FearLess 1 - Roots
Understanding the root of your fear, can help you overcome it.
Doyle Jackson
May 27, 2018
In this sermon Pastor Doyle Jackson talks about fear. He explains that a key to overcoming our fears is to examine the root cause of them. He shares stories of fear and overcoming it from the Bible and from his own life. Video recorded at Columbus, Ohio.
TranscriptionmessageRegarding Grammar:
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
Doyle Jackson: 01:15 You know, one of the core principles around Christ followers lives, is this reality that someone would love us enough, that they would lay down their lives for us. His name is Jesus. As a nation on this weekend, we celebrate men and women who have been willing to put their life at risk, and many to give their life for us that we might have freedom. So we thought we would just take a moment, because we know that many of us in this room have lost someone, in the line of our freedom. Whether it's a firefighter, or police officer, or one of the many people in the military that have laid down their life for us. We wanted to begin by just recognizing those that are here today that have served in our military. Would you mind standing, so we can just thank you at the moment, if you've served in that way? Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Doyle Jackson: 02:17 We wanted to take a moment, and we just want to ask God's blessing and help to those families. Because see if you've lost someone, or maybe someone has come home, but there's still a hurt and a trauma, or it's impacted them physically, they're home, but there's still a loss there. We want to pray for you. We want to pray for the family surrounding that. We want to honor you, and ask God's blessing and help for you today, and for those that you love. Maybe you're dealing with the grief today? So if we would just bow your heads and we're going to agree in prayer. Heavenly father, we thank you for the men and women that are in this place, but lord many in our nation who have laid down their lives for us, we thank you for the police officers and firefighters and the members of our military. Lord, we pray your blessing on their families. Now, God, that's hard for us to understand. How could you come in, and heal the grief, make up the difference? We're asking you to do that today. Be a comfort to the spouse, the mother or the father that has lost their child, Lord, for those that are still suffering, because they fought for our freedom, Lord. Would you come and bring healing to their lives? God, would you give them strength? God, would you be their source of life today? That is our prayer. And God for those of us that are here today, just living in that freedom, may we spend our lives well, and worthy, of you. That is our prayer. This memorial day weekend. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
Doyle Jackson: 04:10 You know, we thought it was appropriate for us to start a series on Fearless on Memorial Day weekend because of that, because there are men and women that have been willing to lay down their lives, so that you and I could live a life with less fear. Fearless lives, lives of courage and freedom, lives that are known for joy and and moving forward. See fear, the problem with fear is it binds you, it holds you back, it keeps you from something, generally something that actually would be good for you. Now I realize there are healthy fears, gravity being one of those when you're on a really tall building, gravity is a healthy fear. We need to know that there are healthy fears but many of us, we have fears, and what they really are is lies in our mind that keep us bound.
Doyle Jackson: 05:04 And so we wanted to take some time today to begin to unpack the root, the root to those fears. We want to go back and deal with that root. Now you need to know something, I pride myself in doing my best to communicate God's hope, but if for me to deal with fears in 30 minutes or less and deal with all of them, that's not a realistic goal. Alright? So we're going to take four weeks to deal with fear. So I want to invite you to come back, be with us on Saturday night or Sunday, watch online, whatever you've got to do, be a part of it. Would you do me a favor right now? Just give an applause for those that are watching online that they are going to be a part of this that way. Alright, way to go.
Doyle Jackson: 05:47 All right, if you want to get out your apps, you can get out your phones, we welcome you to do that. Follow along and The Church Next Door app, if you want to get out your notes.
Doyle Jackson: 05:56 As we talk fear, I want to tell you a little bit about where I've gotten courage in my life. I have a grandfather, he's gone to be with the Lord today. He's my mom's dad, Grandpa Davidson. He was just this strong man. He had this courage, that was about him, that just oozed out. And you knew when you were with Grandpa, you're going to be okay. He was just that kind of man. I loved him because he shared his life with me. It wasn't because he was a big man, he was actually shorter than I am, but something happened in his life during the depression. He learned during those very, very, hard, lean, years that he could trust God. God showed up time and time and time again in his life, in his family's life, God put food on their table at times, miraculously. I may tell you more about that later. But he would tell me, Doyle, you can trust God, you can trust God. I remember when he came to Murfreesboro, he and my grandma, they lived with us for awhile while my grandfather built my father's clinic. Where my dad's business would start. I remember watching them as they dug out the ground where they're going to pour the concrete for the foundation of that building, and then I remember when he was putting the roof on the building because he said,
Doyle, do you want to go up with me? And I was a little guy, I would have been about four years old, and maybe younger, I don't remember for sure, but I know that he took me up on that roof. We've got pictures of me sitting there. I still remember holding the hammer in my hand. He gave me a board so I could hit nails, and I hit my fingers a lot. He taught me to choke up on the hammer. And what I learned from that was this, that he loved me, and he trusted me to to listen to him, and I knew if I did what he said, I'd be safe, even on the roof. And I didn't have to worry.
Doyle Jackson: 08:07 Now you may be thinking right now, that was crazy, that man taking that little boy up on that roof. Well you need to know, I remember the day when I'm in Cincinnati, my first house, and I'm out scraping the paint, doing the gutters and getting things ready on that house. And my son Aaron peeks his head out the window and says, Daddy, can I come out on the roof with you? I said, sure son, come on out. And I gave him instructions on where he could be, and what he could do, and I just kept working and he was there. It was not 10 seconds, and the neighbors started calling. They said, Miss Jennifer, do you understand that Doyle has your little son out on the roof? She said, I do, he's fine, he's with Doyle, he knows what he's allowed to do, and what he's not allowed to do, he'll be just fine. And it taught me a principal. If you have a loving father, if you have someone who cares about you and they give you good instructions, if you follow those instructions, you are in the safe zone. You don't have to be afraid.
Doyle Jackson: 09:16 But I do have to be honest with you, I do know what fear is. I don't want you to think that I've lived a fearless life. I do want you to have less fear, and I think if you'll stick with me, we will help you to have less fear and you can live a fearless life. I remember, I don't know what happened and why, but but Mama and daddy allowed Alan, Philip and I to go to the movies when I was little. They dropped us off at Jackson Heights plaza, the three of us. As I remember it, we were there to watch 101 Dalmatians. This was the original version, the cartoon. Alright? And I remember the movie starting, and something happening, and I got afraid. And I told Alan, I can't take it anymore, it's too much. He said, just close your eyes, and I'll tell you when it's safe again. I argue with him, I said, no way. I caused such a ruckus, that Alan got up, gets Phillip, gets me, and were marching out the very dark aisles up the ramp. And then Philip didn't want to leave, and I see Philip is standing there still watching, and I'm kind of hiding behind the door. And Alan has to go over to the payphone. This is when you actually actually had to drop a dime in a phone, and he calls mom and says, you got to pick us up, the brat...You know, I don't know what he said. But in the time that he was there, I kept peering around the corner, and I felt safer and safer until I came out. Alan comes back, and I said, I think we can stay, I'm going to be okay. Then he's ready to kill me. You know what I'm saying? But it's okay, he got his revenge. I remember getting in my bed at night, and everything. Ready to go to sleep. And just when you get ready, and you're, you're down to sleep, I feel this hand grab my ankle, and I scream at the top of my lungs. It was Alan under my bed, he taught me how to be afraid of the dark that night. He also taught me to check under your bed before you get in and night, your brother might be there.
Doyle Jackson: 11:25 Whatever it is in your life, whether it's a fear of failure, it's a fear of another broken relationship, if it's a fear of just you're not gonna have enough, maybe it's an anxiousness that you feel the crowd is too big, or maybe there's not enough people around me and I'm afraid, maybe it's a worry about what's going on in the earth. It does not matter what it is, you can probably track it back, and you can find where it began, and what the root is. And I want to begin by helping you with that today. Identifying the root.
Doyle Jackson: 12:03 And I believe when we talk about fears, we need to talk about where all fear began, and it goes back to the Book of Genesis. This is God's perspective on it, God tells us when and where fear began. It's in Genesis chapter three, Adam and Eve are in the garden, and God has given them a clear instruction. God has said, you're here in the garden, I want you to enjoy life. I'm going to walk with you, I'm going to talk with you. You've got all this food, you've got all these animals, everything is taking care of you. The only requirement is this, you need to avoid the fruit of these trees right over here. This tree, stay away. What happens of course, we all know. They couldn't stay away, and in Genesis chapter three, verse eight, it says after they had partaken of that fruit, "Then the man and his 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 God among the trees of the garden." I want you to make note of something. Because they had disobeyed in no way hampered their ability to recognize God's presence, nor did it keep God's presence from their life. Some of us think our disobedience disqualifies us. Clearly it did not. "But the Lord called to the man, where are you? He, Adam, answered, I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid. And he, God, said, who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" Fear is planted in the soil of our lives by broken trust.
Doyle Jackson: 14:17 In the New Testament. When Jesus arrives, he teaches us that your life, and my life, is like soil. He talks in his parables about the good soil, or the bad soil. Some is difficult, and some ways is good. But your life, and my life, is the soil, and he says that the word of God is planted in our life and it grows and it produces well. What God invites you and I, is to a life where what he plants, will grow in your life, and it will produce a fruit 100, 60, 30 full, that will bless you.
Doyle Jackson: 14:54 What happened in this case was they listened to a lie, and it planted a seed of distrust in their life, and they didn't believe God. And the next thing you know, the fruit of that is a broken relationship with God, and fear entered in their life. I wrote this in your notes. Adam and Eve still had a relationship with God after they disobeyed, they believed a lie. They questioned God's integrity, acted on the lie, and got into a danger zone. Trusting their natural senses, their eyes, etc., they disobeyed God's word of direction. This opened their heart, to trusting in themselves, and the result was fear. In ourselves, we are not strong enough to face the lies, the danger, and the evil of this life, we need help. It's so true, trusting in yourself will not alleviate the pain of this life, but trusting in God, trusting in God will. The root of most of our fears is broken trust.
Doyle Jackson: 16:22 The reason that Jesus stepped into our world, and walked among us, was so that you and I could know that God loved us. So you and I could live with full assurance that God knows the evil, the danger, the ridicule, the harm, the pain, everything that you and I face in this life, God knows about it. Because Jesus came. How do I know that? Because he experienced it. Every time I see The Cross, I'm reminded of the fact that that Jesus knows completely well, how dangerous and evil this world is. But he went to the cross so that you and I no longer had to be ashamed, that you and I no longer had to have this broken relationship. That we could come back to God, we can have a relationship, it is the sign of his grace. Jesus understands the world in which you and I live, and he gives us the cure, he gives us the answer. He tells us, how do you live in this present evil, dark world. How does God expect me to live in the presence of this evil now? He says, build your life on something trustworthy. Build your life on something that is trustworthy. In Matthew chapter seven, Jesus' probably most famous sermon, it's called The Sermon on the Mount, or the beatitudes. He goes through, and he gives you and I, he gives all people an instruction on the attitudes you need to have. He gives us wisdom on things about worry. He gives us information about relationships, how we get along. He gives us instructions on practical things like money, and in sexuality, practical everyday things that we can do. And at the end of that lesson, he gives us the cure.
Doyle Jackson: 18:34 Matthew 7:24, he says, "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew, and beat against that house, yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine, and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, the winds blew, and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." What Jesus tells us here is this, as long as you live in this world, there are going to be storms. For some reason, some of us have a misunderstanding, we have believed a lie. We have believed that if we get to know God, and we love God, and God loves us, they'll never be any storms in life. That's not what Jesus said. Last night when I made this point and I said, there are going to be storms, thunder went off outside. It was awesome. You ought to come to Saturday night service, God really shows up, it's so amazing. You see, it's not really healthy to believe that you could live life, and never face a storm. It's also not healthy to believe that you could build your life on the sand. And what Jesus invites us to is this. He says, listen, the storms are coming, but I'm going to give you the cure for the storms. Even though there's evil, even though there's difficulty, even though there's heartache, you can have a life that weathers the storms of life. Because I'll be secure, if you'll learn to listen to my word. He says, build your house on the rock.
Doyle Jackson: 20:52 I've got to deal with another lie that we face. We face this lie, this notion, this idea, that somehow God's rules are keeping us from something that's really, really, good, and it's just not true. In the same way that my grandfather said, Doyle, if you will sit here and stay here, you'll be fine on the roof. In the same way that I told my boys, if you'll stay within these bounds, you're safe, you're good to go. When you and I go down the highway, you hop on 270 today and you head north, you're going to pass some guardrails. When you see those guard guardrails is the first thought in your mind, man, they're keeping me from something good? If I could just get outside the guard rail, I can drive so much faster. Those orange barrels, why did they have to put them there? They're just slowing me down. If I could get out there on the outside of those barrels, I bet, that that lane looks empty. And we believe crazy lies like that. Let me tell you something. The instruction that God gives you in terms of your life, in terms of sexuality, in terms of your finances, in terms of your anger, when God gives you instruction about a practical matter of life, it is not to keep you from something good, it's to give you the fast lane, the prosperous lane, the best lane. But when you believe the lie, you know he's really keeping us from something really, really good. The next thing you do, could be a painful mistake.
Doyle Jackson: 22:31 So cultivate a hunger, and a desire, for God's word. Begin to know what his instructions are on life, and how to live life. Get to know the word of God. Well man, it's a big book. You got a lot of life ahead of you, and you've burnt up a lot already, so just decide, is yours way working? Or maybe there could be a new way that I need to try, I'm just inviting you to that. That's all, I'm inviting you to a new way. Look what it says in the bible, how to begin to get the fear out of your life. This instruction, it comes from the bible repeatedly again and again, but this one, it comes from Isaiah the prophet. He lived about 750 years before Jesus. At that time, the people of God had gotten far from God. They had wandered, began to trust in themselves, and the next thing you know, they find themselves in exile in another nation. And what Isaiah says is, he says, "Return to your creator. When you trust in your creator, your fears were a lesson, and your confidence and your strength will increase."
Doyle Jackson: 23:47 Let me just tell you this personal story from my own life. 1986, I spent my junior year abroad, living in the land of Israel from August to May. Alright? Nine months of my life. It was a great experience in my life. It was also when the PLO ratcheted up their intifada, they burn things, they closed shops, the stoned, they had riots, it was a very tense time. And I went there to go to school. I went there for one reason, I wanted to get to know God in the land of the bible. And I wanted to know were those prophecies true, where they real? I got to know what the bible said, and see it with my own eyes, and pray, and to walk there. All I could see was, wow, God is real in time and history. He'd point to the fences and says, I'm going to, knock one there, and then he does again and again and again. The bible became more and more real to me, my confidence in God rose, and I was never afraid, I never really worried about it. I used to hop on the buses, it was called the Arab buses, it was part of what the Palestinian leadership ran up and down the hill country of Judea. They were these gray buses, they looked dangerous in and of themselves, but I didn't worry about it. I would just hop on those buses, it was about a quarter for me to ride from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. I would ride all over, up and down the hill country of Judea. I know there's a wall there today, back then we didn't have to worry. I used to hike from where my little room was on Mount Zion just outside Jaffa gate, and Zion gate in Jerusalem, I'd walk all the way to Bethlehem. I'd go to church with my Arab brothers and sisters in Bay Jaffa. I would happen these taxis, and I would ride to Shechem and Nablus. I would go to see the sights of the bible, and God just encouraged me, and strengthened me.
Doyle Jackson: 25:53 This is what I want you to know. When you get to know God, and you can rely on him, he is trustworthy. He's better than an earthly grandpa that loves you. I don't know where your broken trust came from, I don't know who it was that let you down. It may be real, I don't want to deny that. But I want to invite you into a relationship with the creator, that loves you, values you, and wants to give you freedom and life. He wants to Give you responsibility, he trusts you, that you can serve him. Listen to what Isaiah said to the people of Israel, in Isaiah 40, "Do you not know, have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding, no one can fathom. He gives Strength to the weary, and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall, but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not be faint." What I love about that is when he describes the eagle, you realize that the eagle does nothing but catch the breeze, and move on up. When he talks or the one that runs, and not grows weary. He's saying that there is some sort of supernatural force that comes in that runner, and it supplements what they have in their own strength, and adds them more. When he talks about the walker, this is the one I think about, because this is just dealing with everyday life. Where you got to just get up, and keep going to work. Everyday you've just got to get up, and keep going at it. And God says, I'm going to give you the strength you need to be consistent, to take care of the job, the kids, the family, whatever it is that I've given to you. That calling that I've put in your heart for your life, I'm going to help you, every day, again and again and again.
Doyle Jackson: 28:36 When I was a little boy, there was a beautiful lady that came to work in our home. She was tall and she was thin, her name was Jesse Washington, and she worked at our house. She helped with cleaning, and she helped ironing, and she would prepare meals for us. It was just a fill in the gap, because sometimes my mom had to work in the office and help dad with a veterinary practice as it grew, and Jesse really became a part of our lives. And I could still remember what it was to hold Jesse's hand, and to walk through the A&P grocery store. You'll have to google that, they don't exist anymore. Jesse was such a blessing in my life, she loved me. We would talk about everything, but Jesse was afraid. I didn't understand it, I was just a little boy. I didn't know why she was afraid, I didn't understand what was going on in our culture at that time. But because of her fear, and the lies that she believed, she would try to keep you me in the house. Because she knew if I was at home, if someone came to ring the doorbell, or if anything happened, she had me there. She had me there to be a spokesman on her behalf, so she didn't want me to go outside and play. And when I was four, we bought the farm that my mom and dad live on to this day. It's a beautiful place. It was a magnificent place for a little boy. It had springs on it, and a stream that runs from the west side to the east side of the property, we had horses and ponies and dogs. I mean, it was a magnificent place for me, I could get dirty every day. But because of Jesse's fear, she didn't want me to go outside, and she would try to cajole me, and convince me, to stay inside. And it was a beautiful day like today day, and I'd had enough.
Doyle Jackson: 31:00 Now Jesse would iron clothes, and we had this stool that had three steps, and the top step you could sit on. And she would sit on that stool, and she would iron clothes. And on this day she didn't want me to go outside, and I'd had enough, and so I went to the back of the house. We had this big bookcase, and I remember pulling a chair up there, because I wasn't tall enough to get to it. So I pull a chair up, I opened the doors to the bookcase. I reached up, and I pulled down the Children's Bible, King James Version, old school baby. It was a big one, probably almost as big as me. But I remember pulling it down, walking forward to Jesse, and opening it up to the picture of the devil. I said, Jesse, do you know who that is? She said, well of course, that's Satan, that's the devil. I said, okay, and I flipped over, and I found the picture of Jesus with the children's standing around him, and I said, who's that? She said, well that's Jesus, of course. I said, Jessie, who do you think is stronger? She said, well, Jesus. I closed the bible, and I said, okay Jesse, I'm going to pray for you, and I'm going to tell Satan to leave you alone, and for Jesus to take care of you, and I'm going to go outside and play. I said, are you okay with that? She said, okay. I remember stepping, stepping up on the second step, putting my hand on her shoulder, and I began to say, in the name of Jesus, Satan, let Jesse go. And God did something for her, from my faith in Jesus in my heart, it transferred into her heart, and in her life, and it set her free.
Doyle Jackson: 33:12 I want you to know something, I don't care if it's your fear or someone else in your life who has a fear today, If you will let me pray, and if you will believe that the living God loves you enough to step into your world, to give his life for you. It can be different. It can be different, beginning today. So this is my invitation for you. If you know somebody, like I did, who has a fear. Or if you have a fear, if you are the person, I would like to ask you to stand up right now. If you will stand up, I'm going to say a prayer. I mean now, I'm not waiting 15 minutes. If you know somebody who has a fear, and you want to believe for them, to be set free. You may just be thinking of the teenagers right now, that are afraid to go to school. It needs to go, that does not need to exist in our nation anymore. There is a plethora of fear in our world, and we need to see it come to an end. Alright, all you have to do is agree. You don't have to close your eyes. If you want to you can, I'm going to close mine, I'm going to say a prayer. Heavenly father, I come before you today, not in my name, but in the name of Jesus, your precious son, the Messiah. It says that he read from Isaiah, and he said that I have come, the anointing of God is on me, to bind up the brokenhearted, to set the captive free, and proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. And so in his name, in his authority, his work on the cross. Today, I declare fear to go in Jesus' name. God, you leave our hearts. You leave our friends hearts. You leave our children's hearts, you leave our grandparents hearts. You leave those people that we have stood up for today. We stand up for them today, not at our own strength, but in the strength of Jesus Christ that will raise eagles into the air. That is whom we call on today, and we declare that you are worthy to receive the glory and praise of the freedom, and not us. For it is in your name Jesus' we pray, and in his name, all who wanted it said, amen. All right, before we go. Amen, you can applaud, I'm good with that. Your applauding Jesus, not me. Your applause is not for me, it's for Jesus.
Doyle Jackson: 35:48 I want to give you a prayer that we're all going to say out loud, if you would like to, and this is what it says. It say, I'm tired of living afraid. God, would you help me? I want to uproot the past lies, and heartache, to live life again. Teach me the word, that will set me free. This is just a prayer. It's our expression out loud to God, to him. You just say it with me, I'm tired of living afraid. God, would you help me? I want to uproot the past lies, and heartache, to live life again. Teach me the word, that will set me free. Amen. God bless you. Have a great Memorial Day. If you want to say hello, I'll be down here. If you need prayer, there's always a team. God bless you.
Recorded in Columbus, Ohio.
Doyle Jackson: 02:17 We wanted to take a moment, and we just want to ask God's blessing and help to those families. Because see if you've lost someone, or maybe someone has come home, but there's still a hurt and a trauma, or it's impacted them physically, they're home, but there's still a loss there. We want to pray for you. We want to pray for the family surrounding that. We want to honor you, and ask God's blessing and help for you today, and for those that you love. Maybe you're dealing with the grief today? So if we would just bow your heads and we're going to agree in prayer. Heavenly father, we thank you for the men and women that are in this place, but lord many in our nation who have laid down their lives for us, we thank you for the police officers and firefighters and the members of our military. Lord, we pray your blessing on their families. Now, God, that's hard for us to understand. How could you come in, and heal the grief, make up the difference? We're asking you to do that today. Be a comfort to the spouse, the mother or the father that has lost their child, Lord, for those that are still suffering, because they fought for our freedom, Lord. Would you come and bring healing to their lives? God, would you give them strength? God, would you be their source of life today? That is our prayer. And God for those of us that are here today, just living in that freedom, may we spend our lives well, and worthy, of you. That is our prayer. This memorial day weekend. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
Doyle Jackson: 04:10 You know, we thought it was appropriate for us to start a series on Fearless on Memorial Day weekend because of that, because there are men and women that have been willing to lay down their lives, so that you and I could live a life with less fear. Fearless lives, lives of courage and freedom, lives that are known for joy and and moving forward. See fear, the problem with fear is it binds you, it holds you back, it keeps you from something, generally something that actually would be good for you. Now I realize there are healthy fears, gravity being one of those when you're on a really tall building, gravity is a healthy fear. We need to know that there are healthy fears but many of us, we have fears, and what they really are is lies in our mind that keep us bound.
Doyle Jackson: 05:04 And so we wanted to take some time today to begin to unpack the root, the root to those fears. We want to go back and deal with that root. Now you need to know something, I pride myself in doing my best to communicate God's hope, but if for me to deal with fears in 30 minutes or less and deal with all of them, that's not a realistic goal. Alright? So we're going to take four weeks to deal with fear. So I want to invite you to come back, be with us on Saturday night or Sunday, watch online, whatever you've got to do, be a part of it. Would you do me a favor right now? Just give an applause for those that are watching online that they are going to be a part of this that way. Alright, way to go.
Doyle Jackson: 05:47 All right, if you want to get out your apps, you can get out your phones, we welcome you to do that. Follow along and The Church Next Door app, if you want to get out your notes.
Doyle Jackson: 05:56 As we talk fear, I want to tell you a little bit about where I've gotten courage in my life. I have a grandfather, he's gone to be with the Lord today. He's my mom's dad, Grandpa Davidson. He was just this strong man. He had this courage, that was about him, that just oozed out. And you knew when you were with Grandpa, you're going to be okay. He was just that kind of man. I loved him because he shared his life with me. It wasn't because he was a big man, he was actually shorter than I am, but something happened in his life during the depression. He learned during those very, very, hard, lean, years that he could trust God. God showed up time and time and time again in his life, in his family's life, God put food on their table at times, miraculously. I may tell you more about that later. But he would tell me, Doyle, you can trust God, you can trust God. I remember when he came to Murfreesboro, he and my grandma, they lived with us for awhile while my grandfather built my father's clinic. Where my dad's business would start. I remember watching them as they dug out the ground where they're going to pour the concrete for the foundation of that building, and then I remember when he was putting the roof on the building because he said,
Doyle, do you want to go up with me? And I was a little guy, I would have been about four years old, and maybe younger, I don't remember for sure, but I know that he took me up on that roof. We've got pictures of me sitting there. I still remember holding the hammer in my hand. He gave me a board so I could hit nails, and I hit my fingers a lot. He taught me to choke up on the hammer. And what I learned from that was this, that he loved me, and he trusted me to to listen to him, and I knew if I did what he said, I'd be safe, even on the roof. And I didn't have to worry.
Doyle Jackson: 08:07 Now you may be thinking right now, that was crazy, that man taking that little boy up on that roof. Well you need to know, I remember the day when I'm in Cincinnati, my first house, and I'm out scraping the paint, doing the gutters and getting things ready on that house. And my son Aaron peeks his head out the window and says, Daddy, can I come out on the roof with you? I said, sure son, come on out. And I gave him instructions on where he could be, and what he could do, and I just kept working and he was there. It was not 10 seconds, and the neighbors started calling. They said, Miss Jennifer, do you understand that Doyle has your little son out on the roof? She said, I do, he's fine, he's with Doyle, he knows what he's allowed to do, and what he's not allowed to do, he'll be just fine. And it taught me a principal. If you have a loving father, if you have someone who cares about you and they give you good instructions, if you follow those instructions, you are in the safe zone. You don't have to be afraid.
Doyle Jackson: 09:16 But I do have to be honest with you, I do know what fear is. I don't want you to think that I've lived a fearless life. I do want you to have less fear, and I think if you'll stick with me, we will help you to have less fear and you can live a fearless life. I remember, I don't know what happened and why, but but Mama and daddy allowed Alan, Philip and I to go to the movies when I was little. They dropped us off at Jackson Heights plaza, the three of us. As I remember it, we were there to watch 101 Dalmatians. This was the original version, the cartoon. Alright? And I remember the movie starting, and something happening, and I got afraid. And I told Alan, I can't take it anymore, it's too much. He said, just close your eyes, and I'll tell you when it's safe again. I argue with him, I said, no way. I caused such a ruckus, that Alan got up, gets Phillip, gets me, and were marching out the very dark aisles up the ramp. And then Philip didn't want to leave, and I see Philip is standing there still watching, and I'm kind of hiding behind the door. And Alan has to go over to the payphone. This is when you actually actually had to drop a dime in a phone, and he calls mom and says, you got to pick us up, the brat...You know, I don't know what he said. But in the time that he was there, I kept peering around the corner, and I felt safer and safer until I came out. Alan comes back, and I said, I think we can stay, I'm going to be okay. Then he's ready to kill me. You know what I'm saying? But it's okay, he got his revenge. I remember getting in my bed at night, and everything. Ready to go to sleep. And just when you get ready, and you're, you're down to sleep, I feel this hand grab my ankle, and I scream at the top of my lungs. It was Alan under my bed, he taught me how to be afraid of the dark that night. He also taught me to check under your bed before you get in and night, your brother might be there.
Doyle Jackson: 11:25 Whatever it is in your life, whether it's a fear of failure, it's a fear of another broken relationship, if it's a fear of just you're not gonna have enough, maybe it's an anxiousness that you feel the crowd is too big, or maybe there's not enough people around me and I'm afraid, maybe it's a worry about what's going on in the earth. It does not matter what it is, you can probably track it back, and you can find where it began, and what the root is. And I want to begin by helping you with that today. Identifying the root.
Doyle Jackson: 12:03 And I believe when we talk about fears, we need to talk about where all fear began, and it goes back to the Book of Genesis. This is God's perspective on it, God tells us when and where fear began. It's in Genesis chapter three, Adam and Eve are in the garden, and God has given them a clear instruction. God has said, you're here in the garden, I want you to enjoy life. I'm going to walk with you, I'm going to talk with you. You've got all this food, you've got all these animals, everything is taking care of you. The only requirement is this, you need to avoid the fruit of these trees right over here. This tree, stay away. What happens of course, we all know. They couldn't stay away, and in Genesis chapter three, verse eight, it says after they had partaken of that fruit, "Then the man and his 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 God among the trees of the garden." I want you to make note of something. Because they had disobeyed in no way hampered their ability to recognize God's presence, nor did it keep God's presence from their life. Some of us think our disobedience disqualifies us. Clearly it did not. "But the Lord called to the man, where are you? He, Adam, answered, I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid. And he, God, said, who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" Fear is planted in the soil of our lives by broken trust.
Doyle Jackson: 14:17 In the New Testament. When Jesus arrives, he teaches us that your life, and my life, is like soil. He talks in his parables about the good soil, or the bad soil. Some is difficult, and some ways is good. But your life, and my life, is the soil, and he says that the word of God is planted in our life and it grows and it produces well. What God invites you and I, is to a life where what he plants, will grow in your life, and it will produce a fruit 100, 60, 30 full, that will bless you.
Doyle Jackson: 14:54 What happened in this case was they listened to a lie, and it planted a seed of distrust in their life, and they didn't believe God. And the next thing you know, the fruit of that is a broken relationship with God, and fear entered in their life. I wrote this in your notes. Adam and Eve still had a relationship with God after they disobeyed, they believed a lie. They questioned God's integrity, acted on the lie, and got into a danger zone. Trusting their natural senses, their eyes, etc., they disobeyed God's word of direction. This opened their heart, to trusting in themselves, and the result was fear. In ourselves, we are not strong enough to face the lies, the danger, and the evil of this life, we need help. It's so true, trusting in yourself will not alleviate the pain of this life, but trusting in God, trusting in God will. The root of most of our fears is broken trust.
Doyle Jackson: 16:22 The reason that Jesus stepped into our world, and walked among us, was so that you and I could know that God loved us. So you and I could live with full assurance that God knows the evil, the danger, the ridicule, the harm, the pain, everything that you and I face in this life, God knows about it. Because Jesus came. How do I know that? Because he experienced it. Every time I see The Cross, I'm reminded of the fact that that Jesus knows completely well, how dangerous and evil this world is. But he went to the cross so that you and I no longer had to be ashamed, that you and I no longer had to have this broken relationship. That we could come back to God, we can have a relationship, it is the sign of his grace. Jesus understands the world in which you and I live, and he gives us the cure, he gives us the answer. He tells us, how do you live in this present evil, dark world. How does God expect me to live in the presence of this evil now? He says, build your life on something trustworthy. Build your life on something that is trustworthy. In Matthew chapter seven, Jesus' probably most famous sermon, it's called The Sermon on the Mount, or the beatitudes. He goes through, and he gives you and I, he gives all people an instruction on the attitudes you need to have. He gives us wisdom on things about worry. He gives us information about relationships, how we get along. He gives us instructions on practical things like money, and in sexuality, practical everyday things that we can do. And at the end of that lesson, he gives us the cure.
Doyle Jackson: 18:34 Matthew 7:24, he says, "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew, and beat against that house, yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine, and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, the winds blew, and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." What Jesus tells us here is this, as long as you live in this world, there are going to be storms. For some reason, some of us have a misunderstanding, we have believed a lie. We have believed that if we get to know God, and we love God, and God loves us, they'll never be any storms in life. That's not what Jesus said. Last night when I made this point and I said, there are going to be storms, thunder went off outside. It was awesome. You ought to come to Saturday night service, God really shows up, it's so amazing. You see, it's not really healthy to believe that you could live life, and never face a storm. It's also not healthy to believe that you could build your life on the sand. And what Jesus invites us to is this. He says, listen, the storms are coming, but I'm going to give you the cure for the storms. Even though there's evil, even though there's difficulty, even though there's heartache, you can have a life that weathers the storms of life. Because I'll be secure, if you'll learn to listen to my word. He says, build your house on the rock.
Doyle Jackson: 20:52 I've got to deal with another lie that we face. We face this lie, this notion, this idea, that somehow God's rules are keeping us from something that's really, really, good, and it's just not true. In the same way that my grandfather said, Doyle, if you will sit here and stay here, you'll be fine on the roof. In the same way that I told my boys, if you'll stay within these bounds, you're safe, you're good to go. When you and I go down the highway, you hop on 270 today and you head north, you're going to pass some guardrails. When you see those guard guardrails is the first thought in your mind, man, they're keeping me from something good? If I could just get outside the guard rail, I can drive so much faster. Those orange barrels, why did they have to put them there? They're just slowing me down. If I could get out there on the outside of those barrels, I bet, that that lane looks empty. And we believe crazy lies like that. Let me tell you something. The instruction that God gives you in terms of your life, in terms of sexuality, in terms of your finances, in terms of your anger, when God gives you instruction about a practical matter of life, it is not to keep you from something good, it's to give you the fast lane, the prosperous lane, the best lane. But when you believe the lie, you know he's really keeping us from something really, really good. The next thing you do, could be a painful mistake.
Doyle Jackson: 22:31 So cultivate a hunger, and a desire, for God's word. Begin to know what his instructions are on life, and how to live life. Get to know the word of God. Well man, it's a big book. You got a lot of life ahead of you, and you've burnt up a lot already, so just decide, is yours way working? Or maybe there could be a new way that I need to try, I'm just inviting you to that. That's all, I'm inviting you to a new way. Look what it says in the bible, how to begin to get the fear out of your life. This instruction, it comes from the bible repeatedly again and again, but this one, it comes from Isaiah the prophet. He lived about 750 years before Jesus. At that time, the people of God had gotten far from God. They had wandered, began to trust in themselves, and the next thing you know, they find themselves in exile in another nation. And what Isaiah says is, he says, "Return to your creator. When you trust in your creator, your fears were a lesson, and your confidence and your strength will increase."
Doyle Jackson: 23:47 Let me just tell you this personal story from my own life. 1986, I spent my junior year abroad, living in the land of Israel from August to May. Alright? Nine months of my life. It was a great experience in my life. It was also when the PLO ratcheted up their intifada, they burn things, they closed shops, the stoned, they had riots, it was a very tense time. And I went there to go to school. I went there for one reason, I wanted to get to know God in the land of the bible. And I wanted to know were those prophecies true, where they real? I got to know what the bible said, and see it with my own eyes, and pray, and to walk there. All I could see was, wow, God is real in time and history. He'd point to the fences and says, I'm going to, knock one there, and then he does again and again and again. The bible became more and more real to me, my confidence in God rose, and I was never afraid, I never really worried about it. I used to hop on the buses, it was called the Arab buses, it was part of what the Palestinian leadership ran up and down the hill country of Judea. They were these gray buses, they looked dangerous in and of themselves, but I didn't worry about it. I would just hop on those buses, it was about a quarter for me to ride from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. I would ride all over, up and down the hill country of Judea. I know there's a wall there today, back then we didn't have to worry. I used to hike from where my little room was on Mount Zion just outside Jaffa gate, and Zion gate in Jerusalem, I'd walk all the way to Bethlehem. I'd go to church with my Arab brothers and sisters in Bay Jaffa. I would happen these taxis, and I would ride to Shechem and Nablus. I would go to see the sights of the bible, and God just encouraged me, and strengthened me.
Doyle Jackson: 25:53 This is what I want you to know. When you get to know God, and you can rely on him, he is trustworthy. He's better than an earthly grandpa that loves you. I don't know where your broken trust came from, I don't know who it was that let you down. It may be real, I don't want to deny that. But I want to invite you into a relationship with the creator, that loves you, values you, and wants to give you freedom and life. He wants to Give you responsibility, he trusts you, that you can serve him. Listen to what Isaiah said to the people of Israel, in Isaiah 40, "Do you not know, have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding, no one can fathom. He gives Strength to the weary, and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall, but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not be faint." What I love about that is when he describes the eagle, you realize that the eagle does nothing but catch the breeze, and move on up. When he talks or the one that runs, and not grows weary. He's saying that there is some sort of supernatural force that comes in that runner, and it supplements what they have in their own strength, and adds them more. When he talks about the walker, this is the one I think about, because this is just dealing with everyday life. Where you got to just get up, and keep going to work. Everyday you've just got to get up, and keep going at it. And God says, I'm going to give you the strength you need to be consistent, to take care of the job, the kids, the family, whatever it is that I've given to you. That calling that I've put in your heart for your life, I'm going to help you, every day, again and again and again.
Doyle Jackson: 28:36 When I was a little boy, there was a beautiful lady that came to work in our home. She was tall and she was thin, her name was Jesse Washington, and she worked at our house. She helped with cleaning, and she helped ironing, and she would prepare meals for us. It was just a fill in the gap, because sometimes my mom had to work in the office and help dad with a veterinary practice as it grew, and Jesse really became a part of our lives. And I could still remember what it was to hold Jesse's hand, and to walk through the A&P grocery store. You'll have to google that, they don't exist anymore. Jesse was such a blessing in my life, she loved me. We would talk about everything, but Jesse was afraid. I didn't understand it, I was just a little boy. I didn't know why she was afraid, I didn't understand what was going on in our culture at that time. But because of her fear, and the lies that she believed, she would try to keep you me in the house. Because she knew if I was at home, if someone came to ring the doorbell, or if anything happened, she had me there. She had me there to be a spokesman on her behalf, so she didn't want me to go outside and play. And when I was four, we bought the farm that my mom and dad live on to this day. It's a beautiful place. It was a magnificent place for a little boy. It had springs on it, and a stream that runs from the west side to the east side of the property, we had horses and ponies and dogs. I mean, it was a magnificent place for me, I could get dirty every day. But because of Jesse's fear, she didn't want me to go outside, and she would try to cajole me, and convince me, to stay inside. And it was a beautiful day like today day, and I'd had enough.
Doyle Jackson: 31:00 Now Jesse would iron clothes, and we had this stool that had three steps, and the top step you could sit on. And she would sit on that stool, and she would iron clothes. And on this day she didn't want me to go outside, and I'd had enough, and so I went to the back of the house. We had this big bookcase, and I remember pulling a chair up there, because I wasn't tall enough to get to it. So I pull a chair up, I opened the doors to the bookcase. I reached up, and I pulled down the Children's Bible, King James Version, old school baby. It was a big one, probably almost as big as me. But I remember pulling it down, walking forward to Jesse, and opening it up to the picture of the devil. I said, Jesse, do you know who that is? She said, well of course, that's Satan, that's the devil. I said, okay, and I flipped over, and I found the picture of Jesus with the children's standing around him, and I said, who's that? She said, well that's Jesus, of course. I said, Jessie, who do you think is stronger? She said, well, Jesus. I closed the bible, and I said, okay Jesse, I'm going to pray for you, and I'm going to tell Satan to leave you alone, and for Jesus to take care of you, and I'm going to go outside and play. I said, are you okay with that? She said, okay. I remember stepping, stepping up on the second step, putting my hand on her shoulder, and I began to say, in the name of Jesus, Satan, let Jesse go. And God did something for her, from my faith in Jesus in my heart, it transferred into her heart, and in her life, and it set her free.
Doyle Jackson: 33:12 I want you to know something, I don't care if it's your fear or someone else in your life who has a fear today, If you will let me pray, and if you will believe that the living God loves you enough to step into your world, to give his life for you. It can be different. It can be different, beginning today. So this is my invitation for you. If you know somebody, like I did, who has a fear. Or if you have a fear, if you are the person, I would like to ask you to stand up right now. If you will stand up, I'm going to say a prayer. I mean now, I'm not waiting 15 minutes. If you know somebody who has a fear, and you want to believe for them, to be set free. You may just be thinking of the teenagers right now, that are afraid to go to school. It needs to go, that does not need to exist in our nation anymore. There is a plethora of fear in our world, and we need to see it come to an end. Alright, all you have to do is agree. You don't have to close your eyes. If you want to you can, I'm going to close mine, I'm going to say a prayer. Heavenly father, I come before you today, not in my name, but in the name of Jesus, your precious son, the Messiah. It says that he read from Isaiah, and he said that I have come, the anointing of God is on me, to bind up the brokenhearted, to set the captive free, and proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. And so in his name, in his authority, his work on the cross. Today, I declare fear to go in Jesus' name. God, you leave our hearts. You leave our friends hearts. You leave our children's hearts, you leave our grandparents hearts. You leave those people that we have stood up for today. We stand up for them today, not at our own strength, but in the strength of Jesus Christ that will raise eagles into the air. That is whom we call on today, and we declare that you are worthy to receive the glory and praise of the freedom, and not us. For it is in your name Jesus' we pray, and in his name, all who wanted it said, amen. All right, before we go. Amen, you can applaud, I'm good with that. Your applauding Jesus, not me. Your applause is not for me, it's for Jesus.
Doyle Jackson: 35:48 I want to give you a prayer that we're all going to say out loud, if you would like to, and this is what it says. It say, I'm tired of living afraid. God, would you help me? I want to uproot the past lies, and heartache, to live life again. Teach me the word, that will set me free. This is just a prayer. It's our expression out loud to God, to him. You just say it with me, I'm tired of living afraid. God, would you help me? I want to uproot the past lies, and heartache, to live life again. Teach me the word, that will set me free. Amen. God bless you. Have a great Memorial Day. If you want to say hello, I'll be down here. If you need prayer, there's always a team. God bless you.
Recorded in Columbus, Ohio.
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