Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hey, guys, this is naive. And you've reached the Mosaic Church podcast. So excited that you're part of our listening community, and I'd love for you to be even more connected. So check out our website. There's more content there, and there's more opportunities for you to get connected in our ministries and events as well. Also, love for you to share this content if this has blessed you. I know that God wants to use you to bless other people with it, so share this podcast.
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[00:00:59] Speaker B: What's up? What's up, everybody? Man, it's always good to be here.
If you do not know me. They call me Pastor T around these parts, and we are literally. Our church is, like, down the street. And so I just, you know, just casually ran about five miles here before I.
You know, it's just what I do.
But no, it is an amazing moment for us that we get to do this, that we get to gather on Sunday morning publicly. And I don't take that for granted. And also, just thank you for welcoming me all the times that I come. I love Mosaic. Love Mosaic. And I love being here. Give it up for yourselves for being so loving.
It's like. It's like, you're not supposed to do that in church. Clap for yourself.
Well, you know, that's like God clapping for you to you. You know, all the things.
We are talking about something this morning that I think I have just a little bit of experience with. And we are talking about courage.
And so we are talking this morning, courage versus a timidity.
And that is basically fear.
And this is how I know a little bit about that, is that I have to walk in courage every time I speak, that I have a speech impediment if you cannot tell, that I stutter. And guess what my worst letter is? T.
And I have to say this word a hundred times in this sermon.
So if I use fear, that's why I'm just avoiding actually saying the word. Do you know, like, how rough it is to, like, to say my name? It starts with a T, and it's hard to say T's. Isn't that crazy?
But that is my life. But that is what takes courage for me. And so I know a little bit about courage and I know that you do.
We are in second Timothy, another T word. I don't know why I picked.
Don't know why I did this one, starting with verse six. And hopefully this will guide us in talking about courage and how to show you that you already have it in you. It isn't something that you have to muster up and it isn't something that you have to have to work yourself up and beg for. It is already placed in you. And verse 6 says this.
For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of. Of God which is in you.
Through the laying of my hands.
For the spirit of God gave us.
For the spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self discipline or self control.
I also know a little bit about this word courage or what this verse is talking about, because I am.
I have just.
I have just finished writing a book called Unpolished and it talks about my journey with stuttering and going first and encouraging and like how to share that. It's actually up right here and it's coming out April 1st of next year.
And so you guys get like a sneak peek into chapter six of my book that no one has heard.
Do you feel special? No. Okay, well, just, yeah, just fake it for me. If you do, it is all good.
But more so than that, someone else is coming out with a book. Kristen, give it up.
Oh, the other side of certainty. That is amazing. And we're going to talk a little bit about that this morning. But back to the scripture.
This scripture gives us this like equation forward with what courage is. And this is where I have seen courage. I have studied, I have studied for a while now. And when I mean study, I mean Google and ChatGPT. And when I studied these animals called the wildebeest. Have you heard of these things?
It is located in, in the continent of Africa. And they do a great migration. It's often called the greatest migration in the world. 1.5 million of these things mixed with zebras and kelopes and I don't know, cow sauna.
But they migrate hundreds and hundreds of miles from grassy plains. Less of grassy plains to get to more of a grassy plain.
And what they must do is as they walk, there is one huge river that they must cross. And it's usually the Mara River.
Now if you've seen the Animal Channel, I used to watch it all the time just so that I get just to watch these things. Try to cross the river.
Because guess what is waiting in the river?
Crocodiles.
They are waiting and there's hundreds of them just waiting for them to come.
And so as these animals finally arrive, they just don't jump in and says oh wee water.
No, they go there and they wait at the bank waiting to cross, waiting for the right moments.
Now you would think that they would wait a few hours, maybe six hours and then they cross. No, they will wait for weeks.
They will arrive at this river and wait for weeks, waiting for one person to have one animal, to have enough courage to cross just one.
And when one goes, thousands go.
But all they are doing is waiting on one.
Now I am sure that this like applies right in some way, shape or form.
Like do you feel that you lack courage but half fear and you wish it was the other way around? Lack fear and have courage.
And we are always waiting on that one to go first and maybe that one should be you.
And we are like always waiting to see what happens. We are all always waiting for certainty before we cross.
Well, my hope is this, is that today you will choose courage over fear.
And the fact that you can choose it because you already have it.
Let's look at this word courage in its purest form, which means, in Hebrew definition it means strong, bold, resolute. But the definition that we are using is this. Moving towards what's right even when the risk is real and the outcome isn't guaranteed.
Moving towards what's right even when the risk is real and the outcome isn't guaranteed.
And so that's courage. And so let's look at fear or timidity.
And then it's root, it's fear, it's dread, it's terror.
But this is what we will use for today. A fear driven hesitation that keeps you at the edge.
A fear driven hesitation that keeps you at the edge. What about you? Are you going to choose courage or fear?
And it's not a one time choice, ladies and gentlemen.
It is something that you must choose over and over again. Often like I say, I must choose it almost every time I open my mouth.
Am I going to speak?
Am I going to pursue this word in front of 100 people?
What will you choose at any moment?
And this. And there's a person who was just, I think maybe mastered this thing called courage in the Bible. His name is Paul.
Paul wrote this verse that we just read and this was in his last letter, meaning that he had some foresight of his death coming soon.
That like he knew what was coming in Rome. Around the corner and there was him being persecuted to death.
And Paul was writing to his dear friend Timothy and he's telling Timothy, do not be fearful because that is not in you.
And like as he was writing this letter, he was remembering all the ways that he trained Timothy.
Like he brought Timothy under his wing.
And so he says this. For this reason I remind you, as I have already taught you, to fan into flame the gift of God. What is the gift of God? It is the Holy Spirit, God in flame, you working in you and through you it is God, in you is the Holy Spirit.
And so it says this first, this reason.
For this reason remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying of hands for the Spirit of God.
Talking about the Holy Spirit God in you gave us does not make us timid.
The Spirit of God does not make you timid. But what it does is that it gives you power, love and self discipline.
And so this is what I want to share with you, is that boldness matters, courage matters.
It matters because, because Timothy was in charge of a lot of people. There was a lot riding on him. He was in charge of, of many churches encouraging them.
They were facing persecution.
He was facing persecution and for some reason, I don't know why, maybe Timothy told him he was fearful, told Paul that he was fearful. Or maybe Paul sensed it from afar and said, hey, hey, you were being timid right now. That is not what I taught you. Furthermore, that is not what the Holy Spirit does for us. Timothy, what's going on?
And so he is encouraging Timothy. He says, let me remind you to fan the flame. Well, what is he fanning?
That means that there had to have been a flame there. What I am telling you is because of the Holy Spirit, you, you have courage. But you may not know that you have it.
You may not have access, you may not even believe that. But if Jesus lives in you, you have courage. What it's telling you to do is to fan that little flame of courage in you.
It only takes a little bit.
It only takes a little bit of wind to fan the flame of courage.
And the reason why he wants you to fan the flame is because it is necessary.
It is necessary for this life. Courage matters. Without it we cannot hear me, cannot fulfill our God given purpose.
There is no if, ands, buts about it. If you don't have courage, if you don't practice courage and moments, you cannot fulfill God's purpose for your life.
How do I know that? It's simply because what God always asks us to do goes against society.
He asks us to love people that others deem unlovable.
He asks us to speak up for people who are not being spoken for.
He asks us to wash feet of people with nasty feet.
That takes courage. I ain't touching nobody feet, but it takes courage. This is what he is asking us to do.
Paul is saying that the spirit of God is in you, therefore you have courage. So I need you to blow, fan that flame so that you can be courageous in moments where there is purpose for.
Because I have placed you on this earth for myself and for others.
And God has something for you to do.
Your boldness matters.
You have to believe that you have to walk like it, you have to exist like it. That your courage, that your boldness makes a difference in somebody's life, in your life and your family's life at work, it matters.
Secondly, fear keeps us on the bank.
Fear keeps us on the bank.
That is what fear is actually designed to do, to not make you hop in the river.
Now I get it.
I wouldn't want to hop in that river either, but it keeps you on the bank.
Verse 7 says, for the spirit of God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self discipline. Ladies and gentlemen, I dare say that power, love and self discipline and is the ingredients for courage.
That's what courage actually is.
And let's look at that for a moment.
It says that God gives us his spirit, the Holy Spirit.
And that spirit is not a fear, but a power, love and self control. You can say it like this. Courage is what happens when love becomes stronger than fear.
Courage is what happens when love becomes stronger than fear.
I was in Haiti one year and I may have shared this story here, but there was this girl and there was a group of us and we were doing mission work in Haiti.
And there was. And that evening we all, about 10 of us went and played in the ocean, right? So we were on the beach, played in the ocean, and we were just having fun. And the tide, the tide was very low. And so we're out there having fun. But in Haiti, probably as in other places, the tide rises extremely fast.
And so within one minute the tide had rose about three feet.
And so while we're all playing, we're all noticing, okay, so the water's getting to our next head. And that was this girl who did not know how to swim, but she was fine because she was about waist deep. And then all of a sudden she found herself underwater and she was yelling Help. Help. Help. Help.
And I am looking at everyone else and I said, help her.
No, you help her. No, you.
I swim in pools, not oceans.
And so this girl is literally underwater. And so I felt like I had no choice. I went and I tried to save her.
And how I tried to save her was not like a professional at all.
I went underwater, I grabbed her and I threw her towards the shore.
And I said, get over there. And then I went back underwater, grabbed her, threw her towards the shore, then I went back underwater until she, she was safe. But let me tell you, I'm not a strong swimmer. I tell people I swim for myself, not others.
I warn you before you get in the pool with me, even my son, don't try me.
And so, and so and so. Thankfully, she made it to sure.
But I looked back and I wondered, why did I do that?
Like what, what made me do that?
And I. And hear me, it is not because I'm brave.
It is not because I'm such a good person.
It is not because I, I am the. I am a man.
It is because the Holy Spirit in me made me love more than fear.
Will that be the case for you and to choose that?
Paul is talking to Timothy and he's simply not saying be braver.
He is being reminded of what God has already given him. Power, love, and a sound mind. Even more specifically, love gives courage, a direction.
Love. Love gives courage, direction. Power without love can become aggression.
Hear me. Power without love can become aggression. And love without courage stays passive.
Love, power and self, love control produces a courageous action.
Love, power and self control produces a courageous action.
Fear keeps us from using that gift that is giving you of courage.
But he wants us to take his power and love and calm thinking over fear. So now how do we actually have courage?
And like, all that sounds good, all that sounds great, but how do we actually have courage over timidity?
Here's the first one.
Stop making certainty a prerequisite for obedience.
I will do this, God, when I know that I'm standing on firm ground.
I will do this when I know that the other side is for me.
And that is almost never the case.
That is almost never the case.
I wish I had, like, more compelling stories for you I worked at, but it's, I'm telling you the reality of what the cost of courage. I worked at UPS for a while and I was a manager and all this stuff. And here's the thing, I felt like God told me to quit.
And I said, I don't know who you're talking to.
Because I don't.
Because I got to pay bills.
And I proceeded to stay for a whole nother year.
Each day was agony.
Let me tell you something. When God wants you to do something, like, he's going to make it irritating for you to stay.
If you were feeling that.
And it's consistent, it's consistent. Maybe fear is keeping you from practicing courage.
And so, and so I finally, I finally left. So I negotiated for God for a year and then I left. And then I was like, okay, I did what you said.
Come on. I know I will have another job the next day. No. Six months went by, no job.
People were like, that was not wise. What are you doing? I had just gotten married.
And I thought on the other side of that, he was surely there's certainty of something. But that was not. But let me tell you, the thing that he brought to me was more than I could ever imagine.
And that time, that six months he worked in me so much was a pivotal, pivotal moment for my life and my development. So stop making certainty a prerequisite for obedience. 2.
Stop waiting to feel brave.
Like you can't.
Caffeine doesn't do it.
I wish I did.
I really wish it did.
But it doesn't.
The courage is already in you.
What it's saying is that to fan the flame when you pray, say, father, fan this flame of courage.
Make me more courageous so that I can point people towards you. 3.
Give fear a voice, but don't give it a vote.
Give fear a voice, but don't give it a vote. Yes, be fearful. You can be fearful. There's nothing, nothing wrong with that.
But do not give it a vote.
I would also say don't vote through fear either.
Like, do not give it a vote.
But you can recognize it.
You can set it on the table. You can acknowledge it as you actually should acknowledge it.
But don't let it determine what you do next.
Be encouraged.
So as we wrap up, here is the thing. We are taught to have courage for ourselves.
And that is all good.
And Jesus teaches us to have courage for others.
And he does not make it about himself.
But he says, father, not my will, but your will be done.
Our courage is not just for ourselves.
It is for you.
Because it is how you love yourself best.
But it's also for others.
When you look at the wildebeest as they are waiting at the bank for weeks, waiting for the first one to go, I believe the first one who jumps in says, and I believe they really actually don't think that they will make it across.
It's a hundred alligators in them.
But maybe there's something that we can learn from nature.
That one wildebeest sacrifices himself for the thousand.
That as one go first, it knows it will not make it, but it hopes that the millions will behind.
Isn't that jesus?
That we can have hope that as he sacrificed his life, that we would follow?
There is a cost.
That's not the most motivating thing to hear, but I feel like I can say that in this room. Because you know, the cost is greater than what your fear is holding you back from doing.
And the cost is your family.
The cost is your friends.
The cost is the kingdom of God.
The first one through the wall always gets bruised, But many can run through the whole maid.
So will you choose courage not because you want to accomplish your next goal or ambition?
Sure, that is great.
And listen, there are a hundred TED talks out there for that.
But what I'm talking about is will you choose courage.
For God and in turn someone else?
So when you have those moments, don't lean on certainty. Don't wait for bravery.
Give fear a voice, but not a vote.
And fan that flame of the gift of the Holy Spirit that gives you courage that's already in you.
And you can actually walk out of here different.
Let us pray. Father, you were good in your new mercies. New mercies, new mercies every day.
For those of us in this room who needs.
The fanning of their flame of courage, courage to be obedient not by what they feel, not by where they're at.
But Holy Spirit, only you can do it.
God, I pray that they don't choose certainty, but they choose the one who is certain. And that is you and God. I pray, pray that as we are embarking on this journey of choosing fear over choosing courage over fear this week, that we don't try to muster it up on our own.
It'd be a huge miss if we leave here thinking we can do it on our own, but that we are 100% dependent and needy for you to help us.
So as we.
Saying, Father, we ask that you fan our flames.
Holy Spirit, thanks for listening to this message from Mosaic church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
For more audio and video content, visit us at MosaicChurch TV.
