as we've done
the past couple of weeks, I want to continue to introduce you
to some of our church planters and our pastors,
not just around the world, but locally as well.
Two weeks ago, I introduced you to, O'Neill
and Heidi, who was leading our church planting work in Cuba.
They've in the past decade or so, I've started about 120 churches there.
Last week was, Matilda
and, Elsa in, in Guatemala.
In the past year, they've started about 11 there.
And I'm headed back in February to lead another discovery center
for 11 couples or 12 couples or so.
And so God's doing some incredible things.
So we get to be a part of and support all of these church planters and mission
work around the world. A lot of our giving.
One don't know what is now, at one point, it was 40% of every dollar went,
outside ourselves to church plants and mission work.
So when I say you give to you, you don't give to us.
You give through us.
I truly, I truly mean that.
I mean, we we we pass it on.
But not just around the world, but locally as well.
And I want to introduce you, to the Gephardt,
Nick and Natasha and their family.
They get parts of.
They, our pastor in the church right over at,
Stone Creek Elementary a few years ago.
We started the church there, and I got to know Nick and Natasha,
and they moved from, kind of northern ish California down to start a church.
And I was I got to know them and their family
and seeing God's call on their life, we took them through the Discovery Center
that we run, and and, and discerned
that, that we wanted to work with them and through them for that church.
And so we got it going.
We hand it off to them.
They've been leading it for a few years, doing a great job there at Stone Creek.
It's called the Church at Riverstone.
And, and they're one of the ones that we support.
They're one of the ones that I coach.
And I want to introduce them to you.
What we're talking about from now until Christmas
Eve, this offering over and above your regular tithes and offering
this special offering that we will give to our church planters.
And and this is, this is one of the families that that money is going to.
So when I say over to above your regular tithes and offerings,
I want to generate in our church $20,000 to split between these people.
Nick and Natasha are some of them.
You understand that they're doing a great job.
They're incredibly committed, incredibly faithful.
Their children are walking with the Lord.
They're lights on that campus.
They're leaders in that community.
But I want you to be praying for Nick
because he's got some internal thing going on without giving you too much detail,
but he is in excruciating pain, has been for about a year and a half.
It can't digest food.
He's lost probably 6,070 pounds in the past year and a half.
They cannot figure out medically.
They cannot figure out what's going on with him.
And it is absolutely debilitating.
He's headed this week, I think, tomorrow down
to San Diego for another specialist to see if they can figure some stuff out.
So I want you to keep them in your prayers.
In the midst of all that, they are tireless and fearless
and just keep grinding, and I'm so proud of them.
But I'm asking you to pray.
Here's one thing that's interesting about churches and pastors,
because some pastors are some of the most insecure people on the planet.
They will support church plants and mission work
in other countries, but not down the road.
They are so insecure and territorial.
That's not who we are, is not who I am.
So we'll do church planting in Cuba and Guatemala and in Riverstone.
You understand it's just about the kingdom for us.
And so we champion Nick and Natasha.
We champion the work that God is doing through their lives.
We send people over there.
If any of you want to go check out what they're doing,
please go check the support them.
Be a part of their work.
I would love I would love to be able to feed them as well.
But be praying for them. You got it.
Hey, I wasn't planning on sharing this today, but, I just got a message
from some of the people that I was working with in Ukraine.
The church where I preached the day before I left.
And in Kherson, right on the front lines,
and then in Dnipro,
on the border,
has been under massive
Russian attack by drones and artillery.
So much so, the four of the churches there,
this is what it's like to go to church in Ukraine in the in the war zones.
Every church has a basement that they use as a bunker.
And the people come to church knowing
that there's probably going to be shelling for drones and missiles.
And when the alarms go off, everybody in the church goes down to the basement,
and they just keep worshiping and doing church.
And that's what's been going on for the past 24, 48 hours
in this little community where I was and the churches where I preached.
Two nights last night, two nights ago, two nights ago.
400 drones and artillery shells.
Last night, 200
on all civilian targets and on the churches.
And they just keep worshiping.
And they're amazing because they don't use being shelled
by artillery and drones as an excuse not to leave home and go to church.
They're saying is
will worship God today because tomorrow we die.
And last night
they had last count that they told me 70 people, except Jesus.
Because when tomorrow you die,
you get right with God.
They understand.
So I don't know,
what is to become of that church?
Hopefully I'll get some word by their from their pastor,
but right now it's going down.
And so.
So we pray.
Father. Thank you
for the men and women, the families that you have called, set apart
and ordained to do your work
of planting and leading churches.
It's not easy.
It's not glamorous.
It's hard and it's a joy.
And I thank you that you've given us the opportunity
to suffer for your kingdom sake
and God.
Their story is not our story.
That you've been so good to us
in ways we don't deserve.
And I thank you that their story is not our story.
Because I don't think we could stand up under it.
But I thank you for the men and women that you've called us,
both in Ukraine and in Riverstone, who continue to serve,
who continue to sacrifice, who continue to lead
with incredible difficulty and and incredible pain.
And so, father, we speak over them.
Do everything in them that your grace is capable of doing.
Give them every measure of grace.
Pray healing in nick.
I pray for wisdom and discernment for the doctors.
I pray expediency of care.
We pray protection in the people in Ukraine.
And revival.
Thank you.
And I pray that this church supports
exorbitantly and extraordinarily
these others that you've given us
the opportunity to be in their lives.
I pray that we be a very generous church,
a very sacrificial church, for the sake of your kingdom.
In your name I pray. Amen.
So please believe me, friends, when I say you don't give to us, you
give through us because we pass it on and that's what we want to do.
You understand that?
All right.
Luke, chapter two, we're going through
this series of different characteristics of the Christmas story.
And, and, I want to talk about this passage.
From Luke chapter two.
It's a very familiar passage. Most of you have heard it.
I think all of you have heard it's the it's
we typically talk about it as the story of the shepherds.
When the angels announced to the shepherds
that this little baby Jesus was being born.
Let me be real clear upfront
that Luke chapter two is the account
of God's proclamation of the birth of Jesus.
The Christ, the Messiah. The long way to.
And that's what Luke chapter two is about.
It's in the context of shepherds.
The announcement is in the context
of shepherds out in their field, guarding their flocks at night.
It's in the context of the shepherds starting very fearful,
and of
the angels response to the shepherds fear
and speaking courage into them.
That propels the shepherds to go find baby Jesus.
That's the context.
But the purpose of it is the proclamation of God about the birth of his son.
That's the that that's what it's all about.
Because this whole thing is not about us
in our fear and our our coping mechanisms.
This whole thing is about Jesus.
Do you understand that now, in the context of the story of Christ, we can learn
truths and and and and things
that help us in our walk and in our world.
One of the things I see in Luke chapter two
is that the story starts with fear,
and it ends with peace.
And so in that context of the announcement of the King,
we can learn how we handle fear.
The fact that the King has come
speaks to our fear.
Please understand this.
Fear is the enemy of your peace.
This morning is for you who deal with fear,
who live in fear, who live with fear.
Who fear fearful and anxious and full of anxiety.
It's for you who will not admit that you're fearful.
But you'll.
You'll use terms as concerned.
I want us to understand
that fear is the enemy of peace.
Jesus is called the Prince of Peace.
But those who live with fear and in fear will never know
the peace of God that passes understanding
and never experience the Prince of Peace. Why?
Because fear is the enemy of peace.
Our peace does not start with a feeling.
Our peace begins with a baby in a manger.
Who is Christ, the Lord, the Savior.
Fear is not neutral.
I want you to understand.
Fear is a spirit.
The Bible says God has not given us the spirit of fear
or timidity, but of power and of love and a sound mind.
And so fear is not in just an emotion, and fear is not neutral.
The truth about fear is this.
That fear ruins peace, and only
Christ can restore it.
Fear and peace cannot coexist.
Fear is like a microscope
that enlarges your threat
and shrinks your view of God.
Fear paints a picture of your future
in more vivid colors than God ever intended.
Your future to be painted.
Some of you understand that.
Fear is natural,
but it was never intended to be your lifestyle.
And when fear becomes your lifestyle,
you will never walk in the peace of God.
And so we have to deal with fear.
And into this
we step with the shepherd's on and that and that Christmas night
in their field, in their moment.
And I want to read for you
Luke two verses one through 20.
I'm sorry. Not. No. Eight through 20.
Luke two, verses eight through 20.
It's a longer passage.
It'll be familiar.
This is what to me.
If you have a Bible. Open it.
Luke chapter two, verses eight through 20.
Here's what it says.
And in the same region, there were shepherds
out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night.
And an angel of the Lord appeared to them.
And the glory of the Lord shone around them.
And they were filled with what
great fear!
And the angel said to them, what
fear not!
For behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
For unto you
is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
And this will be a sign for you.
You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly host, praising God
and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace
among those with whom he is.
He is pleased.
When the angels went away from them
into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, let us go over to Bethlehem
to see this thing that has happened, where the Lord has made known to us.
And they went with haste, and found Mary
and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.
And when they saw, they made known the saying that had been told to them
concerning this child.
And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.
But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.
And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God
for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
That First Christmas night
was not a hallmark movie.
It began in fear.
In the middle of the night, shift.
I want you to notice something
that if any of us want peace, we must first deal with fear.
The message of that Christmas evening
was peace among people.
But it started with fear not.
See what we have to understand
in verse nine.
The angel of the Lord appeared to them,
and the guerrillas shone around them, and they were what?
They were filled with great fear.
When the Bible uses the word great fear, there
it means literally mega fear
or fear on top of fear.
It's it's that fear.
And some of you know exactly what this like that.
When it hits for a moment, it's overwhelming.
For a moment, it's paralyzing.
Initially, when it hits.
You're shaken in here.
Do you see what I'm talking about?
That's mega fear.
It's fear stacked on top of fear.
Stacked on top of fear.
It's fear that it looks like this.
Well, if that happen, then this.
And if that, then this and if that, then this and of that.
Then this.
Fear stacked on fear stacked on fear stacked on fear.
Yeah.
One of the most common ways we experience
this is if you're a parent
and you have those moments with your children.
Well, if that happened, then all of a sudden this and this and this
and this and all of a sudden you have lived their lives and they're 12.
And the life that you've painted for them is nothing but fear.
And worst case scenario,
right?
Fear stacked on fear stacked on fear
stacked on fear.
And when that hits,
there's no peace.
Let me tell you where.
Fear this.
This is the entry way to fear.
Fear rushes in when we're unprepared,
when we're unsure
and when we feel unprotected.
You know what those like are just unprepared.
I didn't see it coming.
It came out of nowhere.
Out of the blue.
Like no.
If I would have known, I could have gotten right here.
Been there.
It comes when you're just unsure.
I'm just. Don't you? I don't know.
I don't have an answer.
I don't know what the future is.
I just this uncertainty.
It just it's it's it's so overwhelming.
Yeah.
It hits in those
places when you feel completely unprotected.
I got no covering.
I am completely I feel completely unsafe
right now in this environment, in this scenario with these people.
I just it just I.
Have you ever been full of fear? Yes.
And it hits when you go to the doctor for a regular checkup.
And you didn't see it coming.
You get the word.
The diagnosis.
And it hits
when the loss comes out of left field.
We just weren't ready.
I don't know what I'm gonna do.
And for parents, it hits when you have a future for your kids planned,
and you just don't see how that reality is ever going to happen.
Do you know what this is like?
And if you have known fear, you know that there's no peace.
And though Christ
came for peace, one of his titles is the Prince of Peace.
For goodness sake.
We first have to deal with fear.
I want you to sound what fear is.
Fear is actually faith.
It's just faith.
In the worst case scenario.
That's what fear is.
Oh, I have faith.
I just have faith in the worst case scenario.
That's fear.
Now, let me acknowledge, because I don't want
to paint all fears, that because some fear is protective fear.
Some fear is good.
Did you know that humans are only born with two innate fears?
Natural fears?
Only to every other fear that humans have our learned fears.
But some of those learned fears are actually good fears.
But the two that we're born with.
Do you know what they are?
I'll tell you.
The fear of falling and the fear of loud noises.
Those are in a
in a normal, like growth pattern.
Mentally, emotionally, physically.
Like, those are the only two fears
people are born with the fear of falling in the fear of loud noises.
Now, there are other fears that we learn that actually protective fears.
If you've ever burned yourself and you gained a healthy fear of fire,
that's a healthy, protective fear, right?
The fear of heights can be a protective fear.
It can be.
So there are some fears that are protective.
There are some things that are normal and that's fine.
There are some fears that are completely
illogical
and they're learned.
Did you know the number one fear among people is do you know what it is?
It's acrophobia.
The fear of acrobats. No, just the.
The fear of heights. It's fear. Heights.
They're the second most common.
Fear is.
Nope. Glossop phobia.
The fear of public speaking.
Yeah.
So, Joe, thank you for doing that this morning.
Because all of these people are terrified to do that.
And then, of course, Billy, you said it.
The other common fear is spiders.
Arachnophobia. Yeah.
And in some of that we understand
there's some really weird fears
on Fall of Phobia.
You know what that is?
It's a fear of belly buttons.
I don't know what's behind that.
I don't know how that develops.
I don't want to know.
But it's a thing.
How about normal phobia?
Anybody?
Fear of no phones?
No, but fear of no phone.
Anybody?
I some of you admit it.
There's one called xenophobia.
What? That is the fear of knees.
And so some of these fears go like.
This is ridiculous for us.
On the outside of these, they seem silly.
But for those who are fearful
when you're fearful, it's legit.
You feel it.
And when that fear strikes, there is no peace whatsoever.
And so the Christmas story starts with fear.
And fear has to be dealt with before they ever get to peace.
Same thing in your life.
Anything in my life.
What we're talking about this morning is fear
that rules your heart and rules your imaginations.
I'm going to share with you a couple things.
Solutions.
The first is I want to share with you.
The fear is to replace fear with the truth of Scripture.
The devil is a father of lies.
He's the great deceiver.
And if he, you and I are going to be experienced the peace of God,
the first thing we have to do is replace your fear
with the truth of Scripture.
Pick one fear in your life.
And get one scripture
that tells you the truth over that fear.
And speak that out loud over your life
and over your fear.
I know the plans
God has for me, declares the Lord,
and I know that he will work all things together
for the good of my kids who love him.
I know my fear is lonely.
I know I will never be alone.
Your hand is with me. Your right hand will guide me if I go.
If I raise on the wings of the morning.
Go the other he even there you are with me.
I can go down to hell now. Psalm 139.
Whatever that fear is, get one scripture
and speak out loud the truth of Scripture
over your life and over that fear,
because one Scripture believed
is stronger than ten fears imagined.
And most of us are so tuned and,
and and developed the habit in our lives to listen to fear more than to speak.
The truth of Scripture over us.
It's no wonder that people who have the Prince of Peace residing within them
are people who do not live as people of peace.
The other solution is to flat out
refuse to agree with fears, lies.
If you have the truth of Scripture,
refuse to believe the lies that fear speaks.
Fear because it is not just an emotion,
it is also spirit demands agreement.
Fear.
If fear demands that you agree with it,
that's why you're fearful.
Do you understand?
The only reason we're fearful?
Like this type of of of that overwhelms us
is because we've agreed with fear.
And so one of the most profound steps
of spiritual warfare that the Christ follower can do is to pray.
Father, I refuse to partner with fear,
and I choose your peace and your truth over that fear.
That's spiritual warfare.
And I just wonder why so many Christ followers
listen to fear more than repeat scripture
over their life.
If you're going to experience
the peace of God, you must first deal with your fear to understand you.
Got it?
I've given you two solutions to do that.
Because fear blocks peace.
God always starts with don't be afraid.
Verse ten
to the angel said to him, what do you say?
Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy.
That would be for all the people.
Don't be afraid. Why not?
Because I'm bringing you good news.
Don't be afraid.
Why not?
I see in my mind worst case scenario.
And the angel?
Well, don't, because I have good news.
That is great. Joy.
You don't have to give yourself to worst case scenario.
Because I have good news.
Great joy.
There are 103 specific times in the Bible
when the Bible says literally, fear not.
Be not afraid.
Now if you add, don't be terrified. Don't be dismayed.
Don't be anxious.
There's a whole bunch more but 103 very specific word for word.
Fear not. Be not afraid.
If you look just at the Hebrew Old Testament 51 times, do not fear.
Why? Because
the gospel is good news.
Because this is good news of great joy.
And when I believe this and put it here and believe this
and put it here and believe it,
I override fear.
You understand with the truth
of the good news of great joy.
The point is this.
If you don't first silence your fear.
You will never hear God speak peace over your life.
So what the angel had to deal with.
First, let's deal with your fear.
And then you can hear me speak. Peace.
If you don't, first deal with your fear
and and and destroy that through Scripture,
you will never hear God speak peace over that
which you are fearful of.
To understand.
It's very important.
The reason
why God says fear not is because he brings good news.
There's good
news about that thing you're fearful about.
You've not been able to hear it
because all of you you've listened to is fear.
This is gospel logic.
Good news defeats bad fear.
That's just how it works.
The good news of the gospel defeats bad fear.
Why is it that so many Christians
have chosen the characteristic that is opposite
of God and His word?
Why do we choose fear?
See, Jesus makes peace personal.
He says in John 14.
Peace I leave you with.
I leave with you. My peace I give you.
Not as the world gives do I give to you.
Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
Here's what Jesus saying.
I'm going to give you the peace I have.
What was Jesus ever fearful of?
Nothing.
He says that that I do.
You know who I am?
Jesus says.
I have this.
The peace. Peace isn't something that.
Peace is who I am and the peace that I am.
I want to give to you, not as the world gives.
Here's here's what I know from that passage.
The world will offer us peace.
It does.
Jesus doesn't say there's no peace in the world.
He says, I'm going to give you peace.
And the world's going to give you peace.
But the peace I give you is a like the world has. The world offers peace.
Well, let me do.
The world offers us peace and things like this.
Money.
If you've ever been fearful about your future.
How how are you going to make ends meet?
Where do you go?
You know, retirement stuff the world.
So just get more money.
The answer in your piece is in finances.
Tells us that all the time.
Tells us, or our peace about our future is in a good retirement.
Good for A1K
peace about our futures in good health insurance.
At least I know, I know I got coverage.
I'll be all right.
And those are all elements of the world's peace, and the rule offers them all.
But the problem with that is they're all fleeting and tenuous at best.
It doesn't last.
And so Jesus says, while the world's going to offer you peace, don't fall for it.
You need the peace that I am, the peace that I give.
See, peace doesn't come from a change of situation.
Peace doesn't come from answers.
Peace doesn't come from knowledge.
Peace comes in a person.
And friends, please understand
God does not want to calm your fear.
He wants to replace it with himself.
Most of us want God to give us peace.
God says, I don't want to give you peace.
I want to give you me.
And so.
Because peace is not the absence of conflict.
See, that's where we go wrong.
We think if there's no conflict, there's peace.
That's not the truth.
When there's no conflict, it means there's no conflict.
It doesn't mean there's peace.
Because peace is not the absence of conflict.
Peace is the presence of Christ.
And because God doesn't
want to just replace your fear, he wants to give you himself.
What I know is this
when the angels went away from them into heaven,
the shepherds said to one another, let's go over to Bethlehem and see this thing
that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.
And they went with haste, and found.
They found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.
Here's what I know.
Peace grows as we move toward Jesus.
So if we're going to experience the peace of God,
we have to first deal with fear.
Speak the truth of Scripture over that.
And because peace is found in the person of Jesus,
and God doesn't want to replace fear, he wants to give us Christ.
Then I know that peace grows as I move toward Jesus.
Does that make sense? It's just what the shepherds did.
I want to give you two steps
in you moving toward Jesus.
Two solutions.
Two steps. You ready?
One is inward. Inward.
And one is outward. Every say outward.
The inward step of you and I moving towards
Jesus is through this thing that's called spiritual disciplines.
Spiritual disciplines are those habits we develop in ourselves
that move us toward Jesus.
There are things like fasting.
There are things like silence, solitude,
Bible memorization, biblical meditation.
They're found in Scripture.
Jesus practiced them.
The first church practiced them.
The move is toward Jesus.
They're not avenues to get something from God.
Fasting is not an avenue to get an answer, to get a revelation for God.
Answer prayer.
It's none of it.
It's simply an avenue to move you toward Jesus.
And here's what I know.
Most Christians live their entire earthly lives
without the knowledge nor the practice of spiritual disciplines.
They were known and practiced in the First church.
They're not known or practiced in the modern church.
We think we grow closer to Jesus simply by coming to church,
and that is part of the process for sure.
But unless we as Christ followers take the time,
develop the discipline to practice these spiritual disciplines.
We will only move so far and no further toward Christ,
and we will always live in fear.
To understand.
So what I've done for you as I've written another little book
called Foundations of Spiritual Disciplines.
It's in the Welcome Center, free for anybody here today.
There's multiple stacks in the Welcome Center.
Walk through there after service, pick up the book and start reading it
and practicing at least one spiritual discipline.
Work your way through it slowly
and find yourself moving closer to Jesus.
And as you do move closer to him, you move further away from fear.
You understand it's not going to happen by accident.
Nobody stumbles their way or accidents their way in the spiritual disciplines
and spiritual growth.
You got it.
So that's the one one of the solutions to move toward Jesus inwardly.
The other one is outwardly,
and it is through steps of obedience.
These are these outward steps of obedience where you move against fear
and you move against conformity, and you move against comfort,
and you take steps of obedience.
It could be in anything in your life.
It could be in finances.
It could be in generosity. It could be in purity.
It could be in holiness.
It could be in your calling, where you know that there's
this one thing in your life that you are not fully obedient in.
Let me tell you this.
Some of the most scary steps you will take in this life
is to take your first steps of obedience, to become obedient to that what you know.
You're not obedient.
The seedbed of disobedience is fear.
Please understand this.
The seedbed of disobedience is fear. It's.
I don't know if I can trust you, God, at what you said.
And because I'm fearful about trusting you wholly in what you said.
I'm fearful about being fully obedient.
Let me prove it to you.
Yes. Okay.
You asked.
Let's just talk about this issue of tithing.
I'm not talking about giving.
I'm talking about tithing.
10% right off the top.
Old Testament and New Testament.
It is so scary.
If you don't tithe
too at the beginning of the paycheck, 10%.
It's so scary.
Have you ever noticed how big a $20 bill looks in church,
and how small it looks at the grocery store?
Do you ever notice that?
And the moment a person says 10% here,
how in the world are we going
to pull this off?
I'm struggling
right now and right off the top.
At the heart of that is fear.
God, if I'm honest,
I'm afraid of what
this is going to do to me financially.
And I'm afraid that you're not telling me the truth.
To understand.
And the.
And so the scariest thing is that fear like, oh,
and the moment you take steps of obedience, it becomes easier
to be obedient, which produces this sense of peace and joy.
So whatever
that fear is that's keeping you from being obedient,
start taking steps of obedience is that you're calling?
Has God called you to something?
I don't know, man.
I got my whole future planted to make all change right now
with just disrupt everything and who knows how that'll plan out.
Yeah, it's fear keeping you from being obedient.
The easiest thing to do is to believe in God.
The hardest thing to do is to believe God.
Most, most people here will say, I believe in God.
Sure, absolutely.
I trust him for my salvation. Yeah.
That's great.
Many people do, but do you believe, see, believe.
God is too much different than believe in God.
I talked about this Wednesday night in my Bible study
to believe God.
Means I believe what he says,
and I do what he says because I believe him completely.
The question is, do you believe in God or do you believe God?
There are different.
If you believe God, you will move
and do what he says.
So you to believe God in such a way
that you do what he says fully is where most of us get exposed.
It's where most of us get exposed.
And that's the only way to move into peace.
So the solution here's a solution.
Ask the Holy Spirit to show you one area of your life.
You're not fully obedient. Name it.
Repent of it and take one concrete step of obedience.
This week.
I challenge you, Holy Spirit.
What's one area of my life I'm not a fully obedient.
Fully obedient. What is it?
I think I know what it is, but please tell me anyway.
And you're right.
I am not fully obedient in that.
And I don't have any peace about that
because I'm not obedient
and I repent.
I'm going to do it different.
And father, this is the one way I'm going to take a step,
a concrete step of obedience. This week.
Do you see that?
You see that that moves
you toward Christ, and you begin to experience the peace of God.
This this graphic,
this graphic.
This is a great roadmap to understand
where we are in the spiritual journey.
Belong. Become.
Give and go when we belong.
That's that inward step of believing in God.
But the others becoming and giving and going.
That's believe. God.
I believe in God when I become a Christ follower, but I believe God
when I become something different because of my obedience,
when I actually give biblically and go.
That's to believe God
and the things that keep us from believing God
in becoming, giving and going is fear.
That I don't really trust His word.
It's a great graphic
to understand where you are, where I am, and this
spiritual journey of discipleship, of followership.
Let me wrap up with this.
Verses 17 through 20.
And when they saw it, they made known the saying
that had been told them concerning this child and all
who were to wondered at what the shepherds told them.
But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering the matter.
Can you imagine what have been like for Mary?
But the others?
The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all
they had heard and seen had been told them.
Here's what I know.
When peace,
the peace of God takes over your life, you overflow
with testimony and praise.
The shepherds started terrified.
They ended in testing and in testimony.
And once the shepherds saw Jesus, they immediately
share Jesus.
Peace is not privatized.
Peace is missional.
And when pre win, win, win, win, the peace of God takes over your life.
It spills out in praise and testimony just leaks out of you.
And this is how I know.
And this is how you know when someone has dealt with fear
has become obedient and they believe God
and they have the peace of God in their life.
When you are fearful and you interact with them,
what spills out of them is praise, testimony, and faith.
And you know what it's like to,
when you're in fear to speak to someone about your fear.
And the peace of God has not overrun their life.
And what spills out of them is their own fear and the confirmation of yours.
I've experienced this in my own life.
We all have these moments that are difficult and trying and fearful.
We all do. We got to deal with it.
And there have been those people in my life that are Christian people,
and when I share with them my fear, the only thing that leaked out of them
was the confirmation of their own fears.
And I'm thinking,
I don't need you to spill your fear into my life right now, right?
When they
add to your fear, all of their fears, all of that happen to me.
And this is how bad it went.
I don't need to know that.
Quit leaking your fear into my life.
And I know that people have now experienced the peace of God.
They have not dealt with fear when what leaks out of them is their own fears.
On top of my fears.
See my friends, when we deal with fear, when we believe the truth of Scripture,
we believe God and the peace of God has overwhelmed us.
What will leaks out of us then, is the peace of God,
the praise of God, and the testimony of who God is.
So when you speak fear into my life, what you get in return
is faith and confidence and assurance and hope.
You know what people like that are like, right?
And you know, if you are one of those.
So my question is just
where is faith controlling you right now?
What and where is fear controlling you right now?
What's that fear that's grabbed on that
you're listening to?
It's about your futures, about your failures, about rejection.
It's about your kids. It's about finances.
What is it?
Those are all things you can't control.
And you need to understand, my dear friends,
that peace is not found in control.
Peace is found in surrender.
Corrie Ten boom said this.
Never be afraid to trust an unknown
future to a known god.
There's no fear in that.
For the Christian, there's one thing that we fear.
Jesus said himself, do not fear those who can kill the body
and cannot kill the soul.
Rather, feel him.
Fear him who can destroy both the soul and body in hell.
Fear God
and fear living in disobedience
and rejection of him.
Because at the end of the day,
the remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God,
you fear nothing else.
To understand, you'll have concerns.
Fear will creep up.
It's okay,
but it won't live in your life
and it won't dictate your responses.
And it won't destroy your peace.
You got it.
Father.
Thank you.
Jesus.
Thank you that you are the Prince of Peace.
Father, I thank you that part of the fruit of your spirit is peace.
Thinking that you offer us the peace that passes understanding.
But some of us
have chosen unknowingly
to sacrifice that peace in place of fear.
We've given ourselves to fear.
We've magnified fear and minimized you.
We've had.
We've had faith in the worst case scenario.
Far too often we've not believed the truth of Scripture because of fear.
We have not lived in obedience,
and without even realizing, we have allowed fear
to dictate our present and our future.
Forgive us.
You've not given us a spirit of fear, of timidity, but of power
and of and love and a sound mind.
God, would that be our experience?
Father, in this moment
I pray over our church. I pray over me.
I pray over my family.
I pray over my church family.
I pray over these here who are listening.
I speak your name over us.
The name that is above every name.
The name
that even everything that's named by fear must bow before the name of Jesus.
Over us I speak a spirit of
power and of love and of sound mind.
And in the name of Jesus,
I tear down and destroy every work of the evil one that is set up
bulwarks and fortresses of fear in these lives.
He is a liar.
He's a deceiver. He's defeated.
His desire is to cause us to live in fear so we won't be obedient.
So we'll sacrifice the peace that you've offered.
And I speak against that in the name of Jesus.
It has no authority.
It has no power.
It has no rule here anymore.
God, would you allow your people
to draw close to you in a way that believes you,
that believes the truth of your word over the fear that's running their lives,
that they would tear down and dismantle
the work of the evil one to keep them living in fear.
God, that we would live as people of peace
because the Prince of Peace lives within
God. Would you do in us this Christmas what you came to do the first Christmas?
You bring us good news of great joy.
What a blessing.
Maybe we walk in it.
In your name I pray, Amen.