The 4G Life – Part 2

Story Time

Parable of the Talents

Matthew 25:24–25

My Experience of you. . .

There is tremendous power in the stories we tell ourselves.

The parable of the talents addresses the power of the stories we tell ourselves.

The third servant was limited by the stories he told himself about people, money and big ideas.

Most people think of life as a series of experiences that happen to them.

However, those experiences are really just events.

Our stories give meaning to those events.

We create rules for life based on how we experience pain and pleasure early in life.

We impose rules on ourselves in the voice of to secure protection from pain and provision for pleasure.

The book How to Think Like Einstein calls them “rule ruts”.

Rule ruts create a false economy

Our self-imposed rules promise but payoff in scarcity.

Strategies to Address Fear

Last week, we discussed two different strategies to fear: Resisting and .

• The dominant response to fear by Word of Faith communities is to resist it.
• Why?

1. The Scripture tells us that fear is not from God (2 Timothy 1:7)
2. In multiple instances, the Bible commands us not to fear. (Isaiah 41:10)

• (Psalm 42:5)

The Emotion of Fear vs. The Spirit of Fear

The key: There is a difference between the spirit of fear and the of fear.

• The emotion of fear is a series of chemical reactions in the .
• The spirit of fear is a demonic spiritual force that must be rebuked.
• The emotion of fear is a mental and bodily response to an .
• The spirit of fear is a lie that challenges God’s credibility.
• The emotion of fear is a natural part of the human experience.
• The spirit of fear is unnatural to a relationship with God (1 John 4:18)

The spirit of fear is future-oriented and casts a vision of in which God is absent. (Matthew 6:34)

The spirit of fear tells the lie that God will not be with us at our worst moments.

The emotion of fear gives us information about where we are in the course of our personal growth and development.

Emotions in general are an index of the stories we tell ourselves, all of which are stored in the heart.

This is why our hearts must be guarded (Proverbs 4:23)

The spirit of fear can be resisted with the Word. However, this is not an effective tool when addressing the emotion of fear.

Regarding emotion, “what you resist persists” (Brian Klemmer).

We must resist lies but on emotion.

Faith Project Goals

Simple Math

• $500,000
• 50,000 Disciples
• 5,000 Kingdom Leaders
• 500-Year Vision

Putting the Principles to The Test

Jeremiah 17:9 –

Four Key Investigative Questions:

1. What am I feeling?
2. Why am I feeling this way?
3. What are the words that are feeding this emotion?
4. Where did belief in those words come from?

Four Key Fears

• Fear of (young) people
• Fear of money
• Fear of Big Ideas

First Big Question: What About Me?

This is a heart question, not a head question.

What it is really saying is this: Do I still matter? Do I still have value? Will I be forgotten?

Do You Actually Believe God’s Promises and Principles?

Psalm 92:12-15

Proverbs 11:25

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2021