Gregory Dickow - Freedom From Fear
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Welcome to the power to Change today, are you going through a storm? We're all going through crisis like we've never had before. Well, I want to teach you today how to get through it, how to get to the other side. So I'm going to teach you out of Mark chapter, 4 and realize this: there's a promise for every problem you have, the promise is: we are going to the other side. And I want you to know: whatever you're facing right now, whatever's happening in your life right now or five years from now, or 10 years from now, you're going to make it to the other side. And that's why we can truly be free from fear. Fear can be crippling if you let it, but I'm on a mission today and you and me together are going to dismantle the power of fear by understanding the four things I share with you on today's program. Get ready to experience true freedom from fear once and for all. We're going to the other side. Check this out.
But we're going to get into God's word, and I have a special word for you. For some of you will come across like that sounds a little familiar, and there's a reason why it might sound a little familiar what I'm about to share with you. And it's because I believe that God has already prepared us for the times that we're living in. And wherever there is a problem, there's always a promise. There's always a promise from God's word. In fact, there are seven thousand promises in God's word. There's always a promise from God's word to handle whatever problem is in this world, promised from the word. Problem in the world, there's a promise from the word. There's a problem in the world, there's a promise from the word.
If there's a problem in your life, there's a promise from the word, the word of God, the Bible, the holy, sacred, all scriptures inspired by God and profitable Bible. All of the scriptures are inspired by God. We're reading the word of God, it's alive. And we're together as the church, online, on site, whatever ways we come together, we are one and and we're together. And we are the gates, we are the church of the gates hell cannot prevail against. But I want you to see there's always a promise with every problem. And I want to start by taking you to a scripture in Mark 4:35. Let's start there, it says, "On the same day", and I'll get to what day that was in a moment, "On the same day when evening had come, he said to them, 'Let us cross over. Let us go over to the other side.'"
God, Jesus himself. Now Jesus is God. Jesus is Lord. And he says to his disciples, let's go to the other side. We're going to the other side. And I want you to know whatever crisis is happening in this world today, whatever crisis will happen a year from now, five years from now, ten years from now, twenty years from now, we're going to the other side, amen? I want you to say that right where you're watching, say, "I'm going to the other side". And I love how he said, "let us go, let us cross", it's us. So say that. Say, "Let us go to the other side", say "we're going to the other side". You see, he includes us, because we're not doing this alone. We're doing this together. We're going to the other side. And the Bible says, "...and they took Jesus in the boat just as he was. And other little boats were with him".
Now, that should speak to you of something that they took him in the boat just as he was. In other words, God wants you to accept Jesus into your life, just as he is, not a different Jesus, not a weak Jesus, not a suffering Jesus. He was the suffering Jesus. Now he's the glorious Jesus. And they took Jesus in the boat just as he was, that spoke to me the first time I saw that, and made me realize, "wow, we get to take Jesus into our lives just as he is". We don't have an inferior Jesus. We don't have a Jesus that's different than the Jesus that walked the Earth two thousand years ago. We get to take him just as he is.
And now what happened? "A great storm of wind began to come and beat against that boat. Then it was filling the boat. But Jesus was in the stern asleep on a pillow. And they awoke him and said, 'Master, don't you care that we're perishing?' Then he arose", you know the story, "And he rebuked the wind, and he said to the sea, 'Peace be still.' And the wind ceased and there was great calm. But then he said to them, 'Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?'" So we're talking about freedom from fear today. Face not fear. He said, "why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith"? And they feared exceedingly and said to one another, "Who can this be, that even the wind in the sea obey him"?
Now, I want to drill down on this for a moment, but I want you to see Jesus attitude once he gets in the boat, and even in the midst of the storm, what is Jesus doing? He is sleeping. God has called us to rest in his promise. He's called us to not get nervous, not get worried, not get anxious. What's going to deliver us from fear and anxiety is the promise that God has made. And God gives promises because of God's love. God loves us, and therefore He gives us his promises, that love, God's love is always accompanied with a promise. God so loved the world that he gave his only Begotten Son. You see, wherever there's God's love, there's also God's promise. So there's also a gift that he gives. God so loved the world that he gave. God always accompanies his promises with a gift, or he accompanies his love with a gift. God's love is always accompanied with a gift, and because God loves us, he always gives us a promise for whatever situation we're in.
Now, I'm going to dove into Jesus question to them when he said, where is your faith? Why are you so fearful? So if Jesus asks the question, why are you so fearful, then that implies to us we don't have to be so fearful. If he's saying if he's asking the question, why are you guys so afraid? Where's your faith? Then we there must be a way for us to get to the place where we aren't afraid. And there must be a way to get to the place where we're full of faith. And there must be a way that we can get to the place where we have peace and great calm. Even when there's a storm raging around us, there must be a way. Otherwise he wouldn't have said, why are you guys so fearful? He said that because they didn't have to be fearful. And I'll tell you why. They didn't have to be fearful. There's a way to be free from fear.
And that's why Jesus said, Why are you so afraid? And I'll get to that. But I want you to see why Jesus was sleeping in the boat for a moment. Because in Psalm one hundred and twenty seven and I want to look at this in the new American standard Bible, Psalm one hundred and twenty seven, verse two. And look at what it says. Four he gives it says it is vane to rise early, retire late, eat the bread of painful labors. Now look at what he says next for he gives to his beloved. Even in his sleep, he gives to his beloved, even in his sleep. In other words, God is saying here that even when we sleep, he's always giving to us that his gifts to us are not based on us being awake. His gifts to us are not based on us having it all together. His gifts to us are not based on on us even, you know, being worried or nervous or anxious. He said he gives to his beloved the ones he loves. He loves you. He gives to his beloved even while we're sleeping.
What a great Father that he gives to us, even while we're sleeping. I want you to rest in this season of time. I want you to know that you can get in the boat in the middle of a storm. You can get in the boat with Jesus in the middle of a storm and you can have peace. You can have peace inside. Now, when Jesus rebuked the wind and he said peace be still the only reason that he could say that was because he had peace on the inside. The only one who has the power over the storm is the one who's not afraid of the storm, the only one that has the power. Listen, the only one that has the power over the storm, the only one who has the power over this crisis is the one who's not afraid of the crisis.
Jesus was in the storm, but he wasn't afraid of the storm. Why? Because he had the love of God. He knew that God would give him give to him even while he slept. He knew this verse. He wrote this verse. He was the author of this verse. He was with he was with the Father when the Father spoke this verse he gives to his beloved. Even in their sleep, Jesus was convinced of the Father's love for him. So he knew that while he was sleeping, God would protect him. And that's what I want you to know, that in this season, God's going to protect you because you're his beloved. Even in our sleep. I can't sleep. I can't sleep. I'm so worried. I've got to watch the news. I got to watch the news. No, no, no. You got to plant the seed of God's word and then rest and trust in his grace and trust in his goodness and trust in his love.
When God says I love you and you're my beloved and I'll give to you in your sleep, that's the Father saying I'll care for you. That's the Father saying, I got you. That's the Father saying, I'm still on the throne and everything's going to be all right. That's what the Father means. I will care for you. I will provide for you. I will protect you and I will keep you. That's what kind of Father we have. And we're made in his image and we have that kind of power, too. And then we have that kind of authority and we need to get a hold of this. That's. Why, Jesus asked them, where's your faith, why are you doubting, where's your faith, their faith was in the storm. Jesus faith was in God's love and in God's promises.
The disciples faith was in the storm. They had more faith and respect for the storm than they had for God's promises. We have to have more faith in God's promise than we do in the storm. We have to have more. We have to respect God's promise more than we respect the storm. We respect we respect the virus, but we respect God's promise greater than the virus we respected. It can hurt and it can kill. But we respect God's promise even more. And God's promise can heal and God's promise will deliver. God's promises are how we live. We don't live by the promises we make to God. The Christian life is all about the promises God makes to us. So if we see in the storm, Jesus says, where's your faith? Why is he asking that? Because that is the most important question. Where is your faith in times of storm? He's not saying, why don't you have any faith? He's saying, where are you putting your faith? He's not saying you don't have any faith. He's saying you're putting your faith in the storm.
Where is your faith? Put your faith is in the storm. Put your faith in the in the love of God. Put your faith in the promise of God. We're going to put our faith in something. We're going to respect something. We're going to believe something. Are we going to believe everything the media tells us? Are we going to believe what God's word tells us? We're going to put our faith in something he said. Where is your faith? In other words, he's saying your faith exists, but where are you putting it? Where are you putting it? You got to get a hold of this, folks. The miracle that happens here in Mark 4 the greater miracle is not that Jesus calm the storm. The greater miracle is that he had peace in the midst of it. It's a miracle that Jesus calm the storm and we can calm storms in our lives, but we can't calm the storms that we're afraid of. Jesus was only able to calm the storm because he wasn't afraid of the storm. The disciples were afraid of the storm, but Jesus wasn't.
And I want you to get this and I want you to get a hold of this, because the miracle, the greater miracle is not that he stilled the storm. The greater miracles that he slept through it, the greater miracles that he had peace in the midst of the storm. That's the greater miracle, say. But didn't he wake up and calm the storm? He wouldn't have woken up. He would have got to the other side. But the disciples woke him up. Don't you care or don't you care that we're perishing? Their faith was in the storm. Jesus faith was in his promise. And what was the promise? So as I'm as you've heard me say before, during any crisis and during any situation, the first thing that each of us need to do is take inventory. We need to take inventory of what we have. We don't need to run out in fear for the last roll of toilet paper. We don't need to run out in fear for the last bottle of hand sanitizer. We don't need to run out in fear and take a test to see if we have the disease, because you might have it, but it doesn't have you because greater is he that is in you than he is in the world, because there are viruses in this world and they come to our bodies. But greater is he, missing you, than he is in the world?
If they would have taken inventory before they woke Jesus up, they would have said, OK, let's take inventory. What's the first thing we have? The first thing you have is a promise. And what's the promise in this passage of scripture? Jesus said in verse thirty five. Let us go to the other side. We are going to the other side. There's the promise. The first thing that every one of us has whenever there's a crisis is we do need to take inventory and realize we have a promise. So what is the promise here? We're going to the other side. What is the promise in this crisis? We're going to the other side. What is the promise in your financial situation? We're going to the other side. We're going to make it to the other side. You're going to make it to the other side. And when was this promise made? Look at verse 35. He says on the same day Mark 4:35 on the same day then evening had come and he promised them we're going on the other side.
On the same day is, what day did he make this promise, and what day did they get in the boat, and what day did he go to sleep, and what day did the storm hit? So he's now illustrating for us exactly what he said the kingdom of God is like in Mark 4:26. The Kingdom of God is like a man that plant a seed into the ground. And then he sleeps. He goes to sleep at night. So what would Jesus do? He said, we're going to the other side. That's Jesus planting the seed of God's word. And then what would Jesus do? He went to sleep. He did exactly what he said. The Kingdom of God is like the kingdom of God is like a man verse twenty six that plants to seed in the ground. And then he goes to sleep at night. And then he does that. He tells them in verse thirty five we're going to the other side and verse thirty six. What does he do. He goes to sleep. He does exactly what he says, exactly what he taught them. The Kingdom of God was. He now illustrates how the Kingdom of God operates in his own life and in their lives.
If we take inventory, what did these disciples have and what do we have in the midst of a storm? No. One, they had a promise. When Jesus said, we're going to the other side, that's their promise. No to, you know, what's next. They had God's presence. No one they had a promise of. This is the first message I ever preached in this building where I'm preaching to you now is the first scripture I ever taught was this scripture in Mark chapter 4. Now, when they had left the multitude, they took him along in the boat as he was, and they were with him. So now watch this. So no one, they had a promise, were going to the other side.
Number two, they had his presence. Jesus was with them. So now what do they have to do? An inventory? When you look in your cupboards before you go to the grocer, you've got to see what I have got to see, what I need to take inventory. What do I got? OK, here's what you got before you worry another second, take inventory of what you have at this second, you have the promise of God. No one will go in to the other side. You have the presence of God. He is with you and he'll never leave you.
And then number three, Jesus, they wake Jesus up and he gets up and he speaks. He rebukes the storm and speaks to the wind and he rebukes the wind and then speaks to the sea. Peace be still. I want you to see this. And the wind ceased and there was great, great calm. In other words, his words carried power. And so do your words. Proverbs. Eighteen, twenty one says death and life are in the power of the tongue. So listen to me. The third thing they have when we take inventory, what do we have. No one. They had the promise of God we're going to do. We're going to the other side. Number two, they had the presence of God. Jesus was with them and he's with you. And number three, they had the power of God. And the power is, in our words, the power is in our tom. Death and life is in the power of the tongue.
Jesus demonstrates the power over situations and over storms. Your words, your words are going to take your body in the direction that your words speak if you speak. I'm depressed. I'm fearful. I'm afraid. I'm anxious. Your body is going to follow those those words of anxiety because your tongue is the rudder of the ship. And wherever the rudder of a ship turns, that's where the whole ship turns. And there's the you can have a big boat, but it has a little rudder. And the little rudder is what moves the direction of the boat and what's the rudder of our lives.
The Bible says our tongue is the rudder of our ship. Our tongue is the is the steering wheel that directs the rest of our life. Our our our bodies are going to follow. Our words are our finances are going to follow our words. Our families are going to follow our words. Our emotions are going to follow our words. Our words have power. And you've got to know that you have this power as we're taking inventory, you got power. Jesus Rose. And he rebuked the wind and then spoke to the sea. Peace be still. And then what happened? There was a great calm. So now that's the next thing that we have. We got his promise. We got his presence. We got his power. We have his peace. He said, peace be still and there was a great calm, so we have his peace. We have his praise. We can praise him any time. We should be praising him in times like this. Why? Because our God is sovereign still. Our God is more powerful than the storm, and so are we because we're made in his image.