WEBVTT 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:11.000 So proud of you as a church that we are a generous church that wants to make an impact here locally and around the world. And we love Pastor Urie. He's been a good friend for a lot of years. He's doing a great work there. And so, way to go, team. 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:13.000 So, hey, y'all, Thursday starts our first Easter service. We're really looking forward to it. Yeah, we are excited. The team's been working hard, and the whole place is gonna be beautiful, and the kids have got a great plan and the music and don't want to, you know, spoil to give away all the spoiler alerts, but. And you're going to want to have your friends there, and it's going to be powerful. 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:15.000 We got a video story that's going to knock you out and speak to your heart, inspire you. And every single year, we've got people who come to Easter whose lives gets changed. It's like the way I pray is this. Is that the Lord will kind of get in the side door, you know, and it kind of gets in the side door because you realize Jesus Christ is the hope of the world. And Easter is about preaching Christ and him crucified and risen from the dead. 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:17.000 And sometimes, you know, we need the preaching of Jesus can open our eyes to realize, like, oh, that's what I needed. You know what I'm saying? And that's what we're really praying. And so, anyway, we got a lot of options here. You know, in Chapel Hill. 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:19.000 We got Thursday night, Friday night, Friday night, by the way, we'll have the same service, but we are gonna add in communion for Good Friday, so that's kind of a fun option. Saturday night and then three Sunday. So lots of great options, and looking forward to that. So, hey, y'all, we've been doing this series on Philippians, and we're coming to the last chapter of Philippians, Philippians, chapter four. I really hope that it's built your life, helped you grow spiritually also. 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:21.000 Maybe you have a little appreciation for the book. We've really kind of dove into, like, the context and Paul and where he was and why he wrote it and all that, and it kind of brings it to life in a different way. I know that I won't read the book of Philippians quite ever the same again. It's really. It kind of makes. 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:23.000 Makes it meaningful. And so today we're going to hit in this last chapter, a common experience, something we all face. Paul's going to kind of take the theme of the book, which has been joy and he's going to talk about how to have joy and peace in the middle of our challenges. Paul is in prison. The Philippians are going through it. 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:25.000 You and I are going through it. But what I love about this last chapter is he gets super practical. He just gets super practical on what we can do to experience peace and joy in the middle of the difficulties and middle of our circumstances. And so we're gonna pick up Philippians chapter 4, verse 4. He says this. 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:27.000 Rejoice in the Lord when things are going well. No. Rejoice in the Lord always. I love it that he says this. I mean, it's always. 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:29.000 And then he said, it's almost like we wouldn't believe him. Like, always. Are you serious? He goes, I'll say it again. Rejoice that the idea that we could rejoice in the Lord always. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:31.000 Like, how could I be happy all the time? Paul, you're in prison. You're gonna be facing trial. We're going through it, okay? But notice what it does not say, does not say, rejoice in your circumstances. 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:33.000 Rejoice in your difficulties. Rejoice in your pain. It does not say that. It says, rejoice in the Lord. That actually, in the middle of our pain, difficulty, challenges. 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:35.000 I like to think of it this way. You can stare down that challenge, look it in the eye and say, hey, my joy's in the Lord. I've got a greater sense of identity. I'm loved by God. My joy comes from God. 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:37.000 And in the middle of my storm, in the middle of what I'm going through, rejoice in the Lord always. Next verse says, let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Really interesting. I believe what he means is this, is that when you're in the middle of that storm and you got joy, there's a peace, a gentleness. 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:39.000 There's a rest you have in your spirit. You're not fighting it. And there's just, like, a gentleness, a peace. It says, let it be evident to all. Let me say this. 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:41.000 People are watching. Not to put pressure on us to perform or anything, but let me just say this. As you walk with the Lord through some of the storms and difficulties of life, it becomes very evident to all, like, oh, my goodness, how in the world do you do that? It speaks to people that you can have a peace that surpasses comprehension. And then it hits this key thought. 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:43.000 The Lord is near. God is with you. And that is the key truth. We're gonna circle back to that because it's so simple, you can just read right over it. The Lord is near, okay? 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:45.000 But actually, the fact that God is near. And if we draw near to God, he'll draw near to us. He's near, you call upon him. Bamboo. The Lord is near. 00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:47.000 In fact, that's what he's gonna say. The Lord's so near. All you need to do is this. Check this out. Next verse says, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, gratitude, present your request to God. 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:49.000 I think this way. Don't be anxious about anything, but every time you are, bring it to God. Bring it to God. That's what will change. That's what will help you. 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:51.000 He's gonna get super practical. Here's practical number one. He's gonna super present it to God. Give it to God. Every time you're anxious in every situation, give it to the Lord. 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:53.000 Present your request, God. What will happen? The peace of God will transcend, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. So God's giving you a peace that doesn't make sense. Like, naturally speaking, given the circumstance, given what you're going through, given what your family's going through, given that school situation, that job situation, given what's going on, it makes no sense to have peace. 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:55.000 But it will guard your heart and your mind, your emotions and what you're feeling, your mind, what you're thinking and your thoughts. It's going to guard your thoughts and your emotions. That's going to hit the next big issue. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever's noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever's admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy. Think, mind. 00:00:56.000 --> 00:00:57.000 Think about such things. Fill your mind with God's thoughts. Think on these things. Whatever you've learned or received or heard from me or seen in me, put it into practice. And here's this promise. 00:00:58.000 --> 00:00:59.000 And the God of Peace will be with you. The God of Peace will be with you. Have y'all ever gotten one of those phone calls that instantly you knew something was wrong? It's just the worst, isn't it, where you go, like, don't beat around the bush. Just tell me, like, is everyone okay? 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:01.000 Or whatever? I got one of those calls several years ago. It was on a Friday, and I was in a meeting. My wife, Nana, doesn't call me very often at work. So the phone rang. 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:03.000 It was like, you know, I was like, oh, it's Nana. And I said, maybe we should pick up. And I Picked up instantly. I knew something was very wrong. We were living in Minnesota at the time. 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:05.000 It had snowed the night before. The house we lived in at the time had kind of a steep driveway. And Nana said I fell on the driveway. And it was in the morning. And, you know, it's cold and icy and snowy, and, you know, she's calling for some help, and no one is outside in the morning in Minnesota. 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:07.000 You know, nobody answers. You know, she had the four kids loaded up in the car, and so she literally crawls up the driveway because she had no what else to do, Gets in the car and starts driving Kendrick Jr. To drop him off at school. And then she calls me. I'm like, sweetheart, turn around right now. 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:09.000 Like, I think she's, like, in so much pain that she's in shock and not thinking straight. Like, you're. You know, she's like, she was going to drive Kenner Jr. To, you know, to school anyway. I drove like a madman. 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:11.000 Like, I. I don't know how many laws I broke. I mean, I just flew home. And your mind starts racing. She, okay, what happened? 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:13.000 What's going on? I remember just starting to pray. Lord, just be with my sweet wife. Be with her, be with her. And to think, don't be anxious about anything. 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:15.000 Oh, I'm stressed. I mean, I was worried. My mind was running. And let me just say this. There are a lot of legit reasons in the world to be worried. 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:17.000 Cause sometimes we just think it's in your head. Let me just say, it's not just in your head. There's things to be worried about, anxious about, stressed out about. It's not just in our head. Like, there are real issues. 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:19.000 We all face it. It's a common experience. You know, right now, my sister and I are kind of helping my parents. Their health isn't the same. And caring for my parents is like, you know, and are they doing all right? 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:21.000 You know, I have a good friend who just shared with me, he had taken a big, huge step, quit his job, went with a startup company, and it looked like it was going to be great. Six months later, the key person steps down, and now it's all up in the air. And I asked him, I said, well, what's going to happen? He said, I don't know. Uncertainty. 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:23.000 Have you realized part of why we have stress and anxiety is that it's uncertain? It's uncertain what's going to happen in the future. It's uncertain what's going to happen at your job. It's uncertain what's going to happen with your health or with your kids or whatever. There's uncertainty can create the sense of like, what's going to happen with my job, what's going to happen with my finances? 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:25.000 And it's uncertain, like with my kids or my marriage is like a little uncertain. And we struggle, we struggle. Now, by the way, you may be wondering what happened with Nana. I should probably wrap up that story. But the short version is she broke her back, she had fallen on her bottom and we actually went and got it X rayed and they said he'd probably just pull the muscle. 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:27.000 And two weeks later she was no better. My wife is the toughest woman I know and toughest person I know. And we went back and they had X rayed down where she had fallen, but there was a compression fracture about halfway up on her back and just went her vertebrae. And it was. Oh, it was brutal. 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:29.000 And then even more disconcerting is we found out she was at 32, 33 years old, that she had osteoporosis. And so we went on a journey. Let me tell you this, we had a lot of opportunity to trust. It didn't get resolved. Like sometimes it's kind of nice, like when you have a bad weekend, but Monday everything's fine or bad week. 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:31.000 But when weeks turn into months and you're on this journey and we learned we need to trust the Lord here, and this is what Paul teaches and this is what we had to learn is this couple warm up thoughts here. Your thoughts determine your level of peace. Your thoughts and what you think that actually determines your level of peace. What you think, what goes through your mind, how you frame the situation, the perspective you have. Your thoughts determine your level of peace. 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:33.000 Let me say this, that your circumstances do not determine your level of peace. Because let me say this, no matter what you're going through now, as soon as you get one issue fixed, you're gonna have a different issue. And I know sometimes life is going better and things fall into place and woo hoo, we're grateful to the Lord, you know. But let me say this. There's always a reason to worry. 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:35.000 There's always a reason to be stressed. There's always a reason to be anxious. Once you get rid of one reason, you'll have three others. Like, I don't mean to be negative, but I'm just telling you the truth of it. If you're not at peace today, you won't be at peace tomorrow because there's going to be another issue. 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:37.000 And peace is not the Absence of problems or conflict or difficulty. Peace is the presence of something in the middle of the circumstance. And the difficulty and your thoughts are going to determine your level of peace, not your circumstances. It's true for all of us. See, we can feel at times that we're a victim of our thoughts. 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:39.000 Ever feel like a victim of your thoughts? Like, I wake up in the middle of the night, I know I just can't sleep. And by morning I've got issues. Like I was fine when I went to bed, but my brain starts running. I'm thinking about this and have you ever like worked up problems like in your own head? 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:41.000 And you walk into work and you go, why was I so stressed? Like, I concocted something in my brain, my thoughts, and sometimes you can feel it. Your thoughts, your emotions, we don't have control. And I want to speak of second word of encouragement to you is this, is that you are not your thoughts. This is important to know that you are body, soul and spirit. 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:43.000 You are a spirit, you live in a body and you have a soul. Your soul is your mind, your thinking, your will, your decision making and your emotions. Okay? And at times our emotions, our thoughts can kind of run wild and all that. But you are not your thoughts. 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:45.000 And I think it's very important for you to realize your thoughts have power and words have power. And particularly you need to realize that I am not my thoughts. That is not my identity. So let me just say it this way. I think it's healthy to be in touch with what you're feeling or thinking. 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:47.000 I'm feeling anxious. I feel concerned, worried. I'm a little stressed. But this is where we have to be careful is you are not your thoughts. You don't say, I'm a worrywart. 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:49.000 I'm a stressed out person. My family's always been stressed out. Like that's just who we are. No, no, stop. Don't say that. 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:51.000 Because if you say that as an identity, you end up living out of that identity. You are not your thoughts and you don't have to. You can be healthy in getting in touch with what you're thinking and feeling, but you don't have to make that your identity. And I think in this day and age, at times we can say my anxiety, my. Like, it's not your friend, it's not who you are. 00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:53.000 You say, I'm feeling anxious in this moment, at this time, in this season. But these things can change because here's the third one is this. You determine your thoughts over the long haul. Now listen I get it. My mind runs wild. 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:55.000 My emotions, I have my head, I get in the tank, and then whatever, whatever. Okay. But I want to encourage you over the long run. You determine your thoughts, you can change your thinking. You can break lies and replace them with truth. 00:01:56.000 --> 00:01:57.000 You don't have to live with where you're at right now. Like. Like, you can determine your thinking over the long haul. Big picture, if you look out, you can determine your thoughts and be transformed in your thinking, in your heart, and then in your life. Which really leads to, I think, Paul's big idea. 00:01:58.000 --> 00:01:59.000 I think this is what he's trying to say to the Philippians. Peace is possible. Peace is possible, I think, is really what he's saying. He's saying, listen, I get it. I'm in prison, about to face trial. 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:01.000 My life is at state. You're going through it. We're going through it. But in the middle of it all, you can have peace. God does not say, don't be anxious about anything, but in everything, present it, give it to God. 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:03.000 If it wasn't possible, he wouldn't say, hey, rejoice in the Lord always. But it's really not possible, right? And listen, I get it. I get it. And there's complicating factors, and there's health issues and hormones issues or chemical whatever. 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:05.000 And I believe in all that. All that stuff is really healthy and really can be very helpful, very good. But let me just say this. There's a message out there that we're just gonna manage our worry, our anxiety or stress. And what Paul is saying is, peace is possible. 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:07.000 You can be changed. You can change your thinking over the long haul, you can be transformed. Let me tell you this. The Gospel works. Jesus works. 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:09.000 His ways. Work. And if we zoom back for a moment, look over our lives, I'm just telling you this. A year from now, you can be different. Five years from now, ten years from now, you can be transformed. 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:11.000 You can walk with more peace than you realize. And it's. Sometimes we don't even realize how stressed out we are. We don't even realize. And it is possible to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:13.000 And peace is possible. We can rejoice in the Lord always. We can be anxious for nothing, and it's always going to be a battle, but peace is possible. I want you to hear that today. I want you to hear that. 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:15.000 There's some of you that really needed to hear that. And you need to agree that worry and anxiety and living stressed out is not your lot in life. It may take time, not days or weeks. It may take months, it may take years. But you have to believe what God says in His Word. 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:17.000 He can change your thinking, he can change your thoughts, your relationships. That all the flaw does. So that's the first. Now he's going to get super practical. This is what we're going to talk about the rest of our time. 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:19.000 The two things he's going to tell us to do. Two things. Here's the first one Paul's going to tell us real practically. What am I supposed to do, Pastor, what does this look like? Here's the first one. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:21.000 Cast your cares. That's the language I'm going to put it. Cast your cares. Cast your cares upon God. We end up carrying worry, anxiety. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:23.000 Cast your anxieties. Cast your worries, cast your stress. We pick them up and this is what we read. Don't be anxious about anything, but rather, this is how you process is in every situation by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God every time you are anxious, are worried or stressed, bring it and give it to God. There's a. 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:25.000 There's a divine interaction that happens. There's a skill that you can learn in a spiritual principle. There's a relationship that you can have with God where you can actually bring it to the Lord and give it to Him. Jesus said it this way. He said, come to me, all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:27.000 Who's speaking to. He says, hey, all you that are weary and who carry heavy burdens, you're tired because you're carrying around a weight and a burden that you were never meant to carry. And it's wearing you out. And it's stressing you out. It's weighing you down and wearing you out. 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:29.000 It's weighing you down and wearing you out. Why? Because you're carrying something you weren't meant to be carrying. I want to give you an analogy. Can you imagine kind of waking up in the morning and going, hey, I want to start my day. 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:31.000 And you know, what I love to do is just carry this weight vest around with me, you know? And we end up. Let me just say this, y'all. We end up going, I've got this weight because my kids. I'm really concerned of what's happening at school. 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:33.000 I'm concerned about what they're doing at night. I'm concerned about their friends. I'm concerned about my kids. And because we care for our kids so much, we end up carrying a weight and we just tuck it in and it becomes part of who we are. And I just carry that around with me. 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:35.000 And honestly, I'm a little stressed out about work because I don't know, like, how things are going or what's gonna happen, and there's a rel. This person and whatever, and you go, like, I come home for work. Have you ever come home from work and you're just carrying stress and anxiety? You come home and go, like, I'm just picking up burdens at work, just picking them up, taking them home with me. Maybe it is. 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:37.000 Has money ever stressed you out in your finances before? You go, like, trying to make ends meet? No, no, I got invalid this. Well, let's just. Let's just carry around a little worry and anxiety and stress about that too. 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:39.000 We pick this stuff up, and maybe you do have a health issue and you've been to the doctor and you tried to fix it or one of your kids, your spouse or someone, a friend, and you go, my health. I don't even know what I'm gonna do. And I've tried, and I even tried some of those, you know, crazy stuff online, and it's just not working. And then, you know what? This was a little bit of work. 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:41.000 I watched the news. 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:43.000 I was doing fine beforehand, but by the time I was done, I was like, dang, I gotta, like, stack up a bunch of stress and work, and you start carrying around. And maybe I'm struggling internally and have an addiction, and I got something going on, and I realized I feel really bad, and I start carrying that one around. And my marriage is a little like, we're not communicating and, you know, not as intimate as we used to be, and I'm gonna have to carry that around. And I carry the expectations of the world, and I start carrying all the expectations, and I'm not really sure about the future and know all this uncertainty, and I'll just stick that there, like, woof. And we go. 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:45.000 Let me just say this. Spiritually, this is what we do. This is it. Spiritually, y'all can't see it. It's not a real weight vest. 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:47.000 But in your soul, you're carrying the weight of the world, and you're carrying the stress and the anxiety and the worry. 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:49.000 Let me tell you what happens is because we care, we end up carrying the weight of it. We care about our kids. We care about our marriage. We want to, like, do a good job at work. Like, I follow Christ. 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:51.000 I want to be a good test. Like, because we care, we end up carrying. And this is What Jesus says after come to me. He says, take my yoke, take my weight vest upon you. Let me teach you. 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:53.000 So there's some teaching that we all need on how to carry our weight and exchange my yoke for the yoke of Jesus. He goes, I need to teach you because I'm humble, I'm gentle heart. He goes, you will find rest for your soul if you let me teach you some things, particularly on how to go from me carrying my yoke to me learning how to carry Jesus yoke. It's gonna help. He says, for my yoke is easy to bear and the burden I give you is light. 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:55.000 Let me tell you this. If the weight that you're carrying is heavy and it's wearing you out, weighing you down and wearing you out, let me tell you this, God didn't mean for you to carry it. 00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:57.000 Here's the insight that really helped me is when I realized that you can care, but you don't have to carry it. Care, but don't carry. I think part of why we end up carrying it is because we really care. And the truth is you can care, but you don't have to. You're not meant to carry it. 00:02:58.000 --> 00:02:59.000 Let me give you an example of this. Paul says. He says, hey, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. We go, there you go, Pastor, I'm supposed to bear other people's burdens. I'm supposed to carry around a bunch of weights on me. 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:01.000 Well, he says, and so fulfill the law of Christ. The law of Christ is the law of love. So by caring for somebody and loving them, you ever have someone get in your corner and care with you and for you, you go, oh, my gosh, I feel lighter already. But listen, just two verses later says, for each person must carry their own load. It almost seems contradictory, but the truth is you can care, but you can't carry their load. 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:03.000 Actually, counseling terms, it's called codependency. When I get into your lane and try to take your responsibility, and I try to carry a weight that was never meant for me to carry, it starts wearing me down and weighing me down. I get tired, I get weighed down. And that's what he's saying is you need to take my yoke, you need to take my cares. And here's a spiritual principle. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:05.000 This is what Paul is saying you need to learn how to do. Let me tell you, if I could coach you up, if I could help you a little bit, this is how I try to coach myself up, is this we need to learn the spiritual exchange with God. It's not a one and done. It's a lifestyle of something that you need to learn to do all the time, over and over. And found in first Peter, the same idea, same idea in like three spots. 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:07.000 Here's one more spot. Super simple. Past Peter says this. Cast all your anxiety on him, Jesus, because he cares for you. What he says is, you've got anxiety, you've got cares, you've got worries, and you're carrying it around. 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:09.000 But here's the truth. There's not grace from God for someone else's lane. You need to stay in your lane. When I get out of my lane and I try to get into your lane and I carry your burden, your load, there's not grace from God for it. That's why I ended up weary and heavy laden. 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:11.000 And so what you need, what he's saying is this. You need to cast your cares. You need to be able to learn and say, okay, God, I'm carrying this weight. I'm carrying these cares, I'm carrying these anxieties, and I need to come to you and I need to be able to take it off and say, lord, I can't carry this weight. Let me say this. 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:13.000 God never meant us to. And we all pick it up, we all take it. Cast your cares upon him and go, Lord, you take it. You take it. I can't carry the weight myself. 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:15.000 I can care, but I can't carry it. I've got to learn how to. Jesus said, come to me and take my yoke. There's a. Hey, Lord, I've been carrying this weight. 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:17.000 I've been carrying this yoke. I've been. I need you to take it. I need you to carry it. I'm gonna care, but you carry the weight of it. 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:19.000 I'm gonna trust you, Lord, let me give you. Cause you know I'm gonna give you my kids. 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:21.000 I can't fix them, change them, protect them 24 7. And the stress and the worry and the weight of it. 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:23.000 You can care, but don't carry it. You got to give it to the Lord. Let him carry the weight of it. I'm going to trust you, Lord. I'm going to believe you, Lord. 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:25.000 I'm going to know that you got this. We tend to worry and be anxious for things that we can't make happen anyway in and of ourselves. The reason why we're stressed is because I can't fix my kids. I can't change the news. I can't fix the like I can have me, I can pray, or I can have a little bit of input, but all this is outside of my control. 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:27.000 And that's why I carry it, because it's outside of my control. And the Lord says, hey, give it to me, because I am in control. Trust me, because I am the one who is in charge of all these things, who rules and reigns in heaven. And by the grace of God, it might not work out. And they lived happily ever after and everything was always perfect, but I can work all things together for good. 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:29.000 You can trust me with it. Bring it to me. Give it to me. I got you. And as long as you keep picking it back up, as long as you keep holding onto it and stressing out and hold onto it, it'll wear you down, wear you out and weigh you down. 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:31.000 And learning how to give it to the Lord and say, God, it's yours, cast your cares upon him. Lord, I'm gonna care, but I need you to carry it. 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:33.000 Now, here's the second thing that he's gonna say that there's two things. Cast your cares. Here's the second thing is fix your thoughts. Fix your thoughts, which kind of is a play on words, two meanings. One is fix them, change them. 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:35.000 We need to transform them, upgrade them, but also then to fix your thoughts on God. Our gaze, our focus, there's a mindset, there's thinking that caused me to pick all this up and carry all this weight and part of the change and the transformation. Jesus said, come to me, let me teach you, let me change your thinking. Because if you don't change your thinking, you're just gonna go back and pick the same thing up again. So big picture, over the long haul, as you, you know, this is not like instantaneous. 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:37.000 Snap your finger, everything's happy and great. This is long term transformation. And change your thoughts determine your level of peace. And when we learn to fix our gaze on God, listen to Isaiah says, you keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you. So the person whose mind is fixed on the Lord and is looking to God and trusts in God and knows, here's this, the Lord is near. 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:39.000 That when you give it to the Lord, he's near. He'll take it. And over and over in the Bible we'll say like, fear not. And it's really interesting Bible study. You could probably Google it. 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:41.000 And every, almost every time it says fear not, what reason does it give you to not be afraid, to not be worried, to not be anxious? Fear not. For I Am with you, the Lord is near. 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:43.000 Now, I wish I had, like, a little pill I could give you or a little magic, something. But I'm telling you, it's the simple truths that are so deeply profound. Because when I'm anxious, when I'm worried, when I'm stressed, what am I really saying? I'm just saying, lord, I don't know if you got this, and I don't know if you're with me, and I don't know if you can fix this. That's. 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:45.000 See, worry begins where our faith ends. Like, as long as we have faith in the Lord and trust him. And this isn't to, like, point fingers, make us feel bad. But listen, if we want help, if we want to get changed, we need to know, like, long term, how are we going to fix this thing? Because I realized, hey, I'm still anxious, I'm still worried. 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:47.000 I got it. You know, I got issues, all right? But how am I going to have fewer issues? How am I going to be changed? How am I going to be transformed? 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:49.000 You need to know the Lord and know that God is with you and God loves you. Fear not, for I'm with you. Like what God said to Joshua when he started leading God's people. He said, hey, be strong and courageous. How do you get strong and courageous? 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:51.000 You're not like, well, hit the weight room. Be tough, dude. Suck it up. He didn't say that. He said, be strong and courageous, for I'm with you. 00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:53.000 Don't be afraid. I got your back. The Lord's with you. It gives you an internal spiritual strength. Now what two things are we gonna do? 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:55.000 What are we gonna do? Is this. He's gonna tell us. Let me give you a thought on fixing your thoughts, changing your thoughts. Simple version. 00:03:56.000 --> 00:03:57.000 We gotta get the bad out, we gotta get the good in. We gotta get the wrong thinking out. We gotta get the right thinking in. So first of all, let's talk about how do we get the bad out? And we're gonna talk briefly about how we get the good in. 00:03:58.000 --> 00:03:59.000 And I think this is part of the long term fix. This is part of the transformation. This is not, you know, but this is a lifestyle. Just like learning to cast your cares upon the Lord is a lifestyle. This is a lifestyle that if you can learn how to get the bad out, get the good in, it will change you. 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:01.000 4 says this. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. So the weapons we have are obviously aren't like, like an army, like weapons. 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:03.000 But let me just say that they're not power, it's not influence. Like he goes, our weapons are different and our weapons demolish strongholds. And we're going to learn right here in the next verse what a strong. Let me just tell you what it is and you're going to read it in the next verse. A stronghold is a household of thoughts. 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:05.000 It's a pattern of thinking, it's a way that we think. And you can have good strongholds where you have good, like faith filled, healthy and good can live and prosper there. But we also get, in this case we're talking about negative strongholds. Wrong thinking lies discouragement. And what lives in that place is darkness and discouragement and fear and anxiety and worry. 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:07.000 And he says this, we demolish that wrong thinking. Let me tell you, all of us, we've got things in our head and ways that we should respond. We haven't even like necessarily naturally thought it through, but just from our experience, what we grew up with, the inputs, whatever, like we have strong. Now look at the next verse says this. Then we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:09.000 What he's saying is this. We're going to take captive every thought that comes through your brain. You need this life skill. This is what I'm just praying in Jesus name if you can walk out of here with vision for this today is this. I'm gonna do an inspection of every thought that goes through my head. 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:11.000 I'm gonna take. And you can't do every thought that goes through here. But I'm just saying I'm gonna live as a person that's gonna question what in the world I'm thinking. Because just because I think it doesn't make it true. So I'm gonna stop and go, whoa, thought, Is that what Jesus thinks? 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:13.000 Make it obedient to Christ, that's what I think that means make that thought obedient to Christ. And when you realize that's not what God thinks, that's not what's honorable and true and right and noble. See ya. You break your agreement with it, that's a key. You break your agreement, say I am not in agreement with that thought, that I'm a worry wart, that I'm clumsy, that I'm not smart, that I'm not pretty like you. 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:15.000 Go. That's a. Whoa. You're out of here. That my future isn't gonna work out, that I'll never get married, that my kids are gonna, you know, my, my health is gonna fall apart, my. 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:17.000 Whatever. You capture that thought and you go, wait a minute. And you break agreement. It doesn't line up with the knowledge of who God is. Let me just say this. 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:19.000 It's a knowledge of God and the depth of your understanding and the depth of your relationship with Him. The deeper your relationship is with the Lord, the more you know him, the more you're gonna be identifying. Go. That's not what Jesus thinks. See ya. 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:21.000 You're out. Now, secondly, we need to pour in the good, whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, animal, excellent, praiseworthy. Think about these things. We need to fill our minds with what is true, what is right, what is honorable, what is pure, what is lovely like. Think on these things, pour these things, let them wash over your mind, wash over your heart. 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:23.000 Let me ask you this. What percentage of what you're consuming in your head and heart is excellent, praiseworthy, edifying, faith filled, building you up? Let me say this. If we're just drinking in the world, if we're just drinking in social media, if we're just like, just watching the news, I was so at peace beforehand. Now I'm stressed. 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:25.000 Let me just say this. This is what Romans says. Don't be. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. If the percentage of what you hear is just, and what you're consuming and what you're thinking about, what you're putting into yourself, you're going to conform to the values and the culture of, of the world. 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:27.000 You're going to be conformed to worry, anxiety and stress. But you can re. Re. Be. Be transformed, y'all. 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:29.000 You got that piece of pot. You'd be transformed by the renewing of your mind. If you renew your mind and, and. And take thoughts captive, toss those out, put in the good, think about lovely, true, pure, right, and you just keep standing on that. Let me tell you this. 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:31.000 Sometimes it takes time, sometimes it takes years. Lord, I'm loved by God. I'm breaking this generational thing that's been passed on my family. That's not going to be my lot in life. And it doesn't. 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:33.000 You don't just snap a finger, but you just keep standing on what is true, what is honorable, what is right. You can change your mind, you can change your thinking and be renewed in your mind. And transformed. Peace is possible. Peace is possible. 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:35.000 What are we gonna do? We're gonna cast our cares upon the Lord, and we're gonna learn to be able to give it to the Lord. And then when I'm tempted to pick it up, what I'm gonna do is like, lord, I'm gonna keep filling my mind. I'm gonna cat throw out the negative. I'm putting in the positive. 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:37.000 I'm throwing out the lies. I'm putting in the truth. I'm not going to be overcome by evil. I'm going to overcome evil with good day after day, day after day, and be transformed. I tell you what, then there's a promise. 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:39.000 The God of peace will be with you. The God of peace will be with you. And that's my prayer for you and me is this today that the God of peace would be with you. And if we could each, I think, capture this thought today of like, lord, hey, I wanna be changed. I wanna be transformed. 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:41.000 Peace is possible. In fact, we're gonna take a moment, usually kind of say a quick prayer. God bless you all. Go get them. Won't take long. 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:43.000 But what if we just took a quick little exercise, quick little moment? Because probably as I was talking, you could think of. Oh, I know it's stressing me out, Pastor. I could tell you what if we took a moment, even right now, and said, hey, Lord, I don't want to carry the weight of it, Lord, I want to give it to you, Father, right now. We do want to bow our heads and take a moment, just say, thank you, God, that you are good. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:45.000 Lord, we confess and we humble ourselves to say, Lord, that we do tend to pick up weights because we're responsible, because we're hardworking, because we care. We end up carrying the weight of it. 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:47.000 And Lord, I believe you want to teach us how to take up your yoke, how to cast all of our cares upon you because you care for us, how to be anxious for nothing but in everything, present our request to God, give it to God and have this divine exchange where you, you, you take the weight of it. 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:49.000 Or even right now. Maybe it's something at our work. Maybe it's our finances and money. Maybe it's a child. Maybe it's a job situation. 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:51.000 Like, I don't know, how am I going to get a job? Or what's going to be the next step? And it's uncertainty. It's the future. Maybe it's the past. 00:04:52.000 --> 00:05:00.000 You might be carrying weight from the past. Let me speak this for just. We're going to pray about this but you were never meant to carry the weight of guilt and shame that that when we do something wrong we feel bad and it's meant to lead us to Christ to receive forgiveness and we walk away clean and forgiven loved by God but until we surrender our lives to Christ we do carry this sense of failure of not measuring up of guilt, shame and even today you could come to hey Jesus I give you my past I give you my mistakes give you my failures I give you my addiction I give you my pain Lord come into my heart forgive me, cleanse me let something fresh and new start in my life. I pray that today many of us would walk away feeling lighter because no situation probably changed during the service but we cast our cares on you and you're going to carry it we're going to care help us to walk in this Lord in Jesus name amen.