- Hi everybody, I want to say
hi to all of our campuses. I love you so much. If you take out your message notes, you know for about eight weeks now, I've been teaching you a series on how God turns setbacks into comebacks. Everybody loves a comeback. We cheer comebacks, we love it when a team comes from behind to
win in the last seconds. During this series, I've
pointed out a number of very important truths
that I want you to remember about the setbacks that
happen in your life. First, there are no
comebacks without setbacks. There are no comebacks without setbacks. Setbacks are a part of life. Everybody has setbacks, I do, you do. When you have setbacks
in life, you're normal. They may be health setbacks,
financial setbacks, relational, career, spiritual
setbacks, emotional setbacks, or many, many, other types. This is normal because we
live in a broken world. Nothing works perfectly. But there was a second important truth that I want you to remember, it's this. Every setback is a setup for a comeback. Every setback is a setup for a comeback. If you lived in a world
where there were no losses, there could be no wins. But when you've had a setback, you are being setup for a comeback. Now the third truth that
I've shared with you that I want you to remember is this. A setback is not intended to punish me, but to prepare me for my next stage. A setback in not intended to punish me. That setback you're
goin' through right now, it's not punishing you,
it's to prepare you for your next stage. God uses delays and
difficulties, and even dead ends to get us ready for what
he has in store for us. And he uses setbacks
to build our character and to deepen our faith, and
to strengthen our resilience, and to teach us stuff that we could never learn any other way. The setback is not intended to punish you, but to prepare you for your
next stage of responsibility. But the fourth, and the most
important truth about setbacks that I've been tryin' to teach
you, and I don't want you to forget this, is this. Setbacks are the stepping
stones to my future. Setbacks are the stepping
stones to my future. Setbacks are not the barriers
in the path to your future. They are the path to your future. If you'll get this, it'll change the way you look at all your problems. We looked at a dramatic
example illustration of this last time together
when we focused on the life of Joseph in the Book of Genesis. For 13 years, remember,
Joseph had one bad setback after another, seven different setbacks. None of them were his fault, everyone of them caused by somebody else. They were painful, but
at the end of his life, Joseph could look back and say, They meant it for bad, but
God meant it all for good. The setbacks were not really setbacks. They were actually the
stepping stones in God's plan, they were the pathway that got
Joseph where he needed to go. And the stepping stones in your life are actually the stumbling blocks in the setbacks that you have. The same is true for you. There is purpose behind
the setbacks for your life. And God will use literally
everything in your life, even the bad stuff that
other people mean for bad in your life, he'll use it for good if you'll trust him completely. So why do we have such a
hard time with setbacks? And why are we spending so
much time on it in this series? Well, the reason why we have a
hard time is 'cause we panic. When things don't happen
as fast as we want it, it don't happen as simply as we want it, we worry and we get anxious and we doubt, and we think God doesn't
know what he's doing, and we don't trust God and
in a word, we become afraid. Now listen, fear is your
greatest enemy in life. Fear, worry, anxiety, this nervousness. And if you're gonna learn how to turn setbacks into comebacks
and let God use them in that way, you're gonna have to learn how to deal with fear. So today, I want us to
look at what do you do when a setback fills you with fear? And if you're filled with faith, then you're gonna benefit
from your setbacks. But if you're filled with fear, you're gonna be broken by the setbacks that happen in your life. Now think about this,
everybody has secret fears. You may have a fear that
nobody's every gonna love you. You may have the fear that
your life doesn't matter and nobody's gonna notice you. You may have the of dying alone. You may have the fear of
never finding true love. You may have the fear
people would reject you if they really knew what you were like. As I've thought about where to take you in the Bible this week
to show you how to deal with the fears that arise
when your plans get messed up, when you have setbacks in your life. The choice was obvious to me, we gotta look at the Christmas story. I realize it's not Christmas,
but the story of Jesus's birth is the practical illustration
of what I wanna teach you today because Jesus birth
messed up everybody's plans. And it actually caused a lot of fear for those involved at the personal level. It is significant that when
you read the Christmas story, that the phrase, Don't be
afraid, is repeated four times. Not once, but four times
in the Christmas story. The angels have to say, Don't be afraid. They say it to Mary,
they say it to Joseph, they say it to the shepherds,
they say it to Zechariah. And today, we know the
good news of Jesus's birth, but to those who heard it
for the very first time, it scared em to death. And the Bible tells us that
the news not only frightened those who heard it first, but it scared the entire
city of Jerusalem. That's what the Bible tells us. In fact, every one of the main characters in the Christmas story had to deal with their own set of fears, because of their own plans had a setback. As I reread that story this
week, what was interesting to me is that 2,000 years later, you know what? We're all still dealing
with the exact same fears that they had 2,000 years ago. Now I don't know what fears you may be personally
dealing with right now because of some setbacks in your life. I don't know what's causing you to panic, what's causing you to worry,
to keep you awake at night, to have anxiety or even panic attacks. But I do know this, God
doesn't want you to be fearful. So what I wanna do in
this message is show you five common fears that people faced at the very first Christmas
and I want you to see God's anecdote to those fears, that you feel when you
have setbacks in your life. I think you're gonna
identify with these, okay? All right, so what were the
fears that people had to face at the very first Christmas? Let's get right into this. Number one, let's talk about Mary. First, Mary faced the fear of inadequacy. Mary faced the fear of inadequacy. And that happens when you
have a setback in your life. Now think about this, Mary
is a young peasant girl. She's probably maybe, I don't
know, 15, 16 years of age. She's engaged to be married,
this is a happy time for her. She's happily planning her wedding day. This is a fun time. She's got all the plans of a
soon to be bride in her head. And she's got it planned out, she's got her whole life planned out. And then one day an angel
interrupts her plans, it's a setback. And he shows up, that would
be enough to scare anybody. If an angel showed up in my
bedroom, it would scare me. But the angel's message
is even more shocking. And the angel says, Mary,
by the way, you're pregnant. And Mary's goin', How can this be? I've never had sex with anybody. And then the angel drops the
second half of this bomb. He said, Oh, by the way,
not only are you pregnant, but you're carrying the son of God. God is coming to Earth
and he's coming as a baby and you're going to be the
mother of the son of God. Now that is a setback to
Mary's sweet and simple plans to just get married and settle down. Are you kidding me? She's goin', What's this all about? Her mind must have been filled with panic. She would have been
overwhelmed with fears. What does all this mean? How am I suppose to react to this? Why was I chosen, why me, why now? How am I going to explain
this to everybody? Wouldn't you feel a little inadequate? Wouldn't you be a little fearful? Of course you would. In Luke chapter one, verse
29 to 34 it says this; Confused and disturbed,
Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. So the angel said, Do not be afraid. This is first of the four fear nots. Do not be afraid, Mary. For God has decided to
bless and to use you. And you're gonna have a son
and you will name him Jesus and he will be the son of God, and his Kingdom will never end. And then Mary asked, But how can this be? Boy you'd ask the same thing, so would I. Now Mary would have to deal
with the skepticism of a family and friends, and she's
gonna be an unwed mother. She's gotta make a long trip on a donkey the day before she delivers,
gotta move to Bethlehem. She's gonna have to deliver
her first child by herself in a barn with no doctor or
not mother or no midwife. That's scary. And then she's gotta raise the son of God. Really? The fear of inadequacy is
one we can all relate to. Am I good enough? Am I up for the task? Can I handle this? Mary has a legitimate fear. Now there's a second fear in the story, and that's Joseph's fear. Joseph struggled with a different fear. Joseph faced the fear of disapproval. Now imagine his position, your
fiance come to you and says, Honey, I'm pregnant. Now you know that you've
never had relations with her and she claims a God made
me pregnant, it's his child. How are you gonna explain
that to everybody in town? Imagine the ridicule,
the shame, the gossip, the criticism heaped on him. Joseph, they say he's crazy
to believe that story. She's takin' him for a ride. And the Bible tells us that
Joseph's first reaction was to break off the engagement privately. In Matthew chapter one,
verse 18 to 20 he says, Now this is how Jesus Christ was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged
to be married to Joseph. But while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her fiance, being
a good and righteous man, decided to break off
the engagement quietly, so it wouldn't disgrace Mary publicly. I mean, he's still protecting his fiance. But after he had considered doing this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him, so he's gettin' scared. Appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph, don't be afraid to
take Mary home as your wife, because the child in her
is from God's Holy Spirit. And just like with Mary, God
has to tell Joseph, Fear not. This is the second of four fear nots. He says, Don't be afraid. Now let me ask you, whose
disapproval are you afraid of? Let me ask it another way. Whose approval are you livin' for? The Bible tells us that the fear of man, or the fear or disapproval, is a trap. It will limit you and
you will miss God's will. You'll miss God's plan for your life. If you're worried about
what other people think, then you're not gonna
hear what God has for you. Joseph could have missed the
greatest blessing in his life. Now next, the third fear,
we find with the shepherds. Now the shepherds faced the
fear of unexpected change. And we all have this one when
we have setbacks in our life. Unexpected change, yeah, a setback too. And what was it? Their plans got changed. Now let me give you the picture. This is at nighttime and
the shepherds are out, enjoying a quiet night in the field. Okay, they're out layin' on the grass, tending their flock of sheep and they're bedded down for the night, the sheep are bedded down, it's quiet, they're lookin' up at the stars, probably tellin' a few jokes, eatin', maybe makin' some popcorn,
some smores or somethin'. But suddenly, the sky lights up, and like an explosion of
brightness in the sky, they go, Uh oh, UFO's, what is this? And a huge choir of
extraterrestrial beings start singing loudly,
would that scare you? Yeah, certainly that's a scary site. What is goin' on? I'm sure the angels are goin', Who spiked the iced tea? Who put somethin' in
those brownies tonight? And their plans for a quiet
evening are interrupted and the fact is, they will
never be the same again. Luke chapter two, verses eight through 10. It says, That night the
shepherds were in the field outside the village, guarding
their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the
Lord appeared among them and the radiance of the Lord's
glory flash surround them. This is like a flash of brightness, and they were terribly frightened. Everybody's scared at Christmas. So the angels had to say to
them, here is the third time, Do not be afraid. Let me ask you, do you like
being caught off guard? No. Do you like unexpected
changes in your life? No, it shoots adrenaline
straight into your system. And you get that natural
fight or flight reaction when all the sudden somebody
throws you a curve ball and out of left field
everything's changed. And you go, what, where'd that come from? And you got a setback in your life. Now listen, sometimes a setback is just God showin' up in your life. You don't realize it, but it's
God showin' up in your life. And that can be very
unsettling, it can be scary. Because the status quo is
upset and all the sudden, you're out there just
lookin' up on a starry night, ready to go to sleep and God shows up. God doesn't wanna scare you. This is the third time
the angels have to say, Don't be afraid. Now there's a fourth
character who panicked when there was a setback
when Jesus was born. And it was the man appointed
by the Roman emperor to be the ruler over
Israel while they're under the occupation of the Roman Empire. Now this guy, his name was Herod, he was given the title King of the Jews by the Roman Emperor, but
the Jews considered this guy to be an imposter and a tool of the enemy, and they despised Herod. So the phrase, Herod King of the Jews, they hated that and they hated him. Plus, Herod, King Herod
was incredibly insecure. In fact, this guy was so
paranoid of being overthrown, listen to this. King Herod was so paranoid, he may have had a mental illness. He had his brother in law murdered, that he was afraid he might overthrow him. He had his mother, his
own mother, murdered. He had his wife murdered, and he even had his two sons murdered. He was scared that somebody
was gonna take over, kick him out and take over control. Now when Herod hears that
the Promised Messiah, the true quote, King of
the Jews, had been born, what's his reaction? He panics, he's afraid, he is so petrified that he would be replaced
that he goes out and he orders all the children under two years of age in the city of Bethlehem to be killed, just to make sure that Jesus doesn't live. Now King Herod faces a fourth kind of fear that we often have once we
have a setback in our life, financial setback, health setback, marriage setback, parent setback. King Herod faced the
fear of losing control. Oh boy, this is a common fear. You've had this one many times,
the fear of losing control. Matthew chapter two, verse
one to three says this; Jesus was born in Bethlehem
during the time that Herod was the king of the Jews. Then some wise men came
from the east to Jerusalem and they started asking, Where's the child born
to be king of the Jews? Now that scares Herod. We saw in the east, we've
come to worship him. When King Herod heard this news, he was deeply frightened,
and he was disturbed. And notice, so was
everyone else in Jerusalem. You know it's interesting,
that at Christmas time we sing that song Silent
Night, Holy Night, all is calm, all is bright,
but when in reality, not everybody was calm
when Jesus was born. Now let me get real personal and ask you, What are you afraid of losing control of? Let me put it another way. What's out of control in your life and is scaring you to death? What's out of control in your life and you're still trying to
pathetically control it? You know, you say, Well how
do you know when I'm afraid that something's out
of control in my life? Simple, there's a warning light. When you're trying to
control the uncontrollable, there's a warning light. The warning light is called worry. Worry is the warning light that you're trying to
control the uncontrollable. Every time you start worrying, you're trying to control
the uncontrollable. We'll come back to this. And finally, there's one other
guy in the Christmas story who has a setback and his
life gets turned around. His name's Zechariah,
he was an old priest. Now Zechariah's wife was named Elizabeth, and Elizabeth was actually Mary's cousin. During Mary's pregnancy,
when she heard that she was pregnant, Mary went
to stay with this couple, with Zechariah and Elizabeth,
an older, older couple. Now Elizabeth and Zechariah
had prayed for many, many years to have a baby, but it had not happened. And they had had one
setback after another, trying to get pregnant, but they couldn't. Now they're very old
and they're childless, and they've given up all hope. But one day, God shows
up and says to Zechariah, Zechariah, it's finally
gonna happen, guess what? You're gonna be a daddy. But Zechariah didn't believe it and he's afraid to get his hopes up. He's been disappointed so many times, so he doubts God and this is another common fear that happens. When you've had one setback
after another in your life, you start becoming afraid in this area. Zachariah faced the fear
of being disappointed. You've had this one too. You have had the fear
of being disappointed. I've been disappointed so many times, I'm afraid to get my hopes up. Luke chapter one, verses
11 to 13, it says; While they were serving in the Temple, an angel appeared to Zechariah. When he saw the angel, he
was confused and overwhelmed, that's frightened, overwhelmed with fear. But the angel said to
him, Do not be afraid. There's the fourth, don't be afraid. Says, Zechariah, don't be afraid, your prayers have been heard. Well it's about time,
I'd finally given up. Now notice, God has to say, Fear not. Are you getting the point? That God doesn't want people to be afraid, that God doesn't want you to be afraid. No matter what setback
you're goin' through, God does not want you to be afraid. God brought you here this weekend so he could say this to you, No matter what you're going
through, don't be afraid. And God says, Zechariah, you're finally gonna get your child. By the way, Zechariah's long awaited son, he become somebody famous, he was called John the
Baptist, Jesus' cousin. Now of these five fears, which of these have you struggled with because
of setbacks in your life? The fear of feeling inadequate? I can't do it, so I won't even try. The fear of disapproval
or the fear or rejection? So I'm just gonna be a people pleaser. The fear of unexpected
change, like the shepherds. So I want everything to stay the same. The fear of losing control, like Herod. So I don't want anybody
messin' with my plans. Or the fear of being disappointed? I've been let down so many times, I just don't even dare to
believe or trust or have hope. Now listen, as your pastor who loves you and who prays for you, I
want you to know that for God to turn your setback into the comeback that he wants it to be, for
God to turn your setback into that comeback, you're gonna have to exchange your fear for faith. You gotta turn your
fear of the circumstance into faith in God. How in the world do you do that? How do you replace fear with faith? The answer is, do the same four things that the people did at the first Christmas in this passage that we've just looked at. So let's go through it real
quick, here's what you do. If you want to reduce
the fears, the anxieties, the panic in your life, number one, first surrender my life
completely to God everyday. It starts with surrender,
I surrender my life completely to God everyday. Surrender is the first anecdote to fear and anxiety and panic. You let it go, you give it up, you give yourself completely to God, but you do it not just once,
but you do it everyday. This is how Mary overcame
her fear of inadequacy. The Bible tells us that Mary
prayed a prayer of surrender and she put everything
that she didn't understand into the hands of God and
just trusted him completely. Luke chapter one, verse 38 says this; Mary responded when she heard
all this fantastic story, Well I'm the Lord's servant
and I am willing to accept whatever God wants for my life. Have you said that? That is a statement of surrender. I am willing to accept
whatever God wants for my life. I wanna challenge you to
whisper that right now. I am willing to accept
whatever God wants in my life. I am willing to accept
whatever God wants in my life. That's the prayer of surrender. God will never ask you to do something without giving you the
ability to handle it. He doesn't call the equipped,
he equips the called. If you say, I am willing to
do whatever he asks me to do, he's gonna give you the ability. Your confidence is not
going to be in yourself, your confidence is gonna be in Him. Almost 40 years ago, I
started Saddleback Church with no money, no members,
no building, no support, and I'd never been a senior pastor. But I did have confidence in God. And I remember tellin' it to Kay. I said, What do you think? She said, Well I believe in God and I believe in you, so let's go for it. She said, It scares me to
death, but I believe in God and I believe in you, so let's go for it. Job 11, verses 13 to 18 says this; Surrender, it says,
Surrender your heart to God, turn to Him in prayer,
and give up your sins. Then you won't be ashamed. And you'll be confident and fearless. Here's how you get
confidence and fearlessness. Surrender yourself to God. And your troubles will go away
like water beneath a bridge, and your darkest night
will be brighter than noon. And then you'll rest safe and secure, filled with hope and emptied of worry. Does that sound pretty good to you? Sounds good to me. Filled with hope and emptied
of worry, how do you do that? Starts with surrender. Well how often do I take this step? Just everyday. If you're fighting anxiety,
you're fighting worry, insecurity, fear, because of the setback you've had in your life, before
you get up in the morning you need to say, Father I
surrender this day to you. I surrender my past, my
present, and my future. That's the starting point. Second thing you do to
move past your setback, listen, is to stop listening
to the voices of fear. Stop listening to the
voices of fear around you. Now all around you are naysayers and all kinds of fearful people. And the media in particular is filled with naysayers and fearful people. By the way, sometimes those
fearful voices are inside you. Sometimes you need to
stop listening to you. And you need to replace
the fear with faith, as I said earlier. Romans 14:23 says this; Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. You see, fear is the opposite of faith. And any time you walk in fear,
you're not walkin' in faith. I don't know if you know this, but fear is a communicable disease. It's highly contagious. If you hang around fearful
people, guess what? You're gonna become fearful. So let me give you a couple
practical suggestions to lower the fear in your life. Number one, turn off talk radio
and negative TV news shows. Studies show that the more
you listen to those kind of shows, the more angry and
more fearful you become. Just turn it off, you don't need it. Number two, start hangin'
out with people of faith instead of people of fear instead. It's one of the reasons
you need a church family. You need to get into small group. Now let me give you a
third practical anecdote to the worry and fears
that come with setbacks. This is definitely from God. Number three, fill my mind
with music that praises God. You say, What? Yep, if you're havin' problems
with panic, with anxiety, with fear, fill my mind
with music that praises God. Did you know the Bible
teaches over and over again that praise is the anecdote to panic, that worship is the cure for worry. We do this instinctively,
whenever there's a crisis, like a hurricane, people
instinctively cry out to God. People cry, Oh God, why? Because you lose your
fear when God is near. I had a neighbor once tell me, said, You know, Rick, when I was going through the darkest days of fear,
I bought a 10 CD set of praise music and I just listened to it over and over and over. He said, It gave me both
comfort and courage. You might need to do something like that. Fill your mind with the music of praise. When Matthew, our youngest
son, died a few years ago, Kay and I, we didn't turn on
the TV for well over a month. Instead we filled our
home with praise music. You know what Mary did when
she felt fearful, inadequate? She wrote a song of
praise and she sang it. In fact, Mary's song
is in Luke chapter one. You might read it, verse
46 to 56, it's a long song. But part of it says this; Then Mary sang, With all
my heart I praise the Lord! She's scared to death, but she says, With all my heart, I praise the Lord. I rejoice in God my Savior, for He notices and cares
for me, simple servant girl. He's blessed me and He's
the Mighty One who's Holy. He's All Powerful, He can do anything. He meets all our needs,
He keeps all His promises. She's just fillin' her
mind with who God is and what He can do. We're talking about the
Christmas story, it's no accident that Christmas is the most
music centered holiday. Because at the very first
Christmas, everybody sang. Elizabeth sang, the angels sang, the shepherds sang, Zechariah sang. If you're havin' a problem
with anxiety and fear, you need to fill your life with music. You need to sing the songs
at worship of worship on the weekends at church. Now let me give you a fourth way to defeat the fears
that come with setbacks. Base my hope on the promises of God. Base my hope, not on
what I think I can do, but on what God has promised to do. Now this is what gives Mary
and Joseph such confidence. In Luke chapter one verse
45, Mary says to Elizabeth, You're blessed because
you believe that the Lord would do what He said. Do you believe the Lord
will do what He said? In Psalm 56 verse three
and four, David says this, When I'm afraid, I put my trust in God. And when I trust in God, I'm not afraid. I praise Him for what He's promised. I praise Him for what He's promised. There is the fourth anecdote
to when you're overwhelmed with the anxiety, when
you're filled with fear, when you are pummeled by panic. Now friends, I don't know what setback you're facin' right now,
I don't know what fear is holdin' you back, I
don't know what anxiety is keepin' you up or
gnawing at your heart. But I do know this, that if you'll take these four simple steps, you
will move toward your comeback and you'll move out of your setback. And your setback will be the
stepping stone to your future. Let's review, surrender my life
completely to God everyday. Stop listening to the voices of fear. Fill my mind with music that praises God. Base my hope on His promises. Let's bow our heads. Father, this stuff is so
practical, it's simple. Anybody could understand it and yet, only if we do it will
it make a difference. To hear a message will
not change our lives, but to practice it, to do it, to put it into application in our lives, will make permanent changes. And Lord I pray for everyone listening to this message right now. There are people who are filled with fear. They're panicked about
things in their lives. They've been trying to
control the uncontrollable. They've been worried about
what other people think. They've had setbacks that
have changed the agenda and all of the sudden, they're
plans have been thrown out the door and they don't
know which way to turn. And just like Herod and
just like Zechariah, and the shepherds, and Joseph, and Mary, what they thought was gonna happen and where they thought they were headed, it didn't happened and they're goin' in a different direction right now and there have been setbacks. And Lord, we know that the
natural thing is to be afraid and to be fearful and to be scared. But you've told us these simple steps. So may we take them today. Why don't you pray this
prayer in your heart. Say, God, I surrender my
life completely to you. Say that, God, I surrender
my life completely to you, including the things that
are scaring me to death, including the things that
have me worried and anxious, including the things that are
causing me panic or anxiety. I give this to you, I surrender it to you. And then say, Lord, I wanna fill my life with faith, not fear. I wanna stop listening
to the voices of fear, even my own voices. I wanna listen only to your voice. I wanna listen to your
word, to your promises. And I wanna fill my life
with the music of praise and replace panic with praise, and replace worry with worship. And when I start to worry, help me to turn my thoughts to you, the solution instead of the problem. And I ask you, Lord, to help
me to move into the days ahead, trusting in your promises,
putting my hope not in myself or even in my plans, but
putting my hope in you. If you've never invited
Jesus Christ in your life, say, Jesus Christ, come
into my life right now and become the manager,
I want to follow you as best I know how from this day forward. Father, I ask that you give
everyone in our church family a sense of peace this next week. Bless them in every area with peace and with power and with your presence. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen. Well God blessed you, everybody. Your campus pastor is now
gonna come and talk to you about how you can register
your decision today. (upbeat music) - Thanks for checkin' out
this message on YouTube. My name is Jay and I'm
Saddleback's online pastor. I wanna invite you to take your next step by checking out our online community, or help get you connected to
a local Saddleback campus. Three things we have
to offer you right now. First, learn more about belonging to our church family by taking class 101. Second, don't live life
alone and get into community with others by joining
an online small group or a local home group in your area. Third, join our Facebook
group to be more engaged with our online community
throughout the week. Take your next step and
learn where a local campus is near you by visiting
saddleback.com/online, or email online@saddleback.com. Hope to hear from you soon.
