Speaker 1: Amen, amen.
Speaker 1: We're going to be in Philippians, chapter 4 this morning.
Speaker 1: Philippians, chapter 4.
Speaker 1: And the message is entitled Winning the War with Worry.
Speaker 1: Winning the War with Worry.
Speaker 1: How many of you ever worry about things?
Speaker 1: Sometimes, every now and again, raise up your hand.
Speaker 1: Ok, we have about seven honest people in the room this morning Now.
Speaker 1: I think we all worry about things, and I'm no different than any of you.
Speaker 1: Pastor Cody was just talking about just how exciting it is for us to go to a three-service schedule next week and to help more people know Jesus than ever before.
Speaker 1: But, if I'm honest, I have some worries as a leader.
Speaker 1: I do not lead a small church anymore and I wonder, do I have what it takes to lead a church that isn't small, am I?
Speaker 1: And I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Y'all are so affirming of my leadership.
Speaker 1: I was going to say that, but it's just like a real worry that I still have sometimes.
Speaker 1: Say that, but it's just like a real worry that I still have sometimes.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I worry about my future and God has given me an incredible life as a single person at 35 years old and I think, man, do I not want to be single anymore?
Speaker 1: But then I think, like, do I want to be sick and I just like worry like what's my life going to look like in 5, 10, 15 years down the road?
Speaker 1: Sometimes I worry and I know that I'm not alone when it comes to worry and some of our worries they're rational, like they make sense, but aren't some of our worries also very irrational?
Speaker 1: You ever worry about something that is completely irrational?
Speaker 1: For example, I was doing a workout the other day and it was really hard and I was thinking is this what it feels like right before you die?
Speaker 1: Am I actually on the brink of death right now?
Speaker 1: And I don't even realize it.
Speaker 1: And then I look around and I'm thinking I wonder if there's any people that work in the medical field that can revive me.
Speaker 1: Would they?
Speaker 1: Maybe he could revive me, thank you, I'm thinking would they call an ambulance?
Speaker 1: How long would it take for an ambulance to get here?
Speaker 1: No, don't call an ambulance.
Speaker 1: They're really expensive.
Speaker 1: And I'm having this irrational worry and it's like, dude, what are you even thinking about right now?
Speaker 1: I think we all kind of have worries that are irrational, and what I want us to do for a second is I want to hear from you to talk about things that we worry about.
Speaker 1: In fact, to help us do this, I brought out the whiteboard.
Speaker 1: Everybody say ooh, yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1: The teachers in the room love the whiteboards.
Speaker 1: The students in the room were like I saw that all last week.
Speaker 1: I didn't expect to see it on Sunday.
Speaker 1: And the red marker the red Ooh, that's right, this is dangerous, dangerous, okay.
Speaker 1: So seriously, though, tell me something that people worry about just in general Kids, yep, kids, that's a big one.
Speaker 1: Let's say this.
Speaker 1: Let's say family.
Speaker 1: Family, as you guys can tell, I got a major in penmanship in college.
Speaker 1: As you can tell, my handwriting is amazing.
Speaker 1: Family.
Speaker 1: What's something else?
Speaker 1: I heard Finance oh my goodness.
Speaker 1: Finances, that's so real.
Speaker 1: We're just going to do a little money.
Speaker 1: Sign there.
Speaker 1: Finances.
Speaker 1: Health oh my gosh, health is so real.
Speaker 1: Health, let's put that down.
Speaker 1: We got health.
Speaker 1: What else?
Speaker 1: We got Pets Okay, yeah, pets.
Speaker 1: Yeah, pet lovers in the room.
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, that's all right.
Speaker 1: Pets Some of you that don't care about pets you're like I ain't never worried about a pet in my life.
Speaker 1: You're like my worry is that I'm going to get one one day.
Speaker 1: That's my worry.
Speaker 1: Okay, we got pets.
Speaker 1: Mortgage what color are?
Speaker 1: Okay, we got pets mortgage.
Speaker 1: We'll call that finances the world.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1: Yes, the world.
Speaker 1: That's a big one.
Speaker 1: World Politics yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1: Election we got some honest people in the room.
Speaker 1: Election don't say anything else about that election guys.
Speaker 1: There's a whole bunch of things.
Speaker 1: We have family money, health, pets, election, the world.
Speaker 1: There could be a whole bunch of things.
Speaker 1: We have family money, health, pets, election, the world.
Speaker 1: There could be a whole host of things.
Speaker 1: Now, here's what I want you to do for a second.
Speaker 1: I want you to think of something that you personally worry about, or something you have worried about in the past.
Speaker 1: I want you to think about it and, in fact, for some of you, I actually want you to take another step and I actually want you to write it down.
Speaker 1: So, maybe take out your phone notes.
Speaker 1: Maybe, if you're taking notes in the message, I want you to write down that thing that you worry about, because here's what we're going to see today.
Speaker 1: We're going to see how you can win the war with worry and how, when that thing that you just wrote down or you're thinking about, when that thing creeps up, we're going to see how you can allow that worry to not control you and to not overpower you and the way we're going to see it is from a prescription that God gives us in Philippians, chapter number four, which is a passage of scripture that we go to every couple years here, because I think we need to be reminded of what God's prescription says about worry.
Speaker 1: So let's pick this up in Philippians, chapter number four as we learn about how you can overcome the thing that you were just thinking about.
Speaker 1: If you're ready for God's word, would you say amen?
Speaker 1: In Philippians, chapter four, verse five, it says this it says rejoice in the Lord.
Speaker 1: What's that word?
Speaker 1: Rejoice in the Lord?
Speaker 1: You know how often always is Always.
Speaker 1: I will say it again rejoice.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 1: When I read that verse, I noticed something right off the get-go.
Speaker 1: I noticed that it doesn't just say rejoice in the Lord one time, it says it twice.
Speaker 1: I'll say it again.
Speaker 1: You ever tell somebody something one time, but you're like I'm just gonna say it again one.
Speaker 1: You ever tell somebody something one time, but you're like I'm just going to say it again one more time just to make sure they got it.
Speaker 1: Take out the trash, remember?
Speaker 1: I said take out the trash, clean up your room.
Speaker 1: Clean up your room before you play video games.
Speaker 1: Right, repeating this and he says here he says rejoice in the Lord, but to rejoice in the Lord you have to know the Lord.
Speaker 1: You can't rejoice in someone that you don't personally know.
Speaker 1: And rejoicing in the Lord and knowing the Lord begins with knowing him as our Lord and Savior.
Speaker 1: And what that means is that means that that that doesn't mean that you're a spiritual person or you're a moral person or you're even a religious person.
Speaker 1: What that means is that we realize that we're a sinner, we realize that we're separated from God and that we need a Savior.
Speaker 1: And this is why Jesus came and died on the cross for us.
Speaker 1: And Jesus didn't just die in a general way because he was a really loving person.
Speaker 1: He died in a specific way and that way was for your sin, because you needed a savior.
Speaker 1: In the moment you come to Jesus by faith and you turn from your sin and you put your faith and trust in Jesus, that's how you begin a relationship with God and you begin to know the Lord.
Speaker 1: And once we make that decision to have what the Bible calls salvation, we want to grow in our relationship with him and getting to know him better.
Speaker 1: This is one reason why personal Bible study is so important.
Speaker 1: This is one of the reasons why growth groups are so important.
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 1: So we can learn the word and get in the word.
Speaker 1: Something that's really cool that we have this growth group semester is during the nine o'clock service.
Speaker 1: I think we have 18 or 19 people in a growth group that meets here walking through.
Speaker 1: What does it mean to follow Jesus?
Speaker 1: Who is God?
Speaker 1: How do we study the Bible?
Speaker 1: And we got a bunch of people learning about that and that is amazing and we want to get to know him better.
Speaker 1: It says in verse 5, we want to let our graciousness be known to everyone because the Lord is near.
Speaker 1: So we want to be gracious to people because God is with us.
Speaker 1: And then he gets to verse 6, and he says something that some of you are going to think that's impossible.
Speaker 1: He says don't worry.
Speaker 1: Some of y'all are like my middle name is worry.
Speaker 1: You're like don't worry, that's impossible.
Speaker 1: He says don't worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Speaker 1: And this is what he does.
Speaker 1: He gives us his prescription to win the war with worry Once we have the foundation of rejoicing in the Lord.
Speaker 1: He gives the prescription.
Speaker 1: Here's the prescription.
Speaker 1: It begins with this Pray about everything.
Speaker 1: Can we say that?
Speaker 1: Together, those three words, together, ready, pray about everything, everything.
Speaker 1: Now he uses two words.
Speaker 1: He uses the word prayer and the word petition.
Speaker 1: What does those words mean?
Speaker 1: Prayer, generally, is any form of communication with God.
Speaker 1: Sometimes people come to me and they're like I don't know how to pray.
Speaker 1: Here's what prayer is.
Speaker 1: Prayer is just talking to God.
Speaker 1: It's all prayers.
Speaker 1: You don't have to know a magic religious word Like if you just you have to say this, just this.
Speaker 1: Oh, you said the wrong word, that's not a prayer.
Speaker 1: Prayer is any type of general communication with God.
Speaker 1: Now, petition, it's a specific type of general communication with God.
Speaker 1: Now, petition is a specific type of prayer where you are petitioning God for a specific need.
Speaker 1: So I have this need and I'm asking God for this specific need, whatever that is.
Speaker 1: Now some of you think my needs are small, like my worries are small and they're irrational.
Speaker 1: Should I even pray about it?
Speaker 1: Should I really pray about my worries?
Speaker 1: Yes, here's why, if it's big enough for you to worry about, it's big enough for you to pray about, you think, oh, it's so small.
Speaker 1: Does God even care?
Speaker 1: He cares, he cares about the details of your life.
Speaker 1: He cares about your worries.
Speaker 1: And what's really fascinating is science is starting in these new studies of the brain.
Speaker 1: They're starting to realize the impact that praying actually has on our brain and how our brain works.
Speaker 1: So let me give you an example.
Speaker 1: There's this lady named Dr Caroline Leaf who wrote the book Switch on your Brain.
Speaker 1: I want to read her title because it's pretty impressive.
Speaker 1: She's a cognitive neuroscientist with a PhD in communication pathology and has a BSc in legopedics.
Speaker 1: Anybody know what that means I don't either, but she's smart.
Speaker 1: So she wrote this book called Switch on your Brain, and this is what she said.
Speaker 1: After extensive scientific research about prayer, she says it's been found that 12 minutes of daily focused prayer over an eight-week period can change the brain to such an extent that it can be measured on a brain scan.
Speaker 1: This type of prayer increases activity in brain areas associated with social interaction, compassion and sensitivity to others.
Speaker 1: It also increases frontal lobe activity as focus and intentionality increase.
Speaker 1: Prayer is powerful.
Speaker 1: Prayer is powerful and in the face of worry, prayer can bring peace.
Speaker 1: And what worry is is worry needs to be an alarm bell that we need to pray when we have a worry.
Speaker 1: That's an alert.
Speaker 1: Time to pray.
Speaker 1: You know you get your cell phone alerts and cell phone notification.
Speaker 1: It's like oh, this is the score to the football game.
Speaker 1: Don't check the football game score right now.
Speaker 1: Oh, this is what's happening over here.
Speaker 1: Listen, this is what worries, worries and alert.
Speaker 1: Boop, I need to pray.
Speaker 1: You get some news your kid's having a hard time in school or something's going on.
Speaker 1: You're worried about it.
Speaker 1: Boop, time to pray.
Speaker 1: Your boss wants to meet with you and you're like oh, what does my boss want to talk to me about?
Speaker 1: Oh, I don't know.
Speaker 1: Am I going to get fired?
Speaker 1: Am I going to get let go?
Speaker 1: Am I in trouble?
Speaker 1: Time to pray.
Speaker 1: You know the doctor and you're worried about it and there's a test you have to take.
Speaker 1: You're not sure what's going to happen.
Speaker 1: I'm really worried about it.
Speaker 1: Time to pray and what we have to do is we have to cognitively choose to pray in the face of worry.
Speaker 1: This is what I find myself doing when I'm worried.
Speaker 1: I start like thinking, and sometimes overthinking and analyzing and like what are the odds?
Speaker 1: How do I do this?
Speaker 1: What's the odds that an ambulance is actually going to come in less than three minutes?
Speaker 1: What's the?
Speaker 1: You don't even like.
Speaker 1: It's like nope, that's all you do.
Speaker 1: I need to pray.
Speaker 1: And he says the way we pray is we pray with gratitude.
Speaker 1: In verse number seven we practice gratitude.
Speaker 1: And the rest of the verse he says when we pray, we pray with.
Speaker 1: What's that word?
Speaker 1: With Thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Speaker 1: There's all these interesting studies that's showing us that the exact same place in your brain where worry and anxiety exist is the exact same place in your brain where gratitude exists when you're grateful.
Speaker 1: So psychologically, it's actually impossible to worry and be grateful at the same time.
Speaker 1: It's like psychologically not possible to do that.
Speaker 1: And what gratitude is is gratitude allows us to see life as a gift.
Speaker 1: It allows us to see relationships as a gift.
Speaker 1: It's not just a day that we put on the calendar in November to celebrate Thanksgiving, it's a lifestyle.
Speaker 1: Here's the challenge is that gratitude has an enemy, an enemy that will snuff gratitude out of your life.
Speaker 1: It's entitlement.
Speaker 1: So if worry and gratitude psychologically cannot exist in the same place, what's going to destroy your gratitude is entitlement.
Speaker 1: And if you're grateful, you won't worry, but if you're entitled, you won't be grateful.
Speaker 1: Because you want me to say it one more time?
Speaker 1: I'll say it one more time.
Speaker 1: I got you, chantal.
Speaker 1: If you're grateful you won't worry, but if you're entitled, you won't be grateful.
Speaker 1: Because this is what entitlement does.
Speaker 1: It crushes any possibility of gratitude in your life.
Speaker 1: Entitlement says I'm owed this.
Speaker 1: Entitlement says I deserve this.
Speaker 1: Entitlement says because I'm in this position or because I have this experience, then you owe this to me.
Speaker 1: No, I'll give you a.
Speaker 1: I'm going to go ahead and say it.
Speaker 1: I'll like entitlement can even creep up into pastors and it can creep up into people that, um, that have positions.
Speaker 1: I've had some, some.
Speaker 1: Uh, you guys are so loving and gracious.
Speaker 1: You're like hey, you're the pastor here.
Speaker 1: We should put a reserve parking spot for pastor right In the front row of the parking.
Speaker 1: That's what we should do, and I know pastors do that.
Speaker 1: Great pastors have a loving heart, great churches, it's amazing.
Speaker 1: I totally respect that and I was like why would I get a front row parking spot?
Speaker 1: Like my goal every Sunday morning.
Speaker 1: Guys, you wanna know, I try to park furthest away from here.
Speaker 1: I wanna walk the furthest.
Speaker 1: Just because I'm in a role doesn't mean that I'm entitled to anything, and entitlement can creep up and entitlement can say I am owed this.
Speaker 1: And what we have to do is we have to choose, not entitlement, but we have to choose to look at life as a gift and we have to choose to look at what we have as something that God has blessed us with.
Speaker 1: And we choose to be grateful even when it's hard, especially when entitlement starts to creep in, and when we pray about everything and we practice gratitude.
Speaker 1: Look what happens in verse 7.
Speaker 1: It says says and the peace, peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Speaker 1: This is peace that cannot be explained.
Speaker 1: It can only be experienced.
Speaker 1: Maybe you walked in the room and maybe you're not a Jesus follower, maybe you're an atheist, it doesn't matter to us.
Speaker 1: We're just glad you're here and I want you to know that God can give a peace that surpasses all understanding.
Speaker 1: It's a supernatural peace, it's a peace in hardships, it's a peace in trials and difficulties, and when we know who the Lord is and when we're walking with him and when we're praying, we're practicing gratitude.
Speaker 1: God gives us this peace.
Speaker 1: He says in verse number eight.
Speaker 1: He goes on.
Speaker 1: He says peace, he says in verse number eight.
Speaker 1: He goes on.
Speaker 1: He says, finally, brothers and sisters, finally, brothers and sisters, he's about to give a list of things.
Speaker 1: He's about to let us know.
Speaker 1: Hey, this is what you should think about.
Speaker 1: He says, finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is, whatever is okay, whatever's just, whatever's pure, whatever's lovely, whatever is, if there is any, if there is anything praiseworthy, dwell on these things.
Speaker 1: How many of you, growing up, you like to take tests in school, or you're still in school?
Speaker 1: You like taking tests?
Speaker 1: We will pray for you.
Speaker 1: We'll pray for you, my brother, we'll pray for you.
Speaker 1: Both of us don't like taking tests.
Speaker 1: We've had a lot of tests given to us over the years.
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 1: Paul says what we have to do here is we have to put our thoughts, what we're dwelling on, through a test.
Speaker 1: And if it passes the test, then we should choose to dwell on it and think about it.
Speaker 1: What's the test, all those underlying words?
Speaker 1: Now, some of you might think well, I think about this and it is true.
Speaker 1: It's really true.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you it's true about that person.
Speaker 1: Okay, is it honorable, is it pure, is it commendable?
Speaker 1: And when it comes to what we dwell on and what we think about, it will change your mental health and allow you to win the war with worry if you purposely choose your thoughts.
Speaker 1: Purposely choose your thoughts.
Speaker 1: Now, this idea of purposely choosing our thoughts that we see here he says dwell on these things is something that I did not believe.
Speaker 1: For the longest time I didn't think that I could choose what I think about.
Speaker 1: But here's what I've learned is we can't choose every thought that gets planted in our minds, but we can choose what thoughts we dwell on.
Speaker 1: You can't choose everything that gets planted in your mind.
Speaker 1: My dad used to say you can't choose whether a bird will fly over your head, but you can choose if you will let it build a nest on top of your head.
Speaker 1: That's some wisdom right there.
Speaker 1: We can choose our thoughts.
Speaker 1: Some of you, I understand you don't be like I don't know about that, you don't know me.
Speaker 1: That's just like pastor, church doc.
Speaker 1: I want to prove it to you in a very, very ridiculous way that a mental health and relationships expert, dr John Deloney, says in his book own your past, change your future.
Speaker 1: So he gives this really funny illustration.
Speaker 1: It takes about 20 seconds.
Speaker 1: If you want to play along and have some fun, let's do this.
Speaker 1: This is what you got to do.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 1: First thing nobody will bite you.
Speaker 1: Close your eyes.
Speaker 1: Think about a purple elephant in your mind right now.
Speaker 1: If you're thinking about the purple elephant, say yes.
Speaker 1: Now imagine the purple elephant with the little yellow hat on.
Speaker 1: Do you see the purple elephant with the little yellow hat on?
Speaker 1: Now imagine.
Speaker 1: I love it.
Speaker 1: Now imagine the purple elephant with a yellow hat on sits down in a cute little red chair.
Speaker 1: Can you see it?
Speaker 1: Okay, you can open your eyes.
Speaker 1: You know what you just did.
Speaker 1: You just chose what you were going to think about.
Speaker 1: You weren't thinking about what you're going to do on Friday.
Speaker 1: You weren't thinking about what you were going to do on Tuesday afternoon.
Speaker 1: You were thinking about a ridiculous purple elephant with a little yellow hat on sitting on a red chair.
Speaker 1: Now, some of you that don't like to have fun and are a little boring, you thought I didn't think about that.
Speaker 1: Guess what?
Speaker 1: You chose your thoughts too.
Speaker 1: You chose that you weren't going to think about that, and it is vitally important vitally important when it comes to winning the war with worry that you embrace the truth.
Speaker 1: When it comes to winning the war with worry, that you embrace the truth that you can choose what you dwell on.
Speaker 1: You can choose what you dwell on.
Speaker 1: Now some of you are like you don't understand all the thoughts that I have.
Speaker 1: You don't like there's no possible way.
Speaker 1: Part of the reason is because a lot of our minds they just run on autopilot and we don't intentionally take thought, we don't intentionally think about what we're thinking about.
Speaker 1: We just think about all kinds of stuff all the time and we never consider what am I actually thinking about?
Speaker 1: Others of us we watch and read and follow things that are putting worrisome and fearful thoughts in our minds.
Speaker 1: Like all the time, the world out there and the echo chambers and our social media thing, like it's just producing like fear and fear and worry.
Speaker 1: And we are like Pastor Nate, like there's no way I can control my thoughts.
Speaker 1: I'm in like a constant state of worry.
Speaker 1: Well, look at what your algorithms are, look at what your feed is Like.
Speaker 1: What do you expect?
Speaker 1: It's like this.
Speaker 1: It'd be like me injecting cancer into my pancreas and like I wonder why I don't feel very well today, why do I feel sick?
Speaker 1: So we have to be aware of what we're thinking about and to win the war with worry, we have to aggressively put worrisome thoughts through the Philippians 4, 8 test and then choose whether we will dwell on those thoughts or not.
Speaker 1: And then what we do is we rely on the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: We don't rely on our willpower, we rely on the Holy Spirit to give us strength to think about things that line up with Philippians 4, verse number eight, and I don't do it as much as I want to, but so often I'll be like Lord, I am thinking about this so much.
Speaker 1: It's not true.
Speaker 1: Help me think, help me like, change this part of me, like, change this thought.
Speaker 1: And going through this list will allow us to give our thoughts a test.
Speaker 1: And then, in Philippians, chapter four, he gives one more thing that we'll wrap up with when it comes to winning the war with worry, and it's getting in the presence of godly people.
Speaker 1: He says do what you have learned and received and heard from me and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.
Speaker 1: Paul went to these people and these people had chosen to put themselves in proximity, in relationship with Paul, so he could tell them hey, look at what you've learned from me, what you've seen in me, what you've heard of me, like look at these things, what you've heard me talk about.
Speaker 1: And there's this relational principle that you cannot get around, no matter how young you are or how old you are.
Speaker 1: Here's the principle who you walk with is who you'll be like.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I see some of y'all getting your cell phones out.
Speaker 1: That's right.
Speaker 1: Girls, take it out right.
Speaker 1: Who you walk with is who you'll be like.
Speaker 1: That's good.
Speaker 1: So if your friend group is filled with people that always talk about sports and watch sports and I don't know who would do that, by the way you're probably going to find yourself, like all good Jesus followers, watching a football game on a Sunday afternoon.
Speaker 1: Come on, we'll pray about you, bro.
Speaker 1: You'll find yourself maybe a little interested in sports.
Speaker 1: If a majority of your friends are always pushing the line with alcohol and everything has to have alcohol with it, then that's going to influence you too, because who you walk with is who you'll be like.
Speaker 1: Paul had showed these people how to be a godly person.
Speaker 1: Paul had showed these people how to have compassion and how to maintain Christian convictions.
Speaker 1: Paul had shown these people how the peace of God can allow them to overcome worries.
Speaker 1: Paul didn't just talk about it.
Speaker 1: Paul's like listen, like we are friends, like look at my life.
Speaker 1: And the people had put themselves in proximity with Paul.
Speaker 1: So Paul could say that and if you will put yourself in proximity with godly people, it's going to influence you, it's going to form you and it's up to each of us to intentionally form those relationships with godly people.
Speaker 1: You cannot form them for me and I cannot form them for you.
Speaker 1: I cannot choose if you're going to have good godly friends.
Speaker 1: You can't choose if I'm going to have good godly friends.
Speaker 1: But we can intentionally choose to do this.
Speaker 1: And a great place to do that right here at FCC.
Speaker 1: So what I want to do real quick is I want to give you a really simple way where you could meet and form friendships here at FCC.
Speaker 1: Here's the first thing you can do Try and meet one to three new people each Sunday.
Speaker 1: My introverts in the room just had a slight panic.
Speaker 1: It's okay, we don't bite.
Speaker 1: Just try to meet one person each week.
Speaker 1: Now, not every person is going to be your best friend, but if you meet one person every week, that's four people a month, eight people every two months, 12 people every three months.
Speaker 1: One of those people.
Speaker 1: There could be a connection with them and they can encourage you in your faith.
Speaker 1: Number two how about this?
Speaker 1: Get in a group.
Speaker 1: We are better than me.
Speaker 1: The best place to form friendships is in our growth groups or community groups.
Speaker 1: Get in a group.
Speaker 1: Here's the next one.
Speaker 1: And this kind of is a secret sauce, right here.
Speaker 1: Okay, come 10 minutes early to service, which for some of y'all would be a miracle.
Speaker 1: You're like bro, if you knew my kids.
Speaker 1: Okay, right, come 10 minutes early for service.
Speaker 1: Some of you guys are like you're a single person, easy for you to say right, 10 minutes early for service and stay 10 minutes after service.
Speaker 1: Some of y'all, after service, y'all are like ninjas.
Speaker 1: I never seen people move so fast in my life, right?
Speaker 1: Others, I mean, it's so funny.
Speaker 1: It's so funny.
Speaker 1: I love being a pastor most of the time, especially when people think I have the cooties or something.
Speaker 1: It's like they just walk past me and like I'm not making eye contact with pastor and he stands at this door.
Speaker 1: I'm walking out that door.
Speaker 1: Okay, it's like, stay away.
Speaker 1: But like come a little early and meet somebody and get to know somebody, because here's what's going to happen.
Speaker 1: Who you walk with is who you'll be like and if we will intentionally get ourselves around godly people, it's going to change things about us.
Speaker 1: It's going to make a difference in our lives and honestly, I don't say this as the pastor of FCC.
Speaker 1: I say this as somebody that's just a part of the body of Christ here at FCC is I personally have healed and spiritually grown and been comforted and been encouraged and been challenged at times because of the community I have here, like there's been power for me to be in proximity with people and you have to choose.
Speaker 1: If you're going to be in proximity with people and when you do that, what's going to happen is you are going to be like the people you're with and it's going to encourage you and challenge you, and some of you are one godly friendship away from your future changing.
Speaker 1: You are one godly friendship away from the trajectory of your life going in a different direction.
Speaker 1: There are some people that are on the other side of what you're struggling with right now and if you would meet them, they can encourage you and show you how to get through what you're going through, because they have gone through that.
Speaker 1: There are people that are on the like you can follow Jesus in greater ways and take steps of faith and grow, but you have to spend some time with people that have done that, and it's going to make a difference in your life.
Speaker 1: Now, here's how I want to wrap.
Speaker 1: All this up is we've talked a lot today about winning the war with worry.
Speaker 1: We've talked about four things.
Speaker 1: We've talked about God's prescription.
Speaker 1: We've said pray about everything, practice gratitude purposely, choose our thoughts and get in the presence of godly people.
Speaker 1: And what I'm about to say is going to surprise some of you.
Speaker 1: I do not want you to do all four of these.
Speaker 1: I don't, no matter how many hours I just spent preparing for this message this morning.
Speaker 1: Here's what I want you to do.
Speaker 1: I want you to do one of them, just one, and I'm going to give you some space in just a minute to do it.
Speaker 1: Of them, just one, and I'm going to give you some space in just a minute to do it.
Speaker 1: For some of you, what you need to do is that worrisome thing that you thought about in the beginning of the message.
Speaker 1: You need to take some time and just pray about it.
Speaker 1: It might be on this list.
Speaker 1: It might be family, finances, health, pets, election the world.
Speaker 1: It might be something really different, whatever it is.
Speaker 1: Some of you seem to say I'm going to pray about this.
Speaker 1: Others of you you need to take some time and just practice gratitude, and gratitude begins with saying God, thank you for all the things that you've given For some of us.
Speaker 1: We need to take power over our thoughts and realize that we can have power over them with the help of the Holy Spirit and God's power in our life, and you've been passive with your thoughts and your thoughts have been on autopilot and you need to decide nope, I'm no longer being passive Like, I'm just not doing that anymore.
Speaker 1: You need to choose that.
Speaker 1: And then some of us you need to get in the presence of godly people and if that's you, here's what I want you to pray.
Speaker 1: I want you to pray this Lord, would you bring godly people into my life and would you help me to be intentional, to form relationships with godly people?
Speaker 1: Which one of these four do you need to apply today in your life?
Speaker 1: Let's all bow our heads.