Freed From The Fear Of The Future

I've never been more proud to be an American than today, amen, because God has blessed us. And when I look at Scripture, and when I look at the Psalms, we're in some of the Psalms, I was thinking about and praying about what to talk about today. And there's two Psalms that I want to hit on real quick today. And the first one is, Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom He has chosen for His inheritance. Isn't that just beautiful?

Blessed is the nation that makes God their Lord. And then there's this powerful hymn I wanted to connect it with a bit. And this was my grandmother. I remember my grandmother. She was probably one of the holiest people I've ever known.

She would, you know, prayer in the morning, prayer in the evening. I never saw her do anything wrong. I mean, she was just a wonderful woman of God. And she would walk around the house quoting this Psalm every time I would hear her quoting. Surely, goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever and ever. And she would say that over and over again. Just a beautiful thing to kind of get some of that anxiety, some of that fear. There's a lot of fear and anxiety in the world, isn't there? There's a lot of people, even today, you know, on the news and in politics.

And we can't even enjoy the 4th of July without there being debates. You know, the bill's being passed. It's right or it's wrong. And people fighting back and forth and trying to figure out. You can't even enjoy the freedom that we have as Americans.

And you can't help but experience a little fear. So today I want to talk about how to be free of fear. If we're freedom, if we walk in freedom, we need to be free of all of this mess. As Christians, we are highly favored, anointed. We are blessed, right?

We should be living as blessed and free and highly favored. And we're going to talk about that today. In Psalm 23, 6, where that comes from. Psalm 23 is one of the most famous psalms in the Scripture. It's the psalm, the Lord is my shepherd.

Most people know that. Most people can quote it no matter what denominational background you're from. In Psalm 23. But that last part, that last part, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. What people don't know, this isn't a psalm about your commitment to God.

This is a psalm about God's commitment to us. That He is good. That His goodness. We just sang about God is so good. But this psalm, when David wrote it, was talking about the goodness of God.

That we have a God that's so good, why would we ever fear? Why would we ever be concerned? So surely goodness and mercy will follow the days of my life. That's the promise. That the goodness of God will follow you all the days of your life.

If you dwell in the house of the Lord. See, if you dwell in the house of the Lord, which we need to. Walk in the house of the Lord. I will dwell in the house of the Lord. That promise there is His goodness and mercy will follow us.

That dwell in the house of the Lord forever, you know what that is? That's heaven. That's forever. That's the future. Anytime you start worrying, you need to focus on that psalm.

That I will dwell in His house forever. That is a promise God has given us and His goodness and His mercy will follow me and we need to remember that. So let me give you just today three things why you need not to fear the future. How can you break that fear of the future? Miranda shared with us last week, my wife shared a lot about fear and God's faithfulness.

I want to piggyback on that and kind of continue on that journey because I think fear is one of the biggest things. Those anxieties and those desperations that you're feeling in your life, they come from fear. Fear is something that we all need to conquer and God has a solution for us. So why you don't need to fear the future? Number one, because God's goodness is watching over me.

God's goodness is watching over me. Did you know that God is always paying attention to you? Always, always. And it's a good thing. It's not a scary thing.

I have some uh-ohs up here, you know, like, oh no, is He always? Why is God, God always pays attention to you. He knows every detail of your life. Why? Because He created you and He loves you.

That's why. Not because He's trying to get on to you, because He created you and loved you. And some of you are like eight billion people in the world and God is paying attention. How does that even work? If you don't believe that He is focused and He knows you and He knows every detail of your life, you've made your God too small.

Your God knows every detail of your life. He knows your highs. He knows your lows. He knows your goods. He knows your bads, right?

He knows your uh-ohs. And He loves you and He knows your ups and He knows your downs. And He's paying attention to you right now. Did you know that? As you're in here today, God is paying attention to you right now.

He's hearing your heart, your heart's cry. And He knows you better than you know yourself. He knows more detail about you than you know about yourself. That's why He knows every hair on your head, right? Stephan, He knows every hair on your head, right?

Yeah? Okay. I know every hair on your head. I think that's zero. Hey, I'm losing mine.

So, you know, I've earned a right to pick on bald people now. Okay. So, He knows all the details of your life. He is so good. And He's also watching over you.

Not only does He know every detail of your life and He's concerned about you, but He's watching over you all the time. Look what the psalmist says here, 14520. He says, the Lord watches over all who love Him. He watches over. Not only does He watch over you, He's actually protecting you.

Did you know that? That all the incidents and all the circumstances that could have put you in the grave, you kind of look back in life. Did you know that God was doing things, maneuvering things, and putting you in situations where you were protected? How does He do that? Angels.

Angels are one of the ways He protects us. Psalm 91-11 says God orders His angels to protect you wherever you go. I don't have time to give a big theological lesson on angels today, but there's a lot of misunderstanding about how angels and what they are and how they work and some lies and myths. And when you die, you're not going to become an angel is one of those myths, okay? Some of you are like, oh, my great aunt so-and-so earned her angel wings today.

No, we don't become angels. We become the people who we are and we're always meant to be in heaven. Angels don't have bodies. Angels aren't spiritual beings. You don't talk to them.

In fact, we probably will never have a conversation with an angel. There's nothing in the Bible that even suggests that. But they're watching over you and they're protecting you. They were created by God to encourage you, to encourage circumstances that encourage you. That put you in places where you can find Him, in places where you're protected from things that could bring you into places you don't want to be.

So are angels real? Some of you are like that. Yes, they are. In fact, they are very real. I had one pastor that shared a story about a postcard that he had made for a lady in his church who had a child with Down syndrome.

She was really, really down. She didn't have a lot of friends. She didn't know where to go with this situation. So he wanted to write her a very encouraging card. But somehow that card didn't get to her house.

It got to a neighbor's house down the road. And that neighbor came up. She opened the card and read it. Thought it was for her. Found out it wasn't for her.

Put it back in and walked back over to her house and gave it to her and said, I'm sorry I accidentally opened this, but let me let you know this. I have a child with Down syndrome too. And if you need a friend, I'm here for you. I think an angel redirected that. God is always moving His messengers, His beings, His invisible helpers around.

A few other stories. When Max was very young, we were living in a condo that had really steep stairs. And one of those steps was a little loose. And you know how you get those loose ones. I fell down a few times.

When I hit it, I'd slip. In fact, I protected Savannah one time when she was a little baby and held her in my arms. You know, because I fell and we slid down. I just slid down on the floor. But I remember Max.

We were always worried about Max going up and down the stairs. And we were always watching over him, making sure he doesn't. And then one day, we saw that. He hit that step and he was a goner. And we saw him almost lean all the way over.

And right when he leaned over, we saw something happen like this. Pulled him back really quick. I can't explain it. Miranda will tell you. We believe there was an angel watching over him.

That God had an angel watching over our little boy. Yeah, I'm going to get them off the line here. I hope you see you next time. 1, 2, 3. Thank you.

When my sister was very little, we were riding across a very busy road on our bicycles, and a transfer truck was hauling, probably going over the speed limit, down that road. And my sister couldn't get across the road in time. My parents were kind of down the road. We lived on the street. They saw it happen right in front of their eyes.

They were like, could you imagine, you know, seeing your child right in front of a large truck coming at them, and there's no way that truck can stop on time. And all of a sudden, the truck stopped. Boom! Just stopped in place. It was like hitting a brick wall.

And my sister kept insisting that there was a woman that helped her across the road. A woman. She was very, very young. And today, she can't even tell you all that it was, but she remembers there was a woman that helped her across the road, helped her across the road. And she kept talking about this woman, this woman.

She picked up her bike and helped her across the road. Mom was like, my mother was like, there wasn't anybody there. It was just you. It was just you. It happened, and you got off the road, and you were okay.

Later on, she learned that April was starting to, my sister was starting to articulate what was happening. She said, a lady, it looked like a lady in a dress, in a white glittery dress, that came out and stood in front of the truck and hit it like that. And then grabbed the bike and grabbed her hand and helped her across the road. And the truck driver, obviously, you know, yes, he was very emotional about the event, said, I don't know how my truck stopped. It was like I hit a brick wall.

We believe that it was an angel. God is protecting us, and he uses invisible helpers because he's so good. He's always looking out for us. He's always working through us. Surely his goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.

What does that mean? It means he is making all things good. He is making all things good. Romans 8, 28 says, we know that all that happens to us is working for our good. It doesn't mean that good things will happen all the time.

Some people become Christians and are like, why is my life really horrible right now? I shouldn't be dealing with this. It doesn't mean that bad things won't happen to you. David had a lot of bad things happen to him. But God will ensure that good will come out of everything.

When the evil stuff and all the things that come out at you, that happens to you, you cannot control what happens to you in your life. But if the Lord is your shepherd, God will always, will always make everything that happens to you, something good come out of that. That's how good our God is. We know that all things happen for our good. We know that all that happens to us is working for our good.

Why? If we, or how? If we love God and are fitting into His plan. I love that translation. Because if you're going in the opposite direction of God, if you're going away from God, if you're ignoring God's plan for your life, if you're running from God, all things don't work out for your good.

But when you're aligned with God and you're walking with God, the promise is that all things will work out for your good. If you really want your will for your life, even the bad stuff, God's will for your life, even the bad stuff works out for His good. And of course, there's going to be tough times. There's going to be bad times. And it's hard to see in the moment all the things that God is doing when you're going through those dark times.

But God is working. Why? Because of His goodness. Because surely His goodness and mercy follow you all the days of your life. We got that promise.

The second thing is because God's grace is working in me. So, God's goodness is working around me. He's protecting me. He's causing things to work for our good. But He's also working in us.

Mercy is working all the time. And while goodness is working around me, I can trust that grace is working in me. Surely, goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. What is mercy? Mercy is grace in action.

Mercy is grace in action. Isaiah 60, 10 says it like this. I will have mercy on you through my grace. So, you see mercy and grace here. What's the difference between grace and mercy?

God's goodness or God's grace, we can say goodness is the grace. That's the blessings of God. The grace is what God bestows upon you. The things that I don't deserve that He gives me. That's the blessings in life.

The fact that I don't deserve to have the life that I have. I don't deserve to breathe the air that I breathe. My heart just took another beat. I don't deserve that. I don't deserve to live in a free country.

I don't deserve to live here. I woke up. I was born here. You were born here. Do we really deserve that?

But God in His blessings and His grace and His mercy, everything you have in life is a gift from God. That's the goodness, the grace of God. But mercy is when God doesn't give me what I do deserve. It goes the other direction. All the ways I've been mean.

All the ways I've been wrong. All the ways I've failed. All the ways I've made mistakes and I've been centered on myself. I deserve punishment. I deserve discipline.

I deserve retribution for what I've done. I deserve that. But God's mercy, He pulls that off of me by the blood of Jesus Christ. That's something to be thankful for. If God gave me everything I deserve, I'd be dead.

If God gave you everything you deserve... Go. Go, D. You wouldn't be here. You wouldn't be able to be here.

But that's the beauty of God's mercy. That's the difference between grace and mercy. And he says both of these are going to follow you all the days of your life. Surely his goodness, his grace, and his mercy to take those things away from you that you deserve will follow you all the days of your life. His provision and his pardon.

God is good. He gives good things. He gives good things to us. He provides. We're pardoned and we're forgiven of our sins.

Amen? Amen. We need mercy, right? I need mercy. You need mercy.

Because we're not perfect. We've got sin in our lives. We all have sinned. We all have broken God's commandments. And we need forgiveness.

The psalmist lists a number of ways that God shows mercy. Look at this for a minute. Psalm 103, 2 and 13. I will not forget the glorious things God does for me. He forgives all my sins.

He heals me. He ransoms me from hell. He surrounds me with loving kindness. He fills my life with good things. He is merciful and tender toward those who don't deserve it.

He is slow to get angry. He never bears a grudge. He doesn't hold a grudge against you. He has not punished us as we deserve for all our sins. For his mercy, it is as great as the height of the heavens.

And he is like a father to us, tender, sympathetic to those who reverence him. I love the living Bible paraphrase that shares it in that way. Some of you don't believe that today. Because you're still living in guilt. That God's out to get you.

That God is out to judge you right now as he's looking at your life. When I shared the note earlier that he's always watching over you. Some of you think God's mad at you for the things that you've done. But God, his goodness follows you 24-7. He's available to give you forgiveness.

He is a forgiving God. Hebrews, amen, yeah? Hebrews says it like this. He says, we come before God's throne. We can come before God's throne.

He's talking about prayer. That's what we do when we pray. We can come before his throne where we can receive mercy and grace. We can receive blessing. And he can take away the things that we deserve, right?

And he can put on us the things we don't deserve. Because grace is mercy and goodness to help us when we need it. God never gets tired of forgiving us. That's the goodness of God. God never gets tired of that habitual sin that you just can't tackle that you think that God's so angry over.

His mercy follows you every day of your life. Turn back to him. Turn to him. He will be there to show his loving mercy and grace to you. He's always there.

Surely his goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. We can come before his throne. Goodness and mercy will follow me. I think of it this way as a picture of the shepherd, the rod. God.

God. So, let's do it again. And the staff, you know, and he's guiding us along. Come on guys, and we're the sheep, and we're just rolling along, you know. Come on, come on, come on.

And there's these two sheepdogs, okay. The sheepdogs are back here, they're kind of nipping at our heels a little bit here and there, kind of helping us stay the line. We're kind of going back and forth, you know. Those little dogs are grace and mercy. Grace and mercy help keep us aligned.

If we just go to him, and he gives us that grace, and he gives us that mercy, that mercy, it leads us. Mercy will follow you all the days of your life. Not just some days, all days. All the days. If you follow Jesus, he is always merciful every moment of the day.

And you fully understand that God is never, when you fully understand that God is really that good, it changes your whole life. When you understand how good God is, how gracious and how merciful he is, that he's not out to punish you, but he's out to bless you, and he's out to encourage you, and he's out to love you, and he's out to pull you. It changes everything. And some of you are like, well, I don't always feel God's goodness and mercy, even when I'm walking with him. Who said anything about feelings, okay?

Feelings are unreliable. God is not a feeling. God in his very nature is good, and God in his very nature is merciful. And it's based on who he is, not how we feel. It's based on who he is.

Everything in your life, you owe to the goodness and mercy of God. Everything good in this life, it's going to follow you because the Lord is our shepherd. Our Lord is our shepherd. And number three, God's glory is waiting for me. God's glory is waiting for me.

Not only is his grace and mercy working inside of me, in that he's protecting me, and he's leading me, and all those beautiful things, but his glory is waiting for me. It says, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. That's heaven. Even after you've lived a life blessed on this earth, it's not the end.

Isn't that cool? Like all the blessings that we have in life, that we walk out, and all the things that God, it's not the end. It just keeps getting better and better because what? We don't have to fear death. We live forever.

The moment you give your life to Jesus, you live forever and ever and ever. That death is not the end. One of the greatest fears that people have statistically is death. Everything kind of relates to death. Everything that you fear will ultimately point back to death.

But under Jesus Christ, because we have hope of a future, we have hope of heaven, we no longer have to fear death. That should conquer all fears right there. It says, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. No more sorrow, no more suffering, no more pain, no more shame, no more headaches, no more hurt, no more sickness. All things will be made perfect.

All things will be made good. I will dwell in His house forever. The best is yet to come. That's why when my back is hurting really bad and it won't stop hurting, and I know that my joints are getting worse, you know, as I get older, I know I'm still young, but I can feel it. It's hurting a little bit more every year.

I'm not worried because one day in heaven I will be restored completely. I'm not worried about it. I have no fear of death. And I think we should get that excitement in us. I remember when I first had a radical conversion to Jesus Christ.

I just loved Him so much. I loved Him so much. I didn't care. I said, God, send me anywhere. If I die for you, it doesn't matter because I was just so excited because I knew heaven was real.

I know God is real. Heaven is waiting for us. We will dwell in His house. So what makes heaven heaven? A lot of things make heaven heaven.

But the biggest one is that God's glory will be made full. What does that mean? God's glory is all the good things that He does for you. His character and who He is will be made, will actualized in everything. Everything you experience.

We have glimpses, glimpses of heaven even in this life. Did you know that? Psalm 91 says, the heavens declare the glory of God. The heavens declare. Did you know when you look up into the heavens and you see the stars at night and when you see the sun and when you see the moon and when you see the mountains and when you, I mean, just climb.

I remember when I was an undergrad at Appalachian State University, I would go and climb the Appalachian Trail. Some of you say Appalachian, but I say Appalachian because that's what App State says, Appalachian. We will beat you up over that, okay? Ain't it right, Charlie? North Carolinians, man, we keep our Appalachian, okay?

Some of you are correcting me right now, but we would go up the Appalachian Trail. The Appalachian Trail. I'd go up there and I'd find a little spot. I had this little spot I called Lookout Leon. Lookout Leon.

I'd go out there and I'd just sit. When I wanted to get away from everything, I'd sit on that little rock. I wasn't supposed to be there, by the way. Rangers had it roped off, but I jumped over and found me a little spot. Yeah, if they're watching, if a ranger's watching right now, I'm sorry.

That was before I was saved, okay? But I would sit out there and I'd just see God's handiwork. It's so beautiful. Just miles and miles and miles of mountains. The beauty of God.

That's heaven. You see it. You see God's glory. The thousands of plants, the variations, the animals. God created His creativeness.

The beauty of the sunrise. The beauty of the sunset. You just need to go out early. Get up early in the morning before the sunrise. Get up early in the morning before the sunrise.

Get up early in the morning before the sunrise. Get up early in the morning before the sunrise. Go to the beach and sit and watch God. Watch God at work. Find you a place to watch the sunset, I don't know if you're not a morning person.

Go, go, go. Just watch God at work. Waterfalls and mountains and the beauty, whatever that looks like. It's God. Small glimpses of God.

And did you know that man even is the glory of God? That He created us in His image. We are image bearers of God. Glimpses of God. We're broken, but we carry His glory.

That's His plan, is to bring us back to what we were originally intended to be. His glory. His glory. The glory of man. Full glory is coming.

And one day when you get to heaven, you're going to see His full glory. Paul says, right now we only see through a dark glass. We're only seeing glimpses of heaven. All the good things you experience in this life. Just glimpses of heaven.

But one day it will be made full. Isaiah says it like this. He says in 6315, Lord, look upon us from heaven where you live in your holiness and glory. We got a glimpse of it when Stephen, the first martyr in the Bible, looks up to heaven and he sees the heavens as he's being stoned. He looked up towards the heavens and he saw the glory of God.

The Bible tells us that even, tells us that when Jesus was resurrected, Jesus returned to His glory in heaven. And we will one day experience the fullness of His glory. We will get sneak peeks right now. But one day, when everything is consummated, we will experience the glory of God in heaven. That should be a joy.

We don't have the ability to understand heaven. In fact, 1 Corinthians says, No eye has seen, no ears have heard, no mind has ever imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him. That's the best description that Paul could have given. He was taken to the third heaven. He said, I don't even know if it was a vision or if it was really there or whatever it was.

I don't know. Was I in my body? I don't know. But what I saw, I can't even explain to you. It's like pearly gates.

It was like golden streets. But that's not even it. There was just so many colors. There's so many visuals and audibles and all these things that were happening. I just couldn't even put it into words.

So here's just a glimpse of what it will be like. The best I can do. Einstein even said to himself, There's dimensions we don't even know about and we're unaware of that we can't see and we can't experience. Our brain doesn't have the capacity to even understand these things. But we have heaven.

We have the glory of heaven. But surely I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. What in the world are we afraid of? What in the world are we worried about? Because we got the glory of God.

God's plan from the beginning. The meaning was to bestow His glory on you. Look at what Romans 9.23 says, God wanted to reveal His abundant glory which has poured out on us who are the objects of His mercy. We are the objects of His mercy.

Man, He wanted to show His mercy off by bestowing it upon us, right? And whom He has prepared in advance to receive His glory. Before even He created the universe, God thought of you. God thought you up, thought me up. He wanted children.

And He prepared in advance to show His love off and show His glory off in His children. Now what implication does that have for me now? Those three points, they sound wonderful, you know. But what about now? I have this confidence, this security and no fear, you know.

It's awesome. But what does that mean for me now? Real quickly, let me give you three things. Number one, I must stay grateful and generous because God is so good to me. I got to stay grateful, grateful.

There's two things, grateful and generosity. I had to put those into one point because I didn't want an hour long sermon, okay? God expects me to be grateful and generous. My first response is goodness and mercy. Gratefully, being grateful, having gratitude.

Start with gratitude, right? Psalm 118, 29 says, give thanks continually to our Lord because He is good and because His mercy will never run out. His goodness and His mercy will never run out. Continually, He pours His mercy on us. Continually.

And what do we do? Continually give thanks. We need to be giving thanks all the time. When I'm starting to feel ungrateful, start shouting out grateful things, right? You need to develop the rest of your life an attitude of gratitude.

The rest of your life because God is so good. Scientific studies have shown it. You live longer, you're healthier, you're happier, you're more successful in life if you're a gracious person. If you have gratitude, if you say, the antidote to fear is gratefulness. You know why?

Because you don't think about yourself, you think about others. That's right. When you bring, you're thinking about God, right? And others. You cannot be grateful and fearful at the same time.

And the same thing goes with gratitude. Look, Hebrews 12, 28 says, we have been given possession as an unshakable kingdom. Man, of an unshakable kingdom. Think about that. Underline that if you're following your Bible and following your notes.

Underline that. An unshakable kingdom. A kingdom that never passes away as some versions say. A kingdom that's forever. Man, what more?

Therefore, let us be grateful that we aren't passing away, right? And our gratitude to worship God in the way that pleases Him with reverence and awe. So we need to be grateful and we need to be generous. Our second response should be generosity. God says, I'm good and generous to you.

I want you to be good and generous to others. I'm generous and good to you. I've blessed you. I want you to bless others. Matthew 10.

8 says it like this. You have been treated generously by God. So live generously. Give as freely. Again, scientific studies.

I don't have time. You can go back to some of my other gratitude messages and I'll give you some of the... There's some of the actual data that supports this. But the more gracious you are, the less fearful you are, the more at peace... or excuse me, the more generous you are, the less fearful you are.

Peace, confidence, less anxious. Did you know that? Generosity is another antidote to fear. It is. And you get focused on yourself, once again, when you're worried about...

If you're holding on to your stuff, whatever that looks like. If you're holding on to your money, I've got to hold on. I've got to make as much money. I've got to be greedy, this and that. You're going to be anxious.

I've got to collect as much stuff as I possibly can in this life. You're going to be anxious. But if you're not worried about it, if you trust God, if you believe that God has been so good to you that you're willing to let go of those things, fear disappears. Anxiety disappears. I'm not worried about tomorrow.

Because God is so good and I want to be good to others. Look at what it says in Psalm 112. God will come to him who is generous. Such people lend freely and conduct their affairs honestly. So my question is, do you give freely and do you conduct your affairs honestly?

Are you free and honest with your generosity? They will never be shaken. They don't fear bad news because they trust the Lord to care for them. They are confident and fearless in facing their opposition because they give generously to those in need. They will have influence.

Another study shows that if the first thing you do when you get up in the morning as you just go through a list of gratefulness of the things you're grateful for. It will change your day. It will make you think clearer during the day. It will change your brain chemistry. Maybe we need to commit to that as a church.

Why don't we just in the morning wake up and immediately become grateful for the things. You know, just write down a list. Maybe 10, 15 things that you're grateful for every morning. And maybe go back through those lifts every morning. Maybe we need to make a commitment to do that as a church.

And watch how it really changes things. Number two... Be great. Be gracious to everyone because God is gracious with me. The more gracious you are with others, the less fear you're going to have in life.

Because we've received grace. We don't need to hold anything over anybody, right? Because God doesn't hold anything over us. How gracious are you? Look at this, Ephesians 4.

32, Be gracious and merciful to everyone and forgive others just as God has forgiven you because of Jesus Christ. God cuts you a bunch of slack. Can you cut some other people's slack? Are you holding something over somebody? Is somebody holding something over you?

We need to let it go. Practice forgiveness. Let it go. When we refuse to give and when we don't let things go, it really is a prison of fear. It's a prison of hurt.

It's a prison of pain. And you know what being gracious really is? It's an act of love. Did you know that? It's another name for love when we're gracious, when we're forgiving to others.

Because the Bible tells us this in 1 John 4.18, There is no fear in love. Instead, perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment, right? How do you know when somebody doesn't understand the grace of God? How do you know that?

They're unforgiving. They don't know what it's like to be forgiven. Somebody's hurt them and they can't let it go. So they don't let it go with you either. If you're dealing with that, maybe you've got some unforgiveness in your heart that you need to let go of so that you can be released from that fear.

So remember how much God has forgiven you. God forgives you. Hey, God forgives you. If you're here today and you're hurting and you're in prison because you think God is mad at you, God forgives you. God has forgiven you through Jesus Christ.

Number three, live my life for God's glory because He's going to share His glory with me. So today we live for God's glory. He's going to share His full glory with us and you will receive the glory of God forever and ever and He's going to share it with you in heaven. So what do you do in the meantime? Matthew 5, 16.

Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works. And why? Give glory to your Father who is in heaven. You just try to do your best living for God and He says He'll bring glory in those situations. Did you know that?

When you live for the Lord and align for the Lord, He opens up your life to do amazing things. If you open up your life to generosity, if you open up your life to gratitude, if you open up your life to putting people first, others first over yourself, you will watch God do amazing things in your life. Look what Peter said. He says in 1-3, He says, God in His divine power, 2 Peter 1-3, God in His divine power has given us everything we need for living a godly life. He's given you everything to live a godly life.

Well, I can't do it, Pastor. I'm just too sinful. No, He's given you everything. If He lives in you, He's given you everything you need to live a godly life. The power is given to us through knowing Jesus.

He says, He has called us to share in His own goodness and glory. One day, you will share in God's goodness and God's glory. Today, He's asking you to live for His glory. Live for His glory today. So now, let's wrap things up here.

When you think of the future, when you think of the rest of your life, how do you see it? As you're living and going about your day, you have a choice. You have a choice to make. Surely, goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in His house forever. You don't get to choose what happens in your life.

You don't get to choose the circumstances in which you've been placed in. You didn't ask for your dad to walk out on you. You didn't ask for your spouse to leave you. You didn't ask to lose that job or that situation that you were put in that was very unfair. You didn't ask for that.

But how do you respond to those situations? That's the question. What choice are you making? Are you going to be grumpy? Are you going to be cynical?

Are you going to be angry? Are you going to walk around mopey all the time? Or the world's terrible for the rest of your life, the rest of your existence? And nobody wants to be around you? Are you going to be a doubter?

Are you going to be a cynic like this is never going to work out? Are you going to be grateful? Are you going to be joyful? Are you going to respond with, you know what? This has happened, but my God is so good.

It doesn't really matter. In the end, does it really matter? Are you going to walk? Are you going to be stingy? Are you going to walk around, I don't want to hide my bank in there.

I don't want to, you know. Uh-oh, somebody's going to ask for money, you know, going over here and over here. Are you going to be that way? The missionary's coming. They're going to raise money.

That's what they're here for, you know. I'm not coming to church today because I know they're going to make me feel that way. Are you going to be that way? Kind of live your life like, okay, this is mine and God, you know, whatever. Are you going to live graciously?

Are you going to give generously? Are you going to live for yourself or are you going to live for others? Which one do you think makes you happy? What makes you happier? Living for you?

How is that going for you, living for you, if you're doing well? Think about that for a minute. Maybe there's an alternative. Thank you. Maybe live for God and live for others.

That can make all the difference. It's amazing how different your life can be to yourself. It's amazing how things change when circumstances happen in your life. You can face them confidently. And you can face them with security.

And you can face them knowing that goodness and mercy follow me all the days. Not just some days. Not just a few days. Not just a day. But purely His goodness, His protecting hand walks with me and guides me all the days of my life.

And I will dwell in His house because I have the glory of God waiting for me. That none of this in this world really matters ultimately. What I do now does though in my calling and what God has called me to do. It all echoes to what happens. Maximus, what you do now echoes in eternity.

I know I'm paraphrasing, but it's the same. It's actually biblical. It's very biblical. Why? I don't deserve the things that He's blessed me, the grace He's bestowed upon me.

And I deserve a lot more punishment than His grace and mercy. Follow me all the days of my life. But here's the deal. We've got to go back to the beginning of Psalm 23 it says. It starts out, the Lord is my shepherd.

And it ends with, and I will dwell in His house forever. The Lord is my shepherd. You cannot experience the goodness and mercy of God. Bless the Lord. So the question today is, are you following the shepherd?

Are you following you? Who's your boss? Who's your shepherd? Who's your lead? Is Jesus the good shepherd?

Are you following Him? Are you your own boss? Are you your own thing? Are you your own, you know, whatever that looks like? Who's your shepherd?

I can walk through the valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil. He guides me by still waters and allows me to lay in green pastures. Goodness is a thing. Maybe you're here today and you have no shepherd. I can walk through the valley of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the You know He's a good shepherd, you know He's God, you know there's a lot of, you know who He is, but you haven't really made Him Lord of your life.

Maybe you don't know who He is and you're just learning today. Guess what, He's always loved you. Even though you didn't know Him, He's always known you. Would you make Him Lord of your life today? By saying a prayer with me, and there's nothing magic in the prayer, I just, you just gotta believe it in your heart and surrender.

Can you do that today? Let's bow our heads. Father, I'm a sinner. A lot of things that you're not pleased with, Lord. And I know you're a good God, I know you're the Son of God.

And that you died on the cross for my sin. Father, if you're here today and you want to give your life to Jesus, say, Father, come into my life, come into my heart. Make me a new creation. Lord, I don't want to follow my own ways anymore, I want to follow your ways. I'm trusting you that you have the goodness and the mercy that follows me, available for me.

So I surrender to you today, the good shepherd. Forgive me of my sins, because I believe that you died on the cross and gave your life to me. Transform me. Redeem me. Make me a new person, Lord.

Y'all give God a hand. Look at you.