Three Timbers Church's Podcast

Whom Shall I Fear - Stephanie Olson - 3TC Podcast - 11/03/2024

• Three Timbers Church • Season 1 • Episode 38

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Stephanie Olson discusses overcoming fear through faith, using personal anecdotes and biblical references. Fear is natural but should be directed towards God, our strength, and our invincible army. 

*Because of streaming issues, you might find a loss of a small part of the message; however, not enough to affect the podcast. Enjoy! 

Unknown:

Welcome to the three timbers podcast. We hope this will encourage and uplift you today.

Stephanie Olson:

Amen. Good morning. I know what you're thinking.

Unknown:

Wow, Jeff,

Stephanie Olson:

you look different. That's what you're thinking right now, isn't it? No. Jeff Ryan is snowed in in Colorado this morning, but he gets to spend some wonderful time with his daughter, Sela. And so I am pinch hitting. I am Stephanie Olson. I am the worship leader today, and

Unknown:

you got me. So there you go. Oh,

Stephanie Olson:

thank you. Alright, you go out. You. Let's pray, Father God, we just come before you and we praise You. We praise you for this time together. We praise You for this worship. And Lord, I just ask that you speak through me, that it's your words we hear, not mine and God that you would give us holy spirit, a sense of your presence, just

Unknown:

in awe of you, in Jesus name,

Stephanie Olson:

we pray amen. Well, thank you. I appreciate that I'm going to be talking about here today, and I think it's an important topic, because we are all afraid at some point. And thank you. That's awesome, okay? And now I'm just afraid right now because there's music playing in the background. But we all, we all get afraid sometimes, and there's always those times that we don't know necessarily

Unknown:

what's going to happen, and we can't, and

Stephanie Olson:

I have always had an intense fear of spiders. Now I don't know, do any of you have Yes? Okay, I appreciate that. I really do. I appreciate that. And because of my intense fear of spiders, here's what I would tell you, I'm really good at detecting them, and I'm good at helping people get over not their fear, but scary situations in their house, and one day, my sister called me, and I get a phone call, and it sounded a little bit like this, and I wasn't sure what she said. I'm freaking out. Are you okay? What's going on? Are you doing? Okay? And then I heard the word spider, so I understood. I knew what was happening. I'm like, Okay, we're good, okay, spider. What can I help you with? Because I am an expert, what can I help you with? And she was telling me there was this huge spider in her living room that she had now trapped underneath the hamper. Well, that's a good start, right? She's trapped it underneath the hamper. So I said, I need you to go grab some shoes, not just your regular shoes. I need you to put on boots, like winter boots, combat boots, something like that. And she said, I don't have

Unknown:

any boots. And I said,

Stephanie Olson:

What is your problem that you have no boots, but neither here nor there, you have no boots. Grab the closest shoe that you have. And so she said, Okay, I have my husband's Croc. I'm thinking, Croc is not the shoe you want to use, but we will work with what we have. So I said, Okay, I want you to put the crop on and I want you to stand on the hamper and jump up, down. Okay, that did not sound safe, but now we had trapped it under something else. So now it was not just a hamper, but it was like a paper towel or something that it couldn't get away. And I said, just, and I'm doing it with her. Just jump up and down on the paper towel like that. So she did. She listened to me, and I said, now here's the hard part. You have to look. You have to look and make sure that you have successfully killed the spider. So after much time she did, she pulled off the whatever it was we were jumping on, and she had killed the spider. And I was very proud of her. I told her to just put the hammer right back on, because there's no reason to pick that up until your hospital gets home, right? I mean, that's what you do, is that? Right? So these are the things that we sometimes get a little afraid of, but I want to read to you so. Thing. Let me see here,

Unknown:

where did I put that? Yes, it's not where I have it.

Stephanie Olson:

So we'll use this. I'm going to read something to you right now, if I can find it. Well, you know what? We're going to help us today. Praise God. I love that we're going to help us. So I want to read there's a there's a study. I'm going to do my best to remember it. There's a study that says that 40% of the things that we are afraid of don't ever happen at all, like they're just something that never happened at all. 90% of the things that we are afraid of we have literally no control over whatsoever, and it's only 6% by the way, I know there's not 100% there's not 100% there, because I'm not using my notes, but only, like, 6% of the things that we fear,

Unknown:

we can actually change. We can actually do something.

Stephanie Olson:

So why do we have so much fear? Well, it's natural, right? So we are going to read from Matthew, I believe. Go ahead and tell me so I know how to look it up here. We're going to read from Matthew. 435, thank you.

Unknown:

241, okay, perfect. We're going to read this.

Stephanie Olson:

I'm just going to tell you right now, there is no Matthew 435 so we are going to prepare with me here just a second, Jesus, you are good God, and I know you will help me find my notes. Otherwise, I'm just going to chat with you. That's fine. We can do that. Okay, you know what? Oh, I do have my notes. What is the iPad I took? That's where it is. Hold on. Please tell

Unknown:

a joke amongst yourself,

Stephanie Olson:

because I want to hear the best one.

Unknown:

Alright, who told a good joke?

Stephanie Olson:

A good appropriate joke? Anybody do

Unknown:

we get a good joke? Christian, did you tell a good joke? No, okay, let's go. So the California condor, its wingspan is seven feet when it is flying away from the sun. Did you know that seven foot wingspan California condor when it's flying away from the sun. Why does it swingspan When it's flying into the sun and

Stephanie Olson:

I have to listen to that on the replay, and I just trust that we know that that was funny because people laughed. So we're good. We're actually going to be turning to mark 435, here we go. Actually, do know sort of what I'm talking about here. And I do know there is a mark 435 but without a parable. Is that it am I in mark 435 Yeah, 35 on the same day. This is exactly my pleasure. On when evening had come, he said to them, let us cross over to the other side. And now, when they had left the multitude, they took him along in the boat, as he was, and other little boats were also with him. And a great windstorm arose and the waves beat into the boat so that it was already filling. But he was in the sternum sleep on a pillow, and they awoke. They awoken and said to him, Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? Then he arose and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, peace. Be still. And the wind ceased. And there was a great call, but he said to them, Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? And they feared exceedingly and said to one another, who can this be that even the wind and the sea obey now before. We kind of dissect that again. We are going to go to Matthew But we're going to go to Matthew eight. Matthew 823, and we're going to read the same thing a little bit differently. Now, when he got into the boat, his disciples followed Him, and suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But he was asleep, and then his disciples came to him and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us. We are perishing. And He said to them, Why are you fearful? Oh, you of little faith. And then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. Now I want to point out something here, because as I was studying this, I was reading a commentary on this verse, and it says this, Now when he Jesus got into the boat, his disciples followed Him, and there was a great tempest that arose. Now it doesn't say that when they got to the boat, his disciples followed Him, and the son glistened, and the birds started singing. What a wonderful world that didn't happen, a great tempest arose. And when we talk about a tempest, this is something that would make even the most seasoned fisherman, which is who we have terrified. A great tempest arose. Have you ever been told that, if you are a Christian, your life will be amazing. Every day is a Friday, and it's just wonderful. That's a lie. That is absolutely a lie. And there are people in other countries that are told, if you follow this Jesus, you might be killed. Your family is probably going to be killed, but this is not your home. This is not your home. And so these disciples were terrified, and they were afraid, and when they went to Jesus, where was he? He was sound asleep. I never felt like that with God,

Unknown:

where you're terrified, you're going through something, and you call out to God, and he seems like he's absolutely

Stephanie Olson:

I am begging you God to give me something, and he is sound asleep. But not only that, not only was Jesus sound asleep, but he was sound asleep. And he sound asleep, but he rose, he rebuked the wind, and he said, Peace be still. And there was a great ceasing of the wind, and it was calm. They said, Who can this be? Even the sea and the wind obey Him. Now we're going to read another scripture here, and I think this might be on the screen here for you. Matthew 1422, 27 and it says this, Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side while he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up to the mountain to pray. When we think okay. Now, when the evening came, he was alone there, but the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by waves, for the wind was contrary. And now in the fourth watch of the night, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying it he's a ghost, and they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, Be of good cheer. Do not be afraid. Immediately, that word is really important. Jesus said, immediately, be of good cheer and do not be afraid when God is working in our lives. It doesn't always feel immediate, does it? But when Jesus says immediate, immediately. He means it Be of good cheer. Now I want you to understand who we're dealing with, because we know Jesus, right? We know him, but I think sometimes our Americanized version of Jesus is like Jesus with the long, flowing. On here, and a little lamb on his shoulders, and he's walking in the green grass, and it's lovely. And Jesus is that. But Jesus is also the King of kings. Jesus is the creator of the universe. And when he comes back here again, he comes back as a lion. Our God is a mighty God, and the same God that parted the Red Seas, the same God that raised Lazarus from the dead, is the same God that is in you, is the same God that is walking with you every day. So when we're talking about fear, we have a lot every single day. I was reading a Facebook post that that my mom sent me, and a couple of people were talking about how unsettled they were, and one of them said, I walked away from Jesus when my mom died, and I thought, wow, that is really sad. That's a conscious choice, right? That we make a decision that it's not going well. And so I walked away from Jesus. So many of us are going through hurt, so many of us have lost loved ones. So many of us have children that have turned away from God. So many of us are afraid of what the nation holds. But God is unchanging, and he is sovereign, and he is with you at every step of the way, every moment, I want to read you something that Max Lucado wrote about this in the book called fearless, because it's such a powerful message, and this is a powerful Scripture, and it shows exactly who our God is. We like to memorialize moments with statues, tablets or monuments, and this was right before that Peter had just cleared his throat to speak when he saw the tabernacle and he saw Jesus and he saw Moses and he saw Abraham, and he said, Lord, it is good for us to be here if you wish, Elijah, let me make three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah, and the words might seem harmless to us, even a good idea to some. We like to memorialize moments with statues, tablets or monuments. And Peter thinks this event deserves a special building and program volunteers to head up the committee. That's what we do. It's a good idea, but not from God's perspective. Peter's idea of three tabernacles was so off base and inappropriate that God would permit him to finish the sentence. And while he Peter was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him. No more talk of building programs, no discussion of Tabernacles or memorials or buildings. They were Submariners reaching the trench, astronauts landing on the lunar surface. They saw what no people have seen Christ in greatness and words don't work in such a moment, blood drained from their face, skin, actions, knees wobbled, and pulses raised, and they fell on their face and were greatly afraid. Fire on the mountain led to fear on the mountain, a holy, healthy fear. Peter James and John experienced a fortifying terror, a stabilizing reverence of the one and only God, and they encountered the person who flung stars into the sky like diamonds on velvet, who whipped prophets away at chariots and left Pharaoh bobbing in the Red Sea. They were gripped deep in their gut that God was at once everywhere and here and the very sight of the glowing Galilean sucked all air and arrogance out of them, leaving them appropriately prostate. Face first on the ground, they fell to their faces and were greatly afraid. This is the fear of the Lord. And most of our fears are poisonous. They steal sleep and pillage peace. But this fear is different from a biblical perspective. There is nothing neurotic about fearing God. The neurotic thing is not to be afraid or to be afraid of the wrong thing, and that is why God chooses to be known to us, so that we may stop being afraid of the wrong thing. When God is fully revealed to us and we get it, then we experience the conversion of our fear. Fear of the Lord is the deeply saying, recognition that we are not God. How long since you have felt this fear, since a fresh understanding of Christ buckled your knees and emptied your lungs, since a glimpse of him left you speechless and breathless? It if it has been a while that explains your fears, because when Christ is great, our fears are not. That is a powerful statement. When Christ is great, our fears are not. So what do we do with our fears? I mean because, because fear is a legitimate feeling that we might have and so does that mean we don't get to be afraid that we just pretend that we have no fear? What is our next slide say? Second Timothy one seven says, For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind, we don't have spirit fear when we turn it over to Christ. What's our next slide? We're going to stay here for just a second and stick because we're going to talk about this, we have a God that can calm the storms in our life. Those storms don't necessarily go away, and just like every day is not a Friday, we sometimes have storms that are overwhelming. We sometimes have moments where we think we can't do it alone. We might have moments where we think, if you don't come through, God, I will die.

Unknown:

Sometimes we feel like

Stephanie Olson:

but I want to read this scripture here in Habakkuk, the Lord God is my strength. This is from the Amplified Bible my personal bravery and my invincible army. He makes my feet like Hinds. Feet will make me to walk, not to stand still in terror, but to walk and make spiritual progress upon my high places of trouble, suffering or responsibility. I want to hold that there for just a second. The Lord God is my strength and my personal bravery and my invisible army. Think about that. When we are going through difficult times, we actually have an invincible army in God that He is your strength, he is your bravery. That's amazing. And he makes my feet like Hinds feet, and will not make me to walk, not to stand still and tear, but to walk through it. If anybody ever told you that God will remove the scary circumstances and remove it, just like that spider was still under that paper towel, God God will not remove our circumstances, necessarily. He can. Sometimes he does. Usually he helps us walk through those things, and then he makes spiritual progress. Think about that. Our spiritual progress, we actually, during those difficult times get closer to him. There is rarely a time when we grow closer to God, during the amazing times, during the times we're just celebrating. And it's just wonderful. It's through the difficult times, and then he makes progress upon even my responsibility, even the things that I'm just required to do. He makes spiritual progress because he is a good God that absolutely loves us. One day, a friend of mine and I were talking about. Fear. And I was just so terrified when my oldest daughter was born, Noel. I was just terrified of something happened, happening, and I would go check on her, like every half an hour, make sure she was breathing. It was just a scary time for me. And I remember telling my friend this and she said, Stephanie, fear is not of God. And that just struck me like a ton of bricks, that fearing those kind of things, not fearing God on reverence, but fearing those things that can happen. It's not of Him. I received this saying from a dear friend of mine too. It says this fear will attract demons like blood, attract sharps, sharks, Satan and his cohorts don't just capitalize on our fear. They have tricks for inducing it. They use the words others speak to us, or they whisper lies to us themselves, and they trick us into focusing on the problem rather than the solution. Fear attracts demons, like blood attracts sharks. One day, I was telling sending my daughter the same one off to kindergarten, and she looked adorable. They took the bus all their elementary school time, and I was sending her off, and I remember thinking, Ah, she looks so cute. And there was just a little voice in my head that said, it's a good thing. She looks cute on the day she said. And I was struck with fear that wasn't a bad I immediately grabbed just scriptures and prayed through scriptures that calmed my soul, just like Second Timothy, we do not have a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of sound mind, and just continue to pray scriptures outside out loud until those fears left. God is our strength and our personal bravery. The Bible says, Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, with prayer and and petition, present your request to God and the peace of God, which transcends all our understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ, Jesus. And I was talking to a couple people about that, and they said that is impossible to not be anxious about anything. And I thought,

Unknown:

What if God told

Stephanie Olson:

us to do it? Well, he's not going to tell us to do something we can't do right?

Unknown:

But we can't do it in our own strength.

Stephanie Olson:

We have to do it through him. And there's a key word in there that I don't particularly like, but it is. But in every situation, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your request of all God. He's not asking us to be thankful about the bad days in our life. He's not asking us to not grieve the tough things in our lives. What he's saying is trust in Me, I will walk you through it and be thankful, maybe not for the circumstance, but what are the things

Unknown:

we can be thankful for?

Stephanie Olson:

I am so grateful that I have not been referenced. I'll be at almond rock. I am grateful that I have an amazing church family that loves me. I'm grateful that I don't have to be perfect, that I can come up here and not have my nose, and I'm blessed by you. What are we thankful for? Because God's given us so much, and that's what we want to bring to him. One more scripture. I don't know if it's up there. Revelation. 21 one through four says this, And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things had passed away. He did not promise us a life of these. And so unfortunately, we live this home, and we're here for a purpose. We're here to go out and share the love of Christ with others, to go out and make disciples. Goals and to worship Him, because He deserves it, because he is a good God. And then through that, he walks us through the struggles, he walks us through the pain, and he allows us to take that fear directly to him, not saying there aren't scary things that go on. I'm on my knees for my children every day. I have a nonprofit that, you know, we try and make our finances every month, and I know the same is true for any of us. God is a sovereign God, and He loves you, and the same God that created the universe loves you. That's something to be amazed, amazed by. And so if you want to fear fear God. Fear this holy, awesome, reverent God that loves you more than anyone that wants to see you blessed and wants to have relationship with you more than anyone could surrender those fears to the one who Truly calms the waters. Will you pray with me, Father God? We, thank you. We thank you that we can come boldly to the throne with confidence that you are a good God, but that we don't have to come arrived. We don't have to come perfect. We don't have to come ready. You just have to come and Lord that we can surrender the things that are weighing us down, the the fears, the troubles, the losses and we thank you for the things you're doing in our life that are amazing, because we know you are and we know you are a God that is good and a God that is holy. We thank you so much. We praise you in Jesus name Amen. Would you stand with us and just worship the God that says, When Christ is great, our fears are not

Unknown:

thank you for joining us for more information about three timbers, church ministries and services, visit three timbers.org. We would love for you to join us in person. You.