Be Strong and Courageous  - I Will Not Be Anxious!: Overcoming the Fear of Abandonment, Part 2

Does the evil in our world frighten you? Do you find yourself anxious, fearful, don't know what to do?

If that's you, stay with me today. God has a word to quiet your soul. If you're on any news channel or scroll through social media, you're immediately bombarded with wickedness and depravity.

But it becomes even more unsettling when that darkness goes from out there somewhere to knocking on the front door of your life. So today Chip picks up in our series Be Strong and Courageous by equipping us to fight back against worry and anxiety. But before he gets going, if this is your first time listening to Living on the Edge or you want to learn more about what we do, go to LivingOnTheEdge.org.

You'll find resources on tons of topics and countless programs to enjoy. Or if you prefer, the Chip Ingram Map is also a great way to get plugged in with our ministry. If you've got a Bible handy, go now to Psalm 23 as Chip dives back into his study of The Good Shepherd. To this day, I still do something every single morning, and I'm always disappointed when it's not there. But my little routine is I get up early because I like to get up early. It's my special time with the Lord. And so I put on the coffee. I feed the dog. But when the dog has to go outside, right? And he's my buddy. And so I go outside and every day I stop and I look up.

You know, it's usually around five or so. And the sky is filled with stars. I mean, brilliant, brilliant stars. And I just pause and I think the God that made every one of those, the God that spoke those stars into existence, he's my shepherd. He cares about me. His spirit lives inside of me. I don't know what his plans are for today, but he knows what's going to happen. He knows who I'm going to meet.

He knows what the challenges are going to be. And, you know, I talk about how important God's Word is. The reason after I feed my dog and get my cup of coffee that I go find a little special corner for me and I open this book, not because I need to read four chapters to keep the devil away, but I open this book to say, Shepherd of my soul, you know all my needs. You know what's coming up today. I am inadequate, I'm sure of that, in and of myself. And so would you help me?

And so this is where I'm reading right now and I'm reading over here as well. Is there a promise? Is there something to obey? Is there some encouragement or is it just enjoying your presence and being reminded that I matter? The Lord is not the shepherd.

Notice my, my, my, my, my. The Lord is my shepherd. He makes me lie down. He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul. He guides me. You know, if you want to maybe have a moment that would be helpful, change that first paragraph and just put your name in it, especially if you're struggling, especially if you're saying, Oh, brother, you're telling me you can actually say I will not worry.

I'm not saying that. God is. But you'll worry if you're your shepherd. You'll worry if your job is your shepherd. You'll worry if your circumstances are your shepherd.

You'll worry if you're leaning or depending on some person or some group or some account to be your shepherd, because none of them can come through 100 percent of the time. But Jesus would say, how about this? The Lord is, and put your name in, the Lord Yahweh is Chip's shepherd. Chip shall not be in need. He makes Chip lie down in green pastures. He leads Chip beside quiet waters. He restores Chip's soul. He guides Chip in paths of righteousness.

Why? For his namesake, for his honor. God is way more committed to you living a life and blessing you and causing your life to go in a way that would honor him than you are. If you're open, he's just looking for ordinary people with all the fears and inadequacies and anxieties that say, I just want to do life your way. And he says, you don't have to worry because I will meet.

I will provide for all your needs. The second area where we get inadequate is when evil comes at us, right? There's bad stuff out there. You know, you watch the news. I told Theresa once, you know, we were watching the news and watching the news.

And I said, you know, we can change stations, but it's the same story every night with just different names. There's lots of evil everywhere, and it can just overwhelm you. And by the way, it's not just outward and physical. There's times where the evil is relational.

There's times because of where we've ministered and especially some things around the world. The evil has been actual demonic activity, and some of you have experienced that as well. So how can you not worry when there's invisible forces trying to take you down, when there's physical forces, when there's whole systems that literally are corrupt?

Here's what he says. I will fear no evil because the shepherd protects me from all evil. This phrase, first he says, in the shadow of death, literally it's in dark times of crisis, he promises I'll be with you, God's presence.

And that's why, yes, there's a Holy Spirit manifestation of his presence, but a big part of God's presence is being in his word. When his word begins to saturate your soul, he says I'll be with you. He'll bring passages to your mind. He'll bring promises to your mind. There are times where we all get very, very afraid, and he says I won't worry.

I won't be afraid, and I won't fear because God will protect me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. The rod was for predators. It was sort of a pole and had a little ball on the end, and they got really good at it. So, I mean, David talked about a lion and a bear.

They could throw this thing, and I mean take out big stuff. When he says God's rod, he says when evil comes at you, and it can be a person, it can be demonic activity, he says your shepherd, Jesus Christ, has power, and he'll protect you. And then the staff, it's long and has a crook at the end, he would tap the sheep, or if they fell in a little gully, he would take that and lift them out. What he's saying is God's presence and God's protection and God's direction is going to take me through the evil that's in the world. And as you think about that, I'd like you to ponder what's the evil that you experience in your world? What's going on in your family, or what are some challenges or issues that cause you to worry and get uptight and be anxious because there is a lot of evil? And can I just take a quick aside? You need to guard what you allow in your mind. I stay up on the news in general.

I don't watch it anymore. I'm aware of what's happening in the world. I take some time, especially if it's a big news story or big things are happening. I'm going to tell you the way God has made our minds, if you watch lots of news and you hear how terrible that political party is or how that other political party is or all the people that are getting abducted or all the people that are getting cancer or what. I mean, you will unconsciously, the research is in, you will start to believe those things will happen to you and you will begin to act and behave accordingly. And those actions and those behaviors will not be strong or courageous.

They will be inward, they'll be anxious, and they'll be you being the kind of person that people can't find Jesus because you're just worried and uptight like everybody else. I'm not saying that we don't stay connected to the world. What I'm saying is a steady diet of the news, a steady diet of how difficult and painful everything is.

Here's the deal. Go around the world, millions, hundreds of millions of acts of kindness, love, encouragement, ministries doing things, people being kind to neighbors, none of that makes the news. And when we live in a world where this one thing that happened this morning is on my news tonight and now I hear all the evil of all the places of all the world, no one was ever designed to absorb all that. And so he says, I will guard you, I will protect you, I will direct you with my presence, with the power of my spirit, and with my promises. I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you. Here's what I want you to remember. God does not promise that we're not going to go through things. He promises you'll never go through them alone.

He says, I will fear no evil. Why? Because you are with me. Again, application point. Do you experience the presence of God with you?

You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. We'll get back to our series, Be Strong and Courageous in just a minute. But first, if this teaching has ministered to you, consider becoming a monthly partner. Your regular financial support goes a long way to help us encourage pastors, create resources, and share Jesus with today's youth.

Visit LivingOnTheEdge.org to learn how to support us. Well, with that, here again is Chip. Now, maybe you read the Bible at some point in the day, but are you practicing the presence of God? Do you find yourself in the car sharing some prayers? Are you, during the day, kind of looking around and, God, what are you up to? Are you kind of asking those questions, Lord, where are you directing me?

In other words, the signals can come, but you have to have an antenna up. And if your antenna isn't up, if you're not focusing on God's word, if you're not kind of asking some questions. See, God wants you to practice and experience his presence.

But can I tell you something, what I observe, and I'm fighting it myself? I'll walk into a bank, I'll walk into a restaurant, or one time, this was crazy, I was in China doing some ministry, and it's the largest train station I've ever seen. I bet there are 8 or 10,000 people, and I'm telling you 98.7% of them were like this on their phone. Where's your focus? Are you present where you're present? By the way, I look at my phone as well, but can you stick it in your pocket? But to have some time where I don't want a device, I don't want a notification, I want to be able to focus on the person I'm talking to.

I want to focus on what happened in my day. I want to process, God, what are you up to in my life? Here's the thing, he'll speak.

I don't have to worry that he's with me and I'll be okay. And then finally he gives us this last picture, and it's the picture of a big battle has occurred, and the enemy has been subdued, and there's a big banquet of celebration. And he says, in the presence of your enemies, in the midst of the battles, he says what? I am going to prepare a table, a table in the presence of your enemies.

You have the victory. And then he says in this passage, he anoints his head with oil. If you were in a very fancy dinner in the Old Testament, ancient Near Eastern time, of course they would wash your feet. And then they would have a cup of oil, and they would anoint you, and basically it would be like getting ready for the really big party.

And it would have a fragrance and an aroma, and it would probably be pretty expensive. Remember when the lady did that for Jesus? And we're like, God, don't do that, that costs so much.

And he said, no, you don't understand what she's doing. This is a picture of your Heavenly Father knowing all about you, knowing the challenges, knowing the struggles, saying I've got the victory. Not only do I have the victory, but I want you to have a life of abundance. And after you're anointed with the oil, it says my cup overflows. In other words, you know some of those places where you go, like the buffets, and you can keep refilling your plate, or you get something to drink, and you look, and they keep refilling it.

He says, it's abundance. I've got you covered. I'm for you.

I love you. You don't have to worry. And probably the greatest fear most of us have at some stage in your life is what happens when I die, or if you're a parent, the fears you have for worrying about your child at school or a terrorist attack. And as he closes out this, he says there will be tragedies in a fallen world, but I want you to know that I've got you covered now, and I've got you covered forever and ever.

Instead of when's the other shoe going to drop mentality, I wonder if this is going to happen to me. I'm really afraid. I need to be overprotective. I need to be a helicopter parent. I've got to watch this.

I've got to watch that. We can't do that. We can't do that. Last year, we found that if you drink too much coffee, you're going to get cancer. Then we found that if you drink more coffee, you don't get cancer and blah, blah, blah, right? You can drive yourself nuts.

Here's what he says. Goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. God is pursuing you if you would just stop long enough and not get so distracted. Become aware of his presence. Understand his word will bring new life.

Get in relationship with other believers so you do this together and say, God has a great and wonderful plan. I don't have to worry because 90 percent of it's not going to happen and the other is I'll never go through it alone. And if the absolute worst thing that could ever happen happens as a follower of Jesus, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his godly ones. We don't really think about this.

Are you ready? This is not all there is. There is a life after this that goes on forever and ever and ever and ever. And it is good and it is wonderful for those who have trusted Christ. And it is good and it is wonderful for those who walk with him. And he says, in my every day, God wants to bring about good in my life. And we learn from Psalm 15, I need to be positioned and living the kind of life so his blessings can pour in.

And then he says, even if I die, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. At some point in time you have to ask and I have to ask at a practical level, where's my hope? Is it that my career will be great? Is it that I'm single and I'll finally get married? Well then after I'm married do we finally have kids?

Is it that all my kids turn out right? It goes on and on and on and on and those are good desires. But at some point you have to say, my hope is in God, his power, his presence, his promises. And I'm going to be bold and courageous even in the midst of all the chaos that we all see around us. Because I don't have to worry.

I really don't. The fact of the matter is that we are all sheep, but all of us like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to our own way, but the Lord has laid upon him Jesus, the iniquities of us all. If by chance that you've never received Jesus to be your shepherd, can I encourage you, turn from your sin, confess to God who is perfect that you don't measure up, that you are inadequate, and that you believe and put your trust on Christ's death and resurrection to pay for your sin and inviting to come into your life. And I would say to those of us that are followers of Jesus, every sheep needs a shepherd. Are you letting him shepherd your life? You know, shepherds don't drive the sheep, they lead the sheep.

Jesus is saying to you and to me, look, here's the way, here's the way, walk in it. Let me give you direction. Here's how relationships work. Follow me. I want to give you what's good.

I want relationships to be deep and genuine. I want you to have peace. I don't want you to worry. In the words of what we say to one another, right, someone's struggling with something and they try, what do we say to them? You got this. Can I tell you something? Here's what Jesus is saying to you.

He's saying, I got this. You don't have to worry. I got this. You don't have to project because whatever comes into your life, whoever comes into your life, whatever comes into your life, no matter how difficult, how hard, how painful, how evil, I am with you. I will protect you. And I'm pursuing you. And in worst case scenario, you will be with me forever and ever and ever. Jesus wants to be your shepherd today. I'd like to ask you, what would that look like? And what's your first baby step to say, I will not worry.

I'm declaring that. Jesus, here's where I'm not letting you be my shepherd. And so I'm going to take this baby step of submission to believe that what you said is true. And you watch how God will work. Before we go any further today, I want to pause in our program and talk to you very personally.

What I know is there are tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of very, very anxious people. And a great many of you are listening to my voice right now. And you heard words like Jesus is the good shepherd. He cares for you. He wants to protect you. He wants to guide you. And all that can just sound like a bunch of words. This isn't about a theory.

This isn't about principles to live by. Jesus came to forgive you of your sin. He came from heaven, fully man, fully God.

He lived an absolutely perfect life and fulfilled the law. And then He died upon the cross to pay for every sin that you and me and everyone have ever committed and ever will commit. And the good news, the gospel is He loves you. He's provided a way for you to be absolutely forgiven and come into deep relationship with Him.

Whoever believes in Him, He gives the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name. Are you willing to say right now, God, I need your help. I'm anxious.

I'm fearful. But I need your forgiveness first and foremost. Lord Jesus, on this day right now, I know that I've sinned. I know I've done things wrong. And I know I'm not perfect. God, I am sorry. I can't measure up.

I can't do enough. I can't earn forgiveness. I'm coming broken today. But I believe that when you died on the cross, you paid for all my sin, that you rose from the dead and proved that it's true. And today I put my trust in you. And I ask you to come into my life, to be my Savior and to be my Lord. And Lord, I ask for your grace and your help to follow you. Lord, if you're my shepherd, then I want to do life your way. And so would you give me the help and grace to do that.

God promises those who call upon the name of the Lord in faith will be saved. Do that right now. And then as soon as you do, text or call a friend and tell them what you did.

Then go to our website, livingontheedge.org, and we have some information to help you grow. And then find a good Bible teaching church this weekend and go to it and begin a new life following Jesus. What has been at the core and the anchor of my life is I will be with Jesus, not because I'm good, but because He's good and what He's done.

Amen, Chip. Well, if you prayed to receive Christ, we do have a free resource we'd like to put in your hands that was created specifically for new believers. This tool will help you understand what it means to trust in Jesus and what to do next. Request this free resource by calling 888-333-6003 or by visiting livingontheedge.org, then clicking the New Believers button.

That's livingontheedge.org or call 888-333-6003. Let us help you get started in your faith journey. Well, Chip's still with me in studio, and Chip, I know you had one final word you wanted to share with our listeners, and we do have a few minutes left, so why don't you go ahead and do that? Dave, I appreciate that.

I just want to stop and pause with a very select group of people. You're people that pray for Living on the Edge. I know because you write and tell me, and you're people who give financially to Living on the Edge, and as I have communicated the gospel of Jesus Christ, it is the power of God to salvation, and we know that when we share the gospel like this on a broadcast, literally hundreds and hundreds of people come to Christ, and so you're a part of that, and we have reaped, not because we're special, but because the gospel is the power of God to salvation. But I want to just celebrate that reward and thank every one of you who pray and thank every single person who gives to this ministry. People's lives will be different forever and ever and ever because of you. Thanks so much.

Thanks, Chip. Well, if you'd like to join us in spreading the gospel and discipling fellow believers, consider becoming a financial partner today. As Chip just said, your support can have an eternal impact on someone's life. To learn more about becoming a financial partner, go to livingontheedge.org or call us at 888-333-6003.

That's 888-333-6003. Or visit livingontheedge.org. App listeners, just tap donate. As we close, you know a great way to stay engaged and connected to Chip and Living on the Edge is with the Chip Ingram app. You'll get free access to our recent messages, the message notes, and much more. And not only that, but it couldn't be easier to call or email us directly from the app. Well, until next time, this is Dave Drouy saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.