This sermon delves into the topic of fear, exploring how Jesus questioned his disciples' fear in the midst of a storm. It emphasizes the importance of choosing faith over fear, highlighting that God's presence and power are always with us, even in the most challenging circumstances. The speaker encourages a shift from fear to faith, reminding listeners of God's sovereignty, love, and ability to equip us for any task. The sermon concludes with a heartfelt prayer and a worshipful song expressing trust in God's love and reign.

My family and I, for the past seven years, have been part of the Calvary Chapel in Michigan, and our pastor affectionately referred to my wife and I as the Calvary Chapel Sunset Coast Church Growth Program. And so, I'm going to be talking with you this morning on a question that Jesus asked in the New Testament. My text is in Matthew chapter 8. I welcome you to grab your Bible if you have one and read along with me as we consider this passage. One of the things that many of us struggle with is the topic of fear. And so, I want us to look at what the Bible teaches about fear, and particularly consider Jesus and this question that he asked his disciples. Let's just read the text together in Matthew chapter 8, beginning in verse 23. This passage is one that's always intrigued me. To be honest, when I have read this in the past and thought about it, it has occurred to me that Jesus seems to be a little bit hard on these disciples. I mean, I put myself in the context. What I do when I read the Bible is I try to put myself in the context of the story and think as though I'm there. And what would it be like to actually be in this experience? Not all of these guys were fishermen, but a number of them were. And so, some of them had experience of being out on the Sea of Galilee, and they knew what was a mild storm and what was a serious storm, what kind of a storm might threaten their life. And they all seem to be really concerned about this one. They feel like this is of the variety that they could be killed. And Jesus seems to be completely unconcerned about the circumstance, and his disciples are rather paralyzed by it. And so, he seems to chide them, and he says, Why are you afraid, O you of little faith? Let me back up and run at this again, to give you a little background. I actually wrote a book called Questions Jesus Asks, and it's got 20 questions from the New Testament that Jesus asks individuals. And that book actually came out of a previous study that I had been doing when I was reading through the Old Testament, studying through the Old Testament. I noticed a recurring theme that surprised me, and that was that in the Old Testament, God actually asked questions of people. And that surprised me, because one of the doctrines that we know to be true of God is that God is omniscient. That means God knows all things. And so, why was an omniscient God, who knows the answer to every conceivable question, asking questions of people? So, for example, he asked Balaam, Who are these men with you? And he asked Elijah in the cave, What are you doing here? And he asked Moses, What is in your hand? And he asked Cain, Where is your brother, Abel? And he asked Abraham, Where is your wife, Sarah? You know, it just seemed odd to me that God is asking questions, almost as though, does God not know where Sarah is? You know, did God lose track of Sarah? And you know what? Abraham probably knows. Abraham, where is your wife, Sarah? What's interesting is, you know, when we think about the questions that God asks, I believe because we know God is omniscient, he knows all things. I don't think he's ever asking because he doesn't have the information. I don't think he's ever asking because he needs us to help him and contribute to his knowledge or understanding in some way. But if the question is not for him, then who is it for? Obviously, the question then must be for the person who's being asked. And yet, many of these questions are rather elusive, even on that level, because, you know, what I do when I study those passages, I ask myself, Who is the question for? And then what is the purpose of the question? What is the theme? What's the topic? What's the motive? And some of them are very difficult, like that particular one is very difficult, where he says to Abraham, Where is your wife, Sarah? Because you think, OK, God certainly knows where Sarah is, but maybe Abraham doesn't know where she is. So Abraham says, She's in the tent. But he knew where she was. And Sarah is in the tent, eavesdropping on the conversation, as we see later in that passage. So she knows where she is, like she knows she's in the tent. So the question then is, Who is this question for? God knows where Sarah is, Abraham knows where Sarah is, and Sarah knows where Sarah is. They all know she's in the tent. What's the purpose of the question? What's the significance of the question? But yet I believe God never asks anything arbitrarily or capriciously without purpose and reason. So there's a purpose for it. And what is the topic that's being addressed there? Well, when I dug into the passage to try to understand it, I came to the conclusion that that question was very much like the question that God asked Adam in the garden, where he says, Where are you? It wasn't that God didn't know where he was. And Adam certainly knew where he was. He's like, I'm hiding behind a bush. That's what I'm doing. But the question was not, Where are you? It's, Why are you where you are? What's happening here? What's the context of our relationship? You've never done this before. You've never hidden from me before. The question with Adam was not a geographical question. The question was a relational question. And the same question is true with Sarah in the Old Testament. It's not a geographical question. It's a relational question. God is actually asking a question about the relationship of Abraham and Sarah's marriage. And it's very clear when you study it, looking at specifically what is the purpose of the question? What does it identify? So when we go to the New Testament, we see that Jesus did the same thing. So this book, The Questions God Asked, it addresses 19 questions in the Old Testament that God asked people. And then the question Jesus asked is 20 questions in the New Testament that Jesus asked. Jesus does the same thing. He teaches, sometimes through didactic instruction, where he says, This is how you should think. Or this is what you should believe. Or this is what the kingdom of heaven is like. That kind of thing. But then he also teaches his disciples, his followers, through the art of asking questions. And I'm a dad. I have nine children. And one of the things that this process of studying these questions has helped me to do is it's helped me to learn how to teach my children and to teach other people, sometimes not through telling them what I think or telling them what I believe or what I think they should believe, but by asking questions to get them to assess their own biases, their own preconceived ideas, their own assumptions, their presuppositions. So that's what Jesus is doing here with this question. Why are you afraid, O you of little faith? He's wanting the disciples to ask this question of themselves. Why are we afraid? President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in his first inaugural address, famously said, There is nothing to fear but fear itself. Now, I like the sentiment of that. The problem I have with it is that when I start thinking about it, I tend to think there are more things to be afraid of than that. I think about things like global terrorism and super viruses and earthquakes and famines and Atlanta traffic and politicians and fast food and other things that can kill you. I start to worry about things, economic collapse and things that affect our personal lives. I think about things like what if something bad happens to someone in my family or what if my job or my revenue is hindered or what if we get a debilitating sickness or cancer or something like that. It's so easy to be afraid and I think that there are things out there in the big, bad, scary world that are real threats. I don't think our only fear is fear itself. I think there are things that are trying to hurt us, right? Because don't we live in a fallen world after all? So, I want to look at this issue of fear and say, what does the scripture have to say about this? It's interesting that whenever Jesus called someone to a task, whenever God spoke to someone in the scripture or when an angel visited someone and gave them an assignment, it seems like the one statement that they always make is fairly consistent with these individuals is the statement, do not be afraid or fear not. I'll just give you some examples of that. Abraham in Genesis 15.1, Jacob in Genesis 46.3, Moses in Numbers 21.34, the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 1.21 and 31.6, Joshua in Joshua 8.1, Daniel in Daniel 10.12, Joseph and Mary in Matthew 1.20 and Luke 1.30, the shepherds abiding in the field in Luke 2.10, the apostle Paul in Acts 27.24, the apostle John in Revelation 1.17. These are just a few examples of the people that God said to them, don't be afraid, don't fear. Why do you think that is? I think part of the reason for that is that there's something within us, two things perhaps. The one is there's something within us that when God calls us to a task, we feel overwhelmed by it. We feel incapable. We lack confidence. We feel like, I don't have the ability to do that because typically God doesn't call you to do something that's within your wheelhouse. Typically God doesn't call you to do something that you're already expert in. He calls you to do something that's stepping outside of your comfort zone. So there's a sense in which we feel inadequate. And that was the excuses that Moses was giving in the conversation he had with God. Oh God, they're not going to listen to me. What if they don't believe me? Well, who should I stay sent here? Who am I that I should go? All this self-doubt. I think that's one thing. But I think there's also a sense in which in some of these encounters, they literally came into contact with the presence of Almighty God or visually seeing the angel of the Lord. And I think there's something stunning about that that helps us to be aware of the contrast between who we are as individuals and the holiness of God and who he is. There is something intimidating about that. So God constantly reminds us that we are not to be controlled by fear. We're not to be ruled by fear. In Joshua 1 verse 9, God called Joshua and he commissions him and he says, Have not I commanded you to be strong and of a great courage? Because do not be afraid. Do not be frightened. Don't be dismayed. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. What a confident reminder that this is not ultimately the assignment of Joshua. It's not ultimately Joshua's responsibility to be the deliverer for the people of Israel, to be the one who accomplishes all of these tasks. It's ultimately going to be God. Like God said to Moses, Who made your mouth? I will speak through you. I will do the work. So for us, in the sense that we have of our own inadequacy, I think there's a parallel emotion that we should have. On the one level, that sense of fear, that sense of trepidation, of discouragement, that I'm not capable of doing this. I don't have the strength. I don't have the ability to endure this. I mean, suppose you get a cancer diagnosis. That fear strikes you and you say, I can't do this. I'm not strong enough. I'm not able to bear up under this. I think on one level, that's a very healthy realization. I think it's actually a place that God wants you to be, because you know what? You can. It is more than what you can bear, but it's not more than what God can bear. And that's the other side of the equation, is that our confidence is not supposed to be in us and in our strength and in our ability. That's why the Apostle Paul says we should put no confidence in the flesh, but all our confidence should be in the Lord. The Lord is able, and it is Christ in us who will accomplish the work. Through Christ, we can do all things. The Bible doesn't say, I can do all things. It says, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. So ultimately, this is not for us to feel like, okay, now I have to do this all in my own power, but I am trusting God. God will never call you to something and then fail to equip you. He never does that. That's not how God operates. If God calls you to something, he always will equip you with everything that you need to accomplish the task that he's given you. Philippians 4, 6-7 says, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. I have a paraphrase that I've made of this verse that helps me to remember it in a simpler form, and it says, don't worry about anything, pray about everything, and God will give you peace. And I say that frequently, because what we tend to do is we tend to worry when circumstances come into our life, and there's nothing to be gained by worrying. Wasn't that what Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount? He said, what benefit is there to worry? You can't add a day to your life. God knows the hairs on your head, which for me isn't very hard, but he knows these things that you need, and so he says, why do you worry about these things? Your Heavenly Father already knows what you need. Are you not more valuable than many sparrows? And he says, a sparrow can't even fall to the ground without God noticing it. That's how involved God is in the minute details of your life. He knows every single thing about you, every little thing that happens, and so he says, you are much more important than those sparrows. Ultimately, when we're in fear, we're not walking in faith. The two are opposed to each other. Fear and faith are our enemies. The one drives out the other, and so you will always ultimately be walking in faith, or you will be walking in fear. And when we look at our circumstances, and we start to assess our future based on our circumstances and how it appears to us at that moment, we can give in to fear. We can be fear stricken, panic stricken. I just want to explain to you really quickly where this fear ultimately comes from. Fear, at its most basic elemental level, is actually something God given. It's part of our adrenal system. It's part of what God has put into us to help protect us and keep us alive. Scientists call it fight or flight mechanism. Basically, let me give you an example. Suppose you're walking down the street, and as you're walking, you're on the sidewalk, and you see coming around the corner of a house a pit bull. And the pit bull is dragging a six foot long leash behind it. And there's no human attached to that leash. And the dog is running right at you and looks for all intents and purposes like it's going to do serious bodily harm. What will happen in that moment, whether you want it to or not, whether you think about it cognitively or not, you will get an adrenaline rush. And this adrenaline rush will help you to protect yourself. And you will either stand your ground, and you will face off with this dog and fight to the death in hand-to-hand mortal combat with the dog. That's one option. Or the other option is you will turn and run as fast as you know how in the other direction, fight or flight. And so this adrenal system that God has given us is for our own safety and protection. If you're working up on a roof, and you start to slide off the roof, which I've done before, you know on a two-story building, you look down and you see there's a long way down there. You start trying to grab on to something really fast, and you get an adrenaline rush. It's not conscious. It's not something that you choose. And so what happens is that there's this impulse, a physical impulse, a physical reaction, an adrenaline rush that triggers an emotion of fear. And that emotion of fear sometimes then turns into, or once it reaches your mental thought processes, and it hits cognition, it can then develop into anger as well. Fear and anger are both rooted in this adrenaline rush. When your life feels threatened, you first feel fear, and then sometimes, very quickly after that, we move from fear into anger. And so it's part of this self-defense mechanism. The problem with fear and anger is that it is not sinful at the impulse level. It's actually healthy. It's good. It protects us. And at the emotion level, it's not necessarily sinful because you can't control the fact that you feel this emotion. Where it becomes sinful is when it moves from emotion into action. So I like to call it impulse-emotion-action. And the transition from impulse to emotion, nothing sinful about that. That's just God-given, and that's just something every human lives with, and it is for our own good. It's part of how God's protected us. But when it moves from the cognitive level, from this level of emotion over into action, that is where it can become sinful. And when we choose to walk and live by fear as opposed to choosing to live by faith, that's where things go bad. We're commanded in Scripture that we are not supposed to be ruled and be regulated by fear. I just want to read you a couple of passages that the Scripture talks about and refers to what's called a spirit of fear. And this is not just the impulse that you have of fear when you see a dog who's about to bite you, but this is a crippling, debilitating fear that will control your life, and it will keep you from being everything that God has created you to be. It will keep you from being able to serve others and love others effectively. So let's look at Romans 8.15. It says, For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, Abba, Father. So this fear that enslaves us, this fear that captures us, that controls us, that's not from God. When you have that fear in your life, that is not from the Lord. You need to be aware of that. Second Timothy 1.7 says this, For God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control. I think one translation says, and a sound mind. So that spirit of fear is not from the Lord. First John 4.18 in the ESV says, There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. So how do we overcome this? How do we overcome this debilitating, paralyzing fear that I think all of us have experienced at some point in our life? Some people are definitely more given to this than others, just like some people are definitely more given to anger than others. But it's something that all of us have dealt with at some point in our life, and many of us would continue to struggle with. How do we get past that? The thing that I think is not helpful, in one sense, is just to say, get over it. Right? I mean, on one level, that's kind of the easy way to approach things, is to say, just stop being afraid. You know, was it the Bob Newhart video? Stop it! That's not necessarily helpful. But on the other hand, we actually have to learn how to have our mind renewed. Our mind is supposed to be transformed. It's supposed to be renewed by the Word of God. And faith comes by what? Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. It is the Word of God that renews the mind to the point that you think in terms of faith, as opposed to terms of fear. Isaiah 26.3 says, you keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. The reformer, John Knox, made the statement. I don't know if this is completely theologically accurate or not. I'm just going to throw it out there, because I think John Knox was probably smarter than I am. So I'll throw it out there for consideration. But John Knox said this. He said, I am invincible until the day that God chooses to call me home. And so, he said, I live with absolutely no fear of what somebody else can do to me, because they don't have control over my life. Now, when I think about that, I think, well, but, you know, what if you do something stupid? You know, I mean, I know people who do crazy things like, you know, bungee jumping and all that. And I'm just like, you know, what if you go do something stupid like that, and you just tragically end your life prematurely? I don't know if you blame that on God. I don't know. But the point is, and I think he's right, that in the main course of things, as you're going through your life, you're being responsible in everything that you know how to do and everything you know how to be, that God is ultimately the one who is sovereign, is he not? He's the one who is in control and governs our lives. And the things that we have to remember about God is that he is not only all-knowing, but he's also all-powerful and, and this is the important thing, he's all-loving. And I think that's the thing that we struggle with sometimes. I know in my life I have. Sometimes I've said, you know, I know that God is all-knowing, he knows everything, he's all-powerful, so he can control everything, but is he really all-loving? Does he really have my best interests at heart and at mind? And when we're walking in fear, we really are walking in unbelief. What we're saying, there's an accusation, even if we don't form it in our own words or form it formally in our mind, there's an accusation that resides in the depths of our heart that says, I don't know if God has my best interests at mind, in mind here. I don't know if God is as committed to protecting me and taking care of me and doing what is best for me as I would be for myself. Does that make sense? You know, we feel like, you know, we always would do what is in our best interest, wouldn't we? I mean, at any given moment, given the choice, I think we would almost always say, I'm going to do what's in my best interest here, something that's going to protect me, that's going to make my life comfortable, it's going to make me happy. We tend to choose that, but there's a sense in which sometimes I think we doubt the goodness of God, we doubt the love of God, because we wonder, might God ask me to go through something painful? Might he ask me to go through something difficult? And if he does, then how can that reconcile with his love? And that's the case where we have to concede there is a God and we are not him. We don't get to be God. God truly knows what is best for us. God truly knows the things that we need, and any difficulty that God ever allows into your life, he allows for three reasons. Number one, to bring him glory. That is always God's primary first motive of everything God ever does, is to bring himself glory. So that's God's first thought. He is going to bring himself glory somehow through our difficult circumstance, our trial, our pain, a separation relationally, I'm not saying God sends these things all into our life, but when he allows them, he's allowing them for these reasons. So for God's glory. Number two, for our ultimate good. Maybe not our temporary good. It may not feel good. Remember what the scripture says about discipline? No discipline in Hebrews 12. No discipline feels good at the time, but over time it doesn't work enough. It produces patience and endurance in us. It makes us mature. So ultimately it's for our good. And then the third purpose is that it's for the good of others. That God always wants us to use the things that we've gone through, the difficulties, the struggles, the pain, the trials, to use those to be able to help other people. The apostle Paul said we help other people with the help that we have received from God. And think about what the psalmist said when he said two things. One thing you've spoken, two things I've heard. That you, O Lord, are loving and that you, O Lord, are strong. Aren't those the two things that we need to know about God? The two things we have to remember about God? Not merely that he's strong. You need to know that. But we also need to know that he's loving. But we need to not only know that God is loving. We need to know that he's strong. We need to know that he's capable. The arm of the Lord is not too short that he cannot save. God is capable. He's strong. He's also loving. These are the two things that we have to remember. So when the disciples here in Matthew 8, when they're faced with the situation where the wind and the waves are all about them, what does that represent? It represents your circumstance. And if you are assessing your life based on your circumstance, I think you're always going to be afraid. I don't know if there would hardly ever be a time where you wouldn't have a lot of just reason to be afraid. Because there's always a million things that could go wrong. I was just at a conference this weekend in Winston-Salem and I was talking to the AV guy as I was setting up. He's still scrambling to put up lights and microphones. He's a tech guy. I don't think he's a Christian. He just works for the convention center. I said, how's it going today? He goes, well, you know Murphy's Law? It's in effect. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. And that really is the mentality that you have if you're not a believer. Murphy's Law rules. Hey, if it can go wrong, it will go wrong. And there's so many potential possibilities of what could go wrong. If you start your mind down that track, you'd just be afraid to even walk out the door of your house. So many things that could happen. And yet ultimately, theology drives everything. Our belief about God and who he is, it drives everything else. It's our orthodoxy that drives orthopraxy. It's what we believe that drives how we live. And so what we believe about God has to be based on Scripture. We believe that God is all-powerful, God is all-knowing, and God is all-loving. And renewing your mind by reading the Word of God and getting it in you and memorizing Scripture and remembering what God says about these situations is so important. Were the disciples really at peril? Were they really at risk of their life being ended? They had in the boat with them, according to Colossians 1, the very God who made the wind and the waves. John 1 and Romans 1. Through Christ, Colossians 1 says, God made the world, the visible things and the invisible things. So they had in the boat the very God who made and controls. And it says, and through his power, he holds it all together. That's what Colossians 1 says. He didn't just create everything, spin it out, and send it off into its own, you know, like, okay, I'm done now. But everything just kind of take its course. No, it says, in him, it holds together. In the power of Jesus, this universe consists. It holds together. It's by him, it's for him, it's through him, it's it's ultimately all for his glory, and it's his power that holds it together. These disciples were in the very same boat with the eternal God who had made everything. And they were so focused on the circumstance. They were so focused on the situation. And the thing is, you, metaphorically speaking, are in the same boat as the disciples. And I am in the same boat as the disciples. And we have the same Lord Jesus Christ in our boat with us. There's never a time when you are alone. Didn't Jesus say, I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. I will be with you always, even to the end of the age. There's never a moment, there's never a time when the Lord Jesus Christ is not present, when he's not with you in the middle of that situation. Charles Spurgeon, the British preacher, said this in a sermon called Fear Not. He said, Make a man afraid, he will run in his own shadow. Make a man brave, and he will stand before an army and overcome them. He will never do much good in the world who is afraid of men. The fear of God brings blessings, but the fear of men brings a snare. That's a scripture verse, by the way. And such a snare that many feet have been tripped by it. No man shall be faithful to God if he is fearful of man, and no man shall find his arm sufficient for him, and his might equal to his emergencies, unless he can confidently believe and quietly wait. We must not fear, for fear is weakening. Psalm 27 verse 1 says, The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? Jesus told us that we should not fear those who can kill the body, and after that have nothing left that they can do. We should fear him alone who is able to kill both body and soul. You are always ultimately going to be, and that was in Matthew 10, 28. You are ultimately always going to be fearing. Just like you are always ultimately going to be worshiping. You were created to worship. You will always be worshiping. There's never a time where you won't be worshiping. The question is, what will you be worshiping? Will you be worshiping the true and living God, or will you be worshiping some idol of your own making, or will you be worshiping yourself? Will you be worshiping God, or will you be worshiping some false God? In the same way, you can't not fear, and so that is why we are told over and over and over to fear the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and understanding. You will always fear something, and so when you're fearing the world, when you're fearing people, when you're fearing circumstances, in those moments, you're not fearing the Lord. When you are fearing the Lord, you will not be fearing those circumstances and those situations. The two are opposed to each other. In those times, we make a choice, and we say, I don't feel like it. Nothing in me wants to do this, but I'm going to choose to live by faith. I'm going to choose to move from this emotion of fear into an action of faith. Does that make sense? Instead of into an action of sin and unbelief, I'm going to choose to move from the emotion of fear into an action of faith, and when you do, the powerful thing about that is God meets you. He meets you, and He speaks to your circumstance, and He calms the wind and the waves. It doesn't mean that you won't face difficulty. It doesn't mean you won't face some difficult end. Ultimately, these disciples had a point when they died, and if you remember church history, they died martyrs. Almost all of them died martyrs. I'm not going to promise you that nothing bad will ever happen in your life. What I am going to say is that God will never allow you to go through a circumstance that He does not walk through it with you, and the thing that you will find in those moments, in those difficulties, is you will find the presence of Jesus in a way that you never have before. You will find in the stillness of your storm this fellowship, this intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ that you didn't know was possible, and this trust, this regained and renewed confidence that God is for you, that He's on your side. No matter what the world may tell us about how bad everything is, we have reason to be confident in the Lord. Psalm 56 verses 3 and verse 11 say this, When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. In God I trust. I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me? Let's let's look to the Lord in prayer. Father, we turn to you this morning, and we just want to acknowledge that sometimes, Lord, we are faithless instead of faithful. God, we thank you that you know us, and you love us, and you know our frame, that we are but dust. And Lord, it's because of your great mercy that we are not consumed. And so, Lord, we recognize that you were tempted in every way that we are tempted, yet without sin, and you set a model for us in choosing to obey the Father, even to go to the cross. And Lord, we know that you felt that emotion of fear as you faced the cross, and yet you trusted yourself to God. You trusted yourself to God that He would raise you up. And Lord, we trust ourselves to you as well. God, we ask that you would give us courage, that you would give us the ability to throw ourselves on your mercy. Lord, we ask that you would teach us when we give in to fear to turn to you, to repent, to confess it. Say, God, I've been unfaithful. I've been living in unbelief, and please change my heart. Turn my heart to you. Show me your strong and kind and merciful and loving hand that is all-powerful and all-loving at the same time. Lord, we just trust you that you can replace the fear in our hearts with the peace that passes all understanding. As we keep our mind state on you, as we keep our mind fixed on your word, as we quote your word, as we memorize your word, as we sing your word, as we read your word, as we tell your word to others, Lord, that you would renew our minds, that you would cause us to have faith and not doubt. We know this is the work of your Holy Spirit in us. We ask you to continue it, Lord, and ask that you would teach us how to submit ourselves to this process. We thank you for your love for us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. You are light, you are light, when the darkness closes in. You are hope, you are hope, you have covered all my sin. You are peace, you are peace, when my fear is crippling. You are true, you are true, even in my wandering. You are joy, you are joy, you're the reason that I sing. You are life, you are life, when your death has lost its sting. And Lord, I'm running to your arms, I'm running to your arms. The riches of your love will always be enough. Nothing compares to your embrace, the light of the world forever reigns. You are more, you are more, than my words will ever say. You are Lord, you are Lord, all creation will proclaim. You are here, you are here, in your presence I'm made whole. You are God, you are God, of all else I'm letting go. And Lord, I'm running to your arms, I'm running to your arms. The riches of your love will always be enough. Nothing compares to your embrace, the light of the world forever reigns. I'm running to your arms, I'm running to your arms. The riches of your love will always be enough. Nothing compares to your embrace, the light of the world forever reigns. Jesus, my heart will sing no other name. Jesus, Jesus, my heart will sing no other name. Jesus, Jesus, I'm running to your arms, I'm running to your arms. The riches of your love will always be enough. Nothing compares to your embrace, the light of the world forever reigns. What a beautiful chorus, but also a beautiful prayer to end the day of worship with and to go out into this world. Father, we run into your arms, we run into your arms. The riches of your love will always be enough for me, as we, for us, for me, for anybody as we walk through this life. Nothing compares to how you embrace us, Father. Light of the world, you are the light of the world. Father, forever you will reign. And thank you for allowing us to rest in that, to rest in you, that you love us. Father, let our heart's desire be to live this out this week. Be with us and guide us and speak to us through that, and Father, that embrace, all that embrace. We pray for it this week, as we walk out these doors and leave this fellowship, that the fellowship with you won't be broken. We ask this in your Son's name, in the name of Jesus, Amen.