Fear keeps us from functioning in our design. In this sermon clip, Bill Johnson teaches on God’s desire to co-labor with us, and the ways that fear keeps us from this. Fear is misplaced worship, and it is up to us to choose what we set our hearts affection on
tell what i value
by what i think about
if a problem has captured my attention
and has taken me into
fear and anxiety
then
it is misplaced worship
learning
what is in us
is not introspection
it is through the scriptures
we find we sang it tonight i’ve got a
river of life flowing out of me
as i’ve said many times through the
years the holy spirit is in us and he
wants out
he’s in us as a river not a lake
he’s in us to flow from us to alter the
geography around us
cooperation with him from the beginning
the father has set his heart
to find those made in his image who
would co-labor with him
it’s that my hand excuse me my hand is
stretched out in obedience to him
which is then covered by his hand
stretched out that’s what makes it
powerful
it’s the child trying to loosen uh a nut
on a bolt and it’s just too hard and
dad’s hand goes over the top of the hand
of the child and suddenly that nut that
bolt gets loosened
the point is is our obedience the
co-laboring is what attracts him into
the environment to display who he is
the resurrected christ
the spirit that raised jesus from the
dead dwells in us
and he looks for opportunities to flow
through us
we see
them line the streets
with sick people when peter walked by
we we see the shadow touching there’s no
substance to a shadow
your shadow will always release whatever
overshadows you
whatever you have set your affection
upon will affect the environment that
you invade
if that affection
that
attention of the heart
is on worry fear etc
then i will carry anxiousness into
any environment that i go
fear
is misplaced worship
fear is misplaced worship
fear is is actually the enemy touching
the strings of our heart
that were designed to express affection
and trust to him
and they are now removed from him
towards circumstances that are so
extremely inferior to him
that it’s dishonorable
it’s not a reason for shame but it is a
reason for
repentance to realize that when i
embrace anxiety and fear what i’ve done
is i have used the tool god gave me for
worship
and i’ve put my affection on the
inferior
affection um
sounds like it’s probably the wrong word
to use because affection is you know we
look at a child and our affection is
turned up on towards this child we just
want to hug and we find ourselves making
faces at this little infant that we
wouldn’t make to another human being on
the earth because that affection is
stirred up and and there’s that
connection where i’m with my wife and
sitting here you know we’ll watch a tv
show together and uh you know four or
five times in the evening i’ll just turn
to her and just say honey i love you i
love you so much and just there’s that
burning affection
and it just it needs to be expressed
it’s not that kind of affection
it’s
you can tell what i value
by what i think about
if a problem has captured my attention
and has taken me into
fear and anxiety
then
it is misplaced worship.
how many uh i’ve asked you this question
before so
how many of you have had something
trouble you so much you just kept you
awake at night it was just hard to go to
sleep
you know you know and my hands legs are
raised
so we know that we know how to meditate
we just have to shift what we set our
heart on
what we meditate
on
god’s economy
is transferred
his currency
his word and presence which are two
sides of the same coin
he spoke everything into being that is
in existence with one exception he
didn’t speak man into being
he fashioned man
of what he spoke into being
sometimes he likes to work with what’s
already there
loaves and fishes
could have created new food
but he wanted to call labor
he would much rather co-labor with what
he has made
than to start over
he easily could have
manifested himself to marry the virgin
was about to bear the
christ child
and explained to her what was about to
happen
but instead he ascended gabriel the
messenger angel
because god actually delights in what he
has made
operating in its design
he is glorified by every facet of his
creation functioning in their design
fear keeps us from functioning in our
design
and the lord looks to cooperate to
co-labor with
those who have embraced
their design
so i dwell on i think i ponder
see what you ponder what i ponder
reveals what i value
what i ponder on reveals what i will
worship
it’s an interesting story in um
judges
where the lord spoke to israel and he
said i told you
not to fear the gods of the amorites but
you did not obey
how was it manifested they worshiped the
gods of the amorites
he told them
he said i told you don’t fear the gods
of the amorites but you didn’t obey
how was their disobedience manifested
they worshipped the gods of the emirate
what’s the point what you fear
determines what you worship
you may you may say i don’t i don’t
worship money
but you are afraid of going broke
and while you may not bow
or sing songs towards
the almighty dollar
the effect does this make sense the
effect on the heart is it has defiled
its misplaced worship
he said in matthew either you will love
the one concerning god and mammon you
will love the one hate the other or you
will hold to the one and despise the
other
it’s it’s defining two relationships
devoted to god or devoted to man a
spirit behind
uh
a false financial
uh standard world
so he says you will love the one
that’s the relationship with god i love
the one i just i hate the other
or i
hold that’s how you can tell people who
hold
to what they have
their worship is being infected
they hold and they despise whenever
money is talked about in church
hold of the one despise the other