WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.680 Today we are going to take a posture of peace by uprooting unbelief. 2 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:11.920 Posture is a short audible fist bump to remind you God is with you in everything. 3 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:16.720 Together we're going to be emboldened to take a daily posture of perfect peace. 4 00:00:21.120 --> 00:00:27.920 John chapter 16 verse 33. I know that it is a scripture I've mentioned many times before 5 00:00:27.920 --> 00:00:38.000 in past episodes. This is a truth that I planted deep, deep in my heart a few years ago during one 6 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:46.560 of the hardest seasons of my life. And at that time it was not a truth that I trusted. But I 7 00:00:46.560 --> 00:00:51.920 believe that in his goodness and in his faithfulness, Holy Spirit led me to that particular 8 00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:59.360 truth during that particularly hard time of my life, not to taunt me with it, not to chastise 9 00:00:59.360 --> 00:01:07.440 me with it, but so that he could lead me in it and teach me to trust it. So today I'm reading 10 00:01:07.440 --> 00:01:13.840 that scripture, John 16, 33, and I'm reading it from the Passion Translation today. Jesus said, 11 00:01:14.480 --> 00:01:24.080 and everything I've taught you is so that the peace which is in me will be in you 12 00:01:25.360 --> 00:01:35.120 and will give you great confidence as you rest in me. For in this unbelieving world, 13 00:01:35.680 --> 00:01:47.440 you will experience trouble and sorrows, but you must be courageous for I have conquered the world. 14 00:01:49.360 --> 00:01:57.920 I know that some of you today are experiencing those sorrows, that trouble that Jesus mentioned 15 00:01:57.920 --> 00:02:07.520 here. And because of it, you may be wrestling with doubt, unbelief, maybe fear. And you may 16 00:02:07.520 --> 00:02:14.560 be tempted to believe that the trouble and the sorrow you're facing right now is proof that God 17 00:02:14.560 --> 00:02:20.720 doesn't love you or that he doesn't care for you. And that kind of belief, it may be very obvious 18 00:02:20.720 --> 00:02:23.760 to you. Like you might be like, yeah, that's totally what I'm struggling with right now. Like 19 00:02:23.760 --> 00:02:31.360 I don't believe God cares about me. Or for some of you, it may be more subtle. It may be buried 20 00:02:31.360 --> 00:02:40.720 deep under feelings of anxiety or anger or disappointment or despair, things that you feel 21 00:02:40.720 --> 00:02:47.600 very deeply, but you don't know how to articulate. And I was more of the latter. I was feeling all 22 00:02:47.600 --> 00:02:56.240 the feels in that hard, hard season, not knowing, really not being willing to admit that I didn't 23 00:02:56.240 --> 00:03:02.880 believe God cared about me. Because what good Christian in her right mind wants to admit that 24 00:03:02.880 --> 00:03:09.600 she doesn't believe God is telling the truth about his unfailing love, that she doesn't believe he is 25 00:03:09.600 --> 00:03:15.920 who he says he is. I mean, I didn't want to admit that, but the reality was the very root of all of 26 00:03:15.920 --> 00:03:28.240 my angst in that hard season was unbelief and specifically God does not care. And it's so 27 00:03:28.240 --> 00:03:38.480 important to acknowledge and uproot unbelief, not bury it, not live unaware of it, not ignore it, 28 00:03:38.560 --> 00:03:47.760 because unbelief always disempowers us. Unbelief keeps us stuck. It keeps us in the dark and it 29 00:03:47.760 --> 00:03:57.040 keeps us blinded to the truth. I mean, look, look all throughout scripture and see what unbelief 30 00:03:57.040 --> 00:04:04.080 did to people. It kept an entire generation out of the promised land. It kept nations in bondage. 31 00:04:04.080 --> 00:04:12.480 It forfeited birthrights and inheritances. It blinded people to the Messiah, Jesus Christ, 32 00:04:12.480 --> 00:04:20.000 even though he stood right in front of them, fulfilling every single prophecy and performing 33 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:27.760 miracles that no human could ever pull off. Unbelief is a big deal. So we have to, we have 34 00:04:27.760 --> 00:04:34.320 to expose it. We have to uproot it from our hearts and minds and we have to guard against 35 00:04:34.320 --> 00:04:42.720 unbelief. So I want to ask you a question and take your time answering it. Think about this today 36 00:04:44.240 --> 00:04:52.160 because I want you to answer it honestly. Do you believe God cares about you? 37 00:04:52.160 --> 00:04:59.120 I'm not asking if you know it. Like I knew what the Bible said. I'm asking 38 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:10.440 you believe it. Do you believe God cares about you? Do you believe that God will 39 00:05:10.440 --> 00:05:19.480 care for you? Do you believe that he loves you? I want to share this truth 40 00:05:19.480 --> 00:05:24.920 today not to pep you up but to set you free. 41 00:05:24.920 --> 00:05:34.000 Jesus said, everything I've taught you is so that the peace which is in me will 42 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:44.400 be in you and will give you great confidence as you rest in me. He said in 43 00:05:44.400 --> 00:05:52.440 this unbelieving world you will experience troubles and sorrows but you 44 00:05:52.440 --> 00:05:59.120 must be courageous. He said, I have conquered the world and you might be 45 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:03.480 tempted to say in your own hurt and pain right now, well that proves nothing and 46 00:06:03.480 --> 00:06:13.080 I'm here to tell you friend, it proves everything. God owed us nothing and yet 47 00:06:13.080 --> 00:06:22.480 he gave us everything. He gave us himself. He gave us his victory. Sorrows 48 00:06:22.480 --> 00:06:29.320 and troubles are not proof that God does not care. They're just proof that we live 49 00:06:29.320 --> 00:06:37.760 in an imperfect world and they prove our deep longing for perfection and that's a 50 00:06:37.760 --> 00:06:45.480 longing only a perfect God can satisfy and he knew it and he decided to come 51 00:06:45.480 --> 00:06:54.320 and give us himself. Troubles and sorrows are the perfect proving ground for God's 52 00:06:54.320 --> 00:07:00.880 care and they are the perfect proving ground for our trust in God's care 53 00:07:00.880 --> 00:07:05.520 because it's here and the troubles and sorrows where we can practice our peace 54 00:07:05.520 --> 00:07:11.240 where we can practice our confidence in him where we can practice our joy our 55 00:07:11.240 --> 00:07:17.080 courage it's here in the midst of troubles and sorrows where we can be 56 00:07:17.080 --> 00:07:25.720 empowered and emboldened and equipped by experiencing Jesus's perfect victory 57 00:07:25.720 --> 00:07:34.480 over this imperfect world. The promise of perfect peace is found in Isaiah 26 3 in 58 00:07:34.480 --> 00:07:41.320 Hebrew it is shalom shalom meaning complete wholeness nothing missing 59 00:07:41.320 --> 00:07:49.360 nothing broken this is who you are in Jesus because of Jesus you are a living 60 00:07:49.360 --> 00:07:54.760 testimony of Jesus's ultimate win with every step you take today you're putting 61 00:07:54.760 --> 00:08:01.080 Jesus's victory on display and Satan's defeat on replay.