Today is Waiting - Pastor Naeem Fazal

[00:00:01] Hey, guys, this is Naim, and you've reached the Mosaic Church Podcast. So excited that you're part of our listening community and 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 get connected in our ministries and events as well. Also, love for you to share this content. If this is blessed to you. I know that God wants to use you to bless other people with it, so share this podcast you will. Lastly, would you consider supporting this ministry? This is made possible by other people's generosity, and I'd love for you to pay it forward. [00:00:39] Join us to reclaim the message and the movement of Jesus together. So would you consider giving to this ministry? I know that God is able to do immeasurably more through us when we come together. Thank you so much. God bless you. Enjoy. [00:00:57] Okay. [00:01:00] All right. [00:01:01] All right. You guys trying to do better than last week. Like, you keep on getting better and better. Awesome. Well, welcome if you're our guest here. Sorry we just scared the junk out of you, but, yeah, you're welcome. Glad you guys are here. So we are week two on our series. And you know what's funny, though? I was talking to my rabbi friend. I got a rabbi friend. Okay, so we do lunch together here, there, and we're talking about theology. It's really fascinating to hear his theology, his idea of who God is. And anyway, so I was telling him I was gonna do a series on my book, and he was like, so hold on. You can just do that? Like, don't you guys have a curriculum that you have to follow? You know? And I'm like, no, you do. We don't. We just make up stuff. I'm like, no, we don't make up stuff. He was like. I said, I've got books. We got books. We call them the Bible. And, you know, and so, yeah, we do that. But. But what's really great about it is that we get to speak into, you know, the current times. We get to speak into the feelings, the thoughts of what's happening in the world. And so we don't have to follow kind of any kind of track or anything like that. So I told him, yeah, we're doing a series on my book. Cause I've done series on different books, but never on my book. And so, man, I just wanna say, first of all, for those of you who have bought it and you're reading it, you're sending me messages and encouragement, I just wanna say thank you so much. So. So so, so, so much. Oh, okay, okay. She's waving it too. All right. She's selling it. [00:02:23] You can't resell it. You can't hawk the book. Okay. Just saying. She's. Yeah. But hey, thank you for that. [00:02:29] So. So we started. We kicked off the series last week talking about. [00:02:33] Yeah, the whole idea of the past. The past has forgotten us. And we did break up with our past. And what was really amazing, though, is that like last week, if you were here, if you were watching, we. We actually broke some sticks, and basically it was like, representative breaking up with our past. And it was really powerful. We actually have those sticks because most of you put them on the foot of the cross, and it was really just a significant moment for so many of us. So today, what I want to do is I don't want you to break up with your past. I want you to take control. [00:03:02] Take control of today. I want you to do what? Take control of what? Today. [00:03:07] Take back control of today. How many of you say you like to be in control? [00:03:13] Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Okay. We like to be in control. I think that's why the biggest frustration with humanity and traffic happens because we lose control. [00:03:23] You know, we lose our minds. You know, sometimes we just go, okay, why? Have you ever been flipped off? Anybody know what that means? Okay, anybody been flipped off before? Okay, if you're. If this morning. Okay. Okay. And if you're. If you're. If you don't know, if you're a young. If you're a younger kid, I'm so sorry. Parents will have to figure that out. But, yeah, I've been flipped off. Okay. How many of you have flipped people off? [00:03:47] Yeah. Oh, wow. [00:03:49] That is awesome. No, no, I'm sorry. That is not awesome. That's not awesome. We have forgiveness of sins here. We have a cross. [00:03:57] But wow. You know, the other day. The other day, I didn't even realize this. I mean, I just. I happened to see a car pass me and I just. I didn't know that we had an issue. I didn't know there was a problem, and I did not know. I was just kind of doing my thing, and this car passed me and this woman, I didn't even see her face. She didn't even look at me. It was just a flip off. And I'm like, hey, Hello. What did we do? What did I do? What's happening here, you know what I think it is, is because when we lose control, we end up doing some things because, you know, traffic is what traffic is. Us afraid of the fact that we are not in control. Anything could happen to us. I mean, that's what it is. So today, I want you to take back control. Because. Because a lot of us. I believe a lot of us are controlled by fear. Now, fear shows up in different ways, but it's controlled by fear. And what it does is it ends up. [00:04:44] It ends up shaping our life and actually walking us into a direction that we do not want it to go. Could it be possible that you've got an opportunity? You've got something that you really need to do? You need to. If you're thinking about it, you're praying about it, you're like, I think I really should do this. I think God wants me to do this. I think this is gonna be good for our family. I. I think I need to say yes to this. I think I need to do that. But you end up just going, you know what? I'm not quite sure I'm gonna do it. Why? Is it what's controlling you and you're not letting you do that? [00:05:15] What is allowing you to justify not stepping into what maybe God has for you, maybe stepping into an opportunity, just trying something? Is it because a fear of failure? Is it a fear of rejection? Is it a fear of loss? Is it a fear of abandonment? Is it a fear of betrayal? Is there a fear of just, you know, like. Oh, man. Of embarrassment? I don't want to step out. I don't want to do this. I don't want to do that, because last time. Last time this happened, and I don't want to do it. And so what happens is we end up being controlled by fear in our lives. [00:05:50] You know, let's see. Let me see. This was about 20 years ago or so. We. Asher was 1 years old, and we went on our first cruise. Any cruise, people in the house, make some noise. [00:06:03] Okay, that's interesting. That's very interesting. Okay. No cruise people in the house. [00:06:09] Okay. Okay. What's interesting about this church? I'm realizing I'm doing surveys as I speak, you know, like, people. [00:06:16] Mosaic is not a cruise. People. [00:06:18] They're just not. So I should just cancel the whole Mosaic cruise? Everybody on the Mosaic cruise. I should cancel that. Cancel that. Yeah. We won't make it. We won't survive. No, that won't happen. No. [00:06:28] So we were on a cruise, and here's what happened, okay? [00:06:32] There's so many things that went wrong on this cruise. We've never been on a cruise since. Never been. Okay. [00:06:38] But one of the things that Happened is that Asher was one years old, okay? And he. When we got there, we were. It was a cruise, Remember? It's vacay. You know what I'm saying? We're like, okay, this is going to be great. Our goal was take our kid and bring us back and just take him. Take him for days, you know? We trust you. Just take him. Because guess what? We gotta want to cruise here. [00:07:02] And the cutoff. He was right at the cutoff. They would not take him. And I was like, I will pay you money. Just take my kid. But please, please, please. So, no, it didn't happen. It didn't happen. [00:07:12] So we're like, okay, what's going on? It was our first kid, so we were super paranoid. You know, first one, we're like, okay, okay. And Ashley was like, you know what? We cannot have him around, first of all, because we can't do anything. I mean, we love our kids, right? We love our kids. Yay. But we would like a vacation from our kids. Yay. Yes. So I was like, okay, what are we gonna do? We're like, okay. And then we just. You know, he could walk or so. And he would be. I think maybe he was two. I don't know, but he could walk. He'd be. He could walk around and do get into trouble. You know, he was that age. And Ashley was like, well, he's gonna. He's gonna. He's gonna. He's gonna. He's gonna jump off the boat. Like, that's what she was thinking. So I was not gonna argue that logic. I was like, you're right. He's gonna do it. He's gonna do it. We are not looking. He's gonna be like. [00:07:55] And just jump. He's just gonna go for it. And so she was like, we gotta do something. And she's like, okay, I got it. I got it. I got it. And so we put this thing on Asher. Okay. [00:08:06] Not proud of it. Not proud of it. Okay, Now, I'm not gonna judge anybody, but we put a leash on him now. Here, let me. Let me. Okay, okay, okay. Calm down. Calm down. [00:08:17] I was shocked when we were presented the idea, but this is a really cute. [00:08:24] It's actually like a, you know, a backpack. It's a backpack. It's a backpack with a little, you know, leash. I mean, that's something. You know, this is it. Now, it wasn't as fancy as this, you know, but so we put this on him. Why? Because, I mean, he has the illusion of freedom, you know, but not really, you know, What I'm saying, because as soon as we want to, we yank them. Okay, we do it. Do we do it? No, we don't do that. I mean, parents, whatever. But anyways, we do it with our pets and all that. But you know what's funny, though? [00:08:58] What's funny is that back in the day, they had a straight up leash, I feel like. [00:09:03] But now they've made it super cute, right? So this one right here, I borrowed it from a family of mosaic. You know, they don't know it, but they put this on their kid and they've got. Oh, guess what they got. Of course the kid wants this. Okay, why? Because. Who's here? [00:09:18] Bluey's here. Okay, I learned that last service. Okay, so there's also like a fruit punch situation here. So you want to wear this. You want to wear this. You're like, hey, cutie. Hey, buddy. Hey, wear this. You wear it. It's all good. They all feel like they're on top of the worldwide because they're like, they're good. They're good. They're hanging out. And then you can control them. [00:09:43] Control them. [00:09:44] Fear does this. [00:09:46] See, fear gives you the illusion that you're in control. [00:09:49] Fear does this. Fear goes, oh, you don't wanna do that. No, no, no, no, no. It gives you. It tells you all kinds of stuff. But really, honestly, it's controlling it. The fear is not on this end. Fear is on which end. [00:10:01] It's actually controlling us. When we end up going in a direction that we really want to go, but we feel like we cannot go because of our fear and anxiety in our life. It's because we're on the wrong end of this thing. [00:10:14] And see, have you heard people say, oh, man, you gotta be fearless. You can be fearless. That's what it is. Have you ever seen a T shirt that says fearless? [00:10:23] Fearless? Yeah, it's mostly Christians who put that on there. That nonsense. Okay, no shade on them, but yes, shade on them. Okay, here's the thing. First of all, that's just nonsense. What do you mean, fearless? [00:10:35] You need fear. You're like, really Name. Yeah, you need fear. Fear is a cautious, cautious companion. Why? Because it'll keep you out of what? [00:10:44] Trouble? [00:10:46] Yeah, but it's a terrible master. [00:10:49] So you can keep. You should put fear on a leash. Tell fear, hey, why don't you wear this backpack and I'll hold. [00:10:57] So I'll control my life. [00:11:00] You won't control it. [00:11:01] But so many of us, man, so many of us, we find ourselves in places and seasons of life, because of what's happened or because of the opportunity, because of the risk involved. We just go, ah, I'm not gonna do that. And what happens is. And you might be there. This is what might. You might know that you're on the wrong end of this thing. And that is. You're stalling. [00:11:20] Some of you are just stalling. You know it. You're like, I'm not stalling. I'm not stalling. But you're stalling. You're stalling. You're like, ah, you should just stalling. In life, you need. You know, you need to do this. You knew. You know, you need to send that text. You know you need to respond, and you're like, ah. [00:11:40] Have you ever left a text message unread? [00:11:44] Yeah, one of mine unread. Okay. Anyways. No, but yeah, we have, right? We have. We just. We stall. [00:11:52] Have you ever had a moment where you're like, I just don't know what to do? Because I could do this and I could do that, and I could do this and I could do that, and I could do this and I could do that? And you're paralyzed. [00:12:01] Because, honestly, what it is, is you're paralyzed by choices. No, because there's fear, there's anxiety. [00:12:09] Will I pick the right one? So I'm not gonna pick any. I'm not gonna do that. Could it be fear? I think so, man. I think fear. Because fear shows up in different ways. See, for some of us, we're not paralyzed. We're not stalling. We're just kind of cruising. We're coasting. What we want is everybody and everything to just be cool. [00:12:32] As long as everything is smooth sailing, we're good. [00:12:36] Have you ever had a moment where you're like, all of a sudden, you're good, you're good. Maybe you've seen this happen to someone. You're all good. And then all of a sudden, people lose their minds. They get so enraged. Have you had someone just go. Just fire emoji, you know what I'm saying, on you? Like, what is going on? Rage. You know what rage is? Rage is just fear acting out. I'm afraid. That's why I'm getting angry. I'll tell you what, I think guys do it a lot. You just get angry. You get frustrated, partly because, you know you're losing control. And the thing is, you're scared about something, you're worried about something, you're nervous about something, and it's just coming out in different ways. So the reason why I'm bringing this up is because for so many of us, there is. There is an opportunity. There's a. There is a adventure. Even if you want to call it there is man, there is a blessing that's waiting on you. So in my book, so the first section is called Yesterday Has Forgotten youn. And so we talked about that last week, but today is basically the section where it says, today is waiting. Today is waiting for you and me to take back control of our lives. But we have to dismantle fear. We have to figure out a way to go. Okay, what can we do? Because we all deal with anxiety. Oh, man. Anxiety is taking over me, right? It just takes over. And then we medicate ourselves, or we do this and we do that. I'm not saying you shouldn't do that. I'm just saying, is there a better way? Does God give us any hope? Or does he just say, hey, get over it? [00:14:11] Don't fear. [00:14:13] That's my answer. Have more courage. [00:14:18] Have more faith. And that's so often we hear that. We always hear it. We're like, no, no, no, no, we're not going to be fearless. I mean, we're going to be fearless. Why? Because we have so much faith. And so even you grew up with a denomination or, you know, a family, church, family, that said, hey, you are dealing with these things. [00:14:40] You are struggling with this because you do not have enough faith. And if you just had enough faith, you'd be healed. If you had enough faith, you'd be peace. You had enough faith, you'd be prosperous. If you had enough faith, you'll have everything. You just have to have faith. Because at the end of the day, it's all about faith. And I'm just telling you right now, faith is not the solution to fear. It never is. It never was. Faith is only the opposite of fear. Fear. If fear wants you to go this way, fear just. Faith just moves you to a different direction because you have to walk out faith. So you have to walk, and you can't walk the same way. You have to walk. So it just changes direction. But it's not the solution. What's the solution? I'm so glad you asked. [00:15:28] All right, first John, here's what it says. And this is this translation. I love this way. The way it says it over here. It says here one John, it says, no fear exists where love is. There's no. There's no way. [00:15:46] No fear exists where love is like. Fear cannot exist in the same. It can't hold space in the same place. It can't do it. They can't do it. It does not work. Rather, perfect love. Perfect love gets rid of fear. [00:16:02] Perfect love, he's talking about God's love. Perfect love gets rid of it. Perfect love is the only thing that can actually control it. Put a leash on fear and make it go where it wants to. So if it says, hey, clear the room, then it clears the room. [00:16:19] It gets rid of fear. Why? Because fear involves punishment. And then he goes on and says, then the person who lives, the person who lives in fear does not have what? [00:16:28] Perfect love. We love because God loved us first. [00:16:35] He's saying, hey, I just want you to know this. There is a power to love that is beyond your capacity to understand. The reason why you love is because God loves us. I just want you to know that love truly does make the world go round. [00:16:50] And it's God's love that's not perfected in you. Like, if you're not fully convinced that God's goodness, his grace and mercy in your life is forever yours, you're continually going to freak out about things not working out, about you always sinning or sinning too much. [00:17:09] You're always gonna question, you're always gonna live in anxiety. So it's perfect love that casts out fear. So be so. So faith is not the solution. Love is the solution. [00:17:21] Love is the solution to fear in our lives. And so what we have to do is we have to allow love to lead us. [00:17:32] The question is how? How do you, how do you do, how do you allow love to lead you? Because the truth, the real reality is this is the loving things give us the power to, to stop fearing things. It's loving a certain people group. All of a sudden you start loving them. [00:17:47] It starts with loving things. It always, always has. But what does it look like? [00:17:54] So several years ago I got an email, it was from the TED organization locally. And they were like, hey, we'd love for you to do a TED Talk, like in Charlotte. Tedx Talk in Charlotte. Would you audition for it? And I was like, ah, you want money for this? Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, what kind of email is this? [00:18:14] TED Talks. If you've heard TED Talks, I don't think they go after people. They're like, you know, I mean, you gotta be super smart and you have to have a idea worth sharing. I mean, that's the big idea. You gotta have that. So when I got the email, I'm like, I don't know if this is legit. You know what I'm saying, and then, by the way, what am I gonna talk about? I'm like a Bible guy, you know? [00:18:32] And so I tried it. I was like, I auditioned. And as I was auditioning, they're like, okay, what is your big idea? And I'm like, no idea. I have no idea. That is my big idea. I don't know, Jesus. [00:18:48] No, that is not the big idea. What is the big idea? And so I came up with it. I came up with this idea of, like, how beauty is a solution to fear. [00:18:56] Beauty is a solution to fear. Faith is not. [00:19:00] And so the talk. Actually, that talk came out of a particular verse. I wanna show it to you. And it is the secret to what I believe will give us back control from fear. So here's what it says. Okay? It says, let us run with perseverance. The race marked out for us says, hey, let's live life to the fullest. Let's do the things we were created to do. [00:19:23] Let's finish this thing. Let's not stall in life. Let's not be paralyzed. Let's not be stuck in life. Let's move. Let's move. Let's make something happen. [00:19:31] You're. [00:19:32] There's more to your life right now. Here's. I just need you to know. Let's go for it. Go for it, go for it. Do it. And he says, and here's how you do it. Here's how you do it. [00:19:43] Fixing our eyes on who? [00:19:47] Jesus says, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and the perfecter. Basically, the beginning and the end. The person who started this thing and the person who's going to end this thing. So Jesus started this relationship with humanity. He started this. [00:20:02] He is the source of it. [00:20:04] He came in, stepped into human history and made a way for us, redeemed us in a way that we don't even understand. So he is the beginning. He started this thing. So there's also no pressure. The pressure's off. You're like, oh, my gosh. I just. No, he's pursued you. I mean, I know you made a decision, but he's also pursued you. So he started this thing. Work in you. [00:20:24] And other passages of Scripture talk about how God has started a work and he will be faithful to continue to finish it. So he says, hey, listen, look at the pioneer and look at the perfecter. And then he says this. And here's how he did it. This is how Jesus dismantled the fear and anxiety in his life. [00:20:42] He did this for. [00:20:44] For the what? [00:20:46] For the joy set before him. He endured the Cross. [00:20:53] Stop right there. Look at Jesus saw a joy. He. Jesus saw a beautiful humanity, pictured a beautiful humanity that was worth dying for. [00:21:05] He saw the possibility of humanity having such a close relationship with its creator that he said, I will go to the cross and I will suffer the pain and sacrifice. It is worth it. [00:21:20] I see the beauty of people, even on the cross, as they were killing him. He said, father, forgive them. They what they don't know what they're doing. [00:21:30] For some, I mean, he saw the beauty in humans more than we ever did. Jesus believed in you more than before you ever believed in him. And he said, I will do this, I will do this. And this is the secret. [00:21:46] You see, we are wired up that the way we dismantle fear, anxiety and worry, hesitation, oh my gosh, in our lives is you have to set a joy that's bigger than you. In fact, I would say you have to set something so beautiful in front of you to dismantle the biggest fear inside of you. [00:22:09] See, that's why we would do whatever it took for people that you love. [00:22:17] The idea of like a house burning and you have a loved one in there, people rush run into it to save their loved ones. Why? It is the beautiful, joy loving relationship that dismantles the fear of, like, what will happen to me. My question is, do you have a joy that's so beautiful? Do you see yourself so healed, so just fully thriving in life? And you see a picture of that and you're like, I'm. It's worth the pain of healing and process. It's worth all of this. It's worth. [00:22:53] Man going through therapy, whatever. It's worth bringing that up again. It's worth it. It's worth it. Why? Because I see a picture of myself, of my family, so beautiful. I have set a joy before me that I can endure the cross. That's why Dave in the Old Testament would say stuff like, hey, I've set the Lord before me. He's at my right hand. I shall not be moved. [00:23:16] There's always this sense of there's got to be something bigger than you, bigger than your faith, something more beautiful. See, that's what beauty is, right? It's to make something bigger. It's like, that's it. You're like, oh, I think it's beautiful. You think it's not beautiful? Whatever. Okay, but I'm making it a bigger deal than you are. Have you ever, like, listened to a song and you're like, oh my gosh, this is awesome, and then played it for Your person. [00:23:41] And you're like, hey, listen to this. And they're like, you're like. And they're like, you're like, ah, we've broken up. We're done. You know what I'm saying? [00:23:54] You've done this, right? You've tried a restaurant, You've tried something and you go, oh my gosh, this is the best thing in the world. And then you'd let people know why you are making it bigger. You are doing it. No one else is. Because I could taste or watch or listen to the same whatever and go, eh, mid. [00:24:11] And you're like, what's wrong with you? What is wrong with you? This is amazing. Why? Cause you're making it a bigger deal. You gotta make something a bigger deal. [00:24:20] Because right now fear is saying, I'm the bigger deal. [00:24:24] I'm the biggest deal. [00:24:26] So you better do what I say. [00:24:28] And we gotta take that back. We cannot allow our fears to enslave us, imprison us, and to control us. [00:24:37] See, that's Jesus did this. Actually, in Matthew, Jesus does this thing. He shows us, like, how practically. Practically Jesus shows us how worry. In fact, worry is it can be conquered, can be conquered by beauty. So I want to put a passage on there for you. It's found in Matthew, okay? So Matthew, we're going to go to the passage in Matthew and look at this. He starts off, he's talking about worry, okay? And he starts off, and he says, what? Look at the word, look at the birds. Now, let me just ask you if you're stressing out about stuff, okay, at work, okay? [00:25:21] Your person's stressing out, your family's going crazy, okay? And then you stop and go, hey, hey, hey, hey. [00:25:28] Look at the birds. [00:25:31] You're gonna be like, what is wrong with you? No, no. And this is a rabbi. He was like, hey, I know. We are under, you know, Roman oppression. [00:25:40] Life is tough. It's hard. You don't have enough food. [00:25:44] Have you looked? Did you look at that sparrow? [00:25:48] What? I don't want Jesus, what's wrong with. No, I'm sure the disciples are like, look at the birds. Really? We're bird watchers now. Those freak me out. Those people freak me out. Like, what are we doing? He's like, look at the birds. He's saying, look at the beauty around you. You say, hey, hey. Don't they. [00:26:03] They don't plant or have, harvest or store food in barns for your heavenly Father what feeds them. Do you see the beautiful relationship God has with birds? [00:26:14] See, that's the Hard part. When you're caught up in fear and despair and disappointment, all that, the first thing you cannot see is beauty. [00:26:23] You can't see it. That's the first thing that disappears. You can't see anything beautiful, nothing good. So you don't. You're not grateful for anything. [00:26:33] You're just like, ah, it's just gonna. You're cynical. It's just. And he goes, hey, look at the birds. Look at the birds. He goes on, he goes on, he goes, hey, aren't you. [00:26:45] What? [00:26:46] Far more valuable than they are? I mean, aren't you, Aren't you more. [00:26:52] Aren't you more. God loves you more, you know that he's more valuable. [00:26:57] And he says, by the way, your worries, your anxiety, your. All the stuff, can they add a single moment to your life? [00:27:04] He says, don't. Why worry? Don't. Why, why are you looking at worry? Why are you allowing that to, to control you? So don't worry about your clothing. And then he goes, also, also, look at the. What? [00:27:20] Have you noticed the lilies lately? [00:27:23] What, what is wrong with you? [00:27:27] No, I have not stopped to smell the roses or the lilies. [00:27:31] I don't even know what lilies smell like, and I don't want to look at them. I'm looking at my bank account, that's what I'm looking at. And I'm seeing nothing right there that's not happening. What's going on? What do you mean? Look at the lilies of the fields. He goes, I mean, this is Jesus talking and how they. What, how they grow, guys, don't they. They don't work and make their clothing yet. Yet Solomon, remember King Solomon, the guy back in the day who's so rich, even King Solomon in all his was not dressed as what so beautifully as they are. [00:28:08] He'd be like, jesus, please stop talking about this stuff. But he goes on, says, and if God, If God cares so wonderfully for the wildflowers who are here today and gone tomorrow, right? They're thrown into the fire. [00:28:28] He will what certainly care for you. [00:28:32] He's like, don't. [00:28:34] He uses that. He uses beauty to dismantle it. What is something you're not seeing that's so beautiful but that once you focus on it and you lock into that, all the fear cannot stand. You love that thing so much. [00:28:50] You love it so much. [00:28:52] So much you put all your affections and attention, you love it so much that it dismantles fear all of a sudden. Live allows you to control your life once again. You gotta Love it. See, that's the thing. [00:29:06] That's how Jesus works. That's how God works. [00:29:09] In fact, this idea of beauty and loving things and creating beautiful things, you cannot really create something beautiful without loving it. It could be anything. A dream, a goal, a business, whatever. It could be anything. You have to love the work. That's why it's like, people do all the work, hard work, because they just love the work. They love what they're creating. [00:29:31] Cause here's the deal. When you create beauty, when you create something beautiful, when you create something so good, and you're like, oh, man, that's good. When you do that, you are most like the creator. That's why even scientists say now people, doctors are talking about. They talk about how, hey, part of your therapy in going through trauma is creating beautiful things. Creating, even art, creating something. Why? Because when you and I. When you and I create something beautiful, when you put something beautiful, when we say, I'm gonna create this life, it's gonna dismantle the fear in my life. When we do this, we are most like our creator. We're most like him. I'll explain it to you how, okay, if you go. If you go to Genesis, right? Chapter one. Chapter one, okay? God starts creating stuff. Okay? [00:30:14] The first thing God says, okay, chapter one, okay? He goes. He creates something. And then he stops and goes, oh, that's good. [00:30:24] Oh, that's good. Have you ever made something and complimented yourself, Jim? Saying, we've all been that person, right? We're like, oh, that was good. [00:30:35] Second day again, he makes something, and he goes, oh, that's good. [00:30:39] Oh, that's good. Third day keeps on going. Sixth day, the last day before we read this verse, the last day, he stops and he makes all of creation. He makes us. And he goes, oh, that's very good. [00:30:52] He's basically saying, I'm amazing. [00:30:55] We've all done this. We were like, we look, we do something. We accomplish something. And we also always do a double take. I do it. Goofy things. I wash my car. It looks great. I park it. I park it. I get out of the car, I go. [00:31:08] I look. Anybody else do that? No, I do it. You guys know what I'm talking about. I look. I'm like, oh, oh, you. You. [00:31:16] She's fine. Oh, okay. I'm like, oh, yeah, we do this. We create anything. That's so good. We're like, hey, hey, look at this. [00:31:24] Where did we get that from God? [00:31:28] He stops, makes all creation, goes, oh, here's what it says here. He says, and it happened just as God said. So he created. And then God surveyed everything he had made, savoring its what, beauty and appreciating its goodness. [00:31:44] Basically, he's like, I'm the man. [00:31:47] Like, this is awesome. [00:31:50] I did a great thing. [00:31:52] See, love is always led. God always led God in creating you and creating us. And love has to lead the way because love gives us back. Because when we create and live out of love, when you do that, you're gonna live a beautiful life. [00:32:11] It's just, you cannot separate beauty and love. Can't do it. That's why if you ever you've read this verse, you've know this verse, John 3:16. [00:32:21] If you combine Genesis and John 3:16, you go, oh, my goodness. He says, and this is how much God what? [00:32:29] Loved the world. [00:32:32] He loved the world. [00:32:33] So he was willing to sacrifice. [00:32:36] He was willing to give. [00:32:38] He was willing to do whatever he gave his son, his one and only. He gave it all because of love. Love does not allow us to hesitate. It just gives. It doesn't hold us back. It gives us the freedom. It allows us, sets us free to become the people who are meant to. To be. [00:33:02] And then he says, and this is why. [00:33:04] And this is why. [00:33:06] So that no one need to be destroyed. This is how God loved us. [00:33:14] By believing in him. [00:33:16] Anyone, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. [00:33:24] And then he says, God, let me tell you what God did. God didn't go. Didn't go to tell good. Didn't go to all the trouble of sending his son merely to point an accusing finger telling the world how bad it was. [00:33:41] Because God was wrapped up in the beauty of it. [00:33:44] He came to help and to put what, the world right again. [00:33:51] So I don't know if you. I don't know about you, but you, my friends, are the broken. [00:33:57] Being made beautiful by God. [00:34:00] That's what you are. [00:34:02] You're not perfect. You're not done. [00:34:04] Because you're the broken. I'm the broken. [00:34:06] And we collectively are the broken, becoming beautiful in Him. [00:34:12] So that is why let love lead your life, not fear, but put something before you so big that fear itself cowers looking at it. [00:34:29] Cowers. [00:34:32] All right, let's pray. [00:34:34] Let's pray together. [00:34:36] Lord God, thank youk. [00:34:39] Thank youk so much for loving us. [00:34:41] Loving us in such a way that yout didn't allow yourself to hesitate, but to give everything to us. [00:34:53] So, Father, I just pray in Jesus name. Would you lead us in moving towards you? Would you lead us to not being controlled by fear, anxiety in our life. And whenever fear, anxiety tries to creep up, we just go, I'm not going to do that. I'm not wearing this backpack. I'm not doing this. [00:35:12] We're in control. [00:35:14] The beautiful things in our life and the loving things in our life, that God, let them control us. [00:35:22] Let them control the direction of our lives. [00:35:26] And Father, today some of us, we just need to move in the direction of you. And the only way we move in the direction of you. When we go back to you, we walk or maybe even run back to you. God, the only way we can do that is by love, because love will lead us to you. [00:35:43] But fear will not. [00:35:44] Fear will make us run the opposite direction. [00:35:49] And for some of us, God, we've been running the opposite direction, don't even know why. In certain areas of our life, we are. And so today, we run. [00:35:59] We run back to you, God. [00:36:02] Thanks for listening to this message from Mosaic church in Charlotte, North Carolina. [00:36:08] For more audio and video content, visit us at MosaicChurch TV.