Not Afraid of Failure | Jud Wilhite

What an incredible time of worship with our central family. I just love that part of the experience. It's one of my favorites. But right now, we wanna give a shout out to everyone watching online and watching in prison facilities throughout the country with our partnership with God Behind Bars and the Pando app. Yes, that's amazing. If you haven't had a chance yet, go ahead and pull out your phone. You can jump into the app, log into your dashboard, and you can follow along with the teaching notes as Judd comes up to give us a message. But why don't we welcome Pastor Judd to the stage as he brings us a message of hope. All right, all right. Happy New Year, everybody. Welcome to the first full weekend of 2026. It is good to be alive. I'm glad that we're here. And man, 2025 was wild, wasn't it? It was wild and a lot of unrest in the world, a lot of crazy. You know, the Oxford English Dictionary picks a word every year that they think sort of depicts the spirit of that year. And their word for 2025, I thought it was fascinating, was the word rage bait, rage bait. Rage bait are those like headlines

and little things that you are led to click on in news stories and YouTube videos and Instagram posts that take you deeper and excite your rage and your fear. And what research has shown and what people have dialed into is, look, they used to be the like sex cells, but what everybody's realized is if you really wanna keep people engaged, make them angry. If you can make, this is true, like research has shown this, you wanna boost your algorithm, get people angry. Get them fired up and they will come back again and again and again to feed that rage and that rage bait and that fear. So here's what I am confident about going into 2026. We're gonna have lots of opportunities for more rage bait, lots of opportunities for more doom scrolling. Any of you ever doom scroll? You know, you just go down the rabbit hole of how bad things are and they're only getting worse and lots of opportunities to explore how AI will continue to take over everything and be the end of the world and economic collapse and foreign government issues and corruption everywhere. All of that will be there in 2026 and 2027 and 2028 if we're all still here, no doubt. But I want you to know like this year for me, I've made like a pact.

I'm not gonna take the bait because here's the deal. There are things that are legitimately infuriating, right? But if I can't do anything about it at a practical level, all that happens is I get angry and then I get upset and then I become a worse husband and a worse father because I become an angry father. And you don't want an angry pastor. We got some of those. You don't wanna see that, right? You know, like I just, I start to become angry. I start to vent on people that I love and I stop becoming the person that I believe God desires for me to be. My life is supposed to be characterized by becoming more loving, by becoming more God-oriented, by becoming kinder to the people around me. It's hard to do when I'm always going down the road of the rage bait. So I'm not taking the bait this year. I have a new word and that's my word for 2026. And maybe you consider making it your word for 2026. It's just the word faith, faith over fear, faith over fear. There's lots to be afraid of in our world. There is no doubt. In fact, I learn of new things all the time. A little over a year ago, this creature was like trying to fly into my house and I couldn't figure out what it was. And then a friend of mine sent me this picture. Check this out.

This is apparently common in our area. It's called a tarantula hawk. I don't know if you ever heard of one of these. A tarantula hawk. Look at that, orange wings and all that. They call it a tarantula hawk because it often feeds on spiders and tarantulas. And what's even more scary than this thing, it's supposed to have one of the most painful stings in all of North America. And not only that, it will hunt tarantulas and it will wrestle them and get them in a position where it stings them, but it doesn't kill them. It paralyzes them. And then it takes that tarantula to its hodl or wherever it goes, and it lays an egg on it. So the tarantula is not dead. It's still alive, but it's paralyzed. So it lays an egg on it. And then when the egg, like the larva, like it hatches, it starts to feed on the living flesh of the tarantula. It basically sets it up with their kids, like, bro, here's dinner. And so this can last up to 30 days. And somehow it knows that little. knows to eat the parts of the flesh that are not essential to keeping it alive so the flesh stays alive longer and for 30 days. I mean you thought spiders were scary bro. Tarantula hawks that's a whole new level of horror movie right there you know come on man that's like crazy. There's a lot of things to be afraid of but I think I think like what we can get into if we're not careful what I can get

into is what we might call a spirit of fear. A spirit of fear that's something else like fear could be a good thing it tells you to stay away from the tarantula hawks right it tells you to your your instinct for fear like get out of this dark alley that could be a God moment you you know fear can be good but you can also embrace a spirit of fear where you you just start to become paralyzed by fear and you start to let fear control your life and rather than taking steps of faith or becoming the person God desires you to be you can get held back by a spirit of fear. It's interesting the Bible talks about how the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom so there is a good fear and what it means isn't that we walk around terrified of God all the time but that we revere him we respect him we realize his might his power he's good he's just he's holy but we live with a fear of God and here's what I've seen in my in my life the more I am conscious of walking in a reverent fear of the Lord the less I'm afraid of everything else like the more you fear the Lord appropriately in your life the less you're afraid of everything else and that's the word today. You know just last night I clicked on a YouTube video and this guy basically described a world an AI world that was hopeless and at the end of it I thought and that's what a lot of the feed is today you know if you go down that world right this guy was like an AI safety programmer from the early days and he's like there's no way like there's no way to make this safe this is not gonna end well and by the end of it I thought you know that's here's the thing it's scary and there's a lot of scary things but day to day I'm gonna walk in faith in a God who I believe is bigger than any super intelligence humans create I'm gonna do what I can but I'm gonna live in faith and not just take the bait to live in fear and to be angry all the time faith is how you take control of fear before it takes control of you so let's talk about the power of faith for the next four weeks I want to look at this amazing passage of the Bible it's the most famous one of the most famous passages of the Bible and that is Psalm 23 it was written by David who's an incredible person and this Psalm is so powerful and I want to anchor in with you kind of each week on

this one verse particularly Psalm 23 verse 4 we're gonna bring this up I'll read it to you when we get to the red word if you'd say this real loud here with me but here's what David says he says even though I walk through the darkest what alley I will not be afraid for you are close beside me now it's interesting that word the darkest valley like some translations will translate this phrase as the valley of the shadow of death the Hebrew comes from like two words one means shadow one means death and so it could literally be translated something like this the shadow West of all shadows even though I walked through the shadow West of all shadows I will not be afraid David knew what that was about I mean you research his life you realize he he had been on the run from the most powerful person in the land the king was trying to kill him he's been a season hiding out in caves he didn't know who his enemies were he knew what it was to be betrayed he knew what it was to fail spectacularly he knew what it was to lose a child after pleading with God for the life of that child he had walked through the shadow West of shadows many of you have as well some of you are walking that right now just before service I prayed with a family who their loved one is currently on life support and they're just talking about when they're gonna take them off that's that's a dark valley that's the shadow West of shadows and we all walk those paths life is hard I mean layoffs loss depression anxiety some of that stuff comes for all of us in different seasons in different times we walk through dark valleys but David has learned to say even in the shadow West of shadows I will not be afraid I will not be afraid why because he says, God, you are close beside me. He's learned that even in the darkest journey, God is present, God is there. God can help you get through. And I wanna look at the declarations today that Psalm 23 makes and David makes that can help us live with faith over fear in 2026.

And I think the first one, incredibly powerful is simply this. God is my shepherd, God is my shepherd. Now it's interesting, the Bible will often talk about God as the shepherd and we're described as the sheep, right? And I've often said like, well, sheep aren't the smartest of creatures and sometimes sheep get accused of just being dumb. But a friend of mine, Margaret Feinberg is an author and a researcher. And she went and spent a month and lived with a shepherdess. I didn't know there were shepherdesses, but there are shepherdesses. A lady named Lynn, and she said she learned a lot from her. And one of the things she learned is that sheep are not dumb in the sense that people often think. They can be trained with a clicker. They can recognize human faces and distinguish between them. They can recognize human voices. They're much more apt to learning than people often give them credit for. But the shepherdess said, it's not that sheep are dumb. She said, what they are is defenseless. They're defenseless. They need a shepherd. They need a shepherd to guide them, to protect them, to watch out for them. And so Margaret kind of summarized from this field trip with this shepherdess. She said, you know, when the Bible calls us sheep,

I don't think it's just saying like, we're not smart. I think it's saying, no, we're defenseless against all the things that could happen in our lives. We need a shepherd. You know, sheep are like notorious creatures of habit. I mean, if they left to themselves, apparently they'll like follow in the same path until it turns into a rut and they're twisting ankles and tripping all over the place. They'll graze the same hills until the hills become a total desert and just keep trying to graze them. They'll pollute the ground until it's corrupt with disease and parasites. They're not proactive. They're followers. They need to be led where to go. In fact, you know, if a sheep, like the head sheep goes off the edge of a cliff, it's as amazing to me, other sheep will just start following it off the edge of the cliff. I mean, come on, like nobody stops and says, hey, you know, Sue just went off the edge of the cliff and like, she didn't come back. You know, there's no bah or anything like that. She's just gone, right? Maybe I should stop and think for a moment, this could be a reckless course of action. No, no, sheep will just follow them right off the cliff.

And so this is what the Bible is saying about us when it says we're sheep. We're often followers. This is the human condition, right? But the good news is we have a shepherd. Look at what David says in the beginning of Psalm 23, verse one. You know this verse, help me out on the red word. He says, the Lord is my, what, shepherd. I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows. He leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name. He says, the Lord is my guide. I'm not defenseless because the Lord leads my way. Look, going into this new year, some of you are under incredible stress and pressure at work, with your businesses, with your job, with your family, with your relationships. And there's a lot of unknowns. And can I just be honest with you? Leading a church at Central for the last couple decades, I always have these pressures about where are we going? Where do we, you know, where is, what's the right moves to make? And sometimes I can carry that in a really unhealthy way. But what I've been trying to do over the holidays and what I've just been giving myself permission to do more and more is just breathe.

Like some of you right now, you're having this moment as you kind of are in this space right now, you're doing deep breaths. You know what I mean? Like you're standing in the kitchen, you're like. But it's not like relaxing breaths. You know what I mean? It's like, oh boy. And I've been doing that too. And what I've noticed is when I do that now, I just say to myself, the Lord is my shepherd. And what that means to me is I don't have to know all the answers about 2026, because I believe God is gonna lead me as I lean into him and follow him. I don't have to know every left and right turn for our church in 2026, because I believe God knows that and we wanna be God's church and we wanna be committed to him. and we wanna be the kind of community that prays and seeks his guidance and then is willing to follow him. And I can just tell you those deep breaths that we take of stress, when we take them and remind ourselves that God is our shepherd, it just takes that stress down a notch. You just realize, like, I'm not alone in this. God has got this. And God's love is perfect. That love, the more we get in touch with God's love,

the more it drives out the fear in our lives. Look at what 1 John 4, verse 18 says, one of my favorite verses. Speaking of the love of God, he says, such love has no fear, because what? Perfect love expels all fear. Perfect love expels our fear. He says, if we're afraid, it's for the fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. As we grow in God's love, as we realize we have a shepherd and he's a good shepherd, it just takes the stress down and allows us to move forward in faith. So this week is an opportunity for us. When we're stressed out, take it to God. He's your shepherd. God, I don't know what to do right now in my business. I pray you guide me and lead me, or God, I don't know what to do with my investments. God, I pray you give me wisdom, give me insight. God, I don't know how to handle this situation in my kid's life. God, give me patience and wisdom and insight. God, I don't know how to deal with this crazy person at work. God, give me the ability to navigate this situation. God, I don't know how to deal with my crazy neighbor. Hello. But God, have grace, show me, right, and invite the shepherd in,

and I believe he will lead us in meaningful ways. David can say, I've walked through the shadowest of shadows. I've walked through the darkest nights, but I don't walk them with fear because I've learned God is my shepherd. He is close. Here's another thing he teaches us. God is not only my shepherd, that God meets my needs, that God meets my needs. Look at this, Psalm 23, beginning in verse one. Here's what he says. Going on, he says, I have all that I, what, need. He lets me rest in green meadows. He leads me beside peaceful streams. It's like God has given me, he lets me rest in green meadows. That's a fascinating idea because sheep don't rest well. Like, they get stressed out. Philip Keller was a 20th century shepherd, and he wrote about Psalm 23, and he says this. He says, there's several conditions under which sheep will not lie down. He says, as long as they're afraid, he says, sheep won't lie down. He says, they're timid creatures, so they won't risk resting in that moment. He says, they're social creatures, so sometimes there'll be tension in the flock, and two sheep are, like, butting heads

about who gets to be higher on the pecking order. Sound like human beings? And he says, in the midst of this, if that's going on, the sheep will not lie down. They will not rest. He says, they're creatures of appetite, so if they're empty inside, he says, if they're hungry, they will not lie down. He says, they won't lie down until they're free from fear, free from friction, and free from hunger, and then a sheep will lie down. And so David says, like, when God is truly my shepherd, and I'm depending on him, I can literally rest. I can lie down. And what Philip Keller and other shepherds have said is, if the sheep trust the shepherd, they will totally relax, even in a stressful situation, if they trust the shepherd, because they know the shepherd ultimately will guide them. Let me show you this chart. I saw this chart about all the things that we worry about and stress about in our lives, and I thought it was pretty insightful. It just came up on my phone, and so I screenshot it, and I will share with you now, but here it is. Things that happen, okay, right? Here's all the things that happen, lots of things that happen. Things that don't happen, okay, on this side, but then look at this circle.

What you worry about, right here. You see, it overlaps a little bit with the things that happen, but so much of what we worry about actually falls under the realm of things that don't happen. Research backs this up. The majority of our worries and fears actually don't come true. And you're like, yeah, but that one did. Okay, you wanna build your whole life on that one, you can, right? But the majority of them don't, and if we have a good shepherd, then here's what we can trust. Like, what's artificial intelligence gonna do? I have no idea. It does not sound good, but here's what I believe. I have a shepherd that knows, and I can rest because he's gonna meet my needs every day. What are we gonna do if nobody has a job anymore? I have no idea, but I have a shepherd that I believe will lead his people that is bigger than anything else out there. And so, I don't have to live with constant fear and worry. So can I just, let me just ask you, what is it that has your stomach in knots? Are you worried about your finances? Are you worried that you'll never have enough? Well, the Bible says if you love money,

you will never have money enough. But here's the thing, when you love God and put him first, he will meet your needs. It doesn't say, the Lord is my shepherd, I have everything I ever wanted. But it does say, the Lord is my shepherd, I don't have needs, God's met my needs. He's taken care of my core needs. I can trust him in my life. Maybe you're concerned about relationships, about your kids and about your family and about your marriage holding on or about what's coming in the future. And here's the thing, God is your shepherd, he's your guide, lean into him. I worry a lot about my kids. I stress a lot about my kids. Some of you, you're always imagining the worst case scenario about your kids. What could happen, some of you have three-year-olds and you're already stressing out about when they're old enough to drive. Chill, cars will drive themselves, you'll be fine. Like we worry about all these things, right? Like this is the world we live in. One of the biggest learnings God has taught me over the last several years of my life is to believe, really believe, that God loves my kids more than I do. And when you start to believe

God loves your kids more than you do, it just lets you take a deep breath and realize, I don't have to worry. I can trust the shepherd. He will meet my needs, he will show up. So turn to the person next to you, they might look all stressed out right now, and just say to them, relax. Just relax. The good shepherd can lead you to quiet waters. One of the things that's interesting about sheep is they don't rest well when there is running, fast-running water next to them. Because instinctively, they know if they trip or if they fall in, if they get in the water, their wool's very heavy. And so once their wool gets saturated, they'll drown. And so sheep often need still, calm water if they're gonna rest. And here David, who was a shepherd, says, the Lord is my shepherd. He leads me in these green pastures. He leads me to still water where I can rest. Even in the darkest valley, I will not be afraid. The early church fathers had an interesting take on some scripture like Psalm 23, because there was an interpretation like we're talking about now, but they would often introduce an allegorical interpretation like symbolic interpretation, taking it further.

The early church fathers and the Puritans would often take Psalm 23 and they would say, the grass that we are led to is the word of God that we feed on. And the water that is the still water beside us is the Holy Spirit. And so through God's word and through God's spirit, we learn to rest, we learn our needs are met. We have the bread of life and we experience that spiritual nourishment from God. Here's a third idea. Not only God is my shepherd, God meets my needs, but thirdly, God renews my strength. He renews my strength. Look at how David puts it in verse three, Psalm 23. He says, literally, he renews my what? My strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name. And David's saying this is somebody who's experienced a lot of failures in his life. I mean, David was the king in Israel. He was expected to be the one that would restore hope after King Saul. There was a lot of pressure on him. And David was an incredible leader. He did a lot of things well. He was known as a man after God's own heart. He wrote the majority of the Psalms in the Old Testament, which is the songbook of Israel. He was passionate about his relationship with God,

but he also made some really significant mistakes as well. Here's some of the mistakes David make. First of all, David cuts the robe of King Saul, and in doing that, dishonors God's anointed king. David improperly allows the handling of the Ark of the Covenant, which leads to the death of somebody under his command. David jumps ahead of God. He attempts to build a temple, even though he hadn't been called or gifted to be the guy to build that temple. David once called for a census, a counting of everyone, even though God specifically told him not to, he wanted to know how strong they were. God didn't want him trusting in their numbers. David wanted to take a census and get a sense of their numbers, so he showed a lack of trust in God's sovereignty, and it resulted in God's judgment falling on those he was called to lead and to protect. David commits adultery with Bathsheba. He gets her pregnant, and then he has her husband sent to the front battle lines to die so that he can cover it all up. David has multiple wives and concubines despite God's clear prohibition and it leads to dysfunctional family dynamics filled with lies and sexual abuse and rebellion and all of these things were failures But through it all David says God renews my strength Look, we all fail. We all make mistakes. We all do silly things We all do simple things

But the good news is we have a shepherd and that shepherd can renew our strength. He can forgive he can heal he can restore He can pick us back up And that's what we do for each other One of my favorite moments at Christmas services was a moment where one of our worship leaders fell off the platform And I'm not saying that cruelly like ah The moment was this this individual was kind of out on this Protruding part of the platform at the Henderson location and he slipped and fell with guitar and all But you know what? I noticed I noticed that some of our amazing central family who were sitting there caught him and Pushed him back up and he just kept right on going like nothing happened And I've thought about that ever since because I thought that's a picture of our church None of us are perfect. Sometimes we trip and fall sometimes we make mistakes, but we catch each other, right? We push get back in there man. You got this We push each other back in there God renews our strength through his word through his spirit, but also through the church community And it reminds us we're not in this alone We need each other we care about each other, you know, if people just watch online Media today if you just watch the news you would think everybody hates each other What's interesting is if you get in the church community you get around other people you look around you realize how much good is left? In the world how many good people are left in the world? How many kind people are willing to help pray and courage? You just gotta you just got to get in the community and and see the good as well and Remember it and so David says this let's look at it again Psalm 23 verse 4 He says even though I walk through the darkest valley. I will not be afraid look at what he says though for you are what? Close you are close Beside me. It's the presence of God that gives us the ability to overcome fear It's the presence of God that gives us the ability to keep going in difficult hard situations And this is why over a hundred and forty four times in the Bible it says don't be afraid Don't be afraid. In fact, if you just look at Jesus teaching Jesus said don't be afraid in one Variation or another more than he gave any single other command Don't be afraid So I went through the Bible and I collected a lot of the times

It says don't be afraid and I tried to squash all these together to do a Bible mashup If you flew over the Bible every time it says don't be afraid you'll find that almost every time there's a reason Given to not be afraid So, let me share them with you when God says do not fear. Here's what he means Says says do not be afraid for God is with you. Do not be afraid for God Here's you do not be afraid for the battle belongs to the Lord Do not be afraid for God is coming to save you do not be afraid for he will strengthen you Do not be afraid he will hold you up with his victorious right hand Do not be afraid for the Lord personally goes ahead of you. Do not be afraid He will not fail you Do not be afraid. He will never abandon you. Do not be afraid for the Lord will protect you Do not be afraid for he knows your name Do not be afraid. He knows the number of hairs on your head. Do not be afraid He's out to bless you. Do not be afraid. The Lord will help you Do not be afraid the Lord will heal you and give you a great reward Do not be afraid of the insults or of the future or of the secrets Do not be afraid of the powers of people or the powers of hell He has overcome them all once and for all do not be afraid because nothing can separate you From the greater value and the love that he has given you in Jesus Christ listen David says look even though I'm in the shadowest of shadows, even though I'm in this difficult terrible situation I won't be afraid for God you are close beside me. And did you notice? When you fly over the Bible, how often when the Bible tells us don't be afraid, it's just saying the same thing again and again and again. It's not don't be afraid. There are real tarantula hawks out there, right? It's don't be afraid because God is with you. In other words, when you make God your shepherd, when you trust him to meet your needs, when you realize he can renew your strength, it can lead to a new year where you're a more contented, joyful, grounded person.

You may still have to hustle, still have to work hard. We still have to pray, jump through hoops, go, you know, we still struggle. But through it all, if we'll lean into God, he can be our strength. He can be our shepherd. So this week, if you take one of those stress breaths, just remind yourself like the Lord is my shepherd. The Lord meets my needs. I shall not want. I will trust him. Relax. He can carry you with faith over fear into this new year. That's going to make you a better boyfriend, a better girlfriend, a better dad, a better mom, a better kid, a better student, a better worker, a better friend. Because you're grounded. You're grounded in the great shepherd. So 2026, they can throw all the rage bait they want at me. I'm saying faith. I'm leaning into the shepherd. I'm trusting him every day. Maybe you've never crossed that line of faith and allow God to be your shepherd. I'd love to give you the opportunity to do that. So I want to ask everybody, will you bow your heads and close your eyes? And if you'd like to become a follower of Jesus today, you can begin that journey by just reaching out to him. It's repeating a simple prayer after me, either out loud or in your own heart and mind. Say, dear God, I thank you for loving me. Thank you for sending Jesus into the world. I believe he died on the cross for my sins. I believe he rose again. Forgive me for my sins. Give me the gift of eternal life. Help me face the challenges that I'm up against. God, I surrender my life to you.

In Christ's name. And friends, with every head bowed and every eye closed, if that's your prayer, if it's your commitment today, would you just slip your hand in the air? If you're at Summerlin, slip your hand in the air. Henderson, if you're at our Aliante location or Kingman or Sunrise Mountain, just slip your hand in the air. If you're watching online, if you're at one of our prison locations or watching on the Pando app, just acknowledge, slip your hand in the air. You're gonna trust God and follow him. God, we thank you for your love. I thank you for each person just trusting you, reaching out to you today. Pray you'll fill their life with your peace, your goodness. God, we pray you move in our lives, in our church as we follow you and trust you. We thank you today for being our shepherd. We believe you will meet our needs. We thank you in advance for that. We thank you for being our strength and walking with us every day and we commit ourselves to you. In Christ's name. Amen.