Are you struggling with fear, worry, and insecurity? Do you feel like you're trapped in a cycle of negative thoughts and emotions? If so, you're not alone. There is hope. Find practical strategies and biblical wisdom to help you break free from these burdens and live a life of purpose and fulfillment. Don't let fear control your life. Start living the life God wants you to lead today. With today's message about overcoming fear, worry, and insecurity, here's Pastor Jim Scudder Jr. We all have fears, don't we? We all have insecurities. We all have worries. The question is this, on our own, can we overcome worries, fears, and insecurities? The answer is simple, no. Let's close in prayer. But wait, there's more. With the Lord, we can absolutely overcome worries, fears, and insecurities. There's great hope for you if you struggle with these things. And I'm sure all of us do in some form or fashion. Some struggle more than others, but all of us have a lot to worry about. Researchers have identified 7,000 things that humans worry about. 7,000. And my feeling is that's probably a low number. One of those 7,000 is the fear of flying. Any of you have the fear of flying? There was one Uncle Oscar that had this apprehension, and he was about to go on his first airplane ride. His friends, eager to hear how it went, asked if he enjoyed the flight. Well, said Uncle Oscar, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I'll tell you this, I never put all my weight down. Isn't that kind of funny? We fly, or used to fly, a small four-seat airplane. And anytime I had new flyers with me in the back, I would say over the headphones, listen, as we are about to lift off, if you wouldn't mind just kind of lifting up a little bit to help the plane get off the ground. And you'd be surprised how many people would actually do that. You know who you are. But those same researchers that have identified 7,000 human fears have also said that you only have two fears when you're born. Two fears. One of those is the fear of loud noises, and the other one is the fear of heights. So that means that we have to learn on our own 6,998 fears. And we do really, really good at learning how to be afraid and how to worry and how to be insecure as human beings. If all of that is true, which I think it is, It would be logical, it would make sense that in order to alleviate those fears, worries, and insecurities, at least most of them, the solution is to revert back to childhood. Isn't that an interesting thought? To revert back to childhood. You know what's really interesting? As we study the scriptures, as we study Jesus, we learn that he actually suggests this. Look at Matthew chapter 18. Matthew chapter 18, the disciples came to Jesus and asked him this question in verse one. Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called the little child, brought him up, set him in the middle of everybody and said, verily, that word verily is an old English word that means truthfully or of a truth. So it's an important thing that he's about to say. I say unto you, except ye be converted and become as little children. ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Isn't that interesting? What does that mean? Verse four, whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. I think it's a simple truth that he's trying to point out and that's this. You cannot get to heaven by your works. You cannot get to heaven by your efforts, by what you can do. Think about children. Children are small. Children are unable to do almost everything on their own, especially little children. They recognize their smallness. There's a innate humility that is built into children, and therefore, they put their trust in those that are big in their life. They have to. They don't really have a choice. It's by default that they put their trust in those that are big in their lives. How can I be forgiven of my sins? How can I escape the fear of death, the fear of hell? How can I bypass the worry of, did I do good enough? Am I okay? What's gonna happen when I die? These are the giant fears, the giant worries, the giant insecurities of humankind. Jesus said, become as a child. In other words, realize that you are unable to save yourself. You have no possible way of obtaining eternal life on your own. Humble yourself to recognize that and put your trust in the biggest person in our life, and that is the Lord himself. Jesus came, the Son of God, to die the death that you couldn't do because He died a perfect, righteous, innocent death. He had lived a life that you couldn't live. He died on a cross for your sins. He rose again. And He is giving you an opportunity to be saved, to escape the greatest fear. What happens when I die? I don't wanna face an eternity in a place called hell. No one likes to talk about hell. Jesus talked about it more than he did heaven. It's a real place, and I think everyone innately knows that is true. So humble yourself. Say, I am a sinner. I can't save myself, but I put my trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Become as a child, and you will inherit the kingdom of heaven. Well, I think there's more to this as well. That's salvation, and that's how we can be saved. But we still struggle, don't we? We still come to this place where we're worried about, you know, what about tomorrow? What if this happens or that happens? And we have all these huge lists of things that we're worried about, that we're scared about. So what I wanna do is spend some time today going back. We were in Matthew talking about Jesus saying, become as a child. Let's go back a few chapters to Matthew chapter six. And we're gonna spend some time here. This is what is called the Sermon on the Mount. We just returned from another trip to Israel. We brought 110 to Israel and we brought home 110 to Israel. Some people are really afraid to go to Israel, but they live in Chicago. Doesn't make sense to me. Doesn't make sense to me. But what an amazing place as we were there sailing on a beautiful boat that all of us fit on and going in the same water that Jesus walked on and taught from. And as we were on this boat, we were looking along the shoreline to the north of the Sea of Galilee is this hillside. And that hillside is where Jesus preached this sermon. If you wanna read the entire sermon, it's marvelous. It's his first sermon and it's powerful. It turned everything upside down and it's simple. Five through seven is where you'll find that in Matthew. Sermon on the Mount. But in Matthew 6, he starts to talk about some things that will really help you today overcome worry, fear, and insecurity. In Matthew 6, 25, Jesus says, therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life. What you shall eat, what you shall drink, nor yet for your body, what you shall put on, is not life more than meat, which means food, and the body than raiment. It's amazing to me how many people focus on these things. Now, I don't think Jesus is saying You don't have to think, you don't have to plan, you just kinda live your life and all of these things will fall like bread from heaven. You know, clothing from heaven. That's not what he's saying. He's not saying that you shouldn't think about these things, that you shouldn't plan, that you shouldn't work, because you'd be irresponsible if you didn't. You know, think about these things and plan for these things and work for these things. This is part of the life that God wants us to live. We find that other in places in scripture. Then what's he saying? If he's saying, don't, don't think about these things. What he's saying is simply this, don't put excess brain power upon those things. Don't, don't worry about those things. Do everything you know to do and then trust. than trust, okay? So, yes, we are to work, whatever our jobs are, we are to plan for the future to make sure that we are providing for ourselves, for our families, all of that, but don't worry, don't fret, don't fear having enough. Now, you might not have all the things that you think you deserve, You know, you might have clothing from Walmart and not from Neiman Marcus, okay? By the way, that's probably a better approach to life anyway. You can give more to God if you are less foolish about, nevermind, I shouldn't have gone there. Back it up. Delete that tape. But we really should be better at not wasting. But anyways, but don't fret about these things of life. Now, you say, well, my fear is not necessarily food or shelter. My fear is what people do to me or could do to me, and that's a big fear, right? And probably it's based on something that's happened in your life, and you've had some hardship or some struggle, and it's something that somebody else did, or maybe it's something you did, and you're just afraid that this is gonna happen again. Let me give you advice from a song. We usually don't think of Psalms as songs, but they're songs. Psalm 118, in verse six, the Bible says this, the Lord is on my side. Say that with me. The Lord is on my side. Okay, if that's true, if the Lord is on your side, he's with you, he's next to you, Like a child, a little, let's say a two-year-old holding on to the finger of his dad, you know, the child can't necessarily defend himself and help himself, but his dad can and will and wants to. If the Lord is on my side, I will not fear. We almost have to tell ourselves this. and to remember the importance of the fact that we have a big God. How big is God? The more that we look into the distant universe, the bigger and better the telescopes we get, the more astounded we are at the vastness and beauty of the universe that we find ourselves in. We're just but a speck. You can't even see Earth. from the distance galaxies that we know and find. And by the way, those galaxies that are supposed to be all spread out and loose because they were supposedly the first things that formed and we were all birthed from those things, that's an evolutionary viewpoint, what they're finding are tight spiral galaxies, which means that they're not as supposed, not old as supposed, but it's as the Bible would have predicted, right? How did the Bible get it right when it said that the stars are as the sand of the sea? How did the Bible get that right before telescopes, before Hubble, before web? How did the Bible get that right? Because it's from the creator who knew all of this, okay? So that God that created the vastness, and when I say vastness, I'm underselling what space is. It is beyond the human brain to comprehend how big the universe is. The God that created that by speaking the words, He created the stars and the sun also. Is that God big enough to protect you? To provide for you? To help you? Yes, so that's the key is just realizing how big God is and if he's by our side, I will not fear. Why is that so hard for us? Because in the midst of the trial, we can't remember that. That's why I think we need to say it all the time. And if the Lord is on my side, I will not fear, the verse continues, what can man do to me? Okay, so therefore, we don't have to fear that. I remember hearing the story about a couple that got into a taxi and they were driving along and the man reached forward and tapped the driver. He wanted to ask the driver a question. And suddenly the driver freaked out. The driver nearly hit a bus. They careened over a curb, bounced along the sidewalk, almost slamming into a building. Just before they got to the plate glass window, the car stopped and they were all in stunned silence. The driver said, are you guys okay? And the passenger said, yeah, we're okay, but what in the world? The passenger said, sorry, I startled you. And the driver's like, no, no, no, it wasn't your fault, it was mine. He said, for 25 years, I drove a hearse. Today's the first day I drove a taxi. Do not fear. What man can do to you, the Lord is on your side. Amen? Oh my goodness. And let me give you a wisdom principle from Proverbs. In Proverbs 29, 25, the fear of man bringeth a snare, but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. So we don't have to fear not having enough to survive. We don't have to fear what people can do to us if the Lord is on our side. Let's continue in the great Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6, 26. Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet the heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? What a simple principle. Are you not better than the birds? Birds are cool. Birds are interesting. We were recently climbing what I think is Mount Sinai. Now it might surprise you, but Mount Sinai, I don't think is in Egypt. You say, wait a second, it's called Mount Sinai. They actually call the whole peninsula the Sinai Peninsula. How could they have messed that up? I don't know, but I think they did. I got a piece of the top of the mountain. You know, interesting thing about the mountain that we climb, it's in the Jebel al-Az range, which means Jebel is a mountain in Arabic and al-Az is almond, which is really curious, right? Because it's the only place in Saudi Arabia that you would find almonds, almond trees. It's a unique climate for that. But we find in the Bible, Aaron's rod, was blooming with almond leaves. And also the menorah that they built while they were there at Mount Sinai had almond buds on the knobs of the menorah. Isn't that interesting? And then the mountain is called Jebel Makla. Makla means burnt. So the top of the mountain When you look at it, you see how this rock has like a dark color over it? Now this could be natural, just the way it formed, volcanic, this is a volcanic rock. But it's just the top of the mountain. When we got to the very top, it all became this dark This dark rock. And some people have wondered, as the glory of God settled down over the mountain, as God was giving Moses the Ten Commandments, and they were at the same time breaking the first one at the bottom, isn't that crazy? How quickly we move away from the simple things God says. Don't worship any other objects, idols. But I don't know if this is evidence of that burnt, but it's a really interesting thing to look at a mountain. The top is burnt. It looks like it's burnt. Makla. So as we were climbing down the mountain, we made a little bit of an error in judgment and didn't have enough daylight. Those little details, you know, while you're climbing mountains. And I'm not a mountain climber. I like flat paths, you know, when you're going on a bike ride, I want one that has a slight downhill slope the whole way, ground trip. So, this had a slight uphill, a couple thousand feet ascent, and I don't know, several miles that we traversed, and it wasn't like a really worn path. You kind of had to find the trail by the stack of rocks sitting here, and some of it was actually climbing. So you're thinking going up is pretty hard and, you know, exhausting. You get to the top, and it's this wonderful experience, and we filmed all of this. Our film crew carried all the gear up, and it was pretty amazing. It'll make great television, me about dying from exhaustion. But I'm thinking coming down, it's going to be so much easier, right? Because you don't have to, you know, go up all this, this height coming down was actually as hard or harder because you had to, you know, be careful not if you if you came down too fast, you would start sliding. And, you know, I don't know, it's just really hard on your knees. So we're coming down and it took longer than we thought and it starts to get dark. And we started to pray, Lord, your presence was here once, I pray that it's here again. Protect us. And so we continued down and we were starting to use our cell phones for lights. We were really prepared, we had cell phones. And our guide had a headlamp, but I think his battery was low because they kept turning it off. And then suddenly my camera guy goes, hey, I've got a camera light. I'm like, okay, bring it out. Don't bury the lead here. So it brings out this amazing, bright light, and we slowly were making it down, and then you started to hear this noise, this weird noise around our head, and we're trying to figure this out. There were birds flying around, and they were fine. They weren't worried. I don't think maybe they were laughing at us. The sound wasn't like any bird call I've ever heard. It was kind of like a chuckle. And we started imitating the bird call. And as I'm climbing down, I'm starting to think, Lord, I'm a little worried, just a little bit. We didn't tell our wives we were worried, but just a little worried. But these birds aren't worried. Here they are. They have these roosts up in these cracks in the rock, and they have everything they need. Isn't that incredible? How God can care for these birds out in the middle of nowhere. How much greater are we? And we did pray, and God did answer, and we made it down, and now we have a great story to tell from what could be Mount Sinai. And all I got was this rock out of the whole adventure, so they weren't selling T-shirts at the bottom yet. It will be a tourist site, I'm sure. So we won't be able to get rid of our fears entirely, but I'll tell you this. We can allow the Lord to help us not give in to fear. When we're in those situations, do what we did. Say, Lord, we need your help. We've messed up. We didn't plan as we should have. I want you to help us. And you know what he does? He does. The famous General George Patton had a famous line. He said, courage is fear holding on a minute longer. Just hold on a minute longer. That's what courage is. So if you trust the one standing next to you, in spite of your fear, you are on the path to victory. I'm reminded of this story I've told before, but I absolutely love it. There was once a tiger that was out on a hunt for prey, and to his fortune, he catches a fox. But the fox, trying to get out of the jam, said to the tiger, you will not eat me. And the reason is this, God made me Lord over all the animals of the jungle. If you eat me, you will disobey the order of God. If you don't believe me, then just walk behind me through the jungle and you'll see all the rest of the animals fear me. And so they did walk along the jungle. And sure enough, all the animals scurried away when they saw the tiger following the fox. When you have those fears, remember the power of God with you, right behind you, right, right next to you. Got to remember that. You will never overcome fear on your own, but you have the great God of the universe with you. Don't forget that. You're not in the battle alone. With the power of God on your side, you cannot be defeated. Matthew 6, 27, we'll continue. Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit unto his stature? A cubit is around 18 inches. I remember playing basketball. I'm definitely not built for basketball, but when you're in a small school with one sport, you're going to play basketball. And I loved it. I enjoyed it. It is my favorite sport that I can't play anymore. I don't know if I ever could, but I don't anymore. But I remember those times on the basketball court that I just thought, Oh, if I could just be not 18 inches taller, but one inch taller, that's all I need. Maybe two, maybe three inches. It would just be so helpful. Have you ever wished you could be taller? If you're tall, I'm guessing you've wished you could be shorter. As a matter of fact, I met a man, the biggest man I've ever met in my entire life. He was in Fiji. Look at this guy. He's a giant of a man, and I'm not a small guy, but I look like a little child next to this Fijian. The biggest man I've ever met, and he's not just tall, he's big. It looks like a Photoshop. That is the most amazing, amazing thing I've ever thought. But you know what he said? He said, listen, I travel around. He actually brings the gospel to different places using his height and his size to draw crowds, and he certainly does. And he said, you know what? My knees are always hurting. My joints are always hurting. How does he fit even in first class, you know? Don't ever wish for something that God kinda did for you. Don't waste your brain power on wishing you were taller, shorter, whatever. Just say, Lord, I thank you for what you've done, okay? So many of those things that we're worried about, insecure about, the way I look, the way I sound, or whatever those things are, you're wasting your brain power because it's the way God made you. And just say, Lord, I'm okay with that, with whatever that is. Trust Him with that, okay? Because you're not gonna be able to add any height to your stature by just worrying about it. God has determined some of these things, and we need to be okay with that. Look at Matthew 6, 28. And why take ye thought for raiment? That's clothing. Consider the lilies, how they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin. Yet I say unto you that even Solomon, in all of his glory, Solomon, the son of David, the king of Israel, They say when he reigned, silver was as common as rocks. You know how you probably won't bend down to pick up a penny? How many of you will bend down to pick up a penny? And you'll stay down to see what else is down there. Okay, a few of you will. It's really dumb to pick up a penny anymore, right? You say, well, what if it's a 19 whatever? You know, I don't know. But silver, they didn't make anything out of silver because Silver was so abundant in Solomon's day. Think of the glory of Solomon. Gold everywhere. And Jesus said that the lily had so much more glory than Solomon. That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. While climbing what could be Mount Sinai, We didn't see a whole lot of things growing. It's a very dry and arid area. But as we got to a certain altitude, suddenly we started to see flowers, which is really amazing. Now you can easily walk right by them because you're gasping for air, things like that. You're trying to live, not fall. But we stopped and we got a picture. And here's a picture of the flower And we saw these here and there scattered around on Mount Sinai, Jebel Makla. And I don't know why we don't stop more and admire flowers. Why don't we? The closer you look, the more amazed we are at what God just does. Why would God create a flower? Because he's great, he's powerful, he's mighty, yeah, but he has a flair for art and beauty and color, doesn't he? And you know, anytime you have any type of artistic ability and desire, that comes from God. Study what God does, study creation, study the flower. Look at it, meditate on it. Jesus said, consider the lilies of the field. and how beautiful they are, and how much more glorious they are than Solomon and all his gold and all his building abilities. Think about that. The creator that made you a very special person, you are so much more important to God than a bird or a flower. Think about that. Next time you have a worry, next time you have a fear, next time you have an insecurity, Think about how much God cares about you. These are Jesus' words. Matthew 6, 30. Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe ye, O ye of little faith? Think about that. There was a missionary. He was also a prolific writer, and he wrote these words. His name is Dr. E. Stanley Jones. I am inwardly fashioned for faith, not fear. Fear is not my native land. Faith is. I am so made that worry and anxiety are sand in the machinery of life. Faith is the oil. I live better by faith and confidence than by fear, doubt, and anxiety. In anxiety and worry, my being is gasping for breath. These are not my native air. But in faith and confidence, I breathe freely. These are my native air. Now you say, oh, I wish that were true of me. Well, it can be true of you. The next time you start to get anxious or worried or fearful, think about the fact that you are made for faith and not fear. Don't let fear gum up the machinery. You say, well, then why don't, if this is natural and if this is the way I should be, how come it isn't always? Because we lose focus. We lose perspective of what is true. And what is true, if God is on your side, no one can stand against you. You don't have anything to fear. You say, well, how do I know God's on my side? Well, you have to put your faith in him, your trust in him one time. And when you do that, you're born again. You're born again. You're a child of God that will never change. Now, it behooves you to stay close to him. to walk close to him, to spend time with him every day in fellowship. Because then, when you're in trouble, he's there, right there to help you. There were two explorers that were on a jungle safari. Suddenly, a ferocious lion jumps out of the jungle. One of the explorers says, keep calm. Remember what we read in the book. You stand perfectly still, and look at the lion in the eye, and he will turn and run. And the other explorer said, okay, I read that book, you read that book, but did the lion read that book? You know what? If God can clothe the grass of the field, spin the lily, provide for the birds, You don't have to fear those things. You don't have to fear those things, because you have read the book. You know what is true from the book. Now live in faith. Matthew 6 31 therefore take no thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or or whether whether with all shall we be clothed again we're not saying you shouldn't ever have any thoughts about these things but don't worry about these things for after all these things do the Gentiles seek remember he's speaking to a Jewish audience at this point The Gentiles were known for their worldliness, their fleshliness, and by the way, we are like that today, aren't we? For your heavenly father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. He knows your needs. He created you. Trust him. There was a severe thunderstorm one summer night while a mother was tucking her small son into bed. She was about to turn the light off when he asked in a trembling voice, mommy, will you stay with me all night? Smiling, the mother gave him a warm, reassuring hug and said, tenderly, I can't dear, I have to sleep in daddy's room. A long silence followed. At last, it was broken by a shaky voice saying this, the big sissy. Whatever you're worried about, whatever your fears are, your father has got you. He'll protect you. He's there. There was a four-year-old afraid of the dark, and her mom turned out the light, and the child got a glimpse of the full moon. And the child says, mom, is the moon God's light? The mom says, yes. The next question, will God ever put out his light and go to sleep? And the mother replied, no, God does not sleep. And the child says in her innocence, well, as long as God is awake, there's no sense in both of us staying awake. Isn't that amazing? You have a God that doesn't slumber, doesn't sleep, who's there ready to help you all the time. All the time. There's an early church father, John Chrysostom, and he was going to be exiled. And the empire was very upset about any Christian, especially the leader that he was. And as they were telling John of his exile, he said these famous words, what can I fear? Will it be death? But you know that Christ is my life and that I shall gain by death. Will it be exile? But the earth is all its fullness is the Lord's. Will it be the loss of wealth? But we brought nothing into the world and we carry nothing out. Thus all the terrors of the world are contemptible in my eyes. I smile at its good things. Poverty I do not fear. Riches I do not sigh for. Death I do not shrink from. Now that's not necessarily the words you're gonna have if you ever face his situation, but these are still truths. We need to think that way. We need to think that way to live as Christ but to die as gain. We don't have to fear that anymore, do we? We don't have to fear poverty because Jesus told the Christians in Sardis that although they were poor, they were really rich. If God is going to supply all our needs according to his riches and mercies, then we don't have to fear these things anymore. And if these things happen to us, it's not really that big a deal. If these things happen to us as we're walking with the Lord, it's something he must have allowed. And he allowed it for our good. So why don't we just take that as our attitude and say, hey, I trust the Lord in this. Yeah, I'm naturally fearful. I'm naturally worried. I'm naturally scared. I'm naturally insecure about this. But I serve a great God who cares about me. He cares about birds. He cares about flowers. He cares about grass. He cares about me a lot more. And he is going to get me through this. I trust him that he's allowing this for my good. And you will have your life oiled with faith. and not fear. My friends, can you overcome worry, fear, and insecurity? The answer is, with the Lord, absolutely yes. And more on this next time. But have you received by faith Jesus? Have you been eliminated that great fear, that fear of death, that fear of hell? Well, the Bible says that we are sinners. What does that mean? That means we've broken the law. The law was given on Mount Sinai, the Ten Commandments. Now, we already had the law in our lives before the Ten Commandments. We innately know it's wrong to steal, but it was written down by God himself. And as God was writing down these commandments, we were breaking the commandment of worshiping false gods. And we also were able to find a natural stone altar with carvings of cows right there at the base of Mount Sinai. I'll share more of this with you down the road, but we were breaking the law as God was giving it. Moses came down, broke the tablets. God gave it to us again. The law we cannot keep. You, and by the way, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus added to the law, you know, the law said, don't lust and commit adultery. Jesus said, if you lust upon a woman, you've committed adultery. If you've hated someone, you've committed murder. So we thought, well, I've never killed anybody, so I'm okay. No, you probably have heart murdered someone. Okay. We've all broken the law. We've all sinned. We've all fallen short of the glory of God. The glory of God is perfection. We've missed the mark by a mile by a thousand miles. That's our situation. Become as a child. Understand that. Admit that. Realize that you are hopeless in and of yourselves. I am too. That's why Jesus came. He's God in the flesh, predicted from the time of the first sin that he would come. It was already the plan of God. And he came at a certain place at a certain time as predicted. He lived perfect. Never one sin. If you really want to study how you should act, read about Jesus. But yet he was crucified. He was nailed to a cross. He wasn't murdered. No one killed him because he was a willing sacrifice. That same mountain range that Abraham was willing to offer Isaac. And then there was a ram caught in the thicket in thorns. Thorns on that ram's head. The picture of Jesus. Both the sacrifice and you see the resurrection there too. Isaac being freed from bondage. So Jesus died. He was put into a dark tomb, sealed, and in three days, rose again. And he's alive. He's alive and he wants to save you. And how can I be saved? Well, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever, any of you, believeth in him. What does the word believe mean? It means to trust, to depend in. Not your works, not your religion, not your goodness. Be as a child and say, I can't save myself, but I believe in him. In who? In Jesus. These are Jesus' words in John three. So whoever believes in him, trusts in him, shall not perish, but have what? Everlasting life. Perish is hell, everlasting life is heaven. It's a real simple thing. If you will put your full trust in Jesus and Him alone, you'll be saved today, tomorrow, and forever. And that won't change. You say, well, what if I mess up? You will, but He saved you already. He paid for all of your sins on the cross, not just your past sins, not your present. He paid for all of your sins. And if you'll trust in him, according to what he said, you'll be saved. You say, it can't be that simple, I have to do something. Just in case you think that, here's another passage in Ephesians 2, for by grace are you saved through what? Faith, okay? The word believe in John 3, 16, and the word faith in Ephesians 2, 8, same Greek word, one's a noun, one's a verb. You're saved through faith, it's not of ourselves, it is a what? Gift of God. If you accept a gift, it's free, right? And all you have to do is accept the gift. It's a gift of God, it's not of works. No one will be boasting, no one will stand at the gate of heaven and say, I deserve to be here. We'll all say, I don't deserve to be here, but by the grace of God. Have you accepted the grace of God? Have you become, as a child, humbled yourself to say, I can't save myself? I put my trust in Almighty God, Jesus, who came and lived and died and rose again. I trust in him. I trust in what he's done for me on the cross, paying for my sins. And you can do that right now. Don't delay, don't let another minute pass. You're saying, I'm struggling with this, or I just wanna know if this is true. I just gave it to you from the Bible. So you're not trusting me, you're not trusting this church. You can trust the word of God though, and it's what it says. And so I've received it by faith. I don't have to be afraid. Now, sometimes I still am. I'm still afraid sometimes in my life, but I don't need to be. Because the God that created the mountains, the God that created the seas, the God that created the vastness of space, loves me more than anything. and loves you more than anything, and we don't have to fear. But you have to receive him by faith, trust in him, and he will save you today, tomorrow, and forever.