Don't Be Troubled

Underline the word troubled, because it is a different word than afraid. So what makes you afraid? Pastor Brady is not afraid of much. He grew up a heart patient and stared death in the face his whole life, so he got over those fears as a kid. He is living on borrowed time, and he is enjoying it.

He is afraid of snakes. At New Life he once joked that the only good snake is a dead snake, then learned there is a real movement in Colorado to preserve snakes. Leaving the parking lot that day, a truck pulled in front of him, the driver gave him a scowl, and the bumper sticker read "Save the snakes." He is afraid of heights too, and of Pam about half the time.

Fear is not always a bad thing. We all have primal fears that are necessary for survival, and we instinctively pull away from danger. Being troubled is something else. It means to be distressed, bothered, or aggravated.

Pastor Brady saw 48 political ads in one day, and not one of them was positive. Ads from both parties were designed to aggravate, distress, and frighten: if the other person gets elected, it is Armageddon. Not one said vote for me because I love you. He wants the church to be informed voters who read, pray, discern, and vote their biblical convictions, and he will not tell anyone how to fill out a ballot. He, Pam, and Abram already sat down and filled out theirs as a family. They vote every election. "I refuse to surrender my joy to some politician."

Is he concerned about where we are headed? Absolutely. But his joy came at a great price. Once you have lost your joy and your peace, you learn how valuable they are and how hard they are to get back. You can be concerned. You can even have righteous anger. It just cannot become unrighteous, and it cannot settle into your soul and change who you are. He is watching friends who used to be fun to be around become aggravated all the time. Talk about it, put it before the Lord, and walk away. Go find your joy and live with the peace of the Lord.

Troubles that linger in the heart can turn into an unhealthy fear. "You cannot reach people that you're afraid of." The last thing Jesus told us was to go into all the world and make disciples. You will not go to places you fear, and you will not have healthy conversations with people you are angry with.

If the enemy wanted to stop people from coming to Christ, he would make Christians afraid of non-Christians. Then they never hear the gospel and never see your life. "I'm not saying you have to agree with them. I'm saying you have to go." The call is to be salt and light.

Pastor Brady was not minimizing how troubled the world is: violent extremists, incurable diseases, things coming out of Russia right now that no one can identify, whether from a lab or not, and alarming news reports meant to make you afraid. There is economic uncertainty too. He turns 60 in January, and this is not his first midterm election. No matter who is in the White House, the market gets unsettled at the midterms and stays that way until the first week of November, then settles down. It happens every two years. Everybody take a deep breath. "This is not my first rodeo."

Put yourself in the disciples' shoes. For 3,000 years they had been waiting on the Messiah, and suddenly this man appears and checks all the boxes. They are living under oppressive Roman rule and hoping for a revolution. Then in John 13, Jesus tells them He is going to die and go where they cannot join Him. A revolution is coming, just not the one they think. It will be upside down, and it will forever change humankind.

He told them one of them would betray Him, and He told Peter he would deny Him. Peter protested that he understood why Jesus would say that about the others, but he was Peter, the rock. Jesus took a deep breath and said he would do it anyway. With all of that in their hearts, walking behind Him, mumbling and gossiping, Jesus told them to stop: do not let your hearts be troubled.

Pastor Brady said the same to the church. He lives in the same world, the same news cycle, the same economy, and the same neighborhoods. He is not in some magic box. He just refuses to let his heart be troubled. And Jesus does not just tell us not to be troubled. John 14 shows us how.

Everyone knows this verse, even unbelievers. You either believe it or you do not. "Is that a bumper sticker or is that the way you live your life?" People have searched for the truth forever, and Jesus says He is the path and the truth, and there is no other source of life. He is not just a good teacher or a prophet. He is either a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord. You do not make that kind of claim unless you are God.

God has you on a path. The Holy Spirit led you here, and on Monday, whether you feel it or not, He will put His hand on your life and lead you in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. When you get back on Sunday, you will look back on the week and say the Lord led you.

There is nothing more unsettling than being lost in a strange and dangerous place. Pastor Brady likes camping up until bedtime, then he wants a hot shower and a bed. Here is why. When he was seven, his family was very poor, one pair of shoes and two pairs of pants poor. His dad took them camping in the spring by the Sabine River in North Louisiana with old borrowed gear and a tent worth maybe $12 that smelled bad. They caught some fish and went to bed. Around midnight a monster thunderstorm rolled in with lightning, hail, and torrential rain, the tent leaked, and the river started rising. He saw fear on his dad's face. They threw everything in the pickup and drove through the storm 45 minutes home. "That's why I don't camp."

But once they were in the cab of the truck, he knew his dad knew the way home. Even with the creek swelling and the river rising, with his dad behind the wheel, he knew they would get home. They did, and they slept until noon.

About a year later, at the Louisiana State Fair in Shreveport, his dad told the kids to stay close in the Saturday night crowd. He wandered off and was lost among thousands of people on the midway. Then he heard his dad's whistle. His dad had a small chipped front tooth he never repaired, and a very distinct whistle he trained bird dogs and boys with. He froze, turned around, and his dad was 20 feet away, watching him the whole time.

That is what I am the way, the truth, and the life means. Take a deep breath. "You're in a better place than you deserve." Think back 25 years. You have had hard times, but you are right where you are supposed to be, and 20 years from now you will be too.

Jesus says He will do whatever we ask in His name. That puts a responsibility on us. God's hand is on you and leading you, but you need to start asking again.

How often do you talk to the Lord during the day? It cannot just be a 10-minute devotion while reading Pastor Brady's Facebook post in the morning. That post comes out of holy conversations he has with the Lord long before he writes anything. "Jesus leans into conversations with us hoping that we'll lean into conversations with him." He initiates. He keeps prodding, prompting, and consoling. He is coming after you. "God's not ghosted you, by the way."

When we are troubled, we retreat to safe places and to people just like us. That is the essence of tribalism. And when we feel safe, we stop asking. We stop praying for bold things and for the sick, stop talking with our neighbors, and stop helping those who are trapped, because we feel abandoned and believe God is not listening. That is a lie of the enemy.

When the Iron Curtain fell, Christians found hundreds of thousands of children that communism had abandoned in places like Romania, Bulgaria, Budapest, and Russia. Communism at its core puts the health of the state above the health of the person, and Pastor Brady called that its evil. The state took care of the children, but there was no kindness, no love, no Jesus, because communism had replaced religion with a political ideology.

A friend of Pastor Brady's went to Russia and adopted more than one child. He walked into an orphanage with 125 babies and toddlers, and it was silent. No one was crying. When he asked why, he was told the children believed their crying no longer mattered because nobody was listening anyway.

That is what happens to us. If you do not think God is listening, you stop talking, and the whole conversation shuts down. The enemy wants you to believe God is mute, deaf, and silent. Jesus says ask. Ask bold things. Start the conversation, because He is listening. And if God is listening, do not let your heart be troubled.

The world offers peace if you will just agree. The world can give temporary peace when the bills are paid, the weather is good, and the mother-in-law is gone for a day, but it is fragile, elusive, and dependent on present circumstances. What you agree to today will not be what they ask you to agree to tomorrow, so you have to keep compromising to keep it. Pastor Brady asked the young people in the room not to buy into that formula.

The peace of Jesus is built on a firm foundation that does not change. It is not shifting sand. It is unmovable, unshakable, and unstoppable. The storms and rains and winds will come, but your feet will not be moved. His peace is internal, not external, and it is not dependent on present circumstances. The whole world can blow up today, and it will be the same tomorrow. "If your peace is based on external circumstances, good luck."

The world and people cannot give lasting peace because they are not in charge. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. He is King, and He is the Prince of Peace.

Verse 1 says do not let your hearts be troubled. Verse 27 says it again and adds do not be afraid. Those are two very different things. Guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life, and do not be afraid. Be engaged, get involved, and do your part, but no matter what shakes out, do not let fear rule your heart and mind.

Pastor Brady was not minimizing what anyone was feeling or what is happening in the world. He offered something different: a settled soul. Your circumstances may not change, but the condition of your heart can change by saying yes to Jesus. Salvation has already been paid for and sins have already been forgiven. All you have to do is believe and call on the name of the Lord.

Pastor Brady loves hearing kids in the service. That's the village. He told moms and dads that a child making noise is giving their pastor great joy. His own children's church was 16 years in a wooden pew next to his mom, and if he misbehaved, there was a little violence. He is not advocating violence, but he is advocating kids being in the church.

At communion he breaks his bread in half to remember that we live in a broken world. Communion is a prophetic moment, proclaiming something that is not yet but will be. Not everything has been repaired, but it is going to be. We hold up the bread not because everything is awesome, but because we know who is in charge. Forgiveness of sins cannot be earned. It can only be received.

Pastor Joseph closed by inviting anyone still carrying a little trouble on their heart to come down for prayer, because God loves it when you participate in your healing.