Morgan Teruel: Thanks for tuning in to the Sandals Church podcast. Our vision as a church is to be real with ourselves, god, and others. We're glad you're here, and we we hope you enjoy this message.
Pastor Fredo Ramos: We are living in an incredibly fearful and anxious age today, and fear has a way of speaking to all of the immediate issues that concern us that are right in front of us. As we externally look out in the world, you you start to realize that you are having an ongoing conversation with your fears over the course of every day, whether it's the external issues going on in the Middle East and and the terrible things that we're hearing about on the news, whether it's the political elections that are just around the corner, whether it's the inflation issue and just the sir the the need to survive, especially in a state like California, or if it's AI and all of our panic around what computers are doing to us now and the dehumanization that maybe comes with that or just the changing job market or just the rising despair of young people trying to figure out what to do with their life and not even to mention your looming fear and concern that you will not be everything you hope to be in your life. We all are dealing with fears, and if we're not careful, our hearts could become overwhelmed with the cares of this age.
But the great comfort for all of us today is that, there's a promise for us, and we actually don't need peaceful external circumstances to have a peaceful spirit. That's that's the guarantee of scripture. The external world is not what determines our internal lives. In fact, we have been granted what I would call this this inner well to draw from that is full of living water as we navigate through a cultural desert and life of fear. And the promise, though, is not just that we could have inner peace, like this is some kind of new religious, new age kind of idea, but it's that we will actually have Christ himself within us.
That's the promise. Not just abstract peace, but the person, the prince of peace himself can live within us. But the challenge with that, though, is that learning to look within is not an easy thing to do, meaning we are all naturally prone to look without and and the external world around us. But to look within is something that takes time, it takes effort, and it's not a quick fix. In fact, I'm here to give you some bad news that there is no quick fix to fear, but there are long term life giving solutions that involve this practice of learning to what I would call disciple your attention.
Disciple your attention. I'll put it in the form of a question. Where does your attention go when you get afraid? And whether they're, like, big fears, like massive conflict in the world or just family conflict, those can feel big at times, or even just small fears, like you're gonna have a crappy day. Where does your attention go?
Mine naturally goes to food. I get hungry. I get an appetite. But what do you tend to maybe fixate on? Our best psychologist would tell us that most of us, when we have this kind of emotional rise, that is this feeling of a threat or something's in danger, this idea of fear and being afraid, that we either take kind of a fighting mentality or a flighting mentality.
So we either fixate on the thing that's making us afraid and we maybe try to figure out how we're gonna fix it, what we're gonna do to fight against it, or we flee. We distract ourselves. We we try to escape from the reality and the looming, just sense of danger that is surrounding us. Or for a lot of us as Christians, let me just be honest for a moment, we have trained ourselves to suppress our emotions. Why?
Because over and over in scripture, the one thing we're regularly told is don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. The Lord is with you. Jesus told his disciples all the time. Don't be afraid.
And sometimes when I read that honestly in my own personal life, I think, well, great. That's actually not helpful. I don't know if anyone else has ever felt like that. You read through scripture. You get that command.
Don't be afraid. And I'm like, alright. Well, that's easy for you to say. You're dead now and you wrote that. Alright?
But how? How do we actually learn to navigate through the the real fear of our lives, but do so in a way that actually leads us to life and and a life with God. Because my my concern as a pastor today is much of our spiritual diet is the equivalent of, like, a fast food experience where you get in line, it's quick, you don't have to work hard. In fact, you just kinda push buttons or you speak into a little microphone, and then you get what you think you need to sustain you. Now here's the thing about fast food.
We now know that there are ingredients intentionally embedded into the food to create within you an addictive response for that. So over time we get addicted to things that actually don't sustain us. And so what I'm saying to you is that my concern as a pastor is that much of our spiritual life is on that kind of equivalency, where we are addicted to kind of spiritual experiences that are quick, easy, we didn't work for them, somebody else prepared it and we think it's actually going to sustain us through some of the most challenging, difficult parts of our lives. And so my invitation for us today is that we would run and flee from a kind of spiritual life that just wants a quick fix for everything and to embrace that fear is real. It's not going away, but the good news is there can be a life with God in the midst of it.
There can be a way for us to navigate through it. And Psalm 27, one of my favorite Psalms, I think is going to help paint a picture for our imaginations and our hearts as we think about how we navigate through fear. And so if you're willing and able, I'm gonna ask that you would stand with me for the reading of God's word. Wherever you are watching this, would you join us as we stand and hear God's word together? David writes this in Psalm 27, 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 the wicked advance against me to devour me, it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear.
Though war break out against me, even then I will be confident. One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord, and to seek him in his temple. This is God's word. Let's pray together. Heavenly father, what a gift it is to gather with you and with each other in this way today.
We are grateful, God, for the gift of your word, and we ask now that through this Psalm, you would speak to us and that through your Holy Spirit, you might give us, as Jesus said, eyes to see and ears to hear so that we might become all that you invite us to be in him. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much.
You guys can be seated. You know, what becomes abundantly clear from, the reading of the Psalm is that, King David's outer life, like many of our lives, is chaotic. He uses this word, besiege, though an army besieged me. It's not a word we commonly use today, like I was besieged by my boss today or anything like that, but it's a word that's, kind of capturing this notion that he is surrounded by all kinds of things. And we know from David's life and from the testimony of the rest of Scripture that this was not an uncommon experience for David.
So this isn't just like a kind of one off moment where he's afraid and now he's kind of journaling and praying through it. This is something he experienced on a regular basis. This man has a PhD in living a life surrounded by fear. We know that over the course of his life, Saul, who should have been a mentor to him, tried to kill him. His own son, his own flesh and blood also tried to take his life.
And then as king, he he offers not just the most prosperous nation that we see in Israel's history, but he has to deal with some immense, powerful enemies. And so David, I think, offers us some beautiful insight as to how we navigate through our own fears. And what I would say how to build this kind of inner fortress, this this inner castle, He uses the word stronghold, but it's this place of peace where no one can touch him. Do you have that in your life right now When you feel like the things that make you afraid, and not just afraid of the dark, but afraid of real life, do you have a place that is a stronghold? Do you have a place where you can run?
Or or or do you even find yourself like David saying, man, the Lord is my light and my salvation. Why why should I be afraid? Because Psalm 27 gives us this beautiful picture, of what can happen here, and I I want us just, again, to hear these words slowly over us as we think about how this plays out in our life. David again says this, though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear. Listen to the confidence in his tone.
My heart will not fear. Though war break out against me, even then I will be confident, he says. The one thing he's asked is that he will seek after this that he may dwell in the house of the lord, Gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire or to seek after God's presence in his temple. The first thing I want us to consider from this passage is this idea that David offers there, which is dwell. The one thing I've asked is to dwell.
You know, again, many of us might feel surrounded by the things of our lives, the things that kind of stir in us an emotion of feeling like we're in danger or things aren't right. So where do you go? You know, often we scroll our phones and that only just makes you feel besieged by global concerns, honestly. Maybe we scroll our phones and then we feel the fear of the financial pressures because my life doesn't look like their life. Maybe you scroll your phone as a way to try to find security and then you're just besieged by the relational stress and the conflict that you carry in your own life with people.
And then maybe sometimes you scroll your phone as a way to escape it. It only makes the enemies feel closer because you're reminded of your own sinful patterns. Like, you are not like the people that you see on your phones. And then, of course, if you're like me, some of that just ends in shame. Like, I cannot believe I just wasted 18 minutes of my life scrolling for no reason, doing nothing really for my soul.
But David offers this idea of, man, I want to dwell. I wanna dwell in God's house. And and I think what he's inviting us to consider is that all of us have the choice as to where we locate our hearts when we feel afraid. Where do you locate your hearts? We in other words, we have, like, kind of a base, that we can run to, a a place that can be maybe even in your home.
Maybe it's a closet. Maybe it's the bathroom. We've got a lot of kids. But you have a place that you can run that that creates a sense of stability and steadiness. For David, in light of all the things that are breaking out around him, he says, this is the one thing I'm asking, that I would just dwell in God's house.
I want us to consider for a moment that one of the most indispensable truths about God is that God is always with you. He's always with you. The one who never had a beginning, never has an end, never has a limited amount of energy. He is infinite. He is internal.
We say about God in scripture that he's omnipresent, meaning that he is everywhere equally all the time. That's what we mean that God is with you. At every moment of your life, God is with you everywhere, equally at the same time. So what what I'm saying is this, there is not more of God in church than there is when you're driving in traffic. There is not more of God when you're praying than when you're sinning.
There is not more of God when you're feeling happy than when you're feeling afraid. He is everywhere equally at the same time. And so this is what I want you to consider when you think about navigating through fear and embracing this invitation to dwell. To dwell is to realize that you are always 2 places at once. You are changing diapers, but you are changing diapers in the presence of God.
You are fighting with your spouse, but you are fighting with your spouse in the presence of God. You're eating a meal, but in the presence of God. You're working out in the presence of God. You are always 2 places at once. But the challenge is this, are we attentive to his presence?
One thing I've been thinking about my own life recently is is, I find myself saying this, sometimes even out loud, like, God, I just want God, I want more of you. I want more of you, God. And for a while I have felt like that's a worthy thing to ask for. God, I want more of you. But then I began to realize, well, if he is everywhere equally, always, that means that I already have everything of God.
And so the issue isn't so much I need more of God, I need more attentiveness about God's presence. It's not that I need more of his grace. I need to become more attentive to the grace that I already have in his life. The grace that comes through scripture, the grace that comes through prayer, the grace that comes through community, the grace that comes through practices as I follow Jesus. It's not so much that you need more of God, you need more attention on God.
See, the challenge again is discipling our attention so that there isn't a better experience of God than when you're worshiping as opposed to when you're weeping. You know, you don't get an extra slice of God when life is going really well versus when you're failing. He is equally present in every single moment, whether you want Him there or you don't want Him there. You cannot run from Him. And so when David is saying, man, this is the one thing I've asked, just to dwell.
And I think it's so important for us at this moment because I I know some of our thoughts go to this place. Well, that's fine for David to say, but I don't feel like I'm in God's presence. I don't feel like that's happening when I have legitimate fears about how I'm gonna pay next month's rent, or I don't feel like god is near me when I continue to to fall into the same sinful pattern. You don't feel certain things. And and I want us to be cautious with how we talk about our emotions, and I say that being someone who's very much for the emotional, healthy kind of life.
But I think it's time for us to revoke the authority that we have given to our feelings to tell us whether or not we think God is in the room. He is always in the room. And just because you don't fill him does not mean he is not there, even if you would prefer him to not be there. And so for those of you who feel like you have had very little experience with God, please know he is very present to you. And and this might even feel or or seem bizarre because for some of you, you have continued to believe the lie that God has better things to do than to be with you.
David's invitation and reminder to dwell in the midst of our fears is is a declaration that God loves to be present to us and that none of us are a burden to him at all. And so in light of the things that you feel like are surrounding you right now, what does it look like to embrace the the beautiful truth that you are always 2 places at once? You can dwell. As Jesus taught his disciples to abide in him, and I in you. The second thing that I think we see from David is as he's dwelling, notice what it says there, he gazes.
He looks at God. Now it's so poetic to gaze on the beauty of the Lord. Now I can tell you, even as a pastor, I have rarely had any experience with God in which I have gazed on his beauty. Like, I don't have moments like that. Oftentimes, I'm praying and I'm just looking at my drywall.
I'm looking at stuff that's not clean in my house or I'm driving and I'm just judging people who are also driving next to me. Like, I rarely have a poetic moment where I'm like, man, I'm just gazing on the beauty of the Lord. But I think what David is calling our attention to is that there's a way to see God with the eyes of our hearts. In other way in other words, there's there's a way to to offer to God our attention, our focus. Mary, Oliver, this American author, she said it like this, attention is the beginning of devotion.
It's an important word for us, even as Christians. Attention is the beginning of devotion. And so I think that one of the best things that we can offer God today in our world is our attention. Like, when you think about what God wants to see from you today, before you get to obedience, before you get to confession, consider for a moment that the best thing you have to offer God is your attention. When Instagram wants it, when TikTok wants it, when your kids need it, when all these other things need it, what if for just a moment you considered that God would love to see you just look at him as he looks back at you.
Fix your eyes on him. And and to to fix your eyes on him, as David says there, to see his beauty, you know, is not just like poetry. I think what David is helping us to see is with the eyes of your heart, look at something about God that's true. Look at his faithfulness. Look at his mercy.
Look at his grace. Look at look at his, his compassion for your situation. So in light of the fact that you feel surrounded, gaze on a truth about God. As you have real fears about providing for yourself, think about the ways that God has provided for you. Look at that.
Draw your attention to the fact that God has provided for you. And this kind of gazing isn't just a one time moment, but it's an activity that we regularly give ourselves to. It's a looking, again, beyond just with our physical eyes, but with our spiritual eyes, and it's something that anybody can do. When you think about King David's situation, he's the king of Israel. Apparently, there's war breaking out.
You would imagine for a second there's more productive things for David to be doing. Like, he probably has some meetings to call. He probably needs to meet with his generals. He probably needs to raise money for this this war. Right?
Wars aren't cheap. We know that. And so this idea that David has one request in light of all the fear that's surrounding him is just to sit with God and to look at him seems very inactive. It seems very inefficient. And guess what?
That's the point. That is the point. So much of our concern and our deformation when it comes to dealing with our fears is that we actually fixate on them in a way that we think we're actually in control of them. But to gaze at God is, in a way, to to give yourself to something that feels very inactive, but in the long run begins to produce in you something that becomes very active for the moment. Because it's amazing to me that David ends this same psalm by saying he's waiting on God, he's confident he will see God in the land of the living, and he says, take courage.
Take courage and wait on God. And I want to just take a moment to to be honest with this kind of idea of gazing and looking at God, because it's it's kind of a recent thing I've been thinking through. For me, this is gonna sound bizarre, but for me, reading the Bible lately and praying has just been boring. And I'm not I'm not joking, y'all. I have been bored to death.
I was reading this same psalm last night on the couch, and I just put it down. I said, this is so boring. And here's what I've kind of been gathering through this process, so stay with me for a second. I'm 38 years old. I've been, you know, a Christian for almost 2 decades now.
And I realized, like, as soon as I said that, I kind of felt free. And I kind of just said, god, this spiritual life with you, looking at you, gazing on you, it it just honestly, it feels very boring. And then I thought, maybe that's the point. If if we are to avoid a kind of spiritual diet that only requires fast, easy, efficient, then then maybe I'm growing out of fast food. And maybe I'm entering and maybe you are entering a season and a life with God in which boring is beautiful.
And and when we see boredom, God sees opportunity because I think in a lot of ways, boredom is a lost art. More than that, curating space that is absence of, absent of distraction is a lost practice for Christians. Because here's generally what happens. I'll listen to my own sermon. Okay, Fredo.
You know, I should gaze at God. I'll start to look at him, and then I'll get very bored and very forgetful, and then I'll distract myself with my phone, something else. Right? I'll clean a random stain on the table and then I'll realize, man, boredom freaks me out because I feel like a failure. I'm not good enough for God and my mind goes elsewhere, rather than seeing boredom as an opportunity to just distract myself, maybe boredom is an opportunity for God to spark my imagination and to give myself enough space for God to start to say something.
The author, Alicia, Barnett Cholley says it like this. Doing nothing is a placeholder for dreaming of everything. Think about that. Doing nothing is a placeholder for dreaming of everything. So as David is saying, man, think about all that he's dealing with, and he's just looking at God.
It feels very inactive. Yes, maybe you get bored, but maybe that's the point. Maybe in boredom, your imagination begins to get stirred so that you rightly see what you're so afraid of as in the end so small compared to what God can do. I have been, just bothered by just the state of life, the state of the world. And then, of course, you just see people on various sides just so angry, which again is a reminder of the fear that they're facing.
Much of our anger is unprocessed fear. And I think to myself, I need to gaze at God. I need to get bored as I just imagine God's justice as a way to deal with what is happening in the world today. And so my invitation to you guys, as you think about navigating your fear, consider boredom as a gift to you and not as a way just to once again fall back into your distractions. And so I just wanna ask you, when it comes to gazing, maybe what are the distractions that are keeping you from just gazing at God, looking at him right now?
Because I know I'm not alone in this. You're all free to admit. Today, what you learned at church is that prayer is boring. That's okay. You're free to admit that.
And I think because that becomes the doorway into new life with God. I'm praying that my boredom with God actually leads me to transformation, because maybe I've just outgrown the spiritual diet of cheap feeling experiences that I think I need to have with God to prove that I'm effective. And what what we're invited to consider is a boring, beautiful, slow moment with God, where much of my prayer lately has been not me just giving God my words, but just giving God my attention. And I love Saint Augustine as he says, true whole prayer is nothing but love, love in the sense that you are looking at God as He's looking right back at you. And lastly, I think as we begin to experience this, you see what David says there is he is inquiring of God in his temple.
And so as he navigates through fear, there's this opportunity to dwell, to gaze. But then there's formation that's happening in the sense that, the Hebrew word is communicating. David is discerning through this process. In other words, this isn't a waste of time. To to escape to God in prayer as you deal with your fear is not a waste of time.
It's a way to transformation. It's a way to inquire, to discern, to actually get wise. We not only worship God in his presence, but we actually gain wisdom in his presence as well. And God longs to give us wisdom. So the invitation then is to become the kind of person who can be shaped and formed by getting away with God, being bored, and and just saying to Him, God, I need wisdom.
I need insight into my personal decisions. And a lot of the things that are making me afraid about being a parent, a young parent, a forgetful parent, and a lot of the things that are making me afraid about the world that we're living in, about the work that I'm doing, I need discernment, god, as to what to do next. I need insight. I need a kind of breakthrough. And so David's desire there to inquire is to say, god, would you teach me something?
Would you give me something of yourself? And the gift that David gets is not some new tactic, but it's god himself. This is what the New Testament says is so profound about growth. 2nd Corinthians 3 says that, man, we are all moving. We are all being shaped and transformed from glory to glory as we look at God.
You see, the goal is not to get a playbook on how to be a Christian. The goal is to become what you are looking at. So when David says he's inquiring, and some translations say he's seeking, it's the same thing. To pursue insight is to pursue God, and to gain wisdom is to become more like him. There is no sense in which you get wiser, but you don't look more like Jesus.
They're 1 and the same thing. And so to live in our world today navigating the fears that we all face, the invitation is to embrace these practices in a way that you actually begin to create for you, as David said, a refuge, a stronghold, where he can rightly ask himself, why am I afraid right now? Why is this leading to fear? And and I love the words of Jesus from John's gospel. And some of his last conversation with his disciples.
He says this to them. I have told you these things as he lays out what's going to happen to him and what his disciples must do next. He says, I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace, because in this world you will have trouble, but take overcome the world. He's overcome the world. The experience that David was getting in Psalm 27 was just a taste of what Jesus says we can have today on this side of the cross.
Christ in us, Colossians 127, Christ in you, the hope of glory. Jesus resides in you. The one who has overcome everything you're externally afraid of resides in you. So you have this inner castle, this fortress, this stronghold to retreat to, to draw life from. It's no mistake then that Paul would go on to say that we call God our Father the God of peace.
It's no mistake that he begins every letter to churches in, various parts of the New Testament with these words, grace and peace to you from the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because we are that. We are a community of people who are shaped and live in the peace of God. That's the invitation.
The world as it looks today is no surprise to God. In fact, he has designed us for this moment, to become a kind of people who are shaped by peace, who are not alarmed, but they are anchored because we have these practices that actually set us free to navigate life as it comes to us. And so as we end, we've been talking for way too long. This was supposed to be a 15 minute sermon, y'all. But here we are, and here you are.
But as we end, I want us to offer us a practice as we think about, how this looks in our lives. And I wanna just guide us through, and I wanna speak to 2 groups of people. First, those of you who are distracted like me and then those of you who are discouraged. Now maybe you're saying, Fredo, I'm both. Well, welcome to the club.
You can do both of these exercises. But I first wanna speak to the distracted because case in point, you know, you're gonna get distracted in a second, so let me speak to you first. But for those of you who are feeling a sense of distraction when it comes to actually sustaining a life with God and you're done with kind of a happy meal version of spiritual life, I wanna invite you to consider just this exercise. This chair is here for an intentional purpose, and I want you to think about just Jesus sitting next to you. A pastor here at this church used to do this with me.
And and he would say, just imagine Jesus sitting next to you. And here's oftentimes what we do when we're distracted. We look over Jesus' shoulder to see what's coming behind him. Like, what's next? Like, oh, I know Jesus is supposed to be here, but but what's next?
What else I can do? So much of spiritual diets today that require a feeling, an experience, we always are conditioned to be looking for something beyond what's right in front of us, the gift of Jesus. It's a lot like when I'm talking to Ashley, my wife, and I I look behind her to see what else is going on. And I'm not I'm not just present in the fact that she's right there. So for those of you who are distracted, stop looking over the shoulder of Jesus and consider for a moment, he's right he's right here.
He's with us. And with all of your imagination and heart, just confess to Jesus what has made you distracted and what you're looking at instead of him. Just say those things. Say, like, you you think he's too quiet. You think he's too slow.
You ultimately don't believe his actual teachings. Like, just say everything that is distracting you from just being present to him. I think it's a beautiful exercise. Just offer that to him. And for those of you who are discouraged, I wanna offer you another exercise, especially for those of you who are convinced that you are unworthy to be in god's presence.
Because I would imagine for a good portion of most of you who have watched this sermon, you don't feel a thing when it comes to god's presence, which is why prayer, scripture, even attending a church service is difficult for you because maybe you've attended and you've watched other people lift their hands and sing and there's lights flashing and people are excited and you don't feel a thing, this is for you. Because, again, we have often, I think, like, equated feelings of optimism with faith and feelings of discouragement with failure. So that if you feel discouraged, God must not be with you. And if you feel happy, God must be with you. But whether you are full of shouts of praise or you have doubts and questions, that doesn't strengthen or weaken god's presence to you.
He's with you regardless. And so I wanna end this time with just you reciting a short prayer, and it's simply this, these four little words, God is with me. But you just place your hand on your heart. Sometimes I do this to physically touch something, like, so I can just bring my, senses to the reality that god is with me. I just think god is with me.
And each time you say, I wanna invite you to emphasize a different word. So god, Jesus, the father, son, and spirit is with me. Second word, god is right now. Not in the past, not in the future, is in this present moment is. God is with.
He's relational. He's with who? Me. He's with he's with you. God is with me.
And and if you find in yourself the ability to not just say it in your heart, but would you say it out loud? Maybe even stand wherever you're at and just say, god is with me. And know that as you're doing this kind of prayer, it's a it's a kind of warfare. It's kind of resistance to the the powers of darkness that would try to convince you that you are just alone, and just you, and you will always be that. But to stand and to say, god, you you're with me in this moment.
God is with you. Because it the beautiful part of being with God and drawing your focus on God is coming to the realization that his attention is fixed on you. It's one of the most relieving things in my life that I think about. Anytime I I do have the strength to draw my attention to God is realizing that God, he's actually with me and he he loves that. He loves to be with me and he loves to be with you.
Let's go to prayer now. Heavenly father, we are grateful for your presence. You are constantly with us And so we confess now that in the light of the things that maybe make us afraid, things that have us full of fear and doubt and questions, we confess those things to you and we ask now that your holy spirit would give us new eyes to look at you, to gaze on your beauty, to see you for who you are, god. Would you open up the eyes of our hearts so that fear might be rightly placed in our lives, and we might see you as the glorious one, the one who has overcome all fears. Jesus, you are with us.
You have overcome the world, and you reside in us, and so we open ourselves to you now. We pray these things in your name. Amen. Hey, Sandals Church. Thank you
McKay Vandenberg: so much for joining us today as we heard from pastor Fredo. My name is McKay, and I'm our online campus youth lead. And I hope that this message just gives you a chance to meditate on the word, meditate on what God is doing in our lives. Wanted to take a moment to invite you into the work that Sandals Church is doing. One way to do that is by partnering with us financially.
You can go to give dotscandgivetoday. I love you guys. I'm praying for you. Have a blessed week.