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Peace Over Anxiety | Issues
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Anxiety can feel like you’re being responsible, but it often works like a leak, quietly subtracting from your sleep, your focus, and your joy. We sit down and talk through a simple but hard promise: the Prince of Peace wants you to experience peace over anxiety. Starting with Luke 12 and moving through 1 Peter 5 and Matthew 6, we unpack why worry cannot add a single hour to your life and how trust becomes the turning point when the future feels unclear.
Celeste shares personal stories that make this real, growing up with constant change, learning stability through obedience, and then navigating the stress of living overseas as a single young woman. Airports, language barriers, and the fear of the unknown become a backdrop for a deeper lesson: anxiety often spikes when control disappears, and the “what if” spiral can stop your life in its tracks. We also get practical about everyday stress, what it looks like to walk into work already anxious, how a commute can become a reset, and why kindness and purpose matter when you feel pressured.
We go further into the anxieties many of us carry in silence: parenting fears, image and comparison, and financial pressure when decisions create debt and stress we were never meant to hold. Philippians 4 becomes a roadmap, prayer, supplication, thanksgiving, and a disciplined thought life focused on what is true and worthy of praise. We end with a clear invitation to say yes to Jesus and a reminder that you’re not meant to do this alone, community matters.
If this conversation helps you, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs peace today, and leave a review so more people can find it. What’s the biggest source of anxiety you want to release right now?
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Why Anxiety Subtracts From Life
Jason BrownDeal with your issues. I want to give a shout out to Nick. We have a hand for Nick as being the issues amazing. Today we're starting a new series called Issues. In doing so, Celeste and I are going to be sharing together. Also looking forward to having a few people come and share testimony during this series. But we're going to be talking about these concepts, and it hits all of us, something that all of us deal with. Today we're talking about this idea of peace over anxiety. Peace over anxiety. And as we talk about anxiety, that's something that I think every single one of us can say that we deal with in some degree. Even the most carefree person, they have something that is the stress or the thing that's kind of the in the pit of their stomach when it gets down to it. Where those things are something they really care about. It's something that really drives them. And so our anxiety can be something that becomes crippling if we're not careful. If you have your Bible, your tablet, your phone, we're looking this morning and moving into the word in Luke 12. We're gonna be jumping around a lot today, looking uh in 1 Peter, we're gonna be looking uh in Matthew and other places, but we want to start here in Luke 12, verse 25. And it says, And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? I think one of the things that we have to understand about anxiety first is that anxiety does not add anything to you. Anxiety subtracts. And so I think when we start to understand that, then the time that we spend being anxious, the time that we spend ruminating over things, it's more than something that is like, oh, I'm trying to process this. That's fine. But whenever it starts to take hold of us, it's actually starting to subtract from our very life. It starts to actually eat away at us. And so today what we're gonna do is look to the Word of God and we're gonna have this conversation back and forth and talking about how these things apply to us today. But as we do those things, open your heart to what God wants to do in your story. Because here's what I know I know that the Prince of Peace wants you to experience peace over anxiety. And so, because of that, we want to open our hearts to what he wants to speak to us today. Lord, we thank you so much for this opportunity to come and to worship you, Lord, and it's today as we look to your word. Lord, we do so with you in mind that you would speak to us, that you would speak through Celeste and I today, and Lord, guide our conversation. Lord, that every person and every heart would be illuminated today by your word, and that every one of us would know the peace of God. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. All right. Now, before Celeste and I were married, uh, we were both pastors, and so she actually had served as a missionary abroad. And so we're gonna jump into some questions today, uh, talking about some of these things because people always ask me about you about how did she do that. So I'll just let you answer those questions today direct.
Trusting God In The Unknown
Jason BrownBut the question, first one we want to ask is how are you able to face anxiety about the unknown as a young single woman?
Celeste BrownWell, good morning. I told you that these subjects are gonna affect everybody. Um, so I just want to share a little bit. Um, I grew up in a divorced home. And so with that comes a lot of anxiety. Uh my parents were about eight years old. I was about eight when my parents got divorced. So from that moment on in my life, there was just a lot of unknowns, a lot of moving around, a lot of change. Even though I grew up in a small town, we moved houses all the time. Um, I can remember starting a new elementary school every single year. Um, things were just constantly changing. So with that came worry, with that came stress, with that came um uneasiness in my life as a kid. And so it was just a lot of things happening. And then once I graduated high school, I had an idea of what I wanted to do. But you know that when you're in that age, things change very quickly. So the things I thought I was gonna do, I started really um deepening my relationship with the Lord in high school. And when I got to my senior year, I just felt like I needed to go be a part of a discipleship school instead of going to ASU, which was what I wanted to do. Um, and so I just obeyed God and I found that in that moment of obedience, just saying, okay, I'm gonna set my agenda down for just a little bit, and I'm gonna follow whatever God has for me. I went into this discipleship school and I finally started to find stability. That's hard to find. It's hard to find stability when you live in a world that's very constant change, worry, uneasiness. And I just needed to be for a little bit. So that's what I did. I I moved to Cottonwood, I did a discipleship school, and I'll tell you, it wasn't easy telling all of my friends my senior year that I'm gonna go to Bible school to just this discipleship school. It wasn't even like a university, it was just a discipleship school. And you have to tell all your friends, uh, I know you're going here, you're going here, you're going here, but I'm actually just gonna go and learn about Jesus for a little bit. And that in itself is hard to do. But I went and in that year I just had to learn to trust God. Because I think if you're young and you've learned to be a survivor in the world, and you've learned to just kind of stuff all your emotions deep inside, and you've learned to just be a mom to your younger brothers, and you've learned to do all these things, you don't really take care of yourself. And so I had to learn to just lay it all down and say, okay, God, I'm gonna let you be God and you be in control, and then I'm gonna learn to just follow where you lead me. Now that's easier to say than to actually do, right? We say it all the time, God, I want to follow you, God, I want to trust you. Oh, but not in this area. Now I do a little better job at that because I can make the answer go faster. And God's up there going, You're gonna come back pretty fast. As fast as you made that decision is as quick as you're gonna come back to me because of the result. And so I had to learn over and over and over again, don't worry, don't worry, don't worry, just trust him, just trust him, just trust him. And I think when you live in a world where you have been hurt by all the people you trusted already, then you gotta say, okay, God, you're not like any of them. You are not like any of them, you are God. You are the creator, you're the one who made me and shaped me and formed me and gifted me. I gotta trust you. I gotta trust you. And so from then I had to slowly start trusting him when he would lead me. He'd say, Okay, we're done staying right here. Now we're gonna go move overseas. People thought I was crazy. You're not even married and you want to go live in this other country. Have you even visited there? No, I don't need to. Because I heard from the one who I trust, and he said, Go. And so I go. Now, did was there anxiety in the process? There's a little bit, and I'll explain where the anxiety came from. It came from not speaking the language. If you know anything about being in another culture and you can't do anything for yourself, it's frustrating. So I had to navigate airports with no cell phone. I had to navigate with just a printout of a paper, and I hope none of the changes occurred at the airport from the time I printed that paper and arrived to the airport to when I'm taking a transfer flight to another location. Because I had to just trust God, you got me, God, you got me. And then they're announcing the next flight on over the speaker, and I'm like, I don't even speak the language, none of it makes sense to me. And then God would just send a stewardess over to me, and she would tap on my shoulder and she'd say, Are you supposed to be on this flight? And I'd show her the paper and she's like, Let's go. True story. Happened in Brazil when I was sitting there, I just I'd been there for hours, had no idea what to do, and this lady just tapped me, read my paper, said, Let's go. You trust, and you trust, and you trust. And so the anxiety of like following after Jesus, it's mostly because of the unknown. We're scared because we're not in control, and so we worry, well, what if this happens? What if this happens? What if this happens? You don't want to live in the what if season of life. You will go nowhere. You will go nowhere. And it will bring about a lot of hurt to your own body. You'll lose sleep over it, you'll stress about things that haven't even happened. It's so much easier to just say, God, I'm just gonna trust you, and where you lead, I will follow. And then when I sing the song that says I trust you, where you go, I will follow, it actually means something to you because you've seen the other side of where he takes you when you just follow.
Jason BrownAmen to that. Amen to that. First Peter 5, verses 6 and 7 says this humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties or cares on him, because he cares for you. What we see here is God's covering. It's talking about how he cares and how his hand is over us. I wonder if part of our issue sometimes is that we want to go beyond God's hand and stick our head up above his covering for us. Now, nobody in the room is that headstrong, right? None of us do that. But I wonder what would happen if we actually just walked in the obedience of what he called us to do.
Peace Practices For Work Stress
Jason BrownThe second question I have for Celeste today is how do you handle anxiety in your job?
Celeste BrownSo nobody has anxiety at work. So I know this will be an easy one. Um so first of all, I'll just tell you this. I joke all the time about traffic, right? Because traffic drives me crazy. I've been in more um craziness than this. Egypt is a whole nother animal. But just driving here, by the time you get to work, you could already have made up your attitude before you walk in that door, just getting out of the car. So I have decided, I have about a 30-minute commute every morning. I've decided I'm just gonna put the Bible app on. Because if that doesn't change my attitude, then I'm already far gone at that point. So I literally I have a plan that I'm following. I'm actually doing the Bible through uh the whole Bible in a year this year. And so I have a lot I gotta read every day. So I will put the Bible app on, and then I will just let I would just listen to it, and it just calms me down while I'm driving. Um, it just it does something to your spirit when the word of God gets in it. And so as I'm driving for the 30 minutes, it's just the word of God playing in the in the car. Then by the time I get to the garage at my work and I get out, I already feel really peaceful because I've had the word of God just just piercing into my spirit for 30 minutes. Then I get out and I go in, and the second thing I have to do while I'm at work is um I have to come to the place where I realize that I just need Jesus for everything. Have you ever had those moments when you go to work and you're just like, what is the combination to open this? I open it every day, but what is a combination? I cannot remember it today. We are people, we're human, so we make mistakes all the time. And I just have to realize when I go into that job, I'm not in really control of anything. It's all God. And I just survive by trusting him. So I trust him for everything. So if things start to come up and they do, my busy season is like July and August, where I have a lot of fiscal year reports do. Um, I just go in, I've already had the Word of God speaking to me the whole morning. I get into work and then I realize, okay, whatever I accomplished today, it's not because I did it, it's because I trusted God to help me get it done. So I'm gonna go in and I'm just gonna be like, all right, I'm not gonna stress. And if I can't think of something or I'm trying to do some kind of math formula and it's not making sense, I just walk away, come back, I'm like, all right, God, I'm gonna look at this differently. I'm gonna look at this with your help, not because I'm trying to get things done. And so then all of a sudden I'll be like, oh my goodness, that's it. That's all it was. I'm human. I'm human. And so I I I listen to the word of God and then I trust him as he leads me. And then the other thing I do is um I have to learn to just love where I am. There's a season for everything. Maybe you're at a job you don't want to be at right now. There's a reason that you are there. There's people that God has put into your life for a reason. Maybe you're in a neighborhood and you're just like, I'm over this neighborhood. I'm done with this neighborhood. You're there for a reason. And we used to say a long time ago that sometimes you're the only Jesus with flesh on that people will see. And it's very true. And at my job, I love my job, but at the same time, there's days that I'm just like, oh, people. But I have to walk in knowing, you know what? If I'm not the kind person to them, if I'm not the one that just treats them with love and respect, they're gonna get all the bashing from everybody else in the world. But then they're gonna find out that I go to church and that I love Jesus. What does that say about God? And so I gotta learn to come in and just be kind to people. Kindness goes a long way. And so when I come in and I look at them and I'm like, I have no idea what they've been through this weekend, but I'm just gonna love on them and I'm just gonna smile, I'm gonna say good morning, and I'm just gonna treat people with respect, it goes a long way. And so I want to encourage you as a follower of Jesus, as a believer in Christ, you are Jesus with skin on. So when you go into the grocery store or the workplace or you're around family, that's crazy. You are Jesus with skin on to them. And they see everything you do, they hear everything you say, the way you act, you react, the way you respond, they're waiting for you to do something crazy. And when you're just at peace and you just represent Jesus and you do it well, they have nothing else they can say except, wow, he must be real.
Jason BrownMan, so good. Such a really example. I love your intentionality and in your process because that's something I think that so many people, they get that out of sync, they think it's just gonna happen. But I think your intentionality sets the stage for you to be successful. And I I love that about the way that you approach that. Um, that's really powerful. That's really powerful.
When Image Becomes A Little God
Jason BrownUh Matthew six, if you have your Bibles, we're looking at verse 25. It says, Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink, or about your body and what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing. And in Matthew 6, it's interesting because as we recorded Pastor Rich a few weeks ago, I didn't think about it lining up with today, and actually we're gonna be talking over some of these same scriptures that he just shared with us. It's powerful. And thinking about this very thing about the eat, drink, where, I think it can wrap us up in some different things. I mean, uh, there's some people in the room that love some fashion. They love the the the uh the new drops that happen several times a year, they love the new shoe colorways that come out. I'm not talking about anybody on stage, I'm talking about other people. Other people. But I think one of the things that we we understand is that it's fine to like all these things, but whenever those things start to be a stressor, when it starts to be your identity, it becomes a little g god for you. And it starts to be something that you're trading your time and your talent for, what, so someone else thinks well of you because of the brand you have on, or they think this because of what you're you eat at your table, or they think this because of whatever you're drinking. And you can understand where this starts to become more about status than it comes about sustenance. And it starts to be something more than just, oh, do you look nice? No, it becomes something where my identity is tied to X, Y, Z markers. And friends, that's not what we're called to have anxiety about. We're not called to do something, and it's not wrong to have a nice thing because if it has a nice thing and you aren't living for it, then it's just a nice thing. But whenever it starts to be what you live for, and you're thinking about this and that and the other thing, and that's what you're living for, man, what a sad thing to wake up for every day is just with the clothes you're putting on. Or a sad thing is just the meal you're gonna have. We're in such a blessed country that we would even have to think about these things. We've lived in places where people didn't have clothes, they didn't have shoes, they didn't have food, they didn't have running water, they didn't have power. And then I come home and and I have to actually clean out my closet because I have too much stuff in there. And it's not an us versus them in kind of an idea, but the idea is that it's really inside of us in how we deal with these things. And saying, Lord, I I don't want to have a stressor about these things. And there's some amongst us or listening online that they do have to worry about their next meal and they do have to worry about shelter and some other things. But the idea is that the worry shouldn't be the thing that eats us alive, it should be actually the thing that, as Celeste said, that we give to God and then we walk purposefully after the things he has for us. I think it makes all the difference. Would you read Matthew 6, 26 and 27 for us?
Celeste BrownYes. It says, Look at the birds of the air, they neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life?
Jason BrownSo, as we were talking about, you cannot add, it only subtracts. So anxiety subtracts, and we're talking about this idea of peace over anxiety. What we see here from this scripture is that God cares for you. God cares about your story, he cares about your details, he cares about what's going on in your life. This is something that he cares about, is because he is very much aware of what's going on with you. God sits outside of time and space, and it's not like there can be too many people for God to stop taking notice. Because the creator God knows each and every one of us. And since that's true and he cares for us, then we can cast our cares on him. It gives the example here in Scripture, and it's talking about the birds of the air. It's talking about how God will take care of the birds. We don't really think about it. The birds just eat and they just go around. And what he's saying is, listen, if you walk in alignment with me, then I will provide for you. I think one of the greatest examples is what we see in the Old Testament with the children of Israel who, as they follow God, even grumbling the way that they go, that he provided for them in the desert. In a place where they couldn't provide for themselves, he provided for them. And so, friends, what I'd tell you today is that if you walk according to God's direction, that even in desert places, God will provide. God will provide.
Letting Go Of Anxiety As A Parent
Jason BrownThird question we want to ask Celeste today is how do you handle anxiety as a mother?
Celeste BrownYou want to take some notes. No, just kidding. Um, okay, so I'm a very structured person, and I I feel like I'm pretty smart with a lot of things. So whenever it's time to like release the children, which is every day, right? Um, it's hard as a mom. And I've taken my kids all over the world, they've been everywhere. Um honestly, I think I stress more in the States than I did anywhere else. That's crazy. Um, when I lived in Egypt, my kids were would run to people's houses, they would be in cars with people I didn't, I mean, I kind of knew, but don't really know. Um, and they were headed all over the place, and there was a lot more peace in my heart than when I got back here and I um had to let them live life in the States. And I don't know why I can't explain it, other than I think we function in a lot more fear here. And it's learning to trust God with everything. And so as a mom, um I've had seasons where I've stressed over my kids. They don't even know, right? They don't even know that you're worried or stressed, or you lost sleep over thinking about things, or you're wondering about the what ifs instead of the right now's. And I have to say that it is probably the one area in my life that I constantly have to lay down. All right, here you go, God. Here's all three of them. Here you go, God. Again, here's all three of them. In fact, one of my kids recently told me, because I I said something out loud and they realized that I was thinking about it. And um one of my kids said, Why don't you just trust God? You raised us right. Now you just gotta let God be God. And I was like, Okay, why don't we be quiet? We don't need to be saying this thing. But it's true. Because I tell God all the time, I trust you, except come here, my three. Come here. I trust you with him, but come here, you three. You come here. I'm gonna be Mama Bear. Um, and so it is, it's real. But I have to say, I'm I'm with many of you who are learning to just release and let go. Um, I have to do it all the time with these three, and now I have another driver, and so I have to release and let go. And then today, believe it or not, Jay and I are headed to the airport right after this to um send our son off to Spain until December. So I gotta release, let go.
Jason BrownPraise God. I'm not crying about that. I'm crying that my daughter's turning 13 tomorrow. I don't have enough shovels or shotguns. Hey, we'll delete that from podcast later. Hey, um I I love your vulnerability. I'm right there. You know, we we talk about this, but it's true is that the more we walk with Jesus, the more we have to trust. Because Jesus will take us further than we're comfortable going. And if we trust God to give our kids a worldview, then we better expect them to go and live across the world. And if we expect our kids to go and do something dynamic for God, that means that might they might leave us and go and do something dynamic for God. And so I think that's the scary part of any of this. It's the same thing that our parents had to deal with whenever we decided to say yes to God and go be missionaries, is that now they had to be okay with they said, Lord, we give you everything and Lord, we give you our children, and then whenever they have to do it, it's a harder discussion. So, friends, we have to trust the Lord. We have to lean into Him and not hold on to our anxieties. You know, we use the image of walking with Jesus because it's our intentionality, it's who we want to be. We want to be those that keep following him. And I can tell you there's no more stressful thing than walking away from where Jesus is leading you to go. Because then you're on your own decisions, you're in your own consequences. And so, in our ambition to be more like Jesus, then we have to keep following him where he's leading us. And that's why to be more like Jesus is difficult. But that's what it means whenever we give those things over to the Lord. We see Jesus Himself, the anxiety that he experienced as he was going to the cross, but it ultimately as he dealt with it, it wasn't that he didn't deal with it, he did. But as he struggled with it, eventually he handed those things over to the Father and he walked forward into what he was called to do. Even whenever he had every ability to stop what was going to happen. But because he was motivated by something greater than his own fear in that moment, than his own understanding of his pain in that moment, that's what drove him forward. And I think for all of us, it's exactly the same thing is that if we know what really motivates us, then it will change how we act. It'll change our intentionality on the way to work, the way that Celeste is describing. Because then we are those who are living with purpose to be more like Jesus. And it's why we do what we do collectively, it's why we give. Man, we I could do with some more dollars in my pocket, but I'd rather give it to kingdom builders because guess what? I want that, I want people to know Jesus. I want them to know the peace of God, the love of God. The whole reason that we do this community of faith. It's why we love God, it's why we make disciples, it's why we reach the world. It's why we get involved in life groups, because we want to interact with each other, we want to build those relationships. And so that's why we're doing these things, is because we want to have it be a process that helps us deal with our issues. Somebody say amen to that. So let's ask you to read Matthew 6, verse 28 through 30.
Celeste BrownHello. It says, And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith.
Jason BrownYou know, a lot of anxiety, I think, is about people and how they are accepted. And in our society, very much that hinges on this idea of how I look. And I think whenever we get into this scripture and we start to see about the glory and the grandeur of someone like Solomon, it's giving his example because everyone knew of his wealth. They knew of his grandeur, they knew that he had more than anyone else could possibly have. And the point that Jesus is making here is he's saying, listen, even in all his wealth and all his grandeur, even in how impressive he was, he's not more impressive than the beauty that God has created. He's not any more pretty, he's not better looking than the flowers. And I think this goes to a deeper level of an anxiety about image. And I can tell you, as somebody who very much dealt and deals with image, it's one of those things that you start to compare yourself to other people. You start to compare yourself to maybe someone's looks or someone's accolades, and you have to come back to this understanding of who God created you to be. And that's the thing that you have to do the daily bread thing for. Because if you're not careful, you can suddenly, subtly let this thing into your life. And suddenly your comparison is with everyone. Like, man, I'll never be as tall and as strong as Jed because he's a mountain. You know what I mean? Like you start to compare with every person that's picked him out. He's in the front row. So it's like every you can do that with anything. And then suddenly you're picking yourself apart. No one else has said anything to you. You're picking yourself apart. Friends, that's not the anxiety we're supposed to carry. Our image is one that we are a child of the most high God, that we belong to him, and so our image is in him who we are, our identity is in Christ. So we're challenged to think so much more than that. Can you continue in verse 31 through 33?
Celeste BrownYes, it says, Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to
Provision Anxiety And Financial Pressure
Celeste Brownyou.
Jason BrownAmen. I think part of our our anxiety is sometimes about provision. And I think sometimes it's provision versus uh what our debts are. And I think sometimes because of our decision making, and we can admit sometimes we make poor decisions. My hand is raised, that we get ahead of ourselves and we actually outpace what is supposed to be done. So we spend more than we take in. We do other things that happen like that, and then suddenly we've added all this stress to our life that was never supposed to be there. And the provision of God has always been for us. He was like, listen, I have I've given you an opportunity, I've given you strength and knowledge and ability, I've given you the opportunity to learn new skill sets, I've given you health and breath and all these other things. And then we make other decisions to make our lives even more complicated. Anyone ever done it? I know we have. We've talked about it. About how decisions we made when we were young and thinking that we needed to have everything right then cost us, that later we had to do without almost everything, so that we could right the ship and put ourselves back to where we were supposed to be with God and our finances, with God in our provision. It's because his provision was enough for us. We wanted to live above where his covering was for us in that season. And it wasn't that his covering wasn't gonna be for a greater amount later, but we needed to trust him here first. We were trying to live above it. And so it cost us. And we had to come back and be humbled down so that we could say, Lord, we're gonna do the hard work now so that we don't have to live like this, so we can be free of this anxiety and this pressure and all this garbage that we added because we were trying to build our own little kingdom. And what does the end of the scripture say? It says, but seek first the kingdom of God. Friends, as we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, then all these things suddenly add to us. They start to elevate, they start to take the step forward. Why? Because God can trust you with the small things, like Pastor Rich said, He can trust you with the small things, he'll give you the next level of what you're supposed to have. And then it's no longer a God for you, it's not a problem, it's not a stumbling block as we talked about last week. It's a stepping stone to what God wants to do in your story. Someone say amen to that. Matthew 6, 34 says, Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for sufficient for the day, its own trouble. Friends, we proclaim peace over anxiety. Peace over anxiety. We are going to focus on today and see what God wants to do today. Not that we won't plan for tomorrow. We are going to be intentional, we're going to plan. But what we're going to stand is we're going to walk in today for today. And we're not going to live, as Celeste said, with this stress about what could and could happen and possibly this and all those things will eat you alive. They'll subtract from you. So instead, we want to be those that seek Him and His intentionality, His peace over anxiety.
Gratitude And A Mindset Of Peace
Jason BrownCeleste, would you read Philippians 4, 4 through 7 for us?
Celeste BrownYeah, it says, Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Jason BrownAmen. I love this bit in Paul writing to the church of Philippi, and we see that it's challenging us, and this is the thing. Thanksgiving kills anxiety. Why? Because it's a change of our mentality, it's a change of our perspective. Because if we start to list off all the things we're thankful for, it starts to change what we think about our current situation. Why is that? Because suddenly we can look at all the things that we have and be like, God, you've blessed me with a job. You've blessed me with food on my table. You blessed me with shelter today. Lord, I have air conditioning that's working, thanks be to God. Or I used to have it, even if it's broken today. I had air conditioning yesterday. I will have air conditioning in the future. You see how Phoenix-centric these prayers are right now? You know. But when you start to give thanks, man, it changes everything. It changes everything. Because you're so thankful, then everything that comes up, you're like, man, well, thank you, God, for being. I'm not alone. Thank you. The Lord be praised. I'm not alone. I am with you in the middle of this process. Friends, whenever you practice Thanksgiving, it will kill anxiety. Philippians 4.8. Could you read it for us, please?
Celeste BrownWhich one is it? Philippians 4-8. It says, finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Jason BrownAmen. It's what Celeste was sharing earlier is that we're called to have the mind of Christ. We're supposed to have his mentality. And if we're thinking about those things that are positive, if we're having the word of God speak over us, then it has that mind of Christ that we're supposed to go after, that we start to think from his perspective. And it really changes how we start to deal with anxiety. Because here's the deal we can't worship anxiety in our hearts and worship the Lord at the same time. It's true. So if our worship of God is the thing that takes the precedence in our mind, our anxiety automatically comes down. Because we're focused on Him. And it's not that the pressure or the circumstances have even changed, but it has changed because we realize that we're not alone and God is with us. And so it starts to change everything from that moment forward. Just from that moment forward of our mind shift of saying, Lord, I'm walking with you in this circumstance. Friends, that we would have the mind of Christ. Philippians 4 9 says, What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the peace of God will be with you. Now I love this because what he says is that you have to practice it. So you practice a perspective of peace. Say it with me. Practice a perspective of peace. Someone needs to write that in the margin of their Bible today. They need to write that in their notebook. Then you need to practice a perspective of peace. Because the reason is that if we have his mindset, his perspective, that we know in the end we are already victorious. We're working from a place of victory, not towards victory. We know who we are in him, we know our value in him. Then all of these circumstances, the the process starts to go down because the the pressure starts to subside. Because his peace starts to prevail in our lives. This last scripture is John 14, 27. It says, Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. Friends, today, peace over anxiety. Would you say amen to that? Amen.
Saying Yes To Jesus
Jason BrownToday we have this opportunity to respond to the message of the gospel. And for some here, they've never said yes to Jesus. Friends, you've hear Celeste and I talking about this very narrative and talking about this concept of living for God. And maybe you're here and you've never said yes to Jesus. Maybe you've never answered that question of have you embraced Jesus? See, each and every one of us has to answer that. No one can answer for you. It has to be your answer. And in doing so, what we understand is that Jesus did come and live as he said he would. He came and became the one who didn't commit any sin. And as he lived that perfect life, he did so for us. And as he came, he took all the sin of the world upon himself. And as he went to his death on the cross, it wasn't for anything he did, it was for what I did. It's for my brokenness, for my sin, for my shame. And that's why the symbol of the cross is so profound. Because on the cross is where Christ paid for all of these mistakes and all of this brokenness and all of this fallen nature, all this sin that we've committed against God. And so today, we each are, we each have to answer that question of have you embraced Jesus? My challenge to you is that you would say yes to him, invite him into your heart and life. He writes to the church at Rome, he says, This, because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified with the with one the mouth confesses and is saved. Friends, today is your opportunity to say yes to Jesus. To invite him into your heart and life. I'm asking if you're here in the room, if you just stand to your feet right where you're at today. Friends online, wherever you are, take a moment for what God wants to do in and through your story. Maybe you're here. You'd say, Pastor, that's me. I want to be included in this prayer today. Maybe you've made a decision like this before and you need to ask him into your heart and life to commit your life to God. If that's you, as heads are bowed and Christians are praying here in the room, I'm going to ask you to raise your hand right where you're at, say, That's me, Pastor. I just want to be included in this prayer today. To invite Christ into my heart and into my life. Thank you, Jesus. We see hands that are there. Others that are responding. Others that are responding. Thank you, Jesus. Friends online, wherever you are as well, that you would say yes to Jesus. For all of us, I'm going to ask you to pray this prayer out loud after me. Lord, thank you for loving me. Thank you for sending Jesus. I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I believe he rose again. Forgive me of my sins. I surrender my life to you. In Christ's name I pray. Amen. Amen. Friends, we rejoice with you that raise your hand today. Praise the Lord. Hey, if that was you, take a moment, take a snap of this QR code and follow it. We want to put resources into your hands to follow after Jesus. And if you're online, message us. We want to connect with you. You're not called to do this life alone. Friends, as we come to the communion table here just after this song, we do so with an intentionality to remember the sacrifice of Christ, to remember that we are victorious through Jesus and what he has done for us. But before we come there, we're going to open up this off this altar and offer an opportunity to come seeking God for his peace, that we would not be those that would be stunted by anxiety, but instead we would experience the peace of the Almighty God. And I challenge every person to come make an altar with him. Lord, we thank you so much for your word today. We thank you for the testimony, Lord, that we've got to hear today. Lord, and we thank you for it. Lord, as we come to your altar, we do so, Lord, asking for your peace that passes all understanding. Lord, we thank you for that. But Lord, that we cast our cares on you today. Lord, and instead we ask for an impartation of your spirit, an outpouring of your presence, we pray. And we come to you seeking this in the name of Jesus Christ.
Life Groups, Prayer, And Blessing
Jason BrownAmen.
Celeste BrownAs you head out, you'll see tables outside, and it is time for life group sign-up. So I want to encourage you, please join a life group. It will help with your anxiety. Trust me. You want to dive into the Word of God, you want to be around people of like-minded faith that can encourage you. Um, there's QR codes out there. You can scan, see what options there are, but please sign up. We have about another week until they start. But I am excited for what's going to take place this semester.
Jason BrownAmen. Before we go, I want to pray this blessing over us. The Lord bless you and keep you. Lord, make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. Lord, lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Lord, I pray a blessing upon your church, your people. Lord, you would empower us by your Spirit to live your love out to those around us. Pray all this in the powerful name that is Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Know this. We love you very much here at Cornerstone. God bless you and have a great week.