just begets pain and it's one domino after the other. This is not how we are meant to function when we face circumstances that feel out of control. This is not the path. This is not the method. This is the one that we typically walk out. But there's a better alternative. So what is that alternative? [snorts] Well, glad you asked. Exodus chapter 14. We just read it a couple minutes ago. I think there's a couple commands here that Moses gives us that were that gives the people of Israel that we can also find some solace and some some comfort in and hopefully find um a a framework or a perspective

23:58 that we can look at any circumstance in our life through. And it's this. We're going to go starting with the first three commands here. He says, "Fear not. Stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord. First one, fear not. All right, message over. Just don't be afraid. Just get over it. I'm joking. [clears throat] [laughter] Marcus, Pastor Marcus said, get over it. No, that's not the note. That's not the takeaway. Like, wow, water of life is crazy. These pastors are just super direct. No, like it's obviously much easier said than done. And I said, we need to clarify this, and I'll clarify it here. Feeling fear is natural. letting it drive you and your perspective is a choice. Feeling fear is natural. You are we are broken people. We are going to be afraid of something small or

24:44 large. Feeling it is not the problem. Letting it create a narrative and then drive your perspective in your life and your relationships and your decisions is where we find ourselves in chaos. >> Let me give you some silly examples. I have shared this before. If you haven't heard me share it, I'm not going to go into great detail. I have an irrational fear of flying. Okay. I don't think planes make sense. They don't make sense. You can't make sense of them for me. I don't care what you have to say. If you're judging me, fine. Judge yourself. But it's fine. We [clears throat] all have our irrational fear. This is mine. And I wear it proudly. Okay? I There's just something about it. Every single time I get on a plane, I have a moment with the Lord. I'm like, "All right, Jesus. This is it. I'm coming home." Like, I told you I'm a fatal thinker, right? Like, this is this is and I look around. I'm like, "God, these people, too. They're coming with me. All right. This is This is really

25:31 bleak. [laughter] This is getting darker and darker by the minute. I promise it gets better. I have a I have a stupid fear of flying. But I've also over the past 12 years felt the Lord put on my heart to go overseas and to go and do mission work in Cambodia, in Kenya, in Haiti. And I have faced that fear time and time again because I'm not I can feel the fear and not let it dictate the way that I live my life. This this is always a funny encounter for me because I'll go on mission trips and we do these team building experiences and we have pastor Chuck and he'll come to our team meeting and puts his little rope on the ground and then we do this, you know, thing and he'll read off a list of scenarios of like if you're comfortable eating, you know, food from a different place, step into the circle. I'm like, I'm fine with the food. If you're comfortable praying in public, I'm like, I'm a pastor. I I have to be in the middle, you know, like if

26:17 like if you're comfortable preaching the gospel, I step in. when you get to when he gets to the plane question, I always step back and people like, Marcus, haven't you done this a few times? I'm like, yes. But just because I do it doesn't mean I love it. There's fear that we all encounter that doesn't drive our life. Like anybody in here, and I'm show of hands, please. Who here has a fear of rejection? Show me your hands. All of you. You don't don't keep your hand down. I see you. I see the hand. Good for you. I see the hand. Good for you. Good for you. Good for you. Okay, you're honest with yourself. We all fear rejection. >> Yes, >> we all to some degree. You apply for a job, there's something in you that's like, "Oh gosh, I hope they like my resume." [laughter] We have all been rejected at one point or another in our lives, elementary,

27:03 junior high, high school, now. But it doesn't stop you from engaging in relationship with people, right? Like, that would be silly. Like, well, I'm going to be rejected by people, so I'm just going to go sit in my closet for eternity. Like that's not how we live our lives. These are silly examples, but this is an example of the difference between feeling and letting it drive. You can feel fear. You can encounter fear. That is not sin. Letting it take over and make decisions leads us into decisions that are sin. Where we place God at a lesser authority. We move God off of the the preeeminent authority of our life and his voice and what he said mattering the most to a secondary or even equal. And this is I mean ultimately fear holds

27:50 us back. It is a liar and it's a liar that we all know pretty well. And this is how we are meant to fear not. So we're saying fear not. Okay. So how do we actually walk that out? When was the last time that each and every one of us took time to stop to identify the narrative or the fear-driven narratives in our lives? the like the the narratives, the things that we believe that lead to decisions that we make that are not from God. You may not think that you have any. You're like, "I'm good. Everything I hear is from Jesus." Like again, please teach us your ways. This is what some of them sound like. Here's a couple just for an example. If I don't take control of everything that's going on, control freaks, anyone? Um that everything is going on like everything is going to fall apart. Or maybe relationships. What if they don't like me? I have to make myself likable. I have to laugh at their

28:36 jokes so that they think that I like them, so that they'll like me back and they'll accept me. So, I'll accept them so that they accept me. Or maybe it's in work. If I don't keep proving myself, I'm going to miss out on opportunities. So, even though I feel burnt out and I have no bandwidth and I don't even like this job, I'm just going to keep saying yes so that I'm successful and I can make as much money and then I die. And then if I don't if I don't do this thing for my child, for those of us in here that are parents, if I don't do this thing, they're going to fall behind and I'm going to mess them up and they're not going to love me in 20 years. I'm going to be paying for therapy that is because of me and they're not even going to like me anymore. And maybe for some of us, maybe for some of us, you're like, I I know what God has done for me in the past, but I haven't necessarily been having a bunch of quiet time with him lately, and I I I yelled at my kids the other day, so maybe this thing that's happening to me is his way of punishing me, so I have to work on my

29:23 Do you hear? I almost blacked out doing that right now. But we let that I I I I do that to prove a point that that's exactly how it sounds in your mind. That's exactly how it sounds in your heart. But these things sound like wisdom when in reality they're fear. And if we don't confront, here's really important. If you don't if please please don't miss this. If because fear doesn't just show up, it starts to narrate. It starts to tell a story to you. Because it does, if we don't confront and refuse it, then we start to believe and obey it. If we don't take the time to be aware of the narrative, the fear-driven narratives in our mind, if we don't take time to confront it, to take it captive and refuse the authority that is in it,

30:11 then we start to believe it as truth and we obey it as God. We let it start to drive the way that we make decisions in our life. and what was once God's voice leading us in a still calm silent voice or you know a a a calming peaceful way we start to make decisions from a an anxious place from a stressed out place from a nervous place from a fearful place we all have these narratives if I can be honest for a few minutes here I for the past several years I've been going to counseling and I have had the same therapist for the you know several years now and at this point I get to see here once a month and we have been talking through my narrative. If I'm honest, I have a lot of good things that are happening in my life right now. I have a

30:57 baby on the way. He will be here in like I don't know 5 minutes. Um I'm joking. I You're like his wife's in labor and he's teaching. I'm a good husband. He she is not in labor. I promise. But she is 38 weeks u pregnant. I um so we have a son on the way. Super excited about that. I'm graduating in a couple of weeks. I'm finishing up school. I have a lot of great things that are happening here at work, but here's where my narrative kicks in. And here's where things take a turn. All these good things are happening in my life. And I've been I've been anxious in the past few weeks more than I have been in a long time. And I was praying through I'm like, why? What is that? Because I can stop and take a second and look at the things around me. I'm like, these are good things. So why do I not feel like they're good? Because I have this stupid narrative in my mind that good things don't happen to me.

31:42 >> And this is and this is this is just me. This has been a maybe this is a middle child thing. middle children. We'll talk later. I saw some hands like, "Yes, Jesus." Okay. [laughter] It's It's a ridiculous narrative. But for some reason, for some reason, it has plagued me for years that even though these good things are happening, I'm just waiting for the for the ball to drop. I'm waiting for something to happen. Like, they're going to find something wrong in my transcripts. I'm not going to graduate. I'm going to have to redo a class. Dumbest thing ever. I'm doing well. I've passed my class. I some my my wife is pregnant. Something's going to go wrong with the pregnancy. Something's going to go wrong with delivery. So, I have to be mentally prepared. So, I'm anxious about something that may not even happen. And I'm sitting here anticipating something bad, even though there's something good.

32:29 And even though I can look at my life and identify the incredible things that God is doing and God has done, I'm still living in this fear of an inevitable thing that is going to happen. Even though the proof stands to contrast that, am I alone in this or is somebody else hearing this? >> This is here. Here's the thing. I I I share that honestly. I share that with you. So hopefully you have a little bit more boldness today to go and share the ridiculous narrative that is driving your mind because we all have them. Some of our parenting is driven by fear. For some of us, our relationship, our marriage is plagued by fear. Our work is riddled with fear. And we're not taking the time to fear not to refute and refuse and combat the

33:15 narrative that the enemy is writing in our mind that would love to cause us to think that God does not have our good in mind, our best in mind, and we have to make our own good. That is the work of the enemy. Moses says to fear not. And the sec the second part of that is to stand firm and to stand still. In the Hebrew, it says stand still. But really in our in the English often we see it translated as stand firm. Because here's the picture is that once you have fear not once you have poked all the holes in the arguments of the fear- driven narratives of your mind and it does you recognize that it does not hold up in court the way that you think it once did and it's no longer having the authority or the role in your life that it once did. You can look at what's coming your way and you can just tes down stand firm. You don't have to like kind of back out.

34:01 You don't have to see for Israel it was literally walking up to the water or looking back and it's Pharaoh and this [clears throat] was the encounter. Hey, this is nothing to be afraid of. You can stand firm. In the Old Testament, different narratives are they use this term like in preparation for battle. But here's the best part is what am I standing firm in? I'm standing firm in the last command. It's this that you will see the salvation of the Lord. >> I'm not standing firm in my strength. I'm not standing firm in my ability. I'm not standing firm in my own narrative or my own good or my own way. I'm standing firm in the thing that I believe most to be true. That God will save me. That God will be with me in this. Because there's an incredible part in verse 14. It says this, "For the Egyptians, for um for the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall

34:48 never see again. The Lord will fight for you and you have only to be silent." This is the promise that it's all based out of. See this this like commentaries like to highlight that God let Egypt, God let Pharaoh and and his chariots get as close to Israel as it could before he parted the sea so that when they walked through the sea, this incredible thing happening on dry ground that the Egyptians were close enough to then get swallowed up by the water. So that this thing that once daunted them and drove their perspective and caused them to question God's faithfulness and goodness is no longer even a factor anymore. They're I mean they're they're at the bottom of the water. See this I mean this is this is the foundation of it all. You know why you don't have to

35:33 fear? You don't know why you why you know want to know why you can fear not? Because you believe in a God. If you were in Christ, you believe in a God who saves. >> You believe in a salvation that comes from God only. We don't have to fear because we know who he is. And when we fear not, we remove the lens and the authority of fear. We stand firm, grounded in who he says he is and what he's done. And we get to now see what God has going to do for us. You can stand there, you can look at the thing that you're going to face and be like, I don't know how he's going to do it, but he's going to do it. >> He's going to do something. And this isn't just like name it and claim it kind of stuff because there's a reality that some of us are facing really difficult stuff. We're facing really difficult times. And we're going to talk in just a moment about why we don't have to even fear death. Because for some of

36:19 us, the [snorts] change doesn't come in this life. The change doesn't come in this life. It doesn't come in the natural. But because we believe in a God who saves and redeems, we can believe that even the thing that I'm looking at right now, even if it though it feels not good, I wouldn't choose it for myself. I believe in a God who makes things good. I believe in a God that restores. He doesn't only save, but he restores and he redeems. Meaning that he has determined it is good for me to endure this. I know what he can do because of what he has done. So, I'm going to stand firm and I'm going to watch what God does. This is I was praying last Sunday to maybe kind of put it a different way. We were I was driving with my daughter um last Sunday night just praying for today, praying for what to how to kind of go about teaching this

37:06 message and um with our son on the way. I've [clears throat] been trying to spend as much time with Molly, my daughter. We have a picture if you want to throw up on the screen so you can say oo and a that's great. Um they're cute. You can take it down. [laughter] We I've been trying to spend as much time with her as possible. It's still up there. There's me. [laughter] I've [clears throat] been trying to trying to spend as much time with her as possible so that I can just I don't know prepare her and make sure that she's getting the attention she needs with a new baby coming on coming into the picture. And u my child is obsessed with a few things. Um four things really. First thing is the cat next door that she thinks is our cat. It's not our cat. Um second thing is show Otani because who isn't, right? Um, and the third and fourth thing, we got In-N-Out and we got Forest Frank's Christmas album. So, I'm not buying her a cat over my dead body.

37:53 Um, I can't afford Dodger tickets right now, so who can? Um, so I can take her to In-N-Out. That I can I can do that. [laughter] And I will I will uh begrudgingly throw in a Christmas album in April because that's what she wants to listen to. So, last week we were going to In-N-Out. And the more I say In-N-Out, the more you're going to want In-N-Out after service today. So, I apologize for that. But, man, isn't In-N-Out awesome? Anyway, fresh never frozen patties, just cheese. I'm not sponsoring this message either. [laughter] I pro I promise. We were driving to In-N-Out and I was praying and I love Molly and I there's so much I love about her. She's She's crazy and she's also incredible. Um that we can drive anywhere and she doesn't have to have something in her hand. She doesn't have to be doing something. She will just like look out the window and be like, "What's that?" I'm like, "That's a fire hydrant." She's like,

38:38 "Wow, I love fire hydrants." I'm like, "Cool. Good for you. [laughter] You don't even know where they are. But I'm driving and I'm praying and God, what do you want to do about this? And she's just sitting in the back seat in her car seat just at peace. Just like nothing nothing even kind of like on her radar to be worried about. And I I felt the Holy Spirit say, "Look back at her for a second." I'm like, "All right, real quick. Can I can we wait cuz I'm still driving? That's that's dangerous." Joking. I didn't say that to God. Um, but it took a moment and I looked back at her and she's just looking out the window and she's just kind of like nothing, just at peace. She's and I felt the Lord just say, "What is what is it you you see right now?" And I I just I'm like, "She's secure. She's safe. She's

39:24 at peace." And I felt them ask me, "What do you want for her?" And I was like, "I want I mean ultimately I want her to love Jesus and trust Jesus with her entire life." And we pray for that daily. But also secondary, um, I want her to trust me. I want her to feel this sense of security in me and her mom so that one day she doesn't have to go looking for it elsewhere. I want her to find this this safety and security and who she is in Christ and who and that she's loved more than she knows by him and then by us so that anytime I'm around or we're around, she can feel this sense of security and let her guard down and that the world around us can be on fire. And she's like, "Oh, look, that's bright." You know, she doesn't have to know. She doesn't have to know that it's in like a danger to her that she can be a backseat driver or backseat passenger and just chill. I I not just in the car but in

40:10 life. That's my my prayer and my hope for her. It felt clear as day. Holy Spirit just said that's what I want for you. That's what I want for that's what he wants for you. That's what he wants for us. that we can leave or at least we can live and be secure and safe and trusting people, not being driven by a fear narrative that is from the pit of hell, but we can entrust our lives fully and completely devoted to him. And we can live in any circumstance, in anything that we endure in this life with trust and dependence and peace and safety because our dad is here. >> Because we can face with every single thing that we face in this life, we face with the absolute certainty that God is with us in it. that he doesn't leave or forsake. And even the situations that we

40:56 find ourselves in that are our own doing, he redeems if we entrust them to him. So even the things that are just kind of us dealing with the fruit of our bad behavior and our bad decision-making. He's a compassionate God that goes with us and redeems us and takes us back. His His desire is not for us to live fear-driven lives. His desire is for us to fully entrust ourselves to him, to let him be our dad, to let him be our heavenly father. And we can experience a sense of security that is found absolutely nowhere else because he has proven himself to be trustworthy because he has gone above and beyond to make it known that he he has a heart for his people and that his heart for us

41:41 is redemption and life in him. What has God already done for you? What is the relationship that he has restored for you? What is the way that he has already created for you? What is the job that he gave you that you weren't qualified for? What is what is the provision that he gave you that you saw absolutely no way of coming having happening for you? What is the thing that he has already done? So my my secondary question to that little rant there is why would he change now? >> If he has been this way since etern since the beginning of creation and he does not change then why would he change now? Why would his faithfulness just run out? Why would his character change now? He is an unchanging God. And many of us are struggling to recognize or recall things

42:28 that God has done for us already. May I remind you of what we just celebrated two weeks ago. That we can live in certainty of the salvation of God because we live in light of the cross of Jesus Christ. That the very act of Jesus dying on the cross is the is the stamp and mark of our security and who we are in Christ. if we are in Christ. And not only in Jesus do we find salvation for our situation for now and for an eternity. But we also have the model of what it means to endure situations that are not ideal. Matthew chap 26. If you have your Bible, you want to go there. I'm going to go quickly because we are over time. [snorts] This is Jesus in the garden. Verse chapter 26 verse 39.

43:15 My father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. Verse 42. Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, "My father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done." Him talking about the cross that the impending doom that he is moving toward Jesus fully man and fully God. Showing us a picture what it looks like to feel grief, feel fear, feel the I mean, it says that Jesus fell on his face and cried out to the Lord. In another verse it says that he was so distressed and so filled with grief that he was sweating blood [snorts] and his cry out to the Lord and cry out to his heavenly father is is this my father if it's possible let this

44:00 pass from me but if it doesn't not as I will but as you will and then he sits there and he stands firm in the plan that he knows that God has set out for him to do his heavenly father and that he then does exactly what Moses tells Israel is that he is through the torture and the mocking and and the the cursing and the spitting and the and the absolute brutal betrayal of of torture that was that was done to him on the cross. He was silent the entire time. But he also saw the salvation of the Lord. Jesus is the picture of what it looks like for us to trust ourselves fully to the hands of God that redeems and restores. Friends, if you are in Christ, there is absolutely nothing in this life or the next that you have to fear

44:47 because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross for you, absolutely nothing. Because if you are in Christ, if you are in Jesus, then the very thing that we all dread, the very thing that we all avoid, which is death, is the very thing that he defeated on the cross. So, like I said earlier, you may not see redemption for the circumstance you're finding or you're facing now in this life, but you do not have to live separate from God for all of eternity. At one point, you get to be in perfect peace with Jesus. That you have eternal life that you experience now and later. Jesus died so that you may have life. Jesus was forsaken. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me on the cross? So that whatever you face in this life, you will not be forsaken by him.

45:34 This is the truth of who Jesus is. This is the certainty that we have in Jesus. And for some reason, we face these circumstances that feel absolutely impossible, friends. It is not impossible. He is more than able. We just sang it 35 minutes ago, maybe more, cuz I'm over time. So, I'm going to end my message the same way that I started it. What's driving you over these next few weeks? My prayer and my encouragement to you is to honestly honestly take inventory of your life and ask the question, what is driving you? What's driving your decisions? What's driving your relationships? What's driving your perspective? What's driving your view of your world? Your view of yourself. I don't know what you are walking through, but I also know that God is walking with you in it.

46:20 >> Amen. >> And you believe if you are in Christ, you believe in a God that can because he's a God that has. And we can fear not. We can stand firm. We can stand still. And we can see the salvation of the Lord before us today because he is fighting for you and you have only to be silent. Would you stand with me as I close our time together today? I'm going to read a psalm for us. And my [clears throat] prayer is that it would encourage and be another source of where the word of God becomes the living word of God for you today. That it would encourage your heart. that it would help you to see your circumstance through the lens of what Jesus has done for you. Placing him in the driver's seat, not yourself, not manybody else. And if you're in that place right now,

47:05 if you're in a place of just uncertainty and fear and you you know that fear is kind of driving you and you just need some encouragement today, would you just maybe just posture yourself in a place of receiving with your hands open like this? I don't know where where you're at. I don't know what you're walking through, but I know that the Lord wants to minister to you today and wants to encourage you and remind you of his ability and his faithfulness. So Psalm 27 says this, "The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. One thing I have asked of the Lord that I will seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all

47:52 the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble. He will conceal me under the cover of his tent. He will lift me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted above up above my enemies all around me. and I will offer in his tent sacrifices and shouts of joy. I will sing and make melody to the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud. Be gracious to me and answer me. You have said, "Seek my face. My heart says to you, your face, Lord, do I seek. Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger. Oh, you have been my help. Cast me not off. Forsake me not, oh God of my salvation. For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me

48:38 in. Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. Give me not up to the will of my adversaries, or for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence. And these last two verses for you friends today as an encouragement in a charge. I believe, verse 13, I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Verse 14, wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord. Lord, we wait for you. King Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, the initiator and sustainer of our life. Jesus, we look to you. We wait for you. And Lord, I pray for my friends in here today facing the things that we face, God. That we would have a different

49:24 driver and be you, God. That our faith would be firmly grounded and rooted in you. And Jesus, that the fear narrative that is from the pit of hell, we would send it back in the name of Jesus. that we would cast it off, take these thoughts captive and submit them to the authority that is in Christ Jesus's name. And God, that we would take on a new thought, a new way of living, a new way of seeing our circumstance, our life, our trouble, whatever it may be. God, would you reign in our life? We love you and pray all this in Jesus name. And everyone said, >> "Amen." >> Amen. And amen and amen. [applause] God bless you guys. If you need prayer, please come up to the front, receive prayer today. We'd love to encourage you and pray with you. Other than that, God bless you guys. Have a great week.