Here's Pastor Alan Wright with Today's Blessing: A Biblical Faith-Filled Vision. for your life. They stood still, looking sad. Luke 24, 17. Luke tells of the disillusioned disciples who were moping down the dusty road to Emmaus on the most fabulous day in history.
Easter Day. Victory over the grave day, the day of all days, but They didn't know the Savior had walked out of the grave. They didn't know that they were chatting with the risen Messiah. They saw their lives and the world through faulty spectacles, through despair-tinted lenses. and all the future looked dark.
Until They paused. connected with the resurrected Christ, and looked again, Then, Luke says, their eyes were opened. I bless your spiritual eyes to be opened. amidst your fellowship with the Lord today, so you can see as Jesus sees. Pastor, author, and Bible teacher Alan Wright.
To not worry means to Have all of those negative what-ifs, not have our hearts and our minds ever set on those things. But instead, to have the what-ifs turn to the great and positive things of our holiest imagination. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt.
Excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series, No Worries, as presented at Ronalda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Allen Wright Ministries. As you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. You can learn more about it.
Contact us at pastorallen.org. That's pastorallen.org. Or call 877-544-4860. That's 877-544. 4860.
More on all of this later in the program. But now. Let's get started with today's teaching. Here is Alan Wright. Are you ready for some good news?
God wants you to live a worry-free life.
Now, know well, I didn't say a problem-free life. In this world, we still have troubles. But we don't have to worry about our troubles. He's made a way in Christ that we can live.
Well, no worries. I heard about a man who used to be a terrible worrier. And then he changed. And a friend of his noticed the big transformation and said, You don't seem to be worrying much anymore. And the man said, I'm not.
He said, Well, the friend said, Well, what did you do? And the man said, I hired another guy to worry for me. And the the friend said, well Wow, well how much are you paying him? He said $1,000 a week. The friend said, $1,000 a week?
How are you going to afford to pay him $1,000 a week? Man said, I don't know, that's for him to worry about. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. I wish I could say that a life of no worries Was a life in which you didn't have to work or solve problems or face things, but that's not. At all, the image scripturally of what it means to not worry.
means to have all of those negative what-ifs That considers all of the hypothetical negative things that could happen. It creates that. quiet angst in us. And can preoccupy all of our thoughts. It means to not have our hearts and our minds ever set on those things.
But instead, to have the what-ifs turn to the great and positive things of of our holiest imagination.
So we're launching new campus in King today. We're so excited about that. People might wonder: well, how do you know? where it is to launch a new campus. And um Up until this time, church leadership have kept this secret, but I'm going to go ahead and reveal it to you now.
Um We are first in Kernersville, then in Clemens, and now in King. What do these three communities All have in common? Dario, yes, that is it. We've got.
Now the the Glenn High School in in in Kernsville is about four miles from Dario, but Pastor Barrett and his family live only about a mile from the Dario there. Then we went to Clemens. We're 0.6 miles away from Dario. And today we launch in the home of the original Dario, less than a mile away from the original Dario.
So I think in the Old Testament they had the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. We got the two hot dogs special we seem to be following along. No, seriously, how does something like this get born?
Well, I'll tell you what happened with this in King. Was we had a number of people that live in King Pinnacle, Mount Aria, up in all the Tobacco Vale surrounding areas. And so we thought, we like to take the gospel where people are, our own people, who can invite others who don't go to church to come and experience the love of God. And so we began praying about that.
Well, Pastor Chris, our executive pastor, grew up in King.
So he took me and we drove around. And he drove me around one day. We spent a long time there, and he showed me where he grew up, his grandmother's house. And we looked at the schools and recreation acres and Haynes Camp and stopped by Dario for two hot dogs and then kept riding around and looked at churches, prayed for them, talked about. And while we're doing this, here's what's happening to me.
I began seeing things. I began having, in the eyes of my heart, I began imagining. what it'd be like for a lot of people in that area who may have felt frustrated and given up on religion. But they hadn't given up on God. And might be looking for some fresh way that they could be connected to God, someone that Has thought that the Christian gospel was just heavy bad news and moralism to discover that it's good news.
Um To discover all that Jesus, I began thinking about all those people. begin imagining them coming to Christ. I was thinking about a conversation that we had with one of the Renalda members who was actually on staff at the Y there in King, and we had stopped by and talked to her, and she'd said that the national drug epidemic, especially opioid epidemic that's touched our nation so painfully, has not bypassed King. And in fact, um amongst the young people, drugs are a big problem. And I began to imagine young people hearing hearing about about the love of Jesus that can cure the shame that fuels so much of the addiction and began to imagine people being Sat free and we just rode around.
and see what's happening there, what's going on. is this amazing God-given faculty. that only humans amongst the animal world possess. Imagination. to be able to see something that does not yet exist.
It's amazing. They think that apes might be able to do little pretend play games. They have found that dolphins Some of them who am being trained have at times done their own tricks to get a Yeah.
So there may be a little bit of a capacity to somehow playfully pretend as animals, but only humans. can look into that which is invisible. and does not exist. and envision something in all of its complexity and beauty and wonder. Only human beings could take their experience in working in a bicycle shop.
And imagine a heavier-than-air aircraft. powered by a motor. And a three-axis control system that a human could steer it and go through. the air. But when Orville and Wilbur write, flew a few hundred feet.
It wasn't the stiff December breeze in their face at Kitty Hawk that lifted them nearly so much as it was. their imagination. I don't think they could have ever envisioned at that point. The North American X-15 jet that is rocket propelled. and can fly over 5,000 miles per hour.
But imagination started it all, didn't it? Only a human being could Imagine Buying up thirty thousand acres of cattle and swamplands in central Florida secretly. Because he wanted to build the happiest place on earth. And Even Walt Disney. Could not have properly predicted that now, as the most visited resort in the world, 52 million people a year come to Disney.
world. But that's what imagination will do. Only a human being with imagination could stand on the steps. Of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC on a hot August 1963 afternoon. in the midst of grave racial inequality and say, I have a dream.
that one day my four little children will live In a country where they are judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. Imagination. in many ways our most godlike quality. Because God created everything that exists out of his own holy imagination. And the thing that's remarkable about imagination is that Is you envision something?
and you imagine it that it can be. It often leads to the fulfillment of the very thing envisioned. This is the way faith works. And this is why it's such a problem. to worry.
Because essentially worry is imagination corrupted. It is taking that faculty wherein God has empowered us to be able to say, what if? What if we could make a machine that could fly through the air? What if we could Have an entire movement that would change the world. What if we could.
to change those what-ifs into negative what-ifs that then have concentrate circles of other negative what-ifs around them. And that's what worry is all about. And the problem is that, inasmuch as someone could imagine. building an airplane and eventually an airplane comes into existence.
So worry also leads towards its object. And I want to show you that. today. And I want to show you What Jesus has done.
so that our imaginations could be corrected. and sanctified. and the invitation in the end. is in Christ to let your imagination or run wild. Um That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series.
This month's featured resource from Pastor Alan is the Untroubled Heart, a powerful digital bundle including audio messages and a digital study guide. In this series, Pastor Alan unpacks Jesus' promise from John 14, 27. I leave you peace. My peace I give you. I do not give it to you as the world does.
So don't let your hearts be troubled or afraid. With practical insight and biblical encouragement, You'll discover how to quiet anxious thoughts and rest in Christ's peace that endures. When you give today to support Allen Wright Ministries, we'll send you the Untroubled Heart digital bundle as our thanks. Call us at 877-452-0. Five four four 4860.
or come to our website. PastorAllen.org. Today's teaching now continues. Here once again. is Alan Wright.
I want to look at a story that is a familiar one from the From the narrative of the people of God who escaped their bondage in Egypt by the blood of the Lamb. And we're headed towards the fulfillment of the promise that was given to the patriarch Abraham that God would give his people a special land. And so, this special land for the people, it had come time for them to go and inherit the land. And we pick up reading in Numbers chapter 13. In Numbers chapter 13.
Verse 1: The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am given to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, and every one a chief among them.
So God wanted them to send spies into the land. And there was one from each of the twelve tribes, so twelve spies that are going into Canaan. To spy it out. Why?
Well, we learn more about this at verse 17. Numbers 13, verse 17. Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, Go up into the Negeb and go into the hill country and see what the land is and whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak. Whether they are few or many, whether the land they dwell in is good or bad. And whether the cities that they dwell in are camps or strongholds, and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not, be of good courage.
and bring back some of the fruit of the land.
Now the time was for the season of the first ripe Grapes.
So there were two reasons God wanted them to go spy out the land. One was to evaluate the challenges.
Now, listen, be clear about this because we're going to spend weeks talking about a worry-free life. But to live without worry is not to live without planning. and it's not to live without consideration of the costs of an endeavor. And it's not to live without wisdom of the best strategies for facing your challenges. I think God wants us to live without worry so that our energy will not be sapped.
from the mission that is at hand. but there is a big mission that is in front of you.
So that's why we're supposed to go. And in addition to evaluating the challenges, I think the most important reason he wanted them to spy out the land was he wanted them to bring back the fruit. He wanted them to come back and say, let's take a look at how beautiful this land is. Look at what's being produced here. It's a land flown with milk and honey.
And all the people to get excited about the great adventure that was in front of them.
Well, what happened was, instead of using their imagination to see all the good possibilities, they used their imagination, ten of the spies, ten of the twelve did, to bring back a negative report. It started initially with an admission that, yes, there are some good things there. Numbers 13, 25. At the end of 40 days, they returned from spying out the land, and they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran and Kadesh. And they brought back word to them, to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.
And they told him, We came to this land which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. To be a warrior is not to be a person who is uh Unable to see some positive things in life, instead, it is to Have The positive things distorted or overwhelmed by all of the negative thoughts. And that's what happened with them. Warriors don't deny that there are some good things, but they're very quickly overtaken by negative things.
So here's what happened at verse 28.
However, immediately they shifted their attention.
However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak. There.
Well, Anak was probably a real tribe of people. But it had grown sort of legendary because they were evidently quite fierce warriors. And so now they say, we saw the descendants of Anak that were there. But then they ramp up their negative report. Look at the way they start exaggerating.
This is what Wordy does. It starts ramping it up. But at verse 30, Caleb quieted the people before the Lord. Caleb and Joshua, the only two that had a positive report from the spying. And he said, Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we're well able to overcome it.
But immediately, watch what happens with these other voices. Then the men who had gone up with him said, We are not able to go up against the people. They are stronger than we are.
So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, And now it gets, they're exaggerating even more: the land through which we've gone to spy it out is a land that devours its inhabitants. I'm not sure what that even means. It either means that the land is very rugged and severe and people die in it over time, or that. You're going to be torn apart by the warriors that are there. They were only there 40 days.
They hadn't had time to even see anybody be devoured. And all the people, listen to this, that we saw of it are great height. Everybody there is huge. And then we saw the Nephilim. The sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim, and we seemed like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.
The Nephilim were a mythical breed. Of uh Creature of sorts that was giants that were supposedly before the flood, in which there was some sort of union of angels and and and humans and Um Mm.
Now they're just imagination has run to the greatest extent. There are these huge mythical creatures there and we felt like grasshoppers and they thought we were grasshoppers too. That's the way where he works. And these guys We were very advanced. They were skilled warriors.
You know, some people are more skilled than others at warrior. You've got your beginning class, your intermediate, and then you've got your advanced.
Now you're beginning warriors are not very skilled. And what happens with your beginning worriers is that most of the time they don't worry, but then from time to time there are experiences. in which it'll cause him to worry for a while. I would say it's comparable to this. Many years ago, when I was serving a church in Durham, I had a little Toyota Corolla and I was waiting to turn left to go into the church on the two-lane road in Durham.
And oncoming traffic from my left and And somebody in front of me and a ditch to my right. And I couldn't do anything as I looked in the rearview mirror and I saw a person just speeding along, not noticing me, stopped there, and I knew I was going to get hit, and I got slammed in the rear end. A little whiplash, nothing worse than that. But you know, if you've ever had that happen for weeks, for months after that, I'm looking in the rearview mirror, like, when is that going to happen again? And then what happens is over time I realize, you know what, that doesn't happen that often.
And in fact, it's never happened to me again all these years later, and so I quit worrying about that. That's just kind of your beginning level of worry. Life brings at you some difficult things, and you might worry it might happen again, but it doesn't generally happen, so you move on. But then there are some. Intermediate warriors.
Now, these people have developed some skills. And this is where you start thinking more elaborately about the potential negative outcomes.
Sometimes it has been built upon your experience. And an intermediate warrior has developed the capacity to brood over things and to envision it a little further out.
So, this would be an example of me a week ago, Saturday, when the University of North Carolina was playing South Carolina. And our football team has been a sad story for recent years. I've got a daughter at Carolina, and so they have won two games each of their last years. Kids are quitting going to the game. I mean, all this.
And now we got Mac is back, our new coach. And so, Fourth quarter last week. And It looks like we're going to win the game over South Carolina, a pretty important game. We get down to There's a couple minutes left in the game. We got the ball, and we're winning the game.
By four points, I think. And all we gotta do is just sort of run out the clock. You know? And there were a couple of just, I don't know if it was player or coaches mistakes. that culminated And with 12 seconds left in the game on fourth down at midfield, our quarterback steps back and takes a knee, which stops the clock and leaves 10 or 12 seconds left on the clock to hand the ball over to South Carolina at midfield.
I'm just sitting here like what? What are we doing? And we could have punted the ball, run around a little bit, done something, get rid of the clock.
So now South Carolina has the ball and has a chance to win.
Now, it doesn't take an intermediate warrior very long. I was able to conceive of several ways that we could lose that game. You ever done this? The imagination. In fact, I had it figured out.
I already figured out what's going to happen. The South Carolina quarterback's going to throw it kind of long. Our defender was going to, who had been beaten by a couple steps, he was going to be running, and instead of turning and making a play on the ball, he was going to run into their receiver. Refs are going to throw a flag. They move down there.
Now they're within range of throwing in the end zone. They're going to throw it in the end zone. It's going to bobble around. Their player's going to catch it at the last second. It's going to fall on them.
And we're going to lose the game. I already had it all figured out. Lo and behold, we won the game. Alan Wright, and welcome to a brand new series here called No Worries. And Alan is back in the studio here in just a moment as we continue talking about this teaching a sanctified imagination in today's closing thought.
This month's featured resource from Pastor Alan is the Untroubled Heart, a powerful digital bundle including audio messages and a digital study guide. In this series, Pastor Alan unpacks Jesus' promise from John 14, 27. I leave you peace. My peace I give you. I do not give it to you as the world does.
So don't let your hearts be troubled or afraid. With practical insight and biblical encouragement, you'll discover how to quiet anxious thoughts and rest in Christ's peace that endures. When you give today to support Alan Wright Ministries, we'll send you the Untroubled Heart digital bundle as our thanks. Call us at 877-452-0. Five four four.
4860. That's 877. Five four four. The majority of the 1980s. Or come to our website.
PastorAllen.org. So, Alan, at this new series, I love the series title, No Worries, and it's something that I strive for. Here i in my Christian faith, I think many people do just fully rely on Jesus.
So let's talk about sanctified imagination and our closing thought today.
Well this uh idea of the imagination is uniquely human. Yeah, and so powerful. And our imagination was given to us by God. We can use that imagination to run wild with worry, or it can lead us into. A partnership with God and seeing the very best that He has intended.
So, to set it apart under God, that's what it means to be holy or to be sanctified. take your imagination. and let God use it. And that's way faith emerges. Today's good news message is a listener-supported production.
of Alan Wright Ministries.
