Faith Over Fear: Trusting in Emmanuel, God With Us

Episode Transcript
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Brent McQuay (00:00):
You live.

David Beasley (00:05):
All right, we're recording.

Ready for video. Give us a countdown.
Hey, everybody. Welcome to another episode of
Between Sermons, where we are continuing our
conversation from the Sunday message. As always,

(00:30):
you don't have to have listened to
the sermon to get something out of
this podcast, but it would be a
huge addition because really what we're going
to be talking about today is directly
connected to what I just preached on
Sunday. And really what we're trying to
do is turn that monologue, you know,
just one guy on a stage talking
at somebody, into a dialogue. Think of
this like you're getting to join our

(00:51):
small group as we discuss the sermon
and how it applies to our lives.
And today is a very special Christmas
edition. And we're excited that you're here
with us as we are continuing the
series. As always, I am joined by
my wonderful co host. And today is
going to be special because you brought
your husband along.

Ti’heasha Beasley (01:09):
I brought him.

Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun.

I'm here.

Even though I told him before we
started, like, on the show, you're not
my husband.

Listen, we're a package deal.

I'm pretty sure. Until death do you
part. Not. That's a real paused at
podcast.

It's a real thing. But I just
want to be able to ask him
all the questions and not him, like,
have this emotional connection to me asking
a question.

It's too late.

How much are you guys going to
talk about this, like, tonight and be
like, oh, man, why did you have
to ask me that? Or we should
have done this differently.

That's what I'm saying. I don't know.
You cannot.

Very different.

Why did you ask me that?

It's going to consist of, like, was
that good enough? Did I sound crazy?

It is.

Was it up to par?

You're right.

Well, Taisha, what are we talking about
today?

So we are continuing the conversation about
name dropping. And I like how you
open all of the sermons and you're
saying, like, you all know that one
person who name drop. Have you ever
name dropped Pastor Brent?

Absolutely, I have. The funny thing is
I name dropped the other day, and
I didn't mean to.

Not in the middle of this, the
whole sermon.

No, like, like, so, like, I was
talking about this experience I had.

Okay.

And like, to give people understanding, I
name dropped the person that was running
the thing.

Okay.

And then after I said it, I
was like, was that detail really necessary?
Like, like, did that. Was that, like,
a way of, like, just trying to
add clout to, like, oh, yeah, I
was in the room With.

So you were checking her heart as.

You like, like, it came out, and
I was like, was that a name
drop? Like, I don't. I don't know
that it was, but it kind of
was. Maybe. But I think my heart
was in the right place at the
time. Like, I wasn't trying to impress
people.

Okay.

I don't think.

Okay. The heart is deceitful.

Yeah, yeah. But no, trust my heart.

Yeah, no, I'm sure you were not.
Have you ever name dropped?

To a certain extent, actually. We had
to do a little name dropping. Well,
recently, remember, we just went to New
York.

I said, in this moment, we're not
married. You have to talk for yourself.

Recently, ladies and gentlemen, you went with
your wife and some friends. This young
lady right here to my right. Your
left. We went to New York recently.
Remember we went to a play and
we had to name drop. We did,
because something happened. Long story. We got
scammed. But guess what? We got out
the jam because we were told who

(03:29):
to talk to.

That's true.

So we walked up to the front,
the window, and we asked for this
person we name dropped.

True.

And he helped us out.

Yeah.

He said, go over there. He talked
to us, and everything was good.

So, yeah.

So that's when name dropping work.

So my. My best name drop, like,
effectiveness. So there's a guy, he's no
longer a member of clc, but he
used to be, and he worked at
the dmv, and everybody knows going to
the DMV is the. The worst experience
of your life. And there was this
one time. So technically it's not a
name drop because, like, I didn't drop
his name, but. But I'm in this

(04:03):
line that is literally. It's out the
building, wrapped around the side, coming back
the other direction. Like, this is a
line where, like, I've. I've got to
cancel plans for the rest of the
day. That's how long the line is.
And he just so happened to be
the guy, like, monitoring the line that
day.

Wow.

So, like, he came outside and he's
kind of walking up and down and
everything. And then he sees me and
he's like, brett, hey, how's it going?
High five. And he's like, oh, hey,
actually, yeah, we need you over here.
And he just pulled me out of
the line, like. And like, we really.
We literally just walked past, like, 50
people brought me in line. And, like,
he was, like, making excuses for it,
like, as we're walking, because everybody was

(04:39):
giving me dirty looks. And he was
like, oh, you don't need to wait
in this line. We've already got things
set up for you and all this
stuff. I was just laughing the whole
time. And he literally, like, brought me
right up to a counter and was
like, she'll help you out, man. Like,
like, literally saved me hours.

Favor, they say favor ain't fair.

Favor ain't fair. But it sure is
fun.

It's fun. And I mean, it kind
of goes into what you were saying
about just knowing the right person. And
so all of the names. We've been
exploring, the names of God that we've
been exploring this series, it just proves
that sometimes when you drop the right
name, and of course, God's name being
the. The highest. The highest name, it
just goes into the message. So before

(05:18):
we dive in, you taught an amazing
sermon on Emmanuel. God with us. I
mean, let's. Let's give it up. Yes,
it was great.

Definitely don't need to do well.

That got awkward.

You know exactly how to make me
receive it, Pastor.

Receive.

Receive it. It was such a. Not
even on time, but it was on
time. It was edifying. It was encouraging.
It was all the things what. Before
I dive in and give kind of
like my perspective. What did you think
of the message, David?

I say it was very. It was
enlightening, just realizing all the times in
which God is with you, even when
you may not. You may not realize
it and you may not feel like
he is. He's. He's ever present. Right.
You helped us remind the. You help.
Remind us of the fact that you
can rely on his promises. If he
says, I'll never leave you nor forsake
you, he means that then you gave

(06:10):
all the examples of individuals in the
scriptures, and that's what encourages me, is
that even some of those individuals were
wondering at times, God, where are you?
Like you mentioned David. David had plenty
of moments where he's like, lord, what's
going on? My enemies? I don't see
you. I don't feel you. What's going
on? Where are you? But God was
always with them. So.

Well, what I love about David is
like, he'll have those moments where he's
complaining, God, where are you? But he
always ends those psalms with, but you're
there.

Exactly like, he just.

He was. He was like, I'm venting,
yes. But I need to reassure myself
that you are God. You are there.

Yeah. Yeah. So that stood out to
me, especially at the end when you
named all the. You did a little
study on the things that most people
are afraid of.

Being existential fears.

Yeah, those things were very insightful. And,
yeah, they helped put things in perspective
as well.

Sounds like you loved the second half
of the message. That first half of
the message. Like, I could feel in
the room, like, people were like, this
is not Christmas.

That was necessary. It was necessary, though.

Like, without God, you're dead.

Okay.

Everybody's like.

It was like, merry Christmas.

It was essential, though.

So, like. Yeah. What. When you realized
you had to preach this sermon on,
like, for the Christmas message of clc,
what was going through your head?

Yeah, so it was funny. I actually
had a conversation with my wife just
yesterday. Like, the message is done. Like,
it's prepared. Like, we had a. We
had a conversation yesterday and I was
like, man, I feel like I got
too much theology in this message. And
that's a weird thing for a preacher
to say.

Yeah.

But I was like, you know, theology,
it's heavy and it's, you know, like,
it's thought provoking, but it's like, it's
not the thing that gets you, like,
fired up. Right? Like, nobody gets like,
oh, theology except for preachers. Like, you
know, just a very select few individuals.
Like, you do.

I do, but that's just me.

But. But, like, the average person, like,
showing up for Christmas, like, first of
all, Christmas, it' It's when we call
them CEOs, CEO Christians. It's Christmas and
Easter only.

Okay.

And so, like, there's just this understanding
that on Christmas, you've got a lot
of people that are not super saved
in that room. And I was like.
And so it was like this. This
dilemma of, like, because those people are
in the room, I want to give
them the gospel, but because those people
are in the room, they probably don't
want to hear the gospel. Like, they
want to hear some kind of Christmas
fluff, feel good kind of niceties. But

(08:32):
like, when. When we look at the
name Jesus, which means Yahweh is salvation.
Like, it says, he came to save
us from our sins. Like, if we
don't talk about the saving from our
sins, like, we're missing the point of
Jesus being born.

Yeah.

And there's. Man, this is. I'm gonna
talk a bunch, but I apologize.

It's okay.

There's a really interesting story in Luke,
it's really famous, where a paralyzed man
is being carried by some friends. They
get to this house where Jesus is.
There's no room. So they climb up
on the roof, they cut a hole
in the roof, they lower the paralyzed
man down. It is obvious to everyone
there that this man needs healing. And

(09:12):
what does Jesus do? He says, your
sins are forgiven. Why Jesus came to
save us from our sins. Healing the
paralyzed man was a bonus, and it
was a way to demonstrate that he
did have the authority and the power
to forgive sins. But that paralyzed man
could have stayed paralyzed, and he still
received the greatest gift that Jesus had

(09:34):
to give. Salvation. So, like, the whole
point of Christmas, the whole point of
Jesus is salvation from our sins, the
healing from being paralyzed, that's the bonus.
That's the, you know, that's the above
and beyond. But the whole point is
salvation from sin. So I felt like
I got to just preach the gospel.

Yeah.

And I always have. I can't remember
which preacher it was. I want to
say it was Charles Spurgeon, but it
might have been somebody else used to
say, the job of the preacher is
to take the text and make a
beeline to the cross. And so every
message should be the gospel.

Wow.

And I've always got that just kind
of ringing in the back of my
head. I got to look up who
actually said it because Charles Spurgeon might
not be the guy.

Ok, I can't remember. Yeah, sorry.

Don't fact check me.

Yeah.

Or please do tell me who it
actually was.

Somebody Google it real quick.

Take the text and make a beeline
to the cross.

Okay, so let's see who said that.

I mean, I would, if I may
add, I mean, pretty quick.

Look it up.

Yeah, look it up real quick. Pretty.
You got about 30 seconds. Let me
add the fact that if he was
born, that's great. But if he was
just born, then that wouldn't fulfill the
primary reason why he came.

Yeah, yeah.

He said I did not. When they
asked about him being a servant, he
said, I did not come to be.
I did not come to be served,
but I came to serve and to
lay my life down as a ransom
for many. And that's the primary reason
why he even stepped foot on this
earth, was to die for the sins
of those he came to save. So
him being born was amazing. The Immaculate
Conception, I mean, the fact that a
virgin gave birth, it fulfilled all the

(11:06):
prophecy. But the reason that prophecy even
made sense is so that he can
eventually grow up, live the perfect life,
and die for our sins.

That's why.

So that's the primary reason he came.

The three gifts that the wise men
bring are so cool. That was what
I really wanted to teach on, but
it didn't fit the message. And I've
talked about it before, but, like, the
three Gifts that the wise men bring
are so strategic. So they bring three
gifts to represent king, God, and sacrifice.
So they bring gold for a king.
They bring this incense, which was used

(11:38):
in worship moments, and then they brought
myrrh that was used to anoint the
dead. Right. So like the three gifts
that Jesus gets from the wise men,
it represents king, God, and sacrifice.

Wow.

Like, the whole point of Jesus being
born is for him to die.

Wow. You know, being on this podcast
makes me feel like I know nothing.
No, like, that is just so profound.
I'm like, why didn't I ever know
that? Like, I just know the gifts.

But it's because we read our Bibles,
but we don't study our Bibles.

Wait, are you coming for me?

No, no, no, no.

That's all of us.

That's for me too.

No, that's true. But I was, you
know, I was just expressing that to
David actually. Like, I really want to
take little elements, like not just read
the passage and get the, you know,
the part that we can use to
help regurgitate to someone else, because that's
how we traditionally read the word. But
I want to study, like, every element
in it. So what did the different

(12:38):
things symbolize? Like, just why was, why
did they say the sheets were purple?
Like, I'm sure that means something. And
so honestly, just being a part of
this house, a part of this body,
like, I appreciate you passing that on,
discipling us in that and telling us
not just read the text to regurgitate
the things that make us feel good,

(12:59):
but study it and really let it
become a part of your lifestyle. So
kudos to you for being a great
leader. Good job.

A way to make me feel uncomfortable
twice in one podcast. It is Spurgeon.

Spurgeon.

Once again, Brent, look at that. Look
at that.

This is our Christmas present to you.
If you haven't heard all year, you
are an amazing teacher and discipler.

I mean, that's the ultimate way to
get, you know, everybody's looking for a
revelation. You know, I want a new,
I want a revelatory word. God reveals
something. To me, revelation simply means to
reveal. It's to take what's hidden to
a certain extent and expose it. And
if you dig deep into the text,
you get the ultimate form of revelation.
Like you dig into the word, God
reveals something to you. It's alive. We

(13:44):
know the word of God is alive
and active, sharpening any two edged swords.
So if that's the case, it's always
going to be relevant. It's always going
to be impactful, but we got to
take the time ourselves to do the
work.

I love that you said do the
work because that, like, reading the Bible
is easy. It takes time, but it
doesn't take any work. Like, you have
to dedicate time to read the Scriptures.
But to study scripture takes work because
you have to read it in context.
You've got to read around it. So,
like, when we read in Matthew that
there's this prophecy in Isaiah that should

(14:17):
make us pause Matthew, flip over to
Isaiah and read there, right? And so,
like, you've got to read it in
context. You've got to look for the
grammar. Like, if you're not good with
grammar, like, you're gonna struggle to study
the Bible. Like, you should probably take
a grammar class, you know, because when
we're reading, like, the punctuations and the
word choice and the structure and the

(14:38):
flow, like, it means something. And like,
even though, like, some of that punctuation
is added after the fact, it's added
for a reason based on the translation.
And so, like. Like today when we
read, you know, in Matthew 1, where
it says, and you shall call him
Jesus, comma, for he will save them
from their sins, like, he's. Everything that
happens after that, comma, is in reference

(14:59):
to the name Jesus. Why is that?
The reference to the name Jesus? Because
the name Jesus in Hebrew means Yahweh
is salvation. And so he's saving, like,
by his very name, he's here to
save. Saved from what? From our sins.
So, like, looking at the froms and
the whys and the yets and the
therefores and the buts and the because
of. Like, if you'll just take time
to pay attention to the grammar and

(15:21):
then see, okay, why is that word
chosen there? Yeah, but it's. Study takes
work.

That's incredible. And. And I'm sure it
was really helpful to even breaking down
this particular sermon about Emmanuel, but I
think a lot of us just want
to know, why are there two different
spellings of Emmanuel? Let's start there.

Okay, so this. This is a fun,
like, nerd thing.

Okay.

So honestly, I didn't know when it
was. It was funny when we were
actually, like, preparing for. I think it
was actually the. The promo video for
this. I got a text message, and
they're like, hey, which spelling are we
going with? And I was like, oh,
yeah, I've just. We've been using both,
like, in all of our notes and
our conversations where you're using both. So
I had to look it up, like,
I didn't know. It's just something that

(16:08):
I never thought about. But apparently Emmanuel
with an I is a direct translation
of the Hebrew to the English, and
Emmanuel with an E is based off
of the Greek translation. So when they
translate from Hebrew to Greek to English,
we use E. When we go straight
from Hebrew to English, we use I.
And other than that specific reason, there

(16:31):
is. There's no difference. There's no distinction.
It's basically just if you want to
be more Greek or if you want
to be more Hebrew. I versus E.
Wow. And I don't know. It's one
of those fun facts.

Which one?

That's gonna be on the quiz as
well.

It's a quiz at the end of
this podcast.

So what do you. What do you
usually like? If you were to write
Emmanuel right now, would you.

It's E. Yeah.

Yeah. I think I was probably E
before, but I. I kept pulling up,
like, Greek or not Greek, Hebrew stuff,
and it was like, I, I, I.
I just got, like, in my notes,
it's.

Written I. Yeah, that's hilarious. Well, now
we know.

Super random.

Now, this is something you all.

It's not going to benefit your faith
in any way whatsoever.

You utilize a Christmas dinner, be like,
hey, guys, let's have a little contest.

So Hebrew, Greek.

Yeah. So I. I mean, I hate
to do this to you guys, but
I want to go a little deeper
with the conversation. We talked about Emmanuel.
God is with us, and there's so
much to unpack there. But I'll ask
you, David, we'll start with you. What
does that mean to you? Especially, you
know, given the fact that I am
your wife and I know that we

(17:40):
are coming from a season of loss
and grief. Like, how has Emmanuel showed
up for you in this season?

It's interesting. I have a really close
friend named Emmanuel. He showed up, too.
I love that, bro. I love him.

Is his name spelled with an E
or an I? With an E. With
an E. We.

Call him E. He's black, but yeah.

Any black Greeks?

You're right. I guess so. So. But
we talking about Jesus? Yes. Recently losing
my mother a little bit over a
month ago. I've had to go through
moments in trying to figure out how
to. How to function, you know, how

(18:26):
to. How to operate, you know, which
direction to go in. Confusion, frustration, anger,
sadness, the whole gamut. And one thing
that kept me afloat for sure was
definitely realizing that God was always there.
That God was always there. In fact,
I realized it more and more each
day because there was no Way I

(18:48):
would have made it to the next
one without his presence. So just realizing,
like God, like, understanding the fact that
he says, Jesus said, like, in this
world you will have tribulation, you will
have hardship, but be of good cheer.
I have overcome the world and I
love that because I love how the
word of God and this helps me
in regards to anything I go through.
I love how the word of God
doesn't sugarcoat or hide the fact that

(19:09):
life, life be lifein'that. Life will have
moments. Life will have struggles, shortcomings, moments
where you feel like things are not
going the way they should. Shocking moments,
moments that can derail you. And not
just you physically or mentally, but spiritually
as well. So I had to realize
that. And I thank God for the
fact that God lets us know in

(19:31):
his word that these. Mom, what happened?
But he reassures us of the fact
that he is with us. And understanding
that God will never leave me nor
forsake me, regardless of what I go
through. And that He's a very present
help in time of trouble. And I
love the fact it doesn't just say
he's a present help. He's very present,
which means he's active. He's intentionally active

(19:52):
in the midst of the troubling situations
and the troubling moments. And that helped
me tremendously. And that means so much
to me, knowing that God is with
me no matter what I go through.
So that in and of itself, just
knowing that he's faithful to be there.
And he has been with me every
step of the way, as well as
friends and family. But trust me, if
it wasn't without his presence, I wouldn't

(20:13):
have been able to make it thus
far. So it means the world to
me to know that Jesus is truly
Emmanuel God with us. He's God with
me, and he'll never leave me nor
forsake me. So, I mean, that has
kept me afloat in more ways than
I can count. So. Yeah.

Well, thank you for sharing that.

Yeah.

Yeah, I know. Just as a fun
fact to a testimony to the truth.
I remember we had this moment where
I was. I was emotional and I
was crying and you were like, reading
the Bible. And I'm like, what are
you reading? And he was like, lamentations.
And I'm like, why lamentations? He was
like, because he's lamenting.

I was lamenting. I was in the
season.

What else are you gonna read when
you're lamenting?

Exactly.

Stop reading.

You wanna read numbers when you're lamenting.

And the thing is reading that book
was very helpful. Like, we overlooked. I
said, okay, there's a whole book in
the Bible dedicated to grief. So let
me read it. Why not? That's not
a go to, but, you know, for
most of us. But I was like,
let me check it out. And just
realizing like, they were lamenting because they
actually, Israel has sinned against God. And
God was like, okay, it was years

(21:19):
of disobedience. I'm trying to get y'all
to turn. They don't listen. As a
result, God allows them to be overtaken
by Babylon. And in the midst of
it, they're lamenting like God, what's going
on? But even in the midst of
it, there are individuals who are showing
favor. I'm showing, showing God the fact
that they love him and they trust
him and they're worshiping him and saying,
but God, you are faithful. Your mercy

(21:40):
endures. Your mercy is. Your mercy is
new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
And then they're even admitting that we
sinned against God, which is why this
is happening. So my mind went to,
okay, if God is faithful to them
and even in the midst of them
being punished or disciplined for their actions,
of course he's with me in the
midst of a situation where I didn't
bring this upon myself, they brought that

(22:01):
upon themselves. I didn't bring this upon
myself. But yet if God was with
them and he's that faithful, how much,
how much more faithful is he towards
me in the midst of a situation
that I'm struggling in, that I didn't
bring on myself but just happened. But
God is. God is faithful even in
those moments. So God is with me
in these moments. So I had to
realize, like, okay, God, you're here and

(22:21):
I'm okay. I can lament, I can
cry. I can cry out to you
because you're here for that as well.
So I'm nerdy like that. I'm weird
like that. But I need the word
of God has to anchor. Like God's
word anchors me.

I need it to anchor me. I
think that that's beautiful. And I think
some people get into trouble when they
start thinking that if God was with
me, then I wouldn't be going through
this.

Exactly.

And that's just not how it works.
And I hate the fact that I
think modern Christianity sometimes preaches this gospel
of because God's with you, nothing bad's
ever going to happen. And because God's
with you, you're going to be prosperous
and wealthy and healthy and everything's going
to be great and, like, pick up
your Bible. That message ain't in there.
Like, we get people time and time

(23:05):
again. I mean, David is going through
stuff. Joshua's going through stuff. Moses going.
Literally every single person that I listed
today of God was with them. They
also had some stuff that if you
were going through that, you'd be like,
God's not with me. And that's almost
like. It's kind of like prophecy where
it's like, sometimes you get a prophetic

(23:25):
word because life is about to suck
and you need something to hold on
to as you go through it. Like,
it's like, hey, Joshua, like, you're about
to be attacked by all these different
armies. It's going to be battle after
battle, after battle. Just know I'm with
you. But he still has to go
through battle after battle, after battle. You
know, God's telling him, hey, just like
I was with Moses, I'm going to
be with you. Probably because the Israelites

(23:46):
were like, we were following Moses for
40 years. Who are you? Like, what
now? Right. And so, like, all of
these examples, all these stories that we
see of God being with people, like,
it goes beyond how we feel. And
I think sometimes we get in this
mistake where it's like, well, I don't
feel like God is with me because
this is happening or because that happened

(24:07):
or if God was really with me,
he would have never let my mother
die. Right. If God was really with
me, then I wouldn't have gotten fired.
And it's like, well, no, maybe because
you got fired. You need to know
that God is with you. Like, he.
His presence in your life is the
thing that can sustain you and get
you through that season. So I think
that we just. We get kind of
messed up when we follow this, like,

(24:28):
bad gospel, and then when we get
stuck in our feelings. Yeah, because it's
not about feeling God with you. It's
about knowing God is with you.

That's good.

That's good.

They can preach. I mean, you did
preach it, so go.

I don't know if I preached that.

Part, but, I mean, you were very
clear. I mean, you were very clear
in your message. And I encourage. I
always have to say this. I encourage
you to go back, check out that
message. It's a good way to begin
before you start the conversation with us.
But Pastor Brett did an excellent job
talking about how God is with us,
even in some of those deep fears

(25:02):
we may encounter and we'll dive into
that. But something that you made very
clear also was that this is a
promise made to his children. And so
how do you unpack that for someone
who is not really sure where they
stand with God and, you know, they

(25:24):
feel disconnected.

So this is one of the things
that I love about the Bible. The
Bible can be very complex and very
deep in some areas, and then it
can be very blunt and very simple
and very plain. And so it clearly
spells out, God is with you if
you make Him Lord. Like, if you
will follow him, he'll be with you

(25:47):
when you reject him. There's a separation
that happens. And we see that in
the Old Testament. We see that in
the New Testament. We see that all
throughout Scripture, right? And God's love and
his grace is always available to us.
But if we reject it, like, he's
not gonna force you into heaven. That's.
There's this bad theology out there that,

(26:07):
like, well, Jesus died for everybody, so
everybody goes to heaven. It's like, I'm
sorry. There's way too many verses that
tell us we need to repent. There's
too many verses, say, if you confess
that Jesus is Lord, then you will
be saved. Like, it's an if then
statement. If you do this part, then
this part will happen. Which means. This
is back to that grammar thing when
you're studying the Bible, that means if
this doesn't happen, then this doesn't happen.

(26:30):
And so for anybody, that's like, well,
I just don't know if God is
with me. Here's the beauty of the
message of the gospel is that he
absolutely is with you if you make
Him Lord. So if you've made that
confession, if you. If you said, you
know what, and. And look, there may
be days where you struggle with it.
There may be times wherein, you know,
I don't know how much of him

(26:51):
is really Lord. And, you know, there's
still some areas I'm struggling with, and
that's fine. But if you're on this
journey, we're saying, jesus, I want to
honor you. I want to please you.
I want you to be the Lord
of my life. When you're walking that
journey, he's with you. And you don't
have to question it. You don't have
to worry about it. So that's the
moment where it doesn't matter how it
feels, because there was times when David
felt like God was really far, but

(27:11):
he would always reassure himself. But I
know you're here. And that's the message
of the gospel. It's very simple. It's
very clear. He is absolutely unequivocally 100%.
Without doubt, he is with you if
you make him.

Lord, you know, that's also why this
is a faith journey. And this is
why salvation is about faith. You know,
by grace alone, through faith alone and
Christ alone. So, like faith is the
substance of things. Faith is the. Is
the faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen. Right? So it's something we hope

(27:45):
for. But whatever we are hoping for,
the faith is the substance for that
thing. And the evidence of something we
don't see that faith proves that is
real. Because the faith. But it doesn't
mean we feel it all the time.
It's something that can't be. It's not
tangible, but we know it's there. And
that in and of itself gives us
the reassurance of God being with us.

(28:07):
The disciples. I love these moments. Lord,
we believe help our unbelief. These are
areas where it's like, lord, okay, I
believe intellectually. Most of us who are
believers in Christ, we believe we know
God's word, We know what it says
we see. But, Lord, help the areas
of unbelief help me realize that, okay,
even though this is what it says,
this is real for me, too. This

(28:30):
is real in my situation. This is
real in my season. It's not just
something that I see and I read
on a page. It's something that's actually
applicable to me in this moment right
now. Right? So faith is the primary
thing that keeps us anchored, knowing that
what God said is what he said,
not not relying on the visible, tangible
evidence. Because if you look at the

(28:51):
word of God, God told people to
do so many things without visible, tangible
evidence. Noah, build an ark. It's gonna
rain. What is rain?

Yeah.

Never experienced that one before.

Never seen that in my life. What
is rain? An ark. For what? Like,
what, a flood? I haven't even seen
that much body of water in regards.
Unless it was like a ocean or
something. Like, what do you mean, rain?
But he looked foolish. He looked crazy.
His family had to be a part
of it at the same time building
the ark. I guarantee you, people were
looking at him crazy. He was like,
God, you better come through. I hope

(29:22):
you come through, because I feel and
look foolish. But he didn't rely on
his feelings. He relied on the faith
and relied on the fact that God
told him what he told him. We
can look at Abraham, take your son,
the only son that I gave you,
the son you love, Sacrifice. Okay, if
you say so. But the fact of
the matter is, God was with Jonah.
I mean, Jonah. He was with Jonah,

(29:43):
but God was with Noah. God was
with Abraham. Right. Regardless of how it
looked and how it felt, God was
there.

I love. I love that you just
picked two random things, but there's actually
a huge connection between Noah and Abraham.
So Noah has to have faith. Even
though he's never seen rain before. It's
actually said that Abraham is able to
make the sacrifice of Isaac because he
knows that God can raise him from
the dead. But up until that point,
there had been no resurrections. Like, that
is not something that he could say.

(30:11):
Well, he did it for, you know,
this person and that person. And we've
seen it before. No, it had never
happened before. God had never raised the
dead. But Abraham was like, he'll raise
Isaac.

Yeah, faith. So realizing that, understanding. And
it all comes with a lot of
this stuff comes over time with relationship.
A relationship helps cultivate trust, even when
you feel like things are going the
way they should. But because you have
that relationship and you have the track
record of an individual, when it comes

(30:42):
to a relationship with somebody, you rely
on that, even if at that moment
doesn't feel how you would like it
to feel. Right? And I think that's
what helped me in my season, is
that God snatched me up when I
was 16 years old. He saved me
when I was in high school, and
I'm 39 now. So that's all that's.
That's, you know, over 20 years of
walking with Jesus, and I've seen him

(31:04):
come through in various ways. You know
how people say, live a little, I've
lived a little. You know what I
mean? And I've seen him come through
in so many ways, and he has
never failed me. And he's always shown
up in some of the worst times
of my life, even more so maybe
because the other moments was just everything
is going good and they don't, you
know, he's there, but it's like, oh,
it's all good. It's all rosy right

(31:25):
now. But in the moments where I
really needed him, he never failed to
be there. So what would have made
this moment different when I lost my
mother? And what would make another moment
different if something else occurs? You know,
he's always been faithful. He's always come
through. And that's why he is Emmanuel
God with us, right? He truly is
with us. And not. Here's the thing,
all his other attributes are great, right?

(31:46):
His sovereignty, his omniscience, his omnipotence. These
are great. But if he's not with
you. And displaying those characteristics in your
life, it's like that's cool information but
where is it actually tangibly happening? The
fact that he's with us is where
those moments actually matter because he's utilizing

(32:06):
that, he's utilizing the characteristics that he
has in your life by being with
you every step of the way, regardless
of what you go through. So that's
blessed me in my life, that's kept
me so yeah, awesome.

I, I thank you for sharing that
and I, I like and I have
my notes today guys because it was
just so good. I liked Pastor Brent,
how you broke down the things that
we are can be afraid of as
humans. And so I'm just going to
list them off but I want you
guys to share an area that you've
struggled in and you felt like God
helped you overcome that fear. Okay, so

(32:41):
you have meaningly meaninglessness. Meaninglessness, isolation, decision
making, uncertainty and death. So I don't
know who wants to go first but
what's an area where you felt like
you had to overcome?

Yeah, I'll jump in. So I could,
I could tackle a bunch of those
because I've experienced those fears. The one
that I don't know that I've ever
really experienced is this is a weird
quirk of Brent, the isolation thing. Like
for people that know me, like know
that I am so not a people
person, right. That I have never felt
lonely a day in my life. Like

(33:19):
I am if it's just me, myself
and I like I'm alright, I'm good.
Like I don't know what that emotion
really feels like. And then part of
it is, is also the fact that
like I do recognize God's presence with
me. So yeah, I am that, that
weird guy that there's times when I'm
just talking to God like out loud
to myself. And like if you walked

(33:40):
in the room you'd be like that's,
that's really weird that he's talking to
himself. But it's like I'm, look, I'm
hanging out with Jesus and the Holy
Spirit and God the Father and I'm
having a great time. So like I've,
I've never really, really struggled with that
isolation thing. However, I know a lot
of people that do and it's one
of those things where it's like my
heart breaks for them because I don't
know how to relate, I don't know
how to, to help them in that.

(34:02):
But areas that I do, the whole
meaninglessness. There have been times in my
life where I'm like, what am I.
What am I doing? Like, does this
even matter? Like, I remember I. I
started a blog, like, years and years
ago.

You had a. Wait a minute.

It doesn't exist.

Can we still search it?

No, you won't be able to find
it. It does not exist anymore. But
I had a blog, and the whole
premise of it was a life worth
living. And it was. It was built
out of this idea. Like, I was
like, I just. I do. I was
so terrified of wasting my life, of
having a life that wasn't worth even
living. And I'm not saying I was

(34:41):
suicidal or anything like that. It was
just. It was just like, I want
to make a life that means something.
And I was terrified that it wasn't.
And, like, I've just found peace and
knowing, like, look, if I am God's
masterpiece and if I was created for
good works, and that the works that
he's created for me, he actually created
them before. Like, it's not even, like,

(35:04):
well, now he's got to figure out
what to do with Brent. Like, no,
it's like he had from the beginning
of time, like, he had a plan
in mind. Like, how could I possibly
be afraid of this meaninglessness? And then
I think a big one for me
is both the transition thing, the. What
do we call it? We called it

(35:25):
decision making. And what was the other
name that we used? It was uncertainty.
Yeah, it was uncertainty because it was
the transition thing. And so I've experienced
both of those things very recently. So
two years ago, my wife and I,
we became the lead pastors of the
church. So this is a huge transition
moment. There was so much uncertainty going

(35:47):
into that. Like, every pastor friend I
talked to, I had a coach working
with me through the transition. Like, all
of them were telling me horror stories.
Like, my coach that I work with,
he's like, 50% of our church left
when they made their transition.

Oh, my goodness.

They had to fire a bunch of
staff because the budget collapsed with 50%
of their church gone. And now. I
mean, they're doing amazing things now. But
it was like, that moment, that transition
that was rough. And then there was
another guy, right? At the same time
we were making our transition, was transitioning
to his son, and it just exploded.
Like, it blew up in a bad
way before the transition even happened. He

(36:23):
had to pull it back. And, like,
so, like, I'm going into the transition
with my dad.

These friends are so lovely.

So much fear, like, so much anxiety.
Like, literally, we're like, I don't Know
who's gonna be in church the Sunday
after we make the announcement. Like, I'm
like, soul, if it's just you and
me and five people, I guess we're
having church, like, we'll figure it out.

We was rocking with you.

We was gonna rock with you. You
could look down in the corner.

And see us, the four of us,
and then three others. But no. So,
like, there was so much anxiety, so
much fear. But I just felt like
all throughout that. That moment, it was
just like, hey, I'm with you. I'm
with you.

Yeah.

And I just felt like God's presence
was there in all the. The steps
leading up to it, because we started
that process in, like, 2018. So, like,
it had been four years in the
making. And so it was like, you
know what, God? You were there at
the beginning of this. You're going to
be there at the end of this.
And if we lose half of our
church, it's because that was what was
supposed to happen. Like, there was just

(37:21):
such a peace in knowing that God
was with us in that transition that
it gave me confidence to walk through
it. And then fast forward to right
now. I'm going to totally tease some
people. We made a huge decision here
recently that people are going to find
out about on January 5th. Yes, there
was making that decision. Like, I remember
talking with my wife and just being

(37:42):
like, I think this is what needs
to happen. I think this is where
God is leading us. This is it.
Like, this is the big one. But,
man, that's scary. It's scary when you're
like, am I making the right decision?
Am I making the wrong decision? I
was talking with my coach, and he
brilliantly pointed out to me, he's like,
this is your first big you decision.

(38:04):
Like, everything else has been, like, there's
been support. There's been. You've just been
running the plan that you had already
created. Like, it wasn't new. But this
is the first time where it's like,
no, this is. This is your choice
in this. And I'm like, well, I
hope it's not my choice. I hope
it's God's choice. But then there's all
this anxiety and fear. Like, how is
this gonna come across? Is this gonna
be good? And I love that nobody

(38:24):
listening has any clue what that decision
is or what's going on. And this
is probably gonna make them terrified of
really bad things happening. It's gonna be
awesome. But, yeah, so. So those two
experiences here recently instilled a lot of
fear. But at the same time, it
was also a reminder. And that's, I
think that's what I love, is that

(38:45):
every time that fear tries to creep
in, it's a great opportunity to be
reminded that God's with us. Right. That
he's. He's with us. He's with me
in that moment, in that transition. He's
there in that decision making process. He's
there. And the outcome of those decisions,
he's there. Right. And so, like, I

(39:05):
think sometimes when that fear creeps in,
because the fear is going to come,
like, everybody that heard my. My message
today is going home. Like, I'm finally
going to sleep easy. And it's going
to be great. And you probably will
tonight, but three weeks down the road,
something's going to happen and you're going
to need the reminder all over again
that God is with you because fear
is very real. And I called all
those fears dumb because they are dumb.

(39:28):
It doesn't mean we don't experience them.
And I can call them dumb even
when I'm experiencing them be like, that
is a dumb fear. I'm still afraid.
Right. And so. But it is such
a. It's a great opportunity.

Yeah.

I think that's the best way I
can put it is that when that
fear creeps in, you can acknowledge the
fact that there's fear there. As long
as you're balancing it with, okay, I'm
afraid of this, but God's with me.

Yeah, that's good.

What did I say? Do it scared.
I've heard that.

Yeah, do it scared.

When it comes to fear, say, okay,
you're afraid, we'll do it. Do it
scared. Right?

I mean, that's what courage is, right?

Yeah.

Courage is not the absence of fear.
That'd be silly. Like, I don't need
courage to, you know, eat a cheeseburger.
Like, I'm sorry, I haven't had lunch
yet.

I'm like, are you hungry?

I'm hungry. And Bennett wants a cheeseburger
for lunch, so I gotta buy him
lunch. Okay. But yeah, like, like, you
don't need courage to do something you're
not afraid of.

Yeah.

You need courage to do things you
afraid of.

Yeah. Random. I just looked at your
shirt and it says Thug Life. I'm
sorry, I'm totally distracted.

You just figure that out about that
life.

Okay.

This is my Christmas. Okay, we can
pause for. So who's your favorite on
the shirt? Like, favorite Christmas movie? Like,
we got straight Up Santa.

Yeah.

We got Kevin McAllister. We got Elf.
We got the Grinch and We've got
John McClane.

John McClane is. Is Die Hard 2.
Die Hard 2. One of the best.

See, the problem is, though, Christmas movies.

Ever, whether people want to admit it
or not.

I mean, Die Hard one was a
Christmas movie.

It was. You're right.

Yeah.

They both are.

I heard a great argument here recently
for why Die Hard is a Christmas
movie. Because if you remove Christmas, like,
the movie doesn't happen. Like, it is
pivotal to the story because they're at
a Christmas party.

That's true. They are.

And if there's no Christmas, there's no
Christmas party.

We're so distracted. And.

And it's a great Christmas movie because
it's all about coming together, overcoming evil.
Like, it's like the hope that is.

Good guy wins at the end.

Right? Like, it's like this. This is
a Christmas movie. Like, I heard a
great, you know, argument for why it's
a Christmas movie, despite the fact that
apparently the writer of the movie said
it's totally not a Christmas movie. But
he doesn't know what he's talking about.
He only wrote the movie.

Creatives, they can be in their own
world. All right. That was a good
segue. I don't. I was just looking.
I'm like, thug Life. I'm trying to
take you serious as I'm listening to
you talk about your fears, and I'm
like, thug Life.

I thought this is our Christmas episode.

It is our Christmas.

I wanted to be.

Yeah. Festive.

No, it's my Christmas sweater.

I should have wore a head.

I'm not calling it my ugly Christmas
sweater because this thing is beautiful.

No.

Yeah. A lot of these ugly sweaters
are actually nice looking.

They're nice now. Nowadays, when you can
find them at Target, they're nice. Okay,
so what's your fear?

Did we derail this whole conversation?

Right. This whole thing would laugh.

I'm so sorry. We were having such
a great conversation, talking about fear and
anxiety, but God is with you. Thug
Life. What?

That shirt is all about self. And
I'm just playing what's my.

What's my area?

Yeah. What's one out of the five?

Uncertainty was probably. That's what I'm right.
Uncertainty for me, I think primarily it's
an area that a lot of us
can relate to, but it is what
it is. It was an area of
finance in life. And, you know, we've,
you know, some of the struggles.

I'm not your wife right now, so
tell us about it. No, I'm just
playing.

What is going on no, you were
there. Trust me.

Until death do you part, you were
there. You don't pause for podcasts.

You were there with me when I
was pulling the hair I have left
out, you know, but financially, there were
moments that was like, okay, God, I
need you to come through. Okay, this
is very interesting. You know, moments where,
what, 14 years we've been together. So
years ago, in between jobs or trying
to finish. Pass a test for a

(43:20):
certain career I had to try to
get into, and failed that three times.
This is why I'm not a good
test taker. We were talking about before
the podcast started, so there were things.
I was like, uncertainty there. Like, God,
is this really, for me? Is this
really where you want. The direction you
want me to go in? What about
my family? What about our bills? You
know what I mean? Things like that.
But God always came through. God always

(43:41):
showed himself as Jehovah Jireh.

Yeah.

You know, our provider consistently and in
ways that, you know, we just look
and we laugh at it. Like, look
back and say, well, what were we
worried about?

Yeah, yeah.

What was the purpose of us being
fearful and scared? But at the moment,
it's like, none of that matters. And
it's like, God, help me. I've even
asked God, please help me respond the
way post blessing. Help me respond that
way when it happens. Like, help me
just be like, God, you got us.
And there have been moments I've succeeded
and moments I haven't. But the beautiful
thing about God is he always succeeds.

(44:16):
He's always faithful. Right? So that will
be the one for me. Uncertainty in
those areas. Like, okay, God, are you
gonna actually do it? I know you
did it before. And me foolishly thinking
this is why it's dumb to have
that. Because it's translation.

And we have to. We have to
recognize, we have to identify.

Is there another word?

These fears are dumb. I'm using the
word dumb.

These fears are dumb.

You are discipling people to say dumb.

Yes, absolutely. Because they're dumb fears. I'm
not saying you're dumb for having them.

I promise.

I'm not saying that because I. Well,
I'd be calling myself dumb because I
have these fears, too.

Okay?

But the. It's the. The reality of
the. These things are stupid. You like
that word better. I don't know which
word you like better when you compare
any of those.

Unnecessary. There you go.

That's unnecessary now. That's not strong enough.
It don't hit. These are stupid fears.
When you compare them to God being
with me. If God is with me.
Just put them on the scales and,
man, it's gonna drop right off. Because
that fear cannot stand up against the

(45:25):
God of the universe, the Almighty, everlasting
one. Like, come on. Like, these fears
are dumb.

I mean, when you say it like
that, right?

Like, and that was. That was the
thing. Like, when I'm looking at this,
I'm like, especially when I got to
the isolation one, I was like, feeling
lonely. I'm like, how can you feel
lonely if God is with you? Like
this. That's a stupid thing to be
afraid of. And then I started thinking
about my own fears. It's like, well,
that's a dumb for me to be
afraid of because, okay, worst case scenario,
it happens just as poorly as I
imagine. And guess what? God's still with

(45:56):
me. Okay.

Yeah, true.

So move on. Like, it. That's true,
man. I'm sorry. Like, I know some
people were like, but you don't understand.
It's really feeling these things. I'm like,
I get it. I get it. I
feel them too.

Yeah.

And they're still dumb.

I can understand why you said this
was a hard Christmas message to preach.

Merry Christmas, everybody. All these dumb fears.

Yeah. So as we. We land this
plane, good luck. Give us something hopeful.

Fear is Stupid.

Stupid, volume one.

Fear is Stupid, written by Pastor Britain.
As we land this plane, though, give
us something hopeful. Pastor Brent, as you're.
We're going to do our. We're going
into our takeaways segment, and I told
you, we take this very serious on
this show.

Yeah.

So the rules are I go first.

Because if not, Brent steals them all.

Yeah, Pastor Brent always steals up. And
I feel like he's still. Still gonna
figure out a way. And we try
to see who you can't repeat. So
if I say one take away.

Okay.

You can kind of change the words
like Pastor Brent does, but, yeah, I.

Totally cheat that one. Yeah.

So I was gonna have you go
first, but I just remember the rules,
so I'm gonna go first. Okay. Are
you guys ready? My takeaway is.

I don't think it's fair, though, that
you, like, wrote yours down like you
took time thinking about Brainstorm.

I did.

Because you said, like, she erased something
she didn't like. I don't want that
one. I don't like this.

She ran it through chat GPT to
make it sound.

I did not run these. This is
why I say I do. Like, this
is mine. Now. I do use them
to help with some of the questions,
but this is my thought that Stood
out to me. God is with those
who choose to be with Him. Yeah,
that was good, because that stood out

(47:46):
to me because I heard someone say
that God is a gentleman. Like, he's
not going to force Himself on you.
He's not going to come in and
just make you do something. He gives
us a choice. And so choosing him
is the best thing that you can
do. Because his promises is that he
will. He will be with us. He

(48:07):
will be Emmanuel God with us for
those who choose Him.

Yep, that's it.

So what pretty is it? What score?
9 out of 10. Okay, good, good,
good. All right, who wants to go
next? Are we gonna.

I got it.

The guess. Are you. You ready, Pastor?

God is faithful even when we are
faithless.

Expand on that.

Expand.

Well, it's actually a scripture. Even, like,
if God is faithful even if we're
faithless, if anybody that comes to him
must first believe that he is and
that He's a rewarder of those who
diligently seek Him. Right. So just realizing,
like, okay, I believe that you are

(48:57):
God. If I'm gonna come to you,
I have to realize that either I'm
gonna believe who you are, believe you
for what you say, believe you for
your character and for your track record,
or not come to you at all.
Because I'm just wasting my time. So,
God, you are faithful. And in the
midst of my moment right now, while
I'm feeling faithless to a certain extent,

(49:20):
not in who you are, not faithless
in a sense that God doesn't exist,
but just wondering, God, are you going
to be. Are you going to be
as consistent now as you've been in
your past? I need to come to
you realizing your track record speaks for
itself. You've never failed a battle. You
can do all things but fail. We

(49:41):
sing it, we read it. So either
I'm going to believe it or not.
And those have been the things that
helped me in life, overcome plenty of
things, addiction and all type of things.
I had to make a realization and
make a. It had to be real
with myself and say, david, you got
to believe God or not. Do you
believe Him? If you believe this thing,
if you believe what God says in
His Word, you believe the scriptures, you

(50:01):
believe he's faithful. You believe that you
can go to him and you can
obtain mercy and find grace to help
in time of need, then I need
to believe that and really stand on
it. And that in and of itself
has kept me just believing His Word,
not just memorizing it, just for the
sake of it. Or looking impressive, but

(50:22):
just knowing it and standing on it
and believing it. And he's faithful, and
he's shown himself as faithful plenty of
times, so that's mine.

Good.

Give it a 10. Pretty. Come on.
Don't. I'm gonna look down.

Pressure. 9.

We're all basics to her.

I feel like 9 has a new
like. Doesn't really mean.

It doesn't mean much. You should have
started the.

Yeah, that's true. I'm never a 10
guy. I never. Yeah, I mean, you've
been a 10.

On this show this whole per.

No, there's always room for disease.

Okay, well, then you got to start
us lower. Think about the.

Too close to perfection.

Right. Think about the scale for next
week. Pretty. Okay.

Yeah. So. So mine is when God
is with you, fear is not. And
so this comes straight from the Christmas
story Emmanuel. The whole point of Jesus
being with us is God with us.
And then four times it's repeated. Fear
not. Fear not. Fear not. Fear not.
And so Mary's told to fear not.
Joseph is told to fear not. The

(51:27):
shepherds are told to fear not. Jesus,
uncle is told to fear not. And
so we walk away with this understanding
because God is with us. Fear is
not. And so when fear starts to
creep in, just be like, no, I
got Jesus.

That was good.

9.5.

You know what the numbers mean? Nothing.

You know what? I think a little
biased here. I know she's been bragging
about you preaching all. All day. The
fear was a great way of using
Emmanuel.

Yeah.

God with us.

God with us.

Well, good job, Pastor Brent. Another hand.

Can you stop that? That is not.

That's our Christmas.

That is not the point of the
show.

That's our Christmas is present to you.

Our. Our podcast is not Puff up
the Pastor.

That's just. This episode is our gift.

Whatever, dude. Whatever.

Whatever thinking. Puff up the past. A
nice title.

Puff up the Pastor. That's not the
game we play here.

You're right, it's not. Well, ignore Prince,
everyone.

No. Well, as you can see, we
are in the Christmas chair on between
sermons. Thank you so much for tuning
in. We hope you have an amazing
Christmas. We are praying for you. Know
that God is with you. And this
is a great time to take a
look at that message. Watch it with
your family. Revisit that sermon. It was
awesome. And then tune back into this

(52:48):
podcast on next week. And until we
meet again, like, share and subscribe.

We got one more before the end
of the year.

One more.

It's the last one.

And if you if you feel as
excited as I am about the little
nuggets we've been. We've been dropping about
January 5th, you might want to be
in the building. I can't even talk.
You might want to be in a
building. That's how excited I am. You
don't want to be here. You do
want to be in a building. You
want to be in the building because
it's going to be an amazing announcement.

(53:21):
So until we meet again, God bless.

Nobody said nothing. Nobody said cut.

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