What If Your Triggers Are Trying to Save You?

Main message: The sermon teaches that each person carries one of seven "primal questions" imprinted in childhood that drives behaviors and unhealthy "scrambles"; God wants to answer those needs with a thousand "yeses" so we can live from truth (I am safe, loved, wanted, etc.) instead of from our wounds.

Key points:

• Primal questions are core needs formed in early childhood; when unanswered they become imprinted and shape how we see risk, love, success, purpose, and worth.
• When a primal question gets a "no" or "maybe" we enter a "scramble" — coping strategies like people-pleasing, perfectionism, workaholism, codependency, or addiction.
• The seven primal questions: Am I safe? (kryptonite: confusion/unpredictability); Am I secure? (financial instability); Am I loved? (indifference); Am I wanted? (rejection); Am I successful? (fear of failure/competition); Am I good enough? (critique/perfectionism); Do I have purpose? (pointless work).
• God speaks directly into these needs (promises of protection, provision, love, belonging, worth, and purpose) and invites us to replace questions with statements of identity.
• Understanding your own primal question helps personal growth and helps you empathize with others (spouses, children, coworkers); the call is to stop outsourcing peace to a chaotic world and receive God's "yeses."

Scriptures mentioned: Psalm 26:2, Psalm 18, Philippians 4:19, 2 Corinthians 1:20