Anxiety

Paul exalted the Philippian Church to be anxious for nothing, but in all things by prayer and supplication with thanks giving, we were to make our requests known unto God. Understanding that by passing it over to him we would inherit and transact a peace that passes all understanding. And by that peace we would be able to filter every conversation that would seek to disrupt or disenfranchise that divine covering. So if it’s not true, honest, pure, just, lovely or of a good report, don’t entertain it. We live in a world where our own technological advancements and access to knowledge has made us blind to truths that have stood the test of time for millennia. Could it what you're feeling be as simple to solve as 1. Changing the atmosphere. 2. Countering the information and 3. Filtering the conversation. Jump in and dive deep as we explore this bible study.

Transcript

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Hello everybody and welcome to Rumour Reloaded with me, your boy Sean Williams. I think I can't believe I said that. Why did I even say that? Sometimes I just don't listen to me. I hope you're all having an amazing day, an amazing week, and that you're enjoying our Bible studies. I loved our Bible studies last week. Are you prepared? Part two. Um, looking at the parables and also I've really enjoyed studying the parables because obviously parables were Jesus' way to explain very complex divine mysteries in very simplistic, practical ways. And I feel like for what I want to do with the platform this year, that I need to simplify it as well. Um, there is a common saying that if you have understood something complex, then the barometer by which how well you understood it is can you explain something complicated very simply? And that's where I want to move to. I think Jesus' whole ministry was making sure that the gospel was accessible to everybody, which meant simplifying, finding different ways to engage through communication, um, concepts, and visual representations, and that's what we want to do today. I want to talk about anxiety. I know, I know. We hear this word all the time. It's such a massive buzzword. However, it's massive in terms of its effect, its impact, um, and its um its presence in our everyday. The reason why it's such a formidable, formidable, formidable even foe is because it's seen and unseen. The reality of it is that anxiety comes from the portfolio of what I call fear, right? And fear is the basis of a foreboding or a foreknowing or a feeling that something's going to happen that is not good that we can't control. Anxiety is literally the same thing, it is the upscaled, intensified feeling that there is um hardship, tribulation, terror that is hiding around the corner, and it's a foreboding, a foreknowing, a feeling like it's about to happen, um, but not being able to stop it. And what this does is it paralyzes our ability to see ahead and it stops us in the moment, it stops movement, it stops the inertia of purpose and destiny and plan. So I wanted to look at what the Bible has to say about it, and also I wanted to kind of look at what I call common concepts of how we understand fear and what we understand stress to be and anxiety. Um, and one of the really cool definitions I found uh or statements I found is that stress comes from the strain, the strain of the present, an anxiety, a fear of what may happen in the future, right? The future should be something that we look forward to. The future should be something that fills us with hope and expectancy. But because we are seeing so much turmoil in our present, and a lot of what happens in our present provides connections and what I call trigger lines to traumas and breakages that have happened in earlier parts of our life, which then create the atmosphere of stress, which then almost produces the seed of anxiety, which means that looking back, horrible. The feeling of the present, worse, the future is worse to come. So then it gives us no push naturally, emotionally, or otherwise, in order for us to feel like we can be better or it's gonna get better. Okay. Now, through the study that I've done, um, we're going to look at some really simple stuff, they're gonna feel simple because we're gonna practically explain them so that you can hold on to them as concepts that you can use, but also they are going to be rooted um in spiritual foundational principles and also the word of God, because at the end of the day, that's what we're basing this off. Okay, so if you will please turn with me to the book of Philippians, uh, and we are gonna go to Philippians chapter four, and we're only gonna look at the first eight verses. I know, I hear you going. Only, only, yes, only. It could be one of those other scriptures that's got a hundred verses or sixty of them. I'm looking at eight, calm down, and I'm gonna read um because you're not here and we're not using AI to do it. Um, and I'm gonna start off from verse one, and it reads us. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown. This is very nice. He must really like the church in Philippi. They must have sent some cool stuff. Stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends. I plead with Yodia, youodia, and I plead with Syntichy to be of the same mind in the Lord. That kind of maybe tells us that there may be a little bit of unrest, a little bit of disunity. Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my co-worker supporters. He's really exhorting the the women's department in the church in Philippine going, listen, ladies, if it if you hadn't been tending to my needs and looking after the church and corresponding and making sure that everything stays as it is, we wouldn't be in the state that we're in. Uh, and he goes as long to say, he goes as far to say, excuse me, that these sisters, their names in the Lamb's Book of Life, right? We'll get into what the Lamb's Book of Life is when you become saved. The Bible tells us that when you give your life to Christ and you become baptized, is that your name goes into a book. It's almost like a heavenly accounting system, so that when the great day of judgment comes and the book is opened, and those that chose Christ of their own free will, that is the book to which we'll be called out of. Now, verse 4. These are Paul's uh final exhortations. He says, Rejoice in the Lord always. This is where we're going to really break apart this anxiety undone. Okay, verse 4 to 8. Um, rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice. Let your gentleness be evident to everybody. The Lord is near. And listen to this, verse 6 Do not be anxious about anything. So anxiety or the the intensity of it is not just something that is linked to present day. We're nearly looking at a millennia, actually, nearly two. Two millennia later, we're reading, and Paul's telling us, don't worry, the church in Philippi, they were going through it. Okay, so he says, Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, I can't believe it. This is like a literal how-to-step guide that Paul has got here, right? Anytime you are, and I'm gonna break this down even further, but for those of you that know how to break scripture down for yourself, he's telling us what to do, right? He's saying, don't be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, prayer and petition. Okay, what is prayer? Prayer is your divine communicational link with the Holy Spirit. Prayer connects you to God like that. You see how we have um 5G now, and it gives us super fast internet, fiber optics, like it's all wide, like it's so quick, we just zip signals everywhere. That's what prayer is, right? And a petition, we know what a petition is. A petition is something that you get signed to give to a person, and the petition will explain everything that you're asking, and all you're asking that person to do is say yes or to say no, right? Then it says, By prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. Verse 7, and the peace of God. I mean, we know what natural peace feels like, and we all love it. We do all kinds of things to protect our peace, do not? We cut off all types of people, stop going to all types of places, cut things out of our diet, cut things off of our phone in our everyday. But here it's talking about that divine, unlimited, intangible, perfect peace, right? He says, and the peace of God which transcends, it means it goes beyond. Can you right now, if you wanted to go to Mars? No. Why couldn't you go to Mars? Because first you have to get out of the Earth's atmosphere, you are not built with the capacity to live outside of the Earth's atmosphere. Then you have to hope that Mars' atmosphere upon the orbiting pulls you into its gravitational pool if you lead into science in that way, and then you've got to hope that by the time it leads you into its gravitational pool, that as you descend to the surface, everything's kind of cool. That's you transcending this world. And the Bible is saying that God's peace has the ability to transcend everything you're going through. Anything you can't see past, anything you can't even verbalize. What did Jesus say to his disciples? My peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as men give I unto you. Why? Let not your heart be troubled. Believe thou in God, believest thou in me. In my father's house, there are many rooms for you, right? So verse 7 tells us that that peace that we get from presenting our request to God through prayer and supplication and thanksgiving. It says that after that point, the peace of God that transcends every cognitive thought pattern that you have, you can't hope to understand God's peace if you want to have it. That was deep. You might want to write that down. You cannot understand what he's giving to you because it's unlimited and you are a limited being. So, what does that mean? All you can do is hope to honour the gift through sincere gratitude and love. The Bible tells us that they that worship him, and when they say him, they mean God, must worship him in what? In spirit and in truth. That he is a reader of the intents of the heart, not the verbalization of the mouth or the devious thoughts of the mind. He looks at what's going on in your heart, the processing plant by which everything comes out, right? Then it takes us to verse 8, and this is going to be very important. I'm going to go back and I'm going to break down four, five, six, seven, and eight. But let's just deal with verse eight. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, that's another way of saying honest, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable. If anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. Okay. And then he he puts in the caveat, and this is the best thing because I've always said that the best form of teaching is not instruction, but what? Modeling, right? In verse 9, whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me, that's modeling, right? Put it into practice, and the God of peace will be with you all. Okay, now I'm going to give you the step-to-step guide, the step to step-to-step, step-by-step guide of how we undo anxiety every single day, in every moment, in any moment, at any point, at any time. So, what is verse 4 saying? Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice. Okay. So the first thing you're doing is changing the atmosphere. It's commonly said that the quickest way to redecorate a room is to do what? Play music. Why? Music is atmospheric noise that creates an ambience that can change the feeling within people. That's why both of us can go to a concert, a person hits a high note, and you cry and I smile, like a kid that's been let into Willy Wonka's chocolate factory and just said, go and have as much marvelous creations as you want. Why? Because it transcends and it hits both of us in our inward part, but there is what? Two completely different reactions to it. Why? Is because the atmosphere change within ourselves has different um different results. So that's what I was saying. One person will hear a person sing and that person may cry, another person may smile, another person may become slightly sad. But what Paul is encouraging, he's saying, rejoice in the Lord. Why? Because he is the creator of the atmosphere. The original atmosphere, not the one that we sometimes stink up our houses with, or stink up what I call our psychological rooms of rest. I was having a conversation with a friend a couple of days ago, and we were talking about where just a place that they'd gotten to. And I said, but you mistake the part where you had to do the work to quiet quieten the intrinsic noise. That wasn't easy. You had to sit there uncomfortably before you got to a place where you were comfortably in control of what was happening within. So what the Apostle Paul is saying is that he's saying you change the atmosphere by telling yourself God is older, better, and greater than the thing that you're worrying about. Does your problem exceed the age or the time or the faithfulness or the consistency of God? I'm being serious. Any problem that you think you have, ask yourself that question. Does this problem or can this problem or is this problem exceeding the accounting, the age, the consistency, the goodness of God? I will tell you no. Because your age or your problem is subject to your time on earth, and I guarantee you that your time on earth doesn't exceed pre-creation. Otherwise, we'd be reading the book of Genesis that God said to so-and-so and so-and-so, part B and so-and-so part two, what do you think I should do with the trees? He weren't there. Which means that what are you trying to figure out that he's already worked out? So when you rejoice in him, you tell your problem you're not bigger than the God I serve, you're not bigger than his plan for me. And all of a sudden, guess what you stopped doing? Hyper focusing on that which is wrong, and now you're becoming focused on that which is right. And the good thing about that which is right, he's also the problem solver and the solution giver. And he's the judge. So now you're tapping into the person, the only person that has the power to supersede your problem. That's how you change the atmosphere. Because when you turn your mind from the problem and you start to focus on the solution, all of a sudden, what does the solutions do if they breed more solutions? My dad has taught so many times, he's like, he's always said to me, son, when you're speaking to a person, find out if they're talking about the cause, the problem, or the solution. The reason Paul was telling them to rejoice in God is because God is not the cause and he's not the problem. He's always been the solution, and yet he has the capacity to fix the cause and solve the problem. So the first thing we have to do change the atmosphere, change the perspective so that you're now working on perception, right? Perspective tells me how you saw it, perception tells me how you see it. Why? My God shall supply all my needs according to his riches in glory through Christ Jesus. That's perception. Perspective tells me, oh my gosh, this is such a bad problem. I've never been in this situation before. What am I gonna do? Perception tells me, blessed is the man that walketh not in the council of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, but nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law, what will he do? Meditate day and night. John 3 16 tells me, for God so loved the world. That was Psalms 1, the one before, by the way, that he sent his only begotten Son, that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 1 1 tells me, in the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God. So what I speak. Guys, are you getting this? What we speak, that's why. Have you never noticed that when we speak words, when we're writing them down, what do we do? We are spelling them. Take away the ing. What are you left with? Spell. What you speak over yourself casts these things over yourself. The clue is hiding in plain sight. Some of you also may have seen um a historic interview with um a martial arts guru called Bruce Lee. He also spoke about this. The Bible says, and the Spirit of God hovered across the face deep. And what was the first thing he did? He spoke. That's why the power of your words are so important. That's why you have to change the atmosphere because rejoicing in God means that you stop looking at the present in your face nature of your problem and you start seeing the wider view, right? So now we've changed the atmosphere. The next thing we're ready to do is do what? Challenge the information. Because what's Paul saying? Why are you anxious? Yo, gang, what's going on? Fam, why are we anxious? And then he gives the reason why. He says, Don't be anxious about anything, but in every situation. So to everybody that likes to come to me with your anxiety, when I stop start saying to you, have you gone to God? Have you prayed and supplicated? You're like, What's prayer and supplication? And then my phone goes, do and then I send you a little text message, and then up pops a link for this. Because you're not challenging the information, and you're asking me to do something for you that you need to learn how to do for yourself. Why? Because your relationship with God should not be dependent on me, it should be independent of me. The Holy Spirit wants to say this to you himself. Does that make sense? So, verse 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, now he's telling you exactly what to do in order not to be anxious. Oh my throttling you all right now in the nicest way in love. Bless Jesus. Okay, he says, Don't be anxious about anything. And then he says, but in every situation, not one situation, not a couple situations, not some, every. He says, every. You know what every means? All of them. Every single last one. The one that you think you can deal with, the one you're not sure if you can deal with, the one you know you can't deal with, the one that's absolutely freaking you out. Every situation. And then he tells us to do what with it by prayer and petition. If you're reading an older version of the Bible, it may say supplication with Thanksgiving. That's the best part. Why would you thank someone for something they haven't done yet unless they've already done it? Remember, hope that is seen is not hope, which really means that faith that can be seen or tangibly handled is not faith. So then what you're using is you are combining your faith along with the faithfulness of God because his accounting has been perfect since the beginning of time. It's us that's got in his way. And every time we've got in his way, what does he do? He finds another loophole to save us. I'd leave you people in the lucky I'm not him. I'll be like, again? Nah. Ain't nobody got time for dad. God does. Because he loves you so much that he decided to send himself to save us. Knowing that we would fully have the choice not to choose it. Imagine giving a present to somebody knowing that they may just throw it back in your face. And you know they're never gonna get a better present or intention than what you're gonna give them. And yet this is what he does all the time. So the Bible says that with prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, make your request known to God because it's already done. And this isn't about your problem but the relationship he wants to have with you. He wants to be your everything, he wants to be your go-to. He's like, come to me first, stop leaving me as your last chance loon, your last port of call. Stop using me as your backup insurance policy. I want to be front center, working in you, through you, by you, with you. The Bible says that with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God. Okay, then it says, and the peace. When you challenge that information based on the atmosphere change, the peace that transcends all understanding. What is peace? Peace is contentment. How do we get there? Peace is born from what the seed of gratitude. How do we then water that seed? We find one thing to be thankful for. As you concentrate on that one thing to be thankful for, guess what? You start following the root of where you got that thankful, where you became thankful for that thing, which means other things connected to it you become thankful for, right? And then as You're watering that seed of gratitude, it turns into a sapling of peace, right? And that sapling of peace then becomes the bubble of contentment. Why? Because you take your gratitude, you take your thanks, you take the peace which comes from that, because now you are not being what I call naturally swayed in terms of what's happening around you. Right? So that thankful heart, that's why Paul is telling us right here, rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice, is that not gratitude? If you're going to rejoice in God, what are you rejoicing in God for? The fact that he woke you up this morning, the fact you're in your right mind in a volatile world, the fact that in Matthew chapter 6 and 5, it tells us that if he looks after the birds of the air, that they cry out to him and he looks after them, how much more will he look after you? That it also tells us that if he clothes the lilies of the field and the flowers with such splendor, what will he do for you? That when it tells us that if we seek the kingdom of God first, everything else will be added to us. That's where you pull your gratitude from. Because you are stepping into historical inheritance that you shouldn't, or not that you that we shouldn't have access to. But because we have a high priest and we can call him Abba Father, because God isn't trying to be this big, scary guy over us. No, he's just like, I'm your dad. And the Bible tells us what father, considering himself being good, would give his son a stone that ask for bread, or a scorpion if he asks for fish. I may have made that last part up, don't get angry with me, just check it. And then Jesus brings it around to say, Sin, if you who are evil, you know how to be good to your kids. How much of God that is built of love and joy and peace and perfect intention towards you? Right? So, step one, we've changed the atmosphere. Step two, we've challenged information. Now we're living in peace. Step three, and the most important, filter the conversation. Energy is not lost or not found, it's merely transferred. So sometimes you're coming out of a situation or you have extricated yourself from a situation, and then because you stay linked to certain people that are in that situation or similar situations, guess what you do? You pull yourself right back into the mire and the mud that you've just cleaned yourself and got yourself out of. So some of you think how do I fit on the conversation? It's easy. I'm gonna tell you, and the Post Paul tells you do not enter into any conversation with a person that is not true, noble, another word for noble is honest. Okay, if the conversation is not right, if the interaction is not pure, if it's not lovely, if it's not admirable, that means if it's not of a good report, if you can't go and tell someone or those closest to you what was said or what was going on, leave it alone. Sometimes we are inducing our own anxiety, fear, and stress based on those we refuse to let go because in seasons previously they made where we were feel comfortable and familiar. Change is not supposed to be familiar and comfortable because it's supposed to take you from where you were to where you're supposed to be. Remember, if you're going to fight this, because the Bible tells us that God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of love and a peace of peace and a sound mind, which means that you have to put up spiritual boundaries. If you know you're not in a place where you can sit and be going through a moment and then be in a situation or be in the presence of another person where they aren't regulated the same way you are, don't go put yourself in that situation. There's crazy talk and thoughts. And I do this all the time. If I'm in a moment where I'm like, Lord, I can't take on too much other foolishness. Sometimes I like to say Tom foolery because it's just a great word. And in prayer, I sit and I say, God, any conversation, any interaction that is not true, honest, pure, lovely, of a good nature or virtuous, admirable. Lead me out of that conversation. It doesn't mean I sit there and go to a person, uh-uh, can't talk to me today. I politely either decline from the conversation or I lead myself out of it. Why? Because peace isn't just defense, it's offense. Remember, I told you peace is not escaping the storm, it's staying within the storm but being intact. Why? Because the contentment that peace provides it cannot be breached. So remember, when you're under an anxiety, it's these three steps. Change the atmosphere, challenge the information, filter the conversation. I hope that you take the notes from this Bible study and you take the scripture and you do more studying for yourself and open it up and that you understand that God has set in place for you the most perfect guideline and template for the relationship He wants to have. And if you will lean into it and lean into Him, there is a joy and a peace that is waiting for you that the words don't exist to verbalize it. Let's pray very quickly. Father, thank you for today. Thank you for this moment, thank you for this Bible study. Um, the world is in a volatile place, God, it's in a crazy place, but yet we want to stay consistent in you, through you, by you, because you have called us to be reflections of who you are in the earth. That's your love, that's your joy, that's your peace, that's your patience through endurance, gentleness, goodness, meekness, faith, and self-control. Father, I pray that we gird up the loins of our mind and that we stay sober and help us to remain sober by meditating and feasting on your word. God, I pray that anything that's happening in our natural environment allow us to be affectors of the world around us and not to allow the world to affect what's inside of us. We thank you for peace, we thank you for joy, we thank you for love. As we say thank you in your name, Jesus, we pray. Amen. Guys, have a great day, and I'll see you soon.