Is it okay for Christians to be afraid? | Season 4 Episode 9

So, welcome everybody to the Point Taking Christian Podcast. The only podcast where we take -

I watched the one with you and Amy and you just gave up. You didn't even try. You didn't even try.

And Amy gave like literally no help at all. Lowell gave more help from 20 feet away.

I know, I was like, well, you need to be on here. But it was, it was Team Millie. I was like, Hunter and Pastor just thought it would be so upset with me right now.

So watch. There's actually one part we need to change the words because it's actually not true, but I'm just going to go with it for now.

Where we make and take beer, uh, beer, biblical and spiritual truths and chat it up.

I'm Josiah. This is Elena. This is Anna. And today we're talking about fear.

And specifically we had a question come in that came actually as a result of a question imposed on a, another part podcast or an article online.

Anna, would you read the question please? If God does not give us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and self -control, then why am

I as a believer still struggling to overcome fear? And they referenced 2 Timothy 1 7.

That is a fantastic question. Elena, when you get a minute, would you read 2 Timothy 1 7 please?

For God gave us a spirit, not of fear, but of power and love and self -control. I love that verse.

It's probably one of the more popular ones, even amongst unbelievers. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and self -control or a sound mind.

So the question posed for those of you who maybe didn't hear or catch it the first time, if God has given

Christians not a spirit of fear, then why do I still fear? That would be the personal question.

That's a good question. So, um, before we get into our definition of fear, do we have a game today?

Oh, yeah. Lol. Lol. Lol. Do we have a game? I completely forgot about that. I'm asking. I'm not telling. I'm asking.

We do have a game. We have a game. And we have LOL Mike. He needs to be on the podcast more often.

That's what was on the label when we bought this thing. LOL Mike. LOL Mike. LOL's Mike. LOL Mike. LOL Mike. What if that was his middle name?

Mike. What is your middle? Didn't we ask this before? Didn't we try to figure out his middle name? That was Elena's middle name.

Elena. Yeah. Now it's his turn. Do we need to go through all of that? Well, we might get to it. I already know.

Do you? Is it Mike? I'm like 81 % confident that I know.

81 %? That it is a name that I've heard before. Oh, yeah.

I can confirm. From you. I feel like I should know it. I don't know. It starts with an A. It does start with an

A. I was right. Andrew. All right. I was right. Aaron. No.

That was my first. Andrew. I was right. Arthur. I'm so proud. Andrew. Nope. Anthony.

Nope. Oh, Andre. No. It's A in something.

Because when you said Anthony, he's like, kind of close. Or I was just messing with you. Don't manipulate.

You know, it's funny. So many times when I do this with people, they start guessing just these weird names.

And I'm like, who would name their child that? And then I think of my first name. I was about to say. I was about to say, who are you to say that?

My bad. But let me help you out. It's a normal name. All right. What's the game, man? Because I've already won this one.

Yeah. You got your dose of victory. Sure. So this week's game, I have made a list of common sayings and phrases, some of which are obviously found in scripture, some of which

I've determined probably came from scripture. And then several more that I don't think have any tie to scripture at all.

I'm going to read them off. You guys decide. Did it come from scripture or not? So we have three categories here.

We have a direct quote from the Bible. We have a, it's derived from the Bible. We have a, it's from Ben Franklin or something like that.

Right. Yeah. Okay. And so, and I only need you guys to decide between two categories. Scripture or no.

Okay. Ladies, we got this. Is this a hive mind thing where we have to have the same answer?

Everyone's separate on this. Ladies. We don't got this. He's got this automatically wins.

Yeah. He's actually going to win this and not have to cheat his way. When have

I ever cheated? We have it on recording. When he played in the last episode, what episode was it?

Last one. The last one. Spelling. Say that sentence again. I'm going to say that sentence and a few more.

He did not cheat in the last episode. However, he definitely did say it was the Jetsons when it was the

Simpsons theme. That was cheater, cheater, popcorn eater. Okay. Anyway. I think it's pumpkins.

Is it pumpkin eater? Sorry, whatever. Like 95 % sure on this one. So I'll, I'll start off with one.

That's just kind of an example. Do you remember SpongeBob? And so you liar, liar, plants for hire.

It's pants on fire, Patrick. Well, you would know liar. Love it. Hey, can we start the game?

Yeah, let's do it. All right. So this one, I'm going to, I'm going to give it to you just so that you make sure everyone, you know, gets the game.

Treat others the way you want to be treated. Very common in today's world. However, we all know that came from scripture. Here's Luke 631.

Do we have to give the reference? No, no, no, no. You just tell me, did it come from scripture or not?

That's, that's all it's about. All right. Let's, let's go ahead. So everyone gets that one.

That's, that's found in Luke 631. Is Amy playing? Amy, can you, I'm about to say if you don't, you can keep score.

We should have like a two on two and have Amy. You want to do that or everyone?

It's up to you. You can be great, but someone, someone besides me needs to keep score. I'll keep score on my phone. No, no.

Amy can do both. See, it's the consensus of everyone's team. Are you on two on two or two and two?

I'm going to just do two and two. All right. So me and Amy, we're going to lose. We got this. I hate trick questions.

Everything's a trick question. Some of these are definitely tricky. God has not given us the spirit of fear, ladies, but of powers. I'm terrible at test taking.

I am too. I got an 18 for my third time taking the ACT. I'll let you guys know upfront. You're probably going to push back on some of these.

Something for our listeners to comment on. You know, if someone wants to dig into the root of all of this,

I didn't like get on Google and research these or anything. This is just from my own observations. So this is a

Lowell -made game. 100%. All right. So the first phrase, cleanliness is next to godliness.

I'm not confident if it was it being Proverbs. And that doesn't sound right. I would want to say no. You have cleaned your hands, all you sinners.

Yeah, exactly. Could there be a... I'm going to go no.

Yeah, I was... Is it going to be word for word scripture? Some will be direct quotes. Some will be scripture has presented this idea to us.

I'm not making really big stretches here. Okay. If you're not making a big stretch,

I'm saying no. All right. Everyone says no. It's no for me, dawg. That's the correct answer, according to me.

The ultimate authority. The gospel according to Lowell. That was a joke, by the way, everybody, just to be clear. Amy, up top.

All right. We got that one right. Anna. Everyone should get this one. A house divided shall not stand.

That is scripture. True. 90 % of people think it's Abraham Lincoln, which it was, because he was quoting

Jesus. It's one of those, you miss 100 % of the shots. You don't take... Yes, Michael Scott by Wayne Gretzky.

So who gets credit for that point? So I think everyone got that one, right? Oh, there goes the light again. Okay. So it doesn't have to be whoever gets it first.

Right. Everyone gets scored on their own. Yes, sir. And then whoever has the most at the end. All right.

God helps those who help themselves. I want to say, yeah,

I would say yes. But now he's questioning. What you sow you will also reap.

Is that not? I feel like that would be too much of a stretch for Lowell to use that one. Now, when he used the first Corinthians, who does not work should not eat.

Yeah. He's nearly broken hearted. God helps those who help themselves.

Someone has asked for a repeat here. God helps those who help themselves. I'm going.

I don't think he would do that. I'm going. No. All right. We already answered. Yes. Y 'all said yes.

All right. Okay. I say no. It's really kind of a big stretch. We might kind of gather that idea from a few places, but it's really, really kind of a stretch in my mind.

So what's the score? Yeah. Two to three.

Who's winning? Say it again. Cause we just, oh my gosh. I'm like, we just got this one wrong. Obviously. Obviously.

All right. Next one. Go the extra mile. Why are y 'all looking at me?

That's not. I'm looking at Lowell cause I'm trying to think. If you're trying to read me good. No, I'm not.

No, I'm, I'm just thinking go the extra mile. I'm trying to think of where that would be in scripture.

Frigging love Hercules. Wait, it's mine. You just do that.

What? Did you just toot? No, I didn't. Are you telling secrets? I promise you

I did not toot. I've done that before on a podcast. Not today though. Oh, is it your phone? Oh, did you hear?

Oh, okay. Yeah. I heard that. Okay. So what do you say? Is there a time limit? Nah. Nah. But don't get crazy.

They're going crazy right now. They are going crazy. I can't think of anywhere. Is that the point of the book of virtue? Book of virtue.

We're saying now. Okay. Did you guys? Our answer is yes. Very good. The answer is yes.

So Matthew 541. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Yep. I feel like that's a stretch.

That's not a stretch. Go the extra mile. Directly to whatever's asked of you. Go farther than that.

But you won't take quencher hands. No, because that's a metaphor. Yeah. He's like, no, you're stretching them.

Okay. All right. We're stretching away from y 'all. Five to three. He's going to eat this up.

He's a good. Yeah. I had a lot of faith in Josiah for this one, but some of these I have made to be tricky.

All right. Here's the next one. Rise and shine. Give God the glory, glory.

We sing that to our son every morning. I mean, it was a song.

Are you putting your mic up to whisper to Amy? Please do. Wait. Say, say that again.

Rise and. Rise and shine. I would say, yeah, doesn't it?

Well, it says rise up and go. You want to go? Yes. I'm feeling yes. But my feelings have been wrong this whole time.

You know what feelings are? That's why you never trust feelings, folks.

Let's let them answer. No, you guys answer first. Thank you.

We're undecided. Okay. So then you're wrong. Well, let's just answer.

Okay. Yes. Yes. Okay. You guys. I'm going yes. And I think I know the passage.

Oh, I'll bet you know the one. I mean, we're being set up. You agree with your teammate?

That's why I was like, of course she does. She can dispute it. Rise and shine.

Yep. For your life. All right. That's four yeses.

And he's already quoting it. Isaiah 60 verse one, arise. Shine for your light has come.

And the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. So that might have originated somewhere else.

But I feel like that's, that's good enough. So according to me, true.

No, it's like it rained and rained for 40 daisies.

Daisies rained. And yeah, 40 daisies could not have provided. I'm telling you, those are the words of the song.

Look it up. Daisies would not have survived a flood. Cardamon kids. All right, guys. Cedarmon kids, something like that.

Let's see. Lowell said shut up in a low way. He just glares. It doesn't have to say anything.

All right. Here's one. I need to learn that. Don't put off to tomorrow what can be done today. Yes. I would say yes.

Okay. Because scripture talks about apathy. But that like quote for quote, probably not.

If I tell you that. He'll be like, well, bang. Amy, what are you thinking?

I know Jefferson said it at one point. My mom had a coffee cup with it on one side of it. I know.

I'm like doubting everything. Don't let the sun go down on your anger. The scripture says like today is a day of salvation and do it while it's still cold today.

But I feel like that's different. Like it says, repent while it's still cold today for today is the day of salvation.

But I feel like that's a stretch to say. Can you say it again? Don't put off to tomorrow what you can do today.

I feel like that might be something. I feel like that might be something. Did you just see this?

I did. I already answered. I already answered. The ladies of the church is so strong because they have to carry around this double standard all the time.

It's very. We already answered. What was that answer? It was wrong. I think we said yes.

You want to go with no just to be different than them? No. All right. So while this can maybe be gathered from a few places in scripture,

I say it's not. See, I knew it. I don't trust Lil. You go ahead and tell me which verse to look at.

All right. And then we can we can talk about this. So hey, hey, I had already answered.

If I say Jetsons, Simpsons, I'm cheating. That's two different shows. This is applied super generally.

Now, like Pastor Josiah said, there are a few things that scripture tells us to do immediately. But this is super general.

It's not really the same thing. What's the score? Oh, shut up. I'm about to throw this microphone.

Three to six. Did you have to use two hands to show our score? You did, didn't you? I was talking.

She ain't from Alabama. That laugh was my favorite laugh of yours. I was talking to my husband about the

ABC game that we played, you know, in like one of the recent podcasts. And he's like, Josiah is the sorest loser

I've ever met. And I was just like, even though you weren't playing, he's just saying in general, because I reminded him of the

Simpsons and Jetsons thing. And he's just like, he is the sorest loser and sorest winner you will ever meet.

How? I'm sorry. How many hands did you have to use to count our score too? Is that what my voice sounds like?

Yeah, that's exactly how you sound like. I'm gonna be used on this podcast. He is.

He keeps coming back though. Every time. You're not wearing your boots today. Yeah, because you made fun of me.

Helena's like, I think it'd take more than that for him not to wear those boots. Okay, anyway. All right.

Next one. A penny saved is a penny earned. Oh, all right, Dave Ramsey.

No, they didn't have pennies back then. I know. So you should know this one. This could have been modernized. Yeah, I was like, I feel like this one was derived from...

A mite saved is a mite earned. A shekel. All right, here's what we're gonna do. I know how you and I are gonna do this.

One is my opinion of yes. Two is my opinion though, okay? You understand? Yes or no?

She does not understand. Do you understand what I'm saying? If I hold up,

I'm gonna, if I hold up a one, it means I think that it is there. If I hold up a two, that means

I think it is not there. Do you understand? Okay, y 'all, y 'all.

Do you understand? Just so you know, he can see you on the monitor.

I forgot how much y 'all cheat. And it's funny when everyone else cheats, but if I am in my slightest trying to get an advantage,

I am a sore loser. If you guys are copying off of him, like, I mean, what kind of victory is that?

Well, it's not because they're down by three. I'm taking an advantage. It doesn't matter. You gotta do what you gotta do. Everyone remember that.

That's what he does. That's what he does. That was gonna be our next one. That's found in Mark. Did you like my double standard joke, by the way?

Because I really liked the double standard joke. Did you not hear me?

I was like, what? A penny saved is a penny earned. I feel like I should, I feel like -

As they already have. Did you see my answer, Amy? I feel like this one's derived from scripture, but it's not direct.

Do you agree? That's what I said to you. So I'm going no here. With my answer. We're going no?

He said it was general. So if it's generally derived from scripture, then it would count, correct?

Right? Well, if it's like generally derived from scripture, and we said yes, we would get -

If it can truly be derived from scripture, yes. Well, then I say yes. Is that okay with you?

Is that what you said? I'm good with that. Okay. Because I feel like I've heard that before. We say no.

And the answer is no. Frick! Oh, and I don't know why you're going my answers over here.

It's obviously not doing well. Obviously, I'm thinking the same thing. The last two have been

Benjamin Franklin quotes. I know it's fairly wide, but it's - We used that as an example when we were trying to guess the game.

We even said Ben Franklin. Dang, dang. We're in cahoots. All right.

There's a word I don't know how to spell. We did spelling last week. K -A -H -O -O -T -S.

I'm so mad because I literally played that game with my students. And you can't remember the spelling.

All right. Go ahead, Lola. All right. Bad company corrupts good morals. Oh, I would say yes.

I would say yes. In Proverbs, just like anywhere in Proverbs, chapters one through five. Just read that the other day.

Yes. He quotes it in 1 Corinthians, and I think he is quoting Proverbs, but I can't remember if it's a biblical proverb or not.

But yes, he - Yes. You're both right. Yep. The - Now, the first reference I came across was 1

Corinthians. I didn't see whether it was quoting Proverbs or not. I can't remember if he's quoting a pagan poet or if it's actual Proverbs.

So how do we - How can we trust him? How can we trust you if you're not doing your due diligence? You want me to read the rest of the reference?

What's the score? Four to eight. Now, like I said, we can dispute these all you want.

Well - Go ahead and - I feel cheated. Post in the comments. It's four to eight. You can dispute one or two. You're still going to be behind.

Keep going. All right. We lost last week. I'm just going to point that out. Last week's episode hasn't aired yet. I'm going to point that out.

It will when this one airs. Yeah, I guess you're right. Got him. All right. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

I don't think I've ever heard that. Really? You've never heard that phrase? I'm about to say, no. Not like used as -

You just don't read scripture enough. I'm about to - Okay, so Lil knows. So, yes, it's in scripture. Don't let

Lil on the podcast. They're going to cheat. I don't know how to - I'm not cheating. I'm still looking up my last one.

Do what? Right. You're looking at the last - Proverbs. All right. I'm looking up that scripture and Proverbs because I want to give it to you.

I've never heard that in scripture, so I guess I haven't read that portion of scripture. If it's really -

Just looking at the monitor. It's too small. I can't see it too. You can't see that from here? No.

I can see it, but I can't - And there's not a time limit, brother Lil? I can't tell you. I'm sorry. I'm going to let you answer this one because I don't know.

You guys go ahead and come up with an answer. Say it again. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. I'm going with no because every time

I say yes, it's wrong. Watch, it's going to be wrong. See, did you see the eyebrows that Lil gave us?

It's wrong. What is it, pastor? Do you know? What's your answer?

What's y 'all's answer? I'm leaning towards no. We have a house divided. So which one are you going to choose?

They cannot stand. You want to go with yours? We're up by four.

If you want to go with yours, we can. We're going to win, so it doesn't matter if you throw it.

It doesn't matter. That means he doesn't trust hers. All right, a house divided indeed shall fall.

The answer is no. That's all right. Where is that? I'm saying that's not in scripture.

Oh, it's not? Okay, because I was like, I've never heard that. Yay, we have a hand. Okay, but so what is the saying again?

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. So what does that mean? It means like if you've got a bird, let's say a bird that you're going to eat for dinner or whatever, you've got it.

It's not going anywhere. Two in the bush. Maybe you'll be successful in capturing them. Nobody knows.

Okay. No, I just never don't count your chickens before they hatch. Hold up five fingers. Okay, I've heard that one.

Yeah, not that one. Okay. That was so amazing how our brains just, that was awesome. That was so cool what just happened.

All right. Last one since we're on birds right now. A little birdie told me.

All right. So a flood. I was thinking. A flood of potential. A flood.

Exactly. Yes, that was my first thought. But it didn't tell him he brought a palm branch. But that was his way of telling and all of, but that was its way of telling.

Right. But we could do that with the ravens that brought Elijah meat. We could do that with so many. I don't, none of them told.

There's no talking bird. There's only two. If I remember right. Only talking donkey. Well, there's a talking snake.

Yeah. Talking donkey. Unless you want to do the whole Jesus is the lion tribe of Jude.

I think it's just two talking animals. I think. That's all I can think of. But no, that was my first thought was the, was the flood with the bird.

But I feel like we're always going to try and make something sneaky on the last one. I don't know.

Elena, I'll let you pick. Amy, what do you think? Because that's, that's my justification for my answer.

All right. We'll go with that. So no. You say no.

I say no. We'll go with that. All right. You guys. Bet. I bet he's going to trick us. Someone's got to tell me what you.

The answer is no. All right. Sorry, guys. Ecclesiastes 10, 20.

Even in your thoughts, do not curse the king nor in your bedroom. Curse the rich for a bird of the air will carry your voice or some winged creature.

Tell the matter. Okay. But that's not a birdie. Little birdie told me it's a winged creature, which could be a dinosaur.

What is that? Leviathan. Did you hear the word bird in that verse? Pterodactyl. Yeah. It said. What I'm saying to you guys is that's the origin.

We both got it wrong. I was trying to get the point. I know that Lowell is a yoga instructor because that was a stretch.

All right. Go ahead. Go ahead and research it and tell me that. I mean, I'm not doubting what you're saying. I'm just saying.

He said winged creature. That's Leviathan. Are you trying to say I lost the game? I'm not playing the game. So Amy, what was the final score?

Five to eight. Up top. All right. We are only three behind. It's not horrible.

Congratulations. You guys did a great job. Thank you guys. See, that's that's what. Thank you for that.

Good losers do. That's what good losing looks like. My mom used to have to make me shake her hand after playing

Candyland. Me too. It was bad. Hey, you remember that time you demolished

Elijah in chess? Like you didn't give him a chance. I didn't think he was ever going to recover from it.

I do remember that. Of course, then he went and taught Amy last week how to play chess. Ask her how that went.

He told her how the eight year old didn't meet her. He told her how to move the pieces so that he could get her in checkmate.

That's all we did. It's like, OK, so move here. OK, so move here. That's pretty good.

Wow. He's smart. That's incredible. He's clever. That's why I don't play him,

Amy. Right there. I forgot about that time I played him in chess. He was a little stressed.

He was a little stressed. It's about time to do it again. Oh, I see. He needs that.

He needs to be destroyed. Well, John was like, yeah, I don't ever let him win. I'm like, OK. And you're like, all right.

All right. So that was a fun game. Oh, I like that one.

That was fun. I still don't think it was. I don't like tests. I hate tests.

I still think we'll do the hive mind one again. I still like the song one was fun.

I like the alphabet one. That was fun. Just because what's before this letter?

And I give him the letter after the letter. Yeah. I said, what's before H?

She goes, I. The next one. What's before K? L.

But she was down four to zero. And then she came back. It was four to four.

And then Seth got it. And he won five to four. It was a great game. OK. But that would be a good thing to for our viewers or listeners to put down in the comments or like what games they would recommend if they had any that they would like to see us play.

If we haven't before or if you guys want to play another game again. Yeah, I mean, no problem.

I'm really happy that Amy and I as a team won today. Good job, baby. See? Yeah.

He still hasn't said good game. I'm about to say he's just congratulating his teammate. Great game, ladies.

Thank you. He's just congratulating his teammate. Great game, ladies. It's too late. It's like having to make your child apologize when they don't mean it.

So. So. Wow. I feel like there's some bitterness in that. No. Wow.

Did you all see how they treat me? It's crazy. So, ladies.

Definitions of fear. So. So we read the scripture getting on topic now.

That God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a power, love, and a sound mind or self -control.

So the question is, why are we as Christians still afraid? Why are there still Christians that struggle so mightily with fear?

And I'm gonna let you ladies for a minute take over. I'm gonna let y 'all define fear and I'm gonna let y 'all tell us where fear originated.

So y 'all go ahead and knock that out. You want to do the definitions and I can do the scripture? All right.

I got three definitions here. The first is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain or a threat.

Another one is a feeling of anxiety concerning the outcome of something or the safety and well -being of someone.

And then the third is a mixed feeling of dread and reverence. I think with fear, there are appropriate like with the reverence with having anxieties, if you're in like survival mode or something like that, that those responses are appropriate, but not all the time.

What do you say? Do you have anything on that? I would agree with that just as the whole like the fight or flight thing.

My problem is I'm in fight or flight most of the time, like in my own head. So when it comes to that kind of anxiety and overthinking and worrying, that is definitely.

I would say in my life, it would lean more towards a sinful thing that I have to fight because it becomes more about self -preservation or preserving something around me that I honestly have no control over.

I was going to say fear of not having control. Like that's where in my life where I struggle.

And I think that's a lot of it is we have so much that's out of our control, but we as sinful people want to try to take control of that and try to think,

OK, let me think of every possible way this could possibly go wrong, because if not, then something's going to sneak up on me and I won't be prepared for it instead of seeking

God first and putting him first when he is sovereign, he is over everything.

And because of that, why should I have to worry about it? If I'm not putting God above everything else, then, yeah,

I'm going to have that anxiety. I'm going to worry because I don't trust that God's got it right.

So I would say that more often than not, fear, it can often leads to sin because you constantly it grows and grows and grows instead of you taking every thought captive and casting your anxieties on him.

Right. And I have a whole list of verses, actually. But I love that.

That's a good I'm glad you mentioned that point because that was good. I very much am. Can you go to Genesis chapter three?

Because we're about to talk about the origin story. I'm here already. Oh, excuse me. About to say I'm here. I'm about to do the origin story of sin.

And unlike Marvel, where we just ran out of ideas, we just do an origin story for each superhero. This one is actually the rock bed for all sin.

As a reminder to to those in the listening audience who may be unfamiliar, when

God created the world, he created it perfect. He saw that it was good, very good.

In fact, there was no death or sickness or disease. It's incredible to think about this.

God created humans to work. But before the fall, the work was not burdensome. How long for those days?

We wouldn't sweat, man. Like the sweat. He's like in scripture, whenever the sin happened, like the sweat from your brow.

And I'm just like, in other words, imagine. Yeah, it was burdensome. It was laboring. Yeah, he still made us to work.

But it wasn't it wasn't a laborious deed.

Anyway, I've always thought like, man, we really screwed up the perfect setup.

Yeah, we did. Just like everything else. We had one job in the original. When you read

Genesis three, eight through ten, tell us what it says, please. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the and this is after they had sent.

Then the man and the wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the

Lord among the trees of the garden. But the Lord called them. I'm sorry, the Lord called to man.

Where are you? He answered, I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked. So I hid. Wow. So I was afraid.

That's incredible. The Bible says that he heard Yahweh walking through the garden.

You know, many times he had heard that and it never had made him afraid. But now he hears it and he's filled with fear.

Reminds me of a relationship with like a child and their parent. You know, and they screw up or send like disobey, whatever.

And then it's like you hear that your dad got home. And you hear him walking up the steps or walking down the hallway, and you know, you're about to get a spanking or however.

And so just that. I don't know that just like puts in my mind of just the childlike fear of your parents.

Because this is the first time they'd ever experienced that. Yeah. Because it's, I see it as,

I see fear as a separation from God. Because without that separation, we wouldn't ever have known that, you know, what fear was.

Yeah. So that separation is, it's from the fall.

And you can't have that. I had a thought.

That's okay. But that's, yeah, that's what sin does is it's, it's just, it's separation from God.

Right. And so anytime we send, whether it's with anxiety, fear, rebellion, you know, like you name it, like it just separates us from God.

That's why the eternal punishment for your sins. If you know, you, you're not saved is eternal separation from God.

And I think that's why the sanctification process is there. Because while we are justified, we still have to work through that sanctification and that separation that we have always had with God and move towards being more like Christ.

Which is why we are supposed to have the fear of the Lord. Because we're not supposed to worry about the things of this world or of the things that are going on or people or anything like that.

We're supposed to fear God and he's going to, and then know on top of that, he's going to take care of it.

He's sovereign and it'll be dealt with how it will be dealt with. It is our job to prepare by being as close to God as possible.

Right. I agree. Which means that this type of fear that Adam and Eve experienced was not part of the original creation.

Right. Means it was a result of the fall. This type of fear that Adam and Eve are experiencing here is a result of their wrongdoing.

Them wanting to hide what they had done. So when, and Elena already started on it, when we ask, is fear a sin?

Well, I guess it depends on the type and degree of fear that we're talking about here.

So I think, and she already said it, it's very similar to anxiety. Well, it depends on what you mean.

Maybe one way to word it would be, it is not the sensation of anxiety that is sinful.

It's what you do with it. Maybe that's an okay way to think about it. But even then we're talking about to the degree. I mean, for example, when

Jesus felt anxiety in the garden of Gethsemane, for example, he is feeling a bracing for what's about to come, a dreading for what's about to come.

The type of anxiety that the

Bible tells us that we should not have is exactly what Elena said. It is that which causes you to not trust in God.

Matthew 6 and Matthew 10 have some beautiful passages about this. But I'll just quote one of them.

It says, are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And yet not one of them falls to the ground without your father's consent.

Falls to the ground, in other words, dies, right? But even the hairs on your head are numbered.

Therefore, don't be afraid for you are worth more than many sparrows.

Are not two sparrows sold for one penny? So by a monetary value in this time period, worthless, worthless.

And yet not one of them on planet earth dies without the consent of the father.

In other words, doesn't even have permission to die. In any forest, out of any tree on planet earth, without the consent of the father.

But you as a human being, even the hairs on your head are numbered. Notice the wording, not he knows the number of hairs on your head.

That the hairs are numbered individually. Therefore, don't be afraid because you're worth more than many sparrows.

So if he has that much care and concern for sparrows, you're, which from a monetary value are worthless, almost.

You have way more value than many sparrows. I think what Elena, and I'd like her to expound on it more.

What she said is spot on. The number one most repeated command in the

Bible is fear not. It is the number one most repeated command in the Bible. I used,

I don't know how many it is. It's a lot. It's over 300. I knew it was a lot. Yeah. Fear not for I'm with you.

Be not dismayed for I'm your God. I mean, I mean, it's fear not or do not fear. So that's a command.

So right there we have in scripture, the most repeated command is fear not.

So how do we do that? How do we do that? Well, I think the easy answer is we'll trust in God more.

Well, yeah. Thank you for that. Thank you for the advice. But I think it really is a matter of this.

Jesus felt anxiety and not one bit of that anxiety even caused him to hesitate in his walk to Golgotha, in his walk to the cross.

He still walked the exact same path he did even if he wasn't feeling that way. Fear is our first definition was a feeling that you have that causes you dread about a future outcome.

If that causes us to change our course of actions, then we're letting it dictate what we do.

And that would be sinful. But if in spite of that fear, we say, yeah, I can feel that way and that's great, but I'm still walking that way.

Then we are not letting it control us or cause us to do things other than what we're supposed to do.

I think the key point there is fear not not don't feel the feeling fear as a verb, fear not do not allow this to be what you are doing.

That's the best way I have always tried to think about it. It's not what I'm feeling. It's what

I'm doing. Yeah, because you're going to have certain feelings that you just can't turn off.

I mean, like with anxiety and things like that, you want to be able to have control over them and not feel those feelings.

A lot of people, if they have some anxiety, you know, they might get on antidepressants or whatever, but some people still have those feelings while on those medications and they think the medication might not be working, so on and so forth.

But what I like is what you had mentioned earlier about Jesus in the garden is like you said he his path didn't change even though he felt the weight of the anxiety.

But what he did was pray. He prayed first thing.

Come on, guys. Let's go to the garden. Let's pray. All of his disciples fall asleep. He's over there sweating blood, you know, just dreading what's about to come.

But he just gives it all to God, knowing that he still has to go through this and like begging

God if he can like still take this cup from me, like take this from me, and he still does it.

But a lot of the times, like, you know, we kind of referenced earlier is that we try to control things because we feel like that will help instead of just like going to God and casting your anxieties on him and leaving them there.

And, you know, like leaving them there is very hard. You have to do it like multiple times a day sometimes. Like, I'm definitely, you know, guilty of that.

I think we all are. Because, you know, you feel a certain way, but just because you feel a certain way doesn't make things true either.

So I don't know. I just wanted to reference that the first thing that Jesus did was pray. You know, the best example.

That works for me in my mind is putting Naomi, my two -year -old, on the fridge and telling her to jump.

On the top of the fridge, you mean? Yeah, putting her on top of the fridge telling her to jump. And I think,

I think that the way that works is it's a good comparison to how

Jesus deals with his people in the Bible. So here's what I mean. I put her on the fridge. She's feeling insecure.

I don't punish her for that. I tell her to jump.

She jumps and she's afraid or she even cries. I don't punish her for that. I put her on the fridge and I say,

Nana, jump. And she says, no. She is letting her fear cause her to disobey.

That she will be punished for. Because no amount of fear that you're feeling should cause you to disobey something

I'm telling you to do. This happened yesterday at the zoo. Y 'all went to the zoo yesterday.

But the hidden dex was like triple digits. Oh my gosh. Shoot. Donovan was working outside like all day yesterday.

From the months of June to August. I like legit just stay inside. Okay. I've been a stay at home mom for one week at this point.

Well, you have a 10 month old. No, that's the thing. That's why I don't want to take him out. It's just so hot.

That's different. We got in the, you know, when you go to the zoo, do they have the splash pad?

Do y 'all do the splash pad? That costs money. Do you not know me? No, I didn't know. It costs money. I thought it was like, if y 'all have a membership or something like they just nickel and dime the heck out of you.

Yeah. Memphis zoo. If you're watching this, hello, $13 a person, $13 a person for the splash pad.

Why would I do that? When there's a little pool at the front and then when you go by the grizzly bears, there's fountains that spray.

Yeah. Okay. But anyway, you were into the zoo yesterday. Yeah. We looked at a total of two animals because Naomi and Ava wanted to do the water stuff, which it was hot.

And I understand that. I first went to the animals of the night thing, which I always hate. It smells bad, but Ava loves it.

So they have these huge porcupines in there that I don't remember used to be there. Yeah, they've been there. Huge.

And you know how they put the mirrors in the back? So you think it was like four of them and there's like two because the mirror, the back wall is mirrors.

We go to the zoo at least twice a week in the winter time, like maybe every other week, but like twice a week, the girls go there all the time anyway.

So why am I talking about? Oh, there was a piece of mulch in the pool and Naomi thought it was a bug because she's stupid.

Naomi thought it was a bug. I love her, but, and oh, it's a bug.

And I said, Naomi, pick it up and hand it to daddy. Her hands start shaking.

Her lips start quivering. She sticks out her bottom lip. I said, Naomi, hand it to daddy. She doesn't hand it to me.

I show a little mercy. I pick it up and I show her,

Naomi, it's not a bug. I put it back in the water and I pick it up. She was so afraid.

I smacked her hand. That happened several times until finally with her hand trembling, she picks up and hands it to me.

I smacked her hand pretty hard and I'm holding her. She's crying. And, and then

I sit her on my lap and I'm holding it. I'm like, Nene, did daddy ever let you get hurt? Hmm.

And I didn't use the exact words I'm using now, but you are trusting how you felt more than you trusted me.

And I know way better than you do. The difference between me and God is far greater than the difference between me and Naomi.

When I am choosing fear and anxiety or dread of the unknown. In a sense to where I am not, not just I'm disobeying

God, but maybe even worse, I'm not obeying that, which I know I need to be doing. Omission and commission stuff.

What I am saying is that I know better. I mean, we can word it how we want.

That's what I'm saying. I know better. What Naomi was saying by not picking up the mulch that I told her was not a bug is that she knows better.

Now, she wasn't logically saying that she was emotionally saying that, but she was still saying that.

That's what she was saying. That I know better than you do, daddy. But like I said, the difference between me and Naomi is that compared to the difference between the creator

God and Josiah Shipley. Right? So if, and, and parents, if this helps you, this helps me think there are several passages about parenting in the

Bible. And I hold those very near and dear to my heart. But those passages are like multiplied like five.

If you look at how God, the father interacts with his children. In other words, now

I just don't have passage to tell me what to do. I have examples of how he did it. Okay. I hold those like that has helped me a lot.

Like when I see him disciplined, it is swift and it is just, and it is wrathful.

And then it's over. And then he doesn't bring it up again. And his mercies are new every morning and, and, but, um, when

I look at how he interacts with his children, very rarely does he do this.

All right, here's what we're going to do. And here's every reason why we're going to do it. Most of them, he just says, this is what we're going to do.

And I'll tell you why later. Right. And it may seem counterintuitive to them, but he's the father there of a children.

So, yeah, um, I'm probably going on a little longer than I wanted to. So I'm just going to turn it back over to you too.

But I think the question being, and we'll get to the root question of why am

I still afraid in the moment? But the question right here of when is fear a sin,

I would say whenever it caused you to obey, whatever it caused you to disobey slash not obey what

God has called you to do, whether that's talk to somebody, whether that's pray with somebody, whether that's witness somebody, whether that's quit your job, whether that is, um, whether that is confront somebody, whether that is stand up to somebody, whether that is, um, gently humbly correcting somebody, whether that's being the wife you're supposed to be, whether that's being the husband you're supposed to be, whether that is, there are a million things.

If fear is causing you to disobey what God has called you to do, it is always going to be a sin. And I think the instances in the

Bible where it says fear not are exactly those because it says fear not, but instead do this.

Yep. Fear not. Do not be unbelieving, but believe. Fear not.

Do not be dismayed for I am your God. In other words, those are the exact same ways and we can see those in our children.

If they're trusting their feelings about a scenario more than your own, what they're saying is

I'm right and you're wrong. Even if they're not logically saying that they're, and I think that's what Josiah, Anna, Elena, Amy, and Lowell and everyone else is doing when we let our fear determine our actions from what

God has told us to do. We're saying, God, we know better. So. Yeah. I mean, I completely agree with what you said and as you were listing off all of the different examples,

I'm like, yes, yes, yes, yes. I've done that. Yes, yes. Right. And from my experience, what

I've seen is if God is calling you to do something and you're hesitant about it or fearful about it, and it causes you not to do that,

God will always carry you through. Yeah. If he calls you to do something, he will carry you through that. Yeah. You're going to end up doing it.

That's what Jonah's four chapters, not two. Right. That's right. So like for a real life example,

I'm a stay at home mom now, like never thought I would be when I got married.

I'm like, you know, I just want to be a wife and a mom. Like I was going to nursing school and like all this stuff and ended up not working out.

And earlier this year, my husband and I had talked about wanting to stay at home. He felt like that's something that we needed to do.

It was on both of our hearts, but we just wanted to keep, I was going to work until December. That was our agreement.

That was because we wanted to save up a certain amount of money to have. We wanted to buy a new car to replace his.

And so we wanted to have a certain amount of money. What's wrong with my boy's car? We just wanted to like go ahead and replace it before it broke down.

No, no. Timmy's still going. Yeah. I love old Timmy. He's a good boy. Um, but anyway, so we said we would do that and just kept on and kept on.

And it's actually, I'm in a group with your mom, small group with your mom. And she, I know now she's very like, she's like Rachel in the way that she delivers truth, just very gentle and very thoughtful about it.

So she's very good, but her words still kind of cut you in a good way.

So, you know, we were telling her, I was telling her how, um, you know, my husband and I felt like we were called to do this, but we were going to keep working, whatever.

And she's like, what if God is calling you to obedience? What if God is calling you to do this in spite of you feeling comfortable out of obedience?

And I'm just like, fricking Gwen, like, and I thought about it for weeks.

And I went on the youth trip this year. And after we got back from, my husband didn't go, he stayed home with our son.

And after I got back from the youth trip, I was in tears. And I'm like, I think I need to stay home. But I'm like,

I know that we agreed until December, you know, like I'm willing to do that. But I said, if God is calling us to do this, we need to do this.

We need to obey. I said, it's, you know, we're losing a salary. We lost, like, I carry the benefits for our family.

And so it's like, and I had an amazing 401k match 10%. Amazing, amazing.

I got an 11 % raise this last year. All of these things have great management, like love the people and the doctors that I work with, just like all these things.

So I'm like, I would be throwing all of that away. I'd be losing a lot. And so, you know, I mentioned that to my husband,

I'm in tears. And he's like, you know, this last week, I've been thinking about what you said. And he's like, how does the end of July sound?

It's like, that way it gives us time to like get our new insurance and everything settled with like his employer and all that. And so we did it.

And my husband has no joke applied for like 100 jobs this last year. And he had not gotten any feedback like from anybody in the last couple of months.

Our first week home, he had a phone interview, has a follow -up interview tomorrow. And then other people have reached out to him.

And he's like, this is a reference to The Incredibles. So if you don't know it, I'm sorry for you.

But it's like, he's like, coincidence. I was like, I think not. And so I was like,

I don't, I was like, I don't think that's a coincidence. I said, honey, because no, it's the teacher where he like the crazy teacher.

And so I'm like, every time God has called us to do something, he has taken care of us.

And he has proven that again and again and again. And so when we are fearful, like pastor said, and we allow that fear to overcome us, it hinders us from obeying.

Well, I mean, we're disobeying God. It's not even just hindering us from obeying. Like we are deliberately disobeying God. And you will lose out on rewards for blessings for your obedience.

And so, like I said, if he calls you to do something, do it. It's going to be scary, but God is calling you to do it.

And he'll take care of you. Yep. So. I like how you mentioned the, we've got to change that.

Can we just like put a light switch? You used to not do that often. Someone changed the - The setting. We have an automated light back here that turns off and on.

Anyway. Anywho, the verse talking about the five sparrows sold for two pennies.

Before that, it says, I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body. And after that have nothing more than they do then more that they can do.

But I will warn you to whom to fear. Warn you whom to fear. Fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell.

Yes, I tell you, fear him. And that's talking about the reverential fear that we talked about.

And I think, because the Bible mentions over 100 times about the fear of the

Lord. And there's a reason for that, because every time that we are to fear the

Lord, it means that we are making less of our own concerns. Yeah.

And with that, it is also us, one, putting God over us.

So submission on our part. But it helps us in every single aspect.

Colossians 2 -7. You had to have a tab. That was incredible. I have all the tabs.

Oh, my goodness gracious, how did she do that? That was so amazing. He was going to use my phone, so I used my tabs. You're a wizard,

Harry. Colossians 2 -7, I'll start in six.

Therefore, as you received Jesus Christ, the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught abounding in thanksgiving.

So we have to be, our roots have to be in Christ before we can have that fear of the

Lord that we need to actually replace our fear and anxiety that is not okay to have.

And when we have that fear of that, that reverential fear of God.

Am I saying that right? Reverential. You're sounding right to me. Good, good, good. Reverential. Rolls off the tongue. Then Exodus.

I know, I marked everything. I'm so proud of you. I used to do this for MIT tests. Anyway, Exodus 20, 20, 20, 20.

Moses said to the people, do not fear for God has come to test you that the fear of him may be before you that you may not sin.

So we need to make sure that our fear of God is at a point where we are not sinning by fearing everything else and worrying about everything else.

And with that, I have one more. Yeah, go. You go, you know that reference.

You go Coco. Glen Coco. You go mean girls. I mean, he was, he was a heterosexual teenage boy.

Definitely not watching mean girls. All right. And then we have golden girls.

Love them. Christian made a golden girls. Quote in Sunday school this morning.

It went over all the youths head. So the scripture says, sorry. Anyway. Yeah.

And this one, second Corinthians five 11. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others.

But what we are is known to God. And I hope it is known also to your conscience.

So, and this is talking about how our fear of God will motivate us to do what we are supposed to, like you were talking about, like you were, it motivates us to actually go and evangelize and go and do the great commission that we're called to do.

Because without that, without that fear of, oh, well, what are they going to think of me? What are we, what am

I going to say? Well, this says that the Holy spirit will give you the words to say every time.

So when we fear the wrong things. And we are so wrapped up in how it's, how things are going to affect us.

Then that is when the fear is a sin. But when we are fearful of God, our creator and the sovereignty that he has, and we finally go, okay, you know what,

God, you know what you're talking about? You know, what is going to happen after this situation?

So please help me in my heart, not be stuck in this situation, but be leaning on you and completely reliant on you and what your plan for me and whatever you have for me at this moment to grow.

Let me do that and shoot off from there. So we have to be rooted in that to where we can grow in our sanctification process to overcome our selfish fears, to be more selfless in the fear of the

Lord and what he has already placed in our lives. It's all about like me, me, me, like brother Jeff said this morning, it's like, how many of you guys care about what other people think of you?

And it's just like, I don't really care what people think about me. It's like, okay, well, I don't want to be uncomfortable by going to pray with that person because then maybe they'll feel uncomfortable.

And it's like, you know, it just keeps going like you said. And it's all about me. Or coworkers or family members that don't believe the same you do.

I mean, and it's like, but it keeps you from being obedient and it's just like, stop serving yourself.

Serve somebody else for a change. You're God. And then things will be better. It says right there.

That's a Y -O -U -R, not a Y -O -U apostrophe O -R -E. Everyone got that? Serve your

God, not you are God. You are God, yes. You're possessive. Well, ladies,

I actually have to go teach Greek in three minutes. But let me tell you something. That was another good podcast. Thank you ladies for sharing.

As always, guys, like, share, subscribe these. If you think we're not done or if we need to continue on this, no problem.

We can do that. I can't remember what our future topic is unless we need to finish this one.

I'll remember in a minute. I think this was the last one we had scheduled. Well, it might have been. It might have been.

Yeah. All right. Well, very good. And big things coming. We may be going back to a table sometime soon.

Which I think I would prefer. Yeah, I think we need to do that. Even if that means next week, instead of doing that, we put the table back here and we just don't record one next week.

We'll figure that out. All right, guys. Love you all. See you next time. But until next time.

Come on in. We don't care. All right. Now. Is he getting a microphone?