He was a little timid. But his pen was mighty. And God used him that way because I think part of it might have been his appearance. Because, I mean, you don't exactly look pretty after you've been stoned. Like your face don't look great after you've been stoned, right? And you died right there. And everybody's looking at you and all of a sudden you go, you pop back up. But you are ugly. Right? Almost like Dave's feet. So, but I beseech you that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence wherewith I think to be bold against some who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Casting down imaginations. That's the pulling down. casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. and having a readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. So Paul is, let's pray, Father Lord, help us as we get through this solution here today to that doctrinal depression, depression of the mind concerning false doctrines and things that float around in our head that aren't correct. Help us to follow the truth and make them correct according to Christ, in Jesus' name we pray, amen. To make our thoughts correct, amen, that's what we want to do. We want our minds and our thoughts to coincide with the scriptures, amen. That's what I was trying to tell that charismatic lady yesterday that said, you gotta feel it. I said, no, you gotta know it. And she kept saying, no, you gotta feel. I said, well, what you're telling me is to believe what you feel, not what God's word says. Why can't God's word work through me? Well, if it's contrary to this, we're to try the spirits whether they're of God. And you have nothing to base it off of but your feelings and emotions. by what you feel. That's dangerous. We ought not trust in what we feel. Why? Because sometimes our feelings are going to fail. And when they don't, we feel great. Let me show you a portion of scripture, 1 John chapter 4. The Bible talks about this. Let's see, I think it's 4. Let me see. No, I'm looking for the verse of our heart. Oh, here it is. I'm sorry, 320, 1 John 320. Actually, first, let's go to verse 18. My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. So let it not just be our words, but what does the Bible say over and over again? Especially for those that have afflictions of the mind or doubts or depressions and everything, that what we're supposed to do is love in word only, but in deed and in truth, right? And servant, right, be a servant. And hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him. Now check this out. This is how your feelings can get you all messed up. For if our heart condemn us, so stop there for a second. Paul says, for if our heart condemn us, that means that your heart can condemn you. We always think of the positive as something we read all the way through, but we don't think of the negative. If your heart condemns you, he's telling you that it's possible that your heart will condemn you with no reason to condemn you. Because of a fall in nature. Because the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? The spirit of the Lord, the next verse tells us, searches and tries the reins of the heart. It does it according to his word, not according to your feelings. Sometimes you test truth by your feelings after you've been saved. Well, I don't feel saved. I don't feel right. I don't feel this. Well, that's because you have fallen flesh. And sometimes your flesh feels great. Right? Sometimes it's rested, sometimes it feels great, sometimes your mind is stronger, it's not as weak, it's not as susceptible to being downcast, but other times, as David said, why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted in me? What does that mean? Well, now, when you study the Bible, here's what you see. Well, David's saying that my heart can be disquieted in me, and my heart can be down. So it does happen. Wait, but I thought when you're saved, you're like Superman, you never have any problems and everything. Well, you got a kryptonite. It's called your flesh. Right? You got flesh. And that flesh affects you. It does affect you, right? It does. So what does he say here? He says, for if our heart condemn us, so it can condemn us. I mean, your heart can absolutely condemn you. You're not even a child of God. You're not saved. You're not right with God. There's doom, impending doom coming to you. When you get an anxious mind, or you get depression, or anxiety, or any of those things, oh man, it works over. You absolutely cannot trust anything, any of your thoughts that are not biblical. You can't trust your feelings when you get into that place, because it's a place of absolute despair. Are you sure about that? Yeah, I can show you all through the Bible. Jeremiah, Elijah, Jonah, all these prophets, they went through the same thing. Same exact thing. And they were like, it's over. We're done. God forsook us. Why do you think that if we are men of like passions that we won't go through that? That we won't go through those downcast times? Because we are men of like passions, we're gonna have those times of despair and doubt and fear. We're gonna have that. I don't like it. Looking for a way around it maybe, but it doesn't happen. Right? You gotta go through it. But he says, for if our heart condemn us, well if our heart says, you're condemned, it's a lie. Says, God is greater than our heart. God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things. The written word is to be trusted, not your heart. But I like it when, look, look what he says here. This is important. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, so it's nice when it doesn't. I like that. John says, look, beloved, my loved, listen. If our heart condemn us not, God, if our heart condemn us not, he says, then we have confidence toward God. So, let me take that in the negative. What does that mean? That means if my heart is condemning me, listen, if my heart is condemning me, then I lose my confidence toward God. Because my heart is condemning me. Do you understand that? So when your confidence goes, your assurance goes, but your assurance is not your salvation. Your assurance is the comfortable experience of the Holy Ghost in your soul according and based on the Word of God and the Spirit bearing witness to that. But you know why you can never sink down into absolute despair? Because God says, wait, remember? Remember what happened? Remember when I saved you? When you're going through anxiety and depression and things like that, your mind, it can erase things. Like, I seriously, I can't forget the day I was saved and what the Lord did in my heart. And I can't, but my mind wants to forget a lot of things. It wants to forget everything that the Lord did. Like, when somebody tells me something good happened over the last 17 years, I'm like, it did? I know that sounds funny, but when you remind me of something like that, I rejoice in it, I thank God for it, but I can't access it. Does that make sense? I try to access it, and I want to access it, but my mind has a bias to tell me, no, it's not real. But it is real, and I know it is, not because of what I feel, but because of what I know. Do you see the difference? We have to get this down. Why? Because we are entering into dangerous times. Dangerous times. Dangerous times of delusion and deep fake delusions. Good sermon title. Coming soon. Right? Shameless plug. But we're coming into those times. We're here. Where your thoughts cannot be trusted. Where your feelings cannot be trusted. But the word of God must be trusted and believed. Let him stay upon his God. Right? Amen? Don't trust your feelings. Your heart can condemn you and you lose your confidence. So if you wonder sometimes, I've lost my confidence. I don't, I don't, I'm not as confident. Okay. Stay upon your God. He hasn't changed in the dark. He hasn't changed in the dark. He's still the same God. He hasn't changed any. Don't you worry about the way you feel. You just be faithful. Worry about the way you feel. Just keep going. Amen? Keep walking. Keep walking. All right. That's the opening, sort of. You ready? No, you're not ready? Well, hang on. You will be in a second. Answer your feelings with faith. The Bible says casting down imaginations. and every high thing. Faith is not just some abstract thing that floats around aimlessly. No, it's rooted and grounded in Christ. It's faith in a person, Christ. It's faith in a book, the word of God, Christ. Our word, right? That rule of faith of practice is Christ. He is our rule. He is our faith. So that I'm to cast down imaginations. We don't have the time to explore the vastness of the depravity of the black hole of your imagination. But it's deep. And it's dark. And it's evil. If you let it go. Listen. I know full well that you could sit in a room sometime and start getting your thinker messed up. And then your imagination starts adding to it. And pretty soon, you swear Ryan is Adolf Hitler. I mean, you just, you're just like, he just grew a beard, that's all it was. He's really him. He manufactured those dimples somehow, I don't know how he did it, but Ryan is Hitler. Alright, I got it pegged. And Scott... Scott is an assassin. He just has to be. Alright? Sharpshooting assassin, worked for the government. The secret's out. And Ryan's dad is the guy in the meme. He is the guy. He's the famous guy. Right? That's my imagination, brother! I had to cast it down! I know! I've said it so much, he believes it! See what I mean? See how it works? See how your imagination works? Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant example. But think about it though, that's how we do things though. Pretty soon Andrew, it's like, I don't know about Andrew, Dave, Dave might be part dragon, look at his feet. I mean, I know, but you're thinking about it, you're like, are you sure he's not part dragon? Like he's like hiding it in his coat and pretty soon, like you think he has a big back, but it's really wings that when he takes that shirt off, it's gonna be like. gonna fly and Becca's gonna jump on top and they're just gonna fly away like that's gonna happen sometime right but I know we're laughing we're making light about but it's true when your imagination gets taken off it can go anywhere that's why God says you cast that dirty thing down you put it down You'll start thinking about your friends and your neighbors and people, and you'll start, just like the experience we had the other day. I'm not gonna go into details, because this is a sermon, but listen. Just like the experience we had the other day with that situation. Somebody's imagination going off and not, and they don't have the ability to cast it down. And what happens? They do foolish things because they can't cast their imagination down. But we have Christ, and we can cast it down. We don't have to give over to our fears and paranoia and the spirit of fear, which we're going to talk about. No, because we have Christ and we can cast it down. We have the word of God, which is our authority, not our imaginations. Right? They never end the imagination. They just keep thinking of ways to exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. The Lord destroyed the earth for the imagination of their hearts were only evil continually. And what was happening? My personal belief is the fallen angels were working with them in their imaginations and developing things just like they are today. Just like they're developing things today that are very wicked. Very wicked things today that they're developing. Gene editing and writing things out of it and changing things and making two fathers and all this other kind of stuff. The serpent seed, everything else you can imagine, they're doing it now. Evolution. It's imaginary. Darwin made it up in his sick mind. He probably borrowed it from the Kabbalah. But anyway, that's the same spirit, right? The Lord destroyed the earth for that. So for what they imagined in their hearts, they eventually manifested in their works. What happened? Well, a certain situation that you and I are familiar with that just took place. Someone imagined that in their mind, and then they manifested it. That happened due to the imagination of the mind. That didn't happen randomly. They were rolling all that around. Stored it up for wrath, right? So, yeah, premeditated, that's right. Listen, the knowledge of God is not what I think God is saying. I want you to understand that. Like the word of knowledge the Charismatics have. I've got a word of knowledge for you. I've got one for you too. It's 2 Peter 1.18. And this voice which came from heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy mount. We have also more sure word of prophecy where unto you do well that you take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star rise in your hearts. The dark day shineth in a dark place. Hey, you know what you need when you're in a dark place? The light. The truth. Right? What happened to Christian? Do you see yonder light? I see it. Follow it. Stay on the narrow path. Right? Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scriptures of any private interpretation, why'd he say that? Well, because what God said from heaven, the voice of God from heaven, was consistent with his word. It wasn't contrary to it. So that voice said, this is my beloved son, hear ye him. What was God saying? God hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son. Right? That's what God said. So, I don't need a charismatic word of knowledge that speaks against the Bible, because if you have a vision that's according to the scriptures, then why do I need to hear it? Because it's already here. It's useless. If it's what God's already said, and it agrees with what God's already said, then you don't need to tell me it. It's right there. I don't need another witness to it. Right? Right. You can show us in the Word. You don't need to tell me what you feel. Right? At least, you just don't feel God. You just need to feel him. No, you just need to know him. Yeah? Oh yeah, you're gonna feel him sometimes, but sometimes you ain't. Sometimes you can be so blocked off from every sense that you have that you can't feel any love for anything. But you still have to practice love. Right? I don't feel like loving anybody. That don't make no difference at all. Does it? Sometimes I don't feel... You know what? Sometimes I don't feel like... Sometimes I don't feel like helping people. I'm serious. Sometimes I don't feel... When somebody tells me they hate my guts, sometimes I just don't feel like helping anybody. Because I don't feel like going out there and preach. Well, those people all hate my guts. I'm not even Northfield's favorite son anymore. I still am. I'm living in denial. That's my imagination. I think what I need is a t-shirt. With my picture on it right here it says Northfield's favorite son. And next year I'm gonna wear that. I'm waiting for the key to the city. Oh, that's terrible. But very witty. It's the Word of God, so that if my thoughts exalt themselves against the clear evidence of Scripture, I cast them down. And we always think that casting down is for perversion or something. But no, it's for doubts and fears. It's against the flesh. It's against the mind. It's against thoughts that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. You know what salvation is, you know when Jesus saved your soul, you know what the truth of the scripture is, you know what God says, so what do I, if any thought comes into my mind that is contrary to that, am I to accept it or am I to cast it down? I'm to cast it down. Why? Because it's exalting itself against what he said. The knowledge of God, the revealed will of God, the truth of the scriptures, I cast it down. I don't accept it. I shouldn't accept it. I should not entertain it. Right? Because in times of trial, one of the first attacks that Satan has is on your mind. And the first attack of that mind is what? You're not saved. You never were a Christian. It never was real. You're out of God's will. God doesn't love you. You're not real. You're false. Nothing ever happened. God never changed you. That's what happens. That's the first attack that Satan puts on your mind. And our flesh is all too willing to accept that when we are not doing what God wants us to do. Because our flesh is apt to fear. It's apt to fear, okay? But those doubts, if they're not cast down, they will grow and cause more grief and unbelief in the Christian life. So I check all my thoughts against the knowledge of God's word. Most doubts and fears are unfounded and from misapplied scripture. You do err not knowing the scriptures. That's what happens. We err and we think we know what the Bible says, then we realize, oh, that's not what it means. You ever done that? I've talked to people before. I've tried to counsel them before with some hardships and some things they're going through and everything else. And the things that are rolling around in their mind, I said, we'll just talk about them. So once they get them out and they start talking about it, I was like, well, that's not what it says. You just added that. And I find that my mind is all too willing to add things that God's word never said. Is it yours? We talked about those last week. Go back and listen to that sermon if you don't remember. It was like an hour and a half long. Listen to that one. In a depressed or anxious mind, or in spiritual darkness, we take everything and apply it to our situation. Oh, that must be me. I'm in trouble. No, you're not Elemaeus the Sorcerer, okay? Just stop applying that to yourself. Look at the facts. Right? But in your imagination, you're like, oh my goodness. You start thinking about that. And if you're in darkness, and your confidence is low, then you start accepting everything. Well, maybe God's allowing this because of this, and this, and this. Don't try to figure out the way that God deals with things. Stay on his word and trust it. If you try to trace God's dealings, you'll get discouraged. If you trace his promises, you'll be encouraged. If you focus on the promise and stay upon your God, God never said, try to figure out my dark counsels. What did he say? Let's look at Job. Man, this is good. It's gonna be three hours. Let's go. I was just kidding, Scott. Scott's like, is that guy serious? What's the matter with him anyway? What is this, marathon preaching? Hey, it's a two-for-one deal today, all right? I'm done. It's a special. Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Right? And you know what Job said at the end? Job answered the Lord and said, I know that thou canst do everything and that no thought can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that I understood not things too wonderful for me, which I knew not." In darkness you can't understand what God's doing. God never told you to understand what he was doing. He told you to believe him. Do you understand that? He never told you to understand what he was doing. Because his ways are above our ways, his thoughts are above our thoughts. We can't figure it out, man, you'll drive yourself nuts trying to figure out what God's, look at those three guys. You had Job and his three independent fundamental Baptist pastor friends, and what were they doing? Right? Right? Job and his three fundy pastor friends were all, and the three fundy pastor friends were just attacking Job like, Job, you're lost, clearly. Clearly, Job, the problem is you're just a wicked man. You're a hypocrite. You didn't give money to the poor. I don't know. You lied about something. I know you're lying, Job. I know you're lying. You're wicked as hell. Your kids were horrible. That's why God killed them all. Job, you're just a bad guy. Yeah, punching monkeys. What are you doing, Job? Right. Job's just putting his head down saying, miserable comforters are you all. You are horrible. Right? Job's like, couldn't go anywhere. He's like, Job said, if I were in your case, I could speak as you do. But I would not. I would assuage your grief. Didn't he say that? He said, I would comfort you. I wouldn't pour salt into your open wound. I wouldn't make you feel bad like you're doing to me. So, anyway, in darkness, don't try to figure out what God's doing. Just continue to obey him. I mean, if you're wrong about something, try to get it right. But when it's clearly not biblical, Don't try to start your own fire. Don't try to light the darkness up with your own fire, trying to mimic something or make something happen. Right? That's what happens to people. Well, maybe if I do this it'll go away, or maybe if I do this... No, in darkness and times like that, it's not going to go away until God shows you and teaches you what it is you have to learn. You keep trusting Him. You're not gonna be able to light a fire and be like, maybe I can get saved all over again. Don't work that way. Don't work that way. Right? Don't work that way. Don't. But then it'll make my mind feel better! Yeah, but then you're making a decision based solely on your happiness. Right, it's manufactured and your mind is trying to get you to manufacture something like that so you feel better. But if you have anxiety or depression or grief and you're stuck with it, you don't try to manufacture that to get out of that. Because you want something comfortable in your feelings, right? To make you feel better. But that won't work. It won't work. It won't change anything. That's the lie of Satan. So then you won't rest in Christ and you'll be afraid. It just brings up nervousness. And your mind is already nervous when you're in a case like that. Your heart is already nervous and anxious. It's already doing that. Right? Say, Pastor, how do you know? Because I'm living it. That's why. I fight it. I have to fight it. I have to get up and fight. Think about going through that, then going down there and going through all that! It's the grace of God! Because it's like, and there was war in the heavens. And I'm like, all this is flying, I'm like, oh man, this is crazy. Wouldn't have as bad as that Sodomite rally, though, a year ago. Oh my goodness, when I was at that, I literally felt like devils were going. Loser. And my mind was like going like this. It was like grabbing everything. And it was like overload, and I was like... So... But you have to believe God. Without faith it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. How do we diligently seek him? You say, well, have I done that? Well, not in your thoughts, friend. Here. I mean, your thoughts based on this and meditation and things like that, that's how we seek the Lord, but not in our minds like, well, have I sought God? Well, you're not going to float up to heaven. Okay? So it's God's word. God is practical. I seek God through his word. I seek God through praying. It's very practical. You tend to mystify it a little bit in your mind. Why? Because you want your senses to grasp something. But God never made that a qualification for anything. Right? I hope you're following me. The way the brain works can literally cut off your memories, I said that to you, and all the good that God has done. But we have to change our thinking, that's next. Next point, you have to change your thinking. Did you know your thinker can get broken? I didn't know that till it broke. Then I knew it. You have a cracked mind. You bet I do. But I figured out that the fall of man has an absolute effect on my mind. And I absolutely had to learn that the hard way. And not that I'm very happy about that, but I had to. That the fall of man, the fall of man on the mind, right, has an effect on your mind. Not just your body. You say, well, we die. We do die. That's our body. Everything's going to die besides the soul. But the thing is, is that you're a tripart being. And I am convinced that people in our generation in the last 100 years have not studied, Christians have not studied the intricacy of the three part of man. And that's a good reason why they deny the Trinity too, by the way. Because if you exalt one part, besides the new man, which should be exalted in Christ, right? But if you exalt one part and you ignore the other parts, then you lose sight of the way your mind works, and your body works, and your nervous system works, how everything works together. When God says we are flesh, we are flesh. We are, but we don't war in that flesh. We war in Christ. All that is from the fall. But some minds are worse than others because of anxiety and trauma, depression. Philippians 4, turn there please. Philippians 4.8. Finally, brethren. Whatsoever things are true, Man, that's the first thing. So what does that mean? It means that I should not meditate on things that are not true too much. So what does that mean? The works of darkness, I really shouldn't think about them a whole lot. Right? I really shouldn't think about them a whole lot. Abigail's cracking me up, I'm sorry. No, no, no, no, no, it's funny. I'm laughing because Abigail's like, and I'm like, that is too funny because she's so little and she's like, okay, anyway, sorry. I have attention deficit disorder sometimes too. I just, you know, I'm like the kids after, after a few minutes, I see something funny. I'm like, I'm not supposed to laugh at this at all. Like, how do you not laugh at that though? It's funny anyway. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest... Why? Because too much of a bad thing to think about? Too much darkness and negativity to think about? And bad, wicked things? Like these guys that storm the internet for all the wicked, vile things they can find and they want to talk about it in videos and they want to... And look where they end up. Take like the vigilant Christian and all these other guys. And Jared, the subway guy, and all those other guys, okay? They meditate on all this darkness and everything else, and where are they? Out of the will of God! They're not doing anything for God, and they're probably not even saved. Because all they think about is satanic blood sacrifice exposed. and they have no grounding in the faith. They have no grounding in the word of God. They're like a ship tossed to and fro out there. They have no, why? Because they've not meditated on Christ. They've not meditated on his word. And it's easy to get caught up in that. I almost got caught up in that. I almost got caught up in it myself and did somewhat, but was pulled back, disciplined, whooped all the way back. Amen? Thank God for it. What sort of things are honest? What sort of things are just? What sort of things are pure? What sort of things are lovely? What sort of things are of good report? If there be any virtue, moral purity, and if there be any praise, think on these things. What are those things, Christ? Christ is what? He is true. He is honest. He is just. He is pure. He is lovely. He is of good report. He is full of virtue and praise and deserves to be praised. Think on Christ in the dark. Think on Christ. Meditate on Him. Those things, yeah, you have to force it. You have to force it! What, it doesn't come automatically? No, you're wicked! It don't come automatically! What, I'm just being real, we're wicked! Our minds are falling, what do you mean, does it come automatically? No! It doesn't come automatically, you gotta practice it. You say, I don't like being told I'm wicked. Well, I'll tell you again, you're wicked. Right? Or is there something good about you besides Christ in you? Man, you walk up and ask a Christian, are you a good person? Nope. I got a great savior though. I ain't very good. Truth be known, when I think about myself, he's rotten. He said he was a good person? No. Bible says that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing that's why you must be born again you must have the new nature Christ must save your soul you know the only reason why I can do any good is because of Jesus in me and you'll realize that when you go through some darkness and depression and discouragement they like you'll it'll it'll come out to you like wow I mean, you realize that when you get saved, but you kind of forget it along the way. You kind of forget it along the way. Somewhat, sometimes. You have to correct yourself is the next thing. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him for the health of his countenance. There's three times a similar verse is there, but they're all different. They're all just a little bit different, or two of them, or one of them is different. One says the help and the health. Just meditate on that for a while. We have to go to the source and try to ask why. Don't let fear keep you from asking and then reasoning it out with logic. Your fears are irrational most of the time. Most of the time we say, oh, I must be lost. I must be what it is. Well, then ask, well, why? Why? Why do you condemn me? Let's look at the record. Well, I don't feel this way. Well, feeling has that. When you go to a judge and you say, well, here's the record, judge. Well, how do you feel about that record? How do you feel about that record? Does he ask you that? Well, Jacob, how do you feel about that crime you committed? How do you feel about it? Does the judge say that? No, did you do this? This is the record of what happened. Is this record true? Yes. Does it matter how you feel about it? That's a legal action. It's a judicial action that takes place. Now, I like it when my feelings feel good and all, but sometimes they won't. And if you're prone to melancholy, they won't a lot of times. But that doesn't change. That doesn't change the record. Right? It doesn't change the record. It's written down, amen? It's written down. Doesn't change the record. So we go to God's standard, God's word. We look to God's righteous standard alone for answers and for corrections and instructions and righteousness. Next, we take charge of our mental health and command our minds to remember some things. Right? Turn to 2 Peter 1.1. I'm gonna help you with something here. This is a mini sermon in another sermon, but it's only 11.45 and I still got some time left. And I'm not charging you for the mini-sermon inside the sermon. Isn't that great? I'll charge you as much as I did for the first one. Nothing. And you can pay me interest-free for 90 days. Well, if Giannis is taking the money, I want some of it. Giannis, I don't know what they paid you, but I want some. Second Peter, yeah, four easy payments of zero. Second Peter chapter one and verse number one. Now, I'm gonna help you with something. Please pay attention to this. I promise you, according to the scriptures, that this will help you a lot. Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith, with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. So it's through precious faith, through righteousness of God and our Savior. Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord. According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. Through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue. God called you to virtue. Amen. Whereby, now he's setting you up for something here. I want you to know that. Peter's setting you up. He's saying, all these promises were saved. These are promises. So Peter first gets us to focus on the saved people and their promises of God. If you've never been born again, then you can't claim that. But when you came by simple faith to Christ, then he saved your soul. And guess what? These are your promises. The ability to be able to do any of this is because of the Spirit of God. A lost person has no ability to do this. They cannot do it. You can only do it by the power of the Spirit. Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises. They are great and they are precious. That by these, by what? By these promises, ye might be partakers of the divine nature. What is the divine nature? Christ in us, the Holy Spirit. Right? Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. I can look at that. I've escaped the corruption of the world through lust. It doesn't have the hold on me. Right? All right. Here he goes. This is it. And beside this, How do I, how do I do this? Listen, and beside this, giving all diligence. Now here's where your part comes in. Yep. All the babies are speaking today. Prophesying among us today in unison all over. Singing a chorus. Perfected praise, that's right. Right? But I want you to know, and I have it on record, that I'm not a fundamental Baptist preacher, and no baby has ever out-preached me. I want you to understand that. I want you to understand that very clearly. There has not been a baby that has out-preached me. I will keep going, and I... My forehead is harder than their baby forehead. Alright? They have a soft spot, and I lost mine a long time ago. Through many boards being broken over my head. and many beatings along the way. So I'm ready to give all diligence to this too, okay? Diligence, steady application in business of any kind. Constant effort to accomplish what is undertaken. Exertion of body or mind without unnecessary delay or sloth. Due attention. Half the problems of Christians today is because they're lazy. Listen to me, half of your spiritual problems is because you're too lazy, you're not diligent, you're not working, you're not diligent. And I don't mean working, doing stuff, I mean on your faith. Diligence, due diligence, exertion of mind. So then I literally have to take my mind that's trying to work against me, Brother Joshua, and I have to exert it on what the Bible's telling me to exert it on. Why? Because it wants to do the other thing. It wants to worry, fret, fear, be depressed, be down, be discouraged, give up. So what do I have to do? I have to exert it the other way. I have to give due diligence the other way. I have to, right? I have to. So you give all diligence, right, to add to your faith virtue, moral purity. Moral purity, it's an energy. But I have to add it. And to virtue, knowledge. I have to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I add knowledge to it, right? I study to show myself approved unto God, a workman that did not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Then I add to that knowledge temperance so I don't take my Baptist bazooka out and blow somebody away. Right? I have to temper that. And I need temperance for myself in all situations. Like when somebody comes to rail on you and try to devour you. We have to be temperate. Self-control. Spirit control. Not lose it. Right? And to temperance, patience. Patience. Patience in tribulations. Patient in trials. Right? Patients when babies don't stop crying. Right, Janice? See? All I hear is her going... That's so cute. But... Hey, I'd rather have a whole room full of them doing that than not have them here. They're alive. You know why they don't have very many in other churches? Because they're aborting them. And they're not having them. And they're taking birth control so they don't have any. And they curse the heritage of the Lord. So let them wail if they have to. And to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness. Patience. It's that hard. Let patience have her perfect work, that she may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. Right? Patience. Patience. Now, pay attention to this, and to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, charity. Right? That's love. What does the Bible say about charity? It is the bond of perfectness, completeness, maturity. Charity, when you are able to be charitable in situations that don't warrant human charity, human kindness, but it is the ability, the grace of God to be able to Exercise that charity when it is necessary. Right? When it is needed. Now watch, because this is the important part right here. This is the reason why your minds can stay unsettled and not be settled, or your heart not be settled. Look what he says here. For if these things be in you and abound, Remember, you're told to add them, so it's like, well, I'm not saved because I don't have them. No, you ain't adding them. You're being lazy. You're not adding them. You're not practicing them. Well, I thought I would just naturally be a warm, lovable fuzzball. Well, I thought Aaron would be too, but... I told them, I told Andrew that last night. I said, Andrew, I'm such a warm, lovable fuzzball. I don't know why these people don't like me. I'm just like a teddy bear. And then, but then I guess I was a grizzly bear last night. Oh, that's funny. For if these, for if these things be in you and abound, and abound, You know what it means to abound, right? It's like a fruitful harvest. Abounding. Always abounding in the work of the Lord. Right? Abasing, abounding, but abound with these graces. They make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Barren or unfruitful. So if you're not doing that, you're not going to produce the fruit that you should. But he that lacketh these things, listen, this is where it is, listen, but he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off. Well, right about now, if you have a depressed mind, you think, that means I'm lost, that's what it's saying. No, that's not what it's saying. Because if you read the entire text, that's not what he says. He said, but he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off and hath forgotten. That he was purged from his old sins. You forgot! You let it slip in your mind and you forgot! How does that happen? It can happen easily. Fear. Forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. But he that lacketh these things, right? He can't see. You're not focusing on adding. Literally, if I'm not focusing on adding these things, I'm going to sink into despair. I'm going to get discouraged. I'm going to get down. I'm going to stay down because I'm not abounding. All of these things are exercises of grace that serve others. And they exalt Jesus. And we're not exalting Christ and serving others. And we have this hyper morbid focus on ourselves. Again, we're not much to think about. We really shouldn't continue to do that. But he is everything to think about. He is altogether lovely. That's right. The fairest of 10,000. I can forget that I was purged from my old sins. How could anybody forget that? Because the mind has to be exercised. It has to be focused at different times. It must be worked out. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. But see, you like the first part, or the second part, for it is God which worketh in you, but you don't want to work it out of you. Well, I don't have to do that. Oh yes, you do. Because your senses get dull when you don't. Spiritual senses, they get dull. He says, wherefore the rather brethren, now how do we do this? Listen closely to this. Wherefore the rather brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure. Okay, stop there for a second, because here's what happens to us. Well, we're supposed to give, there he says diligence again. Do attention. What does he say? He says, give all diligence, right? Give that due attention of mind, that exertion of mind to make your calling and election sure. Well, how do I do that? Not by rolling around in your mind about all the thoughts and doubts and fears and everything else and focusing on all the darkness and all the doubts that you have and all the fears and anguish and heartache and pain and suffering and everything that you're going through and every doubtful thing in your mind. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. See, that's what you're doing and that's why you ain't getting healing. That's why you're not getting the grace to get through it, or you feel more despair, because you ignored the whole thing. How do I do that? He just told you. He just told you how to do that. How do I give diligence to make my calling and election sure? Let's go back up again and read it. What does he say? He says, besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, right? Godliness, brotherly kindness, charity. Well, how do I make my calling and election sure? How does my assurance grow? That way. Not this way. That way. You add to your faith. You work on it. You mean just thinking about it, being depressed about it, and doubting it, and fearing it, and trying to figure it all out, and going around like a squirrel in a cage, and continue to run around? That's not going to do it? No, it's not. He just told you how to do it. He said how you build your faith. He just told you how to do it. He just told you how to grow in that, to make your calling and election sure. He said do it that way. Well, look what he says. For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because that's your fear. Your fear is that you're going to be barren and unfruitful. So what does he say? But he that lacketh these things is blind, cannot see far off, right? Verse 10, wherefore the rather. No, don't do that. Don't, don't do that. Give diligence to make your calling and election sure. Okay, so what is he saying? Watch this. Focus your mind on this, not on that. Make sense? You got the wrong focus. Your focus is on the way that you feel. Focus on your faith. Focus on adding to your faith. Change your thinking. Change the object of your thought process. You literally have to actively do that. Now, sometimes it comes automatically. I mean, for some people it's easier than others. They don't have that kind of mind. You know, some people, and by the way, this is not a slight, so do not take it that way when I say this. Some people are very simple-minded. I don't mean they're dumb, okay? I mean that they're just very simple-minded. Well, that's what it says, that's what I believe, that's it. And they don't really think a lot farther into that. I find that those type of people do not deal with the same doubts and fears and things that others do. I can give you an example of that. Like my old pastor, I got saved in his ministry. I know the preacher was preaching, an evangelist, but I got saved in his ministry. And he was like, well, I don't ever really have doubts. But if you read, if you sat underneath his preaching, he was very simple. His sermons were very simple. He was very simple-minded. He was very just, this is the way it is, that's the way it is. Let's go soul winning. Yeah, but his mind was geared more towards that. Where others may have a mind that more travels and looks into things a little bit deeper. Now that guy, he didn't really preach any deep sermons ever that I ever heard when I sat or anything. I wasn't saved very long when I was there, but he really didn't. In fact, he was really a good church planner to start churches and then leave because he only had a little bit to say. And once he was done saying it, you heard it already. And I'm not making fun of him. He's in heaven, I thank God for him. I wouldn't be saved if it wasn't for God using that man and him starting that church and me being there. And neither would my wife, and neither would Rachel, neither would many of you that got saved under this preaching. So we thank God for him, okay? But the point is, is that he is very simple. Now if you have a mind like that, that's a good thing, because you're not gonna torture yourself as much as a lot of other people do, right? But that's a good thing. That doesn't mean you're not saved because you're not full of doubts and fears all the time. It just means that your mind works very simply and you don't have to worry about that. It doesn't really affect you like that, which is good in that sense. But we have to give due diligence. How do I do that? Just like you were instructed to do, just like you were told you can't be slothful, you can't be lazy. Right? What does he say here in verse 11? For so an entrant shall be ministered unto you abundantly. into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Wherefore, I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things. Now, class, why does he have to put us in remembrance? I mean, we, Ryan, you know these things. Scott, you know these things. Jacob, you know these things, right? Dave, you know these things, right? Andrew, you know these things. We forget. Yep, I'm good. We forget. Every day. Every day. Sorry. I can't forget that guy. Was he heckling you or who was that? That was funny. Anyway. Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know them, and be established in the present truth. You're establishing it and things are going good right now, praise the Lord, but I'm gonna keep reminding you because there's gonna come a day it ain't gonna. There's gonna come a day you're gonna walk outside and your whole world's gonna fall down around you and you're gonna be like, what happened to me? I have no, like I can't stabilize, I have no stability. My mind is just like everywhere, right? That's okay, don't fear. Christ is still the same, he hasn't changed. He will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Though He hides His smiling face behind a cloud, it's still smiling. It's still there. Trust in the promises of God. Don't try to trace the works. Just trust the promises and keep going. Trust the record that God has given of His only begotten Son. Stay the course. Stay in the ship. Stay upon your God. Wait. You know what? Through all this, what God always brings out to me? Wait. Lord, Been waiting a while. Just wait. Horse. It's been a while. Wait. Wait. It's like, let you stay upon your God, you wait. Right? Shall renew their strength, right? And I have strength every morning to rise again, that's by the grace of God. What does he say, though? He says, yea, I think it meet as long as I am in this tabernacle. Here we go, here's the second one. Remember and stir it up. He says to stir you up by putting you in remembrance. How do we do that? We go over the same gospel truth. We go over the same truths of the scriptures. We go over the same promises of God. We rehearse those same promises of God over and over. Why? Because you're stubborn as a mule, that's why. We are stubborn. We are stubborn. Right? It's true. He says that. He says, as long as I am in this tabernacle, I got to remind you. Why? Because Peter forgot. See, Peter knew that once you forget, oh, you know the importance of reminding people. Right? As a preacher, Peter did. Peter forgot. He got hooked up with the Judaizers. He was getting a little wonky for a while. He was hanging out with the Hebrew Roots guys. Right? And God, and Paul came up to him through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost and stood him to his face and Peter's like, whoa, what was I doing? And Peter repented, got it right. And he reminded him. He uses that. Now I want to deal with the last portion of text here, and Lord willing, we're done. 2 Timothy 1. In this four-part series in two messages. Right, Erica? Four-part series? Who is it? Carly's usually the one that laughs when I say, on acts, when I'm like, I'm going to get through such and such verses, and she's like, yeah, right. I think we'll finish this chapter. Yeah, right. Okay, I want to help you with an application from the scriptures of somebody who was depressed. A servant of the Lord. 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse number 1. A New Testament example here. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God accorded the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus. Notice that Paul, he starts out with the promises of God. Why? Because he's reassuring Timothy of some things. You don't ever think about that. We don't ever look at the background. We just read it. Well, why is Paul starting out like this? We don't even think about it. We just read it. Oh, that's nice. But we don't think of the context of what's going on. There's a context here. Paul is dealing with something. Most of the time, these letters that go back and forth are dealing with things. not just for our admonition, but at the time and also for future. Right? It really seems from what we're going to read here that Timothy is the one, you know, Paul is in prison at this time. Paul says, I am the prisoner of the Lord, but Timothy sounds more like the prisoner than Paul. Because if you look at Timothy, what Paul is saying to Timothy, Timothy sounds like he's in a prison of depression and doubt and discouragement. Because he is. Timothy, Paul is trying to reassure Timothy and to comfort him. Timothy's a very young preacher and a worker for the Lord and he's rattled and shaken with fear because number one, Paul's in prison. The great apostle to the Gentiles thrown into prison and he and Timothy are afraid. And Timothy is afraid. Read the context, verse number two, to Timothy, my dearly beloved son. So Paul is expressing, look Timothy, I love you, don't forget, I love you, okay? Grace, mercy, and peace, those all come from God. From God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. What is Paul doing? He's assuring his anxious mind of God's grace and Paul's love for him. that much grace, mercy, and peace would be on him at this time in his life. Look at verse three, I thank God whom I serve for my forefathers with pure conscience. Look what he says, that without ceasing, I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy. So Timothy He's an emotional wreck at that point. He's depressed. He's discouraged. He's down. Right? Paul says, my conscience is clear. I want you to know I'm praying for you. I pray night and day for you, my son, that God would be with you. Timothy, his desire is to see Paul, to be encouraged. Right? Because he's hurting. And he wants to see Paul, because Paul's his mentor. Paul was like his father. Okay? And he was the spiritual father of the faith. So he starts to encourage Timothy to exercise his faith. He's reminding him of the rich heritage and faith that's in him and that was in his family before. Look at verse five. When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee. He said, Timothy, I've seen the faith of God in you. I've seen it in you. It's not fake. Unfeigned, right? It's not fake faith, Timothy. It's real. I've seen it. There's nothing wrong with you encouraging people as they are serving the Lord, encouraging them that you can see the growth and grace in their life. There's nothing, it's not, oh, I'm gonna give them false assurance. No, you're not, you can't give them assurance, only God can, but what you can do is comfort them, and you should encourage them when they're sad and they're broken down, it's not the time to say, well, maybe you're not saved, you wicked devil, that's what your problem is. That's not a good way to encourage them, is it? Probably not, probably, probably not. Because remember, Timothy's not living in sin here. He hasn't walked away from God, he's not living in wickedness, and you're not comforting somebody that's living in sin, right? He's somebody that's downcast, he's discouraged, he's depressed, right? He said, when I called remembrance, the unfeigned faith that is in thee. He's saying, Timothy, I remember your faith. I see it, I see the evidence of it in your life, and I remember all those evidences of your faith when I was with you. He says, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice." He said, your grandma, that she had the same faith, and your mother. Don't forget how God saw them through all their trials, Timothy, that God kept them all. He said, and I am persuaded that in thee also. He said, I'm persuaded, Timothy, that that same faith is in you, that God's gonna work it out for you, God's gonna strengthen you. He said, I'm convinced it is in you. too, that God will see you through all these things, all the anxiousness of your mind, the depression, the fear that sweeps over your soul. But he gives him some instructions. He says again, the second time we see it in the Bible, stir it up. He says in verse six, wherefore I put thee in remembrance, Timothy. I need to remind you of something, Timothy. I've got to remind your discouraged and depressed heart and your doubtful heart, remember that thou stir up. the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. Stir it up, Timothy! You gotta stir it up! You mean it doesn't just come natural? No, the sediments tend to settle at the bottom. Don't they? The sediments, they settle at the bottom. So what do you have to do? You gotta stir them up. Right? You know how when you make a glass of Nesquik, And that, and that chocolate always goes to the bottom. You ever had that happen, Dave? That chocolate always sits at the bottom. So you got, what do you got to do with it? You got to stir it up. Otherwise you have like, you're drinking like chocolate at the end of it. It's kind of weird. I mean, what? That's the only thing I could think of, but look, just be happy that I remember a memory from my kid, my childhood. Okay. That I like Nesquik and that's right. It is. I do remember Tang and NASA for some reason. Triggered. I'm just kidding. Flat Earth. So, stir it up, he says. By way of remembrance. Stir up the gift of God. He says, I put thee in remembrance. It's time to focus on what God has done in your life, Timothy. Regardless of your circumstances, God has still wrought amazing things in your life. Stir it up, just like Peter said. You gotta stir it up. God then he goes on to say this Timothy for God has not given us the spirit of fear fear bring it to your remembrance because God didn't give you the spirit of fear well for all of us We would do well to remember the same thing. Some may have interpreted this before as if Paul was saying, well, Timothy, if you have the spirit of fear, then you're not a child of God. That isn't what he said there. See, you just added that. You added that in your mind, and you accepted that as truth, but that's not what it said. He just said, Timothy, what you're feeling in your mind is not from God. That's what he said. He didn't say anything else. He didn't say anything else. He didn't say, if you're afraid, then you're not saved. That's not what he said. Your mind added that, and Satan helped you. But that's not what God's word said. That's not at all what it said. He said, God hath not given us the spirit of fear. It doesn't come from God. Now, that's a positive. Why is that a positive? Because now I can identify it. Wait a minute. God didn't make me afraid. God's not the one trying to make me doubt and fear after he's already established his word in me. Well, then who is? Well, who do you think is? Your own mind and Satan and whoever else is helping him, right? Your interpretation is wrong. because the context is by way of encouragement, not to give into that spirit. He's telling them, don't you give into that, that's not from God. He was afraid, yeah, and Paul was trying to comfort him, not disown him. Wasn't trying to tell him, it's because you're not really saved, Timothy, that's your problem. Why is he reminding him of his faith? Because he's giving into doubt. He's giving into fear. He's giving into those things. And he's saying, no, no, no, Timothy, don't do that. That's not from God. That's not how God works. That's not how he works. God doesn't want you to be afraid. Right? Fear not, he says to his saints, always. The context is by way of encouragement. that when it comes over us, it is not of God, but it is of the world, the flesh, and the devil. He is not saying that Christians don't ever become fearful. How do you know that? Well, because it's not consistent with Bible application, that's why. How do I know that? Well, Psalm 56.3, what time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. Doesn't say, well, if you ever get afraid, Which would be fine, too, actually. But what it does say is, what time I am afraid. So now we have to take that, the negative, or the positive, whichever way you look at it. Then there is a time that I'll be afraid. I don't have to be, but there will be a time that I am. And I must trust in thee. That's it. David is making a declaration here. That's not, do you see that? What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. Why? Because he was afraid. That's what he's saying. He's saying, I was afraid. So I said, I will trust in thee. I'm declaring that what time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. He's exercising his mind and he's saying, I'm going to do that. Does that make sense? If you're never afraid, there would be no time to exercise faith. That dispels another wrong interpretation of your mind that you can apply to the text. Paul is teaching young, fearful, and depressed or anxious Timothy, thy fear is not from God. Your doubts and fears, they're not from God. Paul knew something about this fear as well. When he went to Corinth in the flesh, he may have been somewhat a nervous man, no doubt due to what the trauma that happened to him. But he reprimands Timothy here, because he reminds him that God didn't give him that spirit. So he is sort of reprimanding him, but he's doing it very gently. And he says in 1 Corinthians 2, 3, so Paul has some experience. He says, and I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. Well, I've been there. I know what that's like. I've come up to this pulpit in weakness and fear and in much trembling. I've been in that office right there on the floor and had to be prayed up. Literally. I'm not kidding you. Before I preached. I know what he's talking about. 2 Corinthians 7, 5. For when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side. Without were fightings, within were fears. Oh, that never happens to those guys. They were like supermen. They never had any problems. That's because you don't read the Bible in that context. You haven't had to see that yet. But when you can't get up off the floor, when you can't lift your head up, when you have to be peeled up by a spiritual spatula just to stand, then you will accept it and say, there are some really weak and feeble men in the Bible that God had to strengthen, that sometimes they were mighty and other times they were flat on their face. discouraged, depressed, down, fearful, ready to give up at least a thousand times. So that sounds like Paul, but he said, God doesn't give us the spirit of fear, but of power. Now in the reverse of this, I want you to think about this. What he's saying is, God didn't give you the spirit of fear, he gave you a spirit of power. Right? Power to tread on serpents. Power over the flesh. Power over the fear. He gave you a spirit of power. That's what he gave you. Now, like those sons of thunder, you know not what manner of spirit you're of. Let's use that in the negative for a second and say, well, you don't understand that you've been given, or the positive, you don't understand what spirit you've been given. So Paul's like, I'm going to remind you, Timothy, you've been given a spirit of power. You will still have to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. And that fear may stay with you due to the nature of the temperament that you have, but you must not give into it. Don't look at somebody else because, look, some of us are more melancholy than others. Sometimes people go through fits of depression. Spurgeon called it fainting fits. But sometimes you go through those. Sometimes you have those all the way through their whole life. That's just their temperament. Well, know thyself. Understand that that's the way that your mind works. If it does work that way, if it's naturally that way, bent towards that, then understand that and then learn to deal with yourself accordingly. So you have to fight that and you have to guard yourself against that and understand that that's my temperament. Don't look at somebody else and say, well they're always like jolly all the time and jumping up and down and well in front of everybody they are. They may not actually be that way though. I've seen a lot of people that aren't really like that. But anyway, maybe they are. Maybe they are like that. The sun's always shining for them every day. Okay, maybe. Maybe it is. Praise God for that. I'm glad. We need people like that to encourage us. You people that are like that, you come along and you encourage people that aren't. You use that light that God has given you to shine it on them and be an encouragement to them. Instead, don't look at them and think contempt to them like, what's wrong with those losers? Why do they always feel bad? Why don't you smile, you loser? What's the matter with you? You must not be saved. You never smile. You're never happy. No, encourage them. Encourage them! Right? Be an encouragement to them. Come up to them and say, hey, I'm praying for you. Right? Encourage them in whatever they're doing, or whatever their challenges are, whatever they're facing. Be an encouragement to them. Hey, God's going to see you through. This is great. God's using this as a test of faith for you. You keep going. You keep fighting the good fight of faith. Hey, by the way, let me ask you a question. What is fighting the good fight of faith? It's against doubt! That's the fight of faith! Well, that's too practical, preacher. You're not a very smart preacher. I mean, you're not very deep, right? I know, it's simple. It's so simple I can't even understand it, right? I like that. I like that it's so very simple, but how is it that some of you that are maybe a theologian's a step higher than me didn't see that? Because you have to experience it. Fighting the fight of faith is against doubt. It's against fear. That's what it is, right? Peter, before he received the Holy Ghost, was afraid to die. So he lied. But after he walked in the Spirit, after he had the Holy Spirit, he was ready to die, wasn't he? Now, at salvation, we receive the Holy Ghost, but that doesn't change our flesh. We still have fallen flesh. You ever been sorely reminded of that? Just me, or been reminded? Oh, it's still with me. So Timothy was thinking in the flesh that he must fight all of this in the flesh, and he forgot about the Holy Ghost. So Paul reminds him, no, you've been given a spirit of power. But you've also been given a spirit of love. Why is that there? Because the problem of fear is self. We are consumed with self. Exactly. We are consumed with self. Matthew 22, 37, Jesus said unto them, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbors thyself. Now why are those two, on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets? Why did he say that? Because here's the thing, exactly, because the first command is toward God. But how will my neighbor ever know I love God if I don't love them? So I can exercise love to my neighbor. Why? Because I love God. And he loves me. And he loved me first. Right? So then I can love others. So what is the spirit of love? It's the spirit that you're supposed to walk in. Be consumed with love for the Lord Jesus Christ. Learn to love him more and more. And I can love him because he first loved me. Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. So here's the greatest way to show my love for Christ is to obey him. Not the voices in your head, not thoughts that you have, not things that are contrary to the Bible. Him. I obey Him by obeying His Word, and continuing on to love my neighbor as myself. I follow what is written in God's Word, not my feelings, not my thoughts, not my fears, but the written Word of God. I'm to stir it up in my mind and heart, love for God and love for others, doing for others, being spent for others, giving our lives to the Lord. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee a-hungered, and fed thee, or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in, or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the king shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of my brethren, ye have done it unto me. So then what do I do? How, Lord, I can't do that for you physically now. No, no, you can. You do it for each other. Right? By this shall all men know that you're my disciples, if you have love one to another. That's how you show God how much you love him. You love each other. You become a servant. Loving God is obedience to his word. Look, don't try to mystify it into something else. No, I just have this complex thing in my mind and my thoughts will go all over. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Love to God is shown by love to others. That's how all men will know. It's the identifier. I can love you because I have been loved. Right? But you grow in that love, okay? So understand that. If you've never been to a local church and never in a true local church and never... You learn to love. You learn to love. Don't you? You learn to bear, to be long-suffering, to bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. You learn to put up with your pastor. And he learns to put up with you. Right? But we learn to love each other. And people won't understand that love. They'll look at it and be like, you guys are a cult. There's something wrong with you. No, there's something right. And it's the only thing that's right! Christ in you, the hope of glory. Amen? By the way, that love is not... Here's what you want to think love is. Well, love means I feel good about everything. Well, that's what they say. That's like saying pizza is pizza. It is pizza, but I mean, they don't... And love is love, right? No. It doesn't mean you're always gonna feel good about it. Does it? Does it feel good to deny your flesh? Does it feel good to be ridiculed, reproached, told how hated you are? Like last night? Look at me. Everybody hates you. Nobody likes you. Why don't you get out of here? Right? Singing songs about killing us. Right? And dancing. And drawing pentagrams. The flesh wars against the spirit and hates self-denial. So then love to the Lord, love to thy neighbor. Self-denial for the depressed or anxious mind is to obey Christ's commands and to love our neighbors, to love the brethren, obey the commandments of God. That's what it is, right? Okay, I'm almost done here. Let me read you these verses and we're getting out of here. All right, here we go. Scott's getting hungry. I gotta get moving. Right, Scott? You're getting a little bit hungry. self-control, temperance, disciplined, and a balanced mind. What's left? He said, the spirit of love and of power and of a sound mind. And I thank God that's the spirit he gives us, because I don't always have it. So I have to focus on that, right? You have to focus on that new man, right? Because your mind is broken with the fall. And with other things that happen later on, the effects of the fall. So we've been given the spirit. What does that mean for sound mind? What does that mean? It means that we have been given the spirit for proper judgment, not paranoia, not to be taken by fear. So we, through the spirit, are able to mortify the deeds of the flesh and the mind when it wishes to fill us with terror and irrational fear. We have the ability, through the word of God and the Holy Ghost, to be able to say, nope, that's not true, because my absolute authority is this book. God's word didn't say that. Or, like Satan will misapply scripture, I have to be careful not to do that either. To my mind and judge myself outside of what God has already said in His Word. That's back to your heart condemning you. So what does he say to Timothy? He says, Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor me of his prisoner. But be thou a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God, who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. So then you must actively remember the works of God. Force yourself. Rehearse them. Stir up the gift. He says again, this second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance. That's another context of that. Reminding us of the promises of God to defeat the depression of mind and anxiety and other things of that nature. That's what we have to do. We also have to renew our mind. Daily. Renew it. He says, and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. How do I get the mind of Christ? It's right there. You have the Spirit of Christ in you, but it's right here. This is how the mind is cultivated. This is how the new man grows. We're done, but let me ask you a question. Is this what you think? That, well, I have the new man in me, so I don't have to really do anything. He's already there. Well, if you sow into the flesh, what are you going to do? If you sow into the spirit, what are you going to do? So, if I feed the flesh, you're going to get fat. If you feed the spirit, it's going to get fat. Right? Strength. Strong. But you can't think in your mind that, well, I can just abide and coast in this Christian life. No, you have to desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. You've got to taste and see that the Lord is good. You've got to feed on the milk and the meat of the word. You've got to continue to grow in the grace and knowledge. And how do you do that? I already told you. Go back and listen to it. That's how you do it. And you have to continue to do it because it's a war. And it's a war for your mind and heart. And you've got to trust the Lord through it. And you've got to feed your soul. You have to. There's no coasting in this Christian life. There's war. Right? Amen. All right. Father in heaven, Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for all you do for us. Thank you for your protection, your guidance, and your direction. Please bless this food to our bodies. Bless the time we have together. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.