SPEAKER_01: Good morning.
SPEAKER_01: I'm Joni Weiss.
SPEAKER_01: Please stand and pray with me.
SPEAKER_01: Dear Creator who created and loves us and who created this world, remind us that worry turns us inward towards the world in our minds instead of turning us toward you, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: You have your hand in everything, and everything is in your hands.
SPEAKER_01: Who are we to be anxious when you are so good and your plan is so far beyond what we can see or even imagine?
SPEAKER_01: Don't let our limited brains narrow our view of you and all you will do.
SPEAKER_01: When our human limitations and worries start running away with us, remind us who you are, our amazing creator, our loving savior, and our guiding spirit.
SPEAKER_01: The peace you want for us and are waiting to give us far surpasses the limits of our understanding.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Lord, for your bottomless patience, goodness, and compassion towards us.
SPEAKER_01: Keep our hearts and minds on you.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Well, good morning.
SPEAKER_02: Welcome to Connect Church.
SPEAKER_02: I'm Nate Robenstein, lead pastor.
SPEAKER_02: Really grateful that you're with us this morning.
SPEAKER_02: And if you've been here over the last couple of weeks, you know that we're in a series called Questions Jesus Asked.
SPEAKER_02: And we just think there's value in questions.
SPEAKER_02: We think questions open up relationships, they open up depth of our walk with God.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, we are curious what your questions are.
SPEAKER_02: And uh we have a question board out there, and the staff as and you all are been, I'm sure, enjoyed reading those questions.
SPEAKER_02: If you just have a question you want to write out, um, that that sometimes even reading those causes me to think at a deeper level.
SPEAKER_02: So um I will answer them all at the end of the series with a definitive answer.
SPEAKER_02: No, I won't.
SPEAKER_02: Obviously, some of these questions, I'm like, whoa, I hadn't thought of that.
SPEAKER_02: That's a really, really good question.
SPEAKER_02: So encourage you to consider that option.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, I have a dream that if anybody uh happens to know Mark Zuckerberg, anybody know him personally?
SPEAKER_02: Uh if you do, ask him to tithe uh to the church.
SPEAKER_02: But um I have a dream that on every social media platform, the verse that we've been sort of looking at before we start preaching, but just kind of trying to learn together.
SPEAKER_02: My dream is that after every post, between every post, this verse would be there.
unknown: Right?
SPEAKER_02: So you can post whatever you want, but you gotta read this verse before you post whatever you want next, okay?
SPEAKER_02: So let's read it.
SPEAKER_02: It's Proverbs chapter 18, verse 2.
SPEAKER_02: It's on the screen, I'll read it with you.
SPEAKER_02: A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.
SPEAKER_02: We've been asking, we've been we've been saying in this series that one of the ways we gain understanding, right, so that we can be wise instead of foolish is to ask questions.
SPEAKER_02: Ask questions of one another, ask questions of God, sometimes even ask questions of ourselves.
SPEAKER_02: And this idea of asking questions seems to open up pathways to understanding.
SPEAKER_02: And and what's even beyond that, Jesus used this method.
SPEAKER_02: And think about it.
SPEAKER_02: The God of the universe, who had all the answers, often led with questions.
SPEAKER_02: Now he he also made statements, right?
SPEAKER_02: He said some important things.
SPEAKER_02: You know, there's a whole series of sermons you could preach around the I am statements of God.
SPEAKER_02: So he says things, but he also asks questions.
SPEAKER_02: And when you ask those questions, the relationship with the people that he's asking those questions to tends to grow and deepen.
SPEAKER_02: And so we understand the value of questions.
SPEAKER_02: And today we're gonna look at three questions in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter six.
SPEAKER_02: These questions are a little more familiar to us than maybe some of the others if you've been in scripture for a while.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus asks these three questions around the issue of worry.
SPEAKER_02: So I'm gonna talk about worry today.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you that don't worry can check out right now, come back in later, but I think all of us worry.
SPEAKER_02: I uh I have a, you know, I think everybody needs in their life some things that sort of divert them, and some things you can think about when life gets overwhelming.
SPEAKER_02: Now, I'm gonna talk to you about focusing on Jesus, but I also want to say you also have permission to just have some fun once in a while.
SPEAKER_02: And one of the things I do for fun is when I go on a walk, um, I will put in my earbuds and I'll listen to a podcast called the Nateland Podcast.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm telling you, this is you're gonna, if you listen to that podcast, you're gonna think less of me.
SPEAKER_02: Because it's just some comedians sitting around, cracking jokes, poking fun at each other.
SPEAKER_02: It's clean, but it's by Nate Bargatse, he put puts it on there.
SPEAKER_02: But the reason I brought it up is because there's one of those comedians named Brian Bates, who like Nate Bargatzsi is like the best comedian in the world right now.
SPEAKER_02: Nate Bargett, Brian Bates and him are buddies, and he's like the worst comedian in the world right now.
SPEAKER_02: So they play each other back and forth.
SPEAKER_02: It's a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_02: And Brian Bates was described by a couple of high school girls who saw him as having a worried face.
SPEAKER_02: I just love that.
SPEAKER_02: Like, of all the things you can say about somebody, he looks worried.
SPEAKER_02: And I I got to thinking about this idea of a worried face.
SPEAKER_02: Have you ever seen a worried face?
SPEAKER_02: Like, sometimes you can just look at somebody and say, they look worried right now.
SPEAKER_02: But I gotta tell you that the reality is most of us have the exact opposite problem.
SPEAKER_02: Most of us hide our worries.
SPEAKER_02: We don't want other people to know.
SPEAKER_02: We put on a front.
SPEAKER_02: And the people closest to us might be able to pick on it, but we pick up on it, but you ask somebody, how are you doing?
SPEAKER_02: Of course, the answer is always fine.
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna talk today about worry.
SPEAKER_02: And I just want to say to you, if you don't have something to worry about these days, I dare say you're not paying attention.
SPEAKER_02: We're in a war.
SPEAKER_02: There's things on global scale, there's things on a state scale, there's things in our community, there are issues that go deep and are divisive.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, we worry, we have so many things we can be worrying about these days.
SPEAKER_02: And these things require our attention.
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna hear this over and over today is that you can't just resolve worry by acting like there's nothing to worry about.
SPEAKER_02: And what I my experience personally, and as I've been around people and tried to help people through life, is that while those things are always in the background of our lives, and it seems to be a lot of them right now, the reality is we also have stuff that happens to us.
SPEAKER_02: If you're last week, you heard Pastor Jamie said he got worried when he couldn't find the porta body, right?
SPEAKER_02: If you were here last week.
SPEAKER_02: And we get worried about little things and we get worried about big things, we get worried about broken relationships, diminishing finances, challenging work situations, broken down cars, adult children, and on and young children.
SPEAKER_02: You get it?
SPEAKER_02: Life is full of worry, and so today, and uh of reasons to worry.
SPEAKER_02: And so in today's passage from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus asked questions that help us deal with the worry that goes deeper than our faith.
SPEAKER_02: The worry that even if we're hiding it well, still we carry.
SPEAKER_02: Let me pray as we move into this.
SPEAKER_02: Holy Spirit, would you open our eyes to your words so that we can gain a perspective that will help us understand how to deal with the challenges in our life that create worry.
SPEAKER_02: In your name we pray.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Matthew chapter 6, verses 25 through 30.
SPEAKER_02: It's kind of small, but I wanted it all on one screen.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus says, Therefore I tell you, don't worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the first question.
SPEAKER_02: Isn't life more than food and the body more than clothing?
SPEAKER_02: Consider the birds of the sky.
SPEAKER_02: They don't sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly father feeds them.
SPEAKER_02: Aren't you worth more than they?
SPEAKER_02: Can any of you add one moment to this life by worrying?
SPEAKER_02: And why do you worry about clothes?
SPEAKER_02: Observe how the wild flowers of the field grow.
SPEAKER_02: They don't labor or spin thread.
SPEAKER_02: Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these.
SPEAKER_02: If that's how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won't he do much more for you, you of little faith?
SPEAKER_02: Now there's five questions here.
SPEAKER_02: We're going to focus on three of them.
SPEAKER_02: And as we look at these questions, we can see the context where Jesus makes a statement and then he asks a question.
SPEAKER_02: And the statement is true, but the question is penetrating.
SPEAKER_02: And these questions are so valuable as we enter this discussion.
SPEAKER_02: The first one that we want to focus on is when Jesus says, Isn't life more than food and the body more than clothing?
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is asking a priority question here.
SPEAKER_02: What's important?
SPEAKER_02: Food and clothing matter.
SPEAKER_02: There are things in our life, and that food and clothing is like a whole spectrum of things we need to survive.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus doesn't dismiss these, but he says, Isn't life more than food and the body more than clothing?
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus is talking not here just about our physical life.
SPEAKER_02: I think he's talking about our connection with him, our spiritual life.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus is reminding us that we are of such profound importance to him that he chose to share our existence through the incarnation that is becoming human.
SPEAKER_02: And ultimately, he gave his very life to make a way for us to know him.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus is asking us to prioritize our lives and to remember, and he encourages us to see that the life we have in him consists of way more than the daily necessities of living.
SPEAKER_02: Again, those are vital and important.
SPEAKER_02: But he's saying, I want you to remember who you are because of who I am and what I've done for you.
SPEAKER_02: David Gizak says there's a difference between a godly sense of responsibility and an ungodly, untrusting worry.
SPEAKER_02: However, an ungodly, untrusting sense of worry usually masquerades as responsibility.
SPEAKER_02: Might take you a little bit to get your mind around that, but that is really profound.
SPEAKER_02: Because the reality is we have responsibilities.
SPEAKER_02: And we need to give attention to those.
SPEAKER_02: But it's easy sometimes for us to forget that we move from that idea of taking responsibility to taking on more responsibility than we're responsible for.
SPEAKER_02: And we begin to have an ungodly, untrusty sense of untrusting sense of worry, and we begin to worry about things we can't control.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus with this question says, I want you to remember what's really important.
SPEAKER_02: This is a priority question.
SPEAKER_02: He's inviting us to remember the life that we have in him.
SPEAKER_02: The second question Jesus asks is, can any of you add one moment to his lifespan by worrying?
SPEAKER_02: This is a practical question.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the thing.
SPEAKER_02: Worry does not work.
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't work.
SPEAKER_02: How many of you have gone through a season of worry and say, you know what, that really helped?
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I feel better about how I worried.
SPEAKER_02: I'm really glad I had my worried face on as I went through that trauma, that crisis, that daily challenge.
SPEAKER_02: Worry just doesn't work.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus says, can you add a moment to your life?
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna talk later.
SPEAKER_02: The opposite is true.
SPEAKER_02: The worry might actually take time from your life.
SPEAKER_02: Or as Cory Tin Boone says more eloquently, worrying does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.
SPEAKER_02: Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.
SPEAKER_02: Worry doesn't work.
SPEAKER_02: It's a very practical question.
SPEAKER_02: Priority question, the first one.
SPEAKER_02: Practical question, the second one.
SPEAKER_02: And then Jesus asks this third question won't he do much more for you, you of little faith?
SPEAKER_02: This is a personal question.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is saying to us, look, I'm taking care of all the birds and the animals, I'm doing all of that.
SPEAKER_02: Won't you trust me to take care of you?
SPEAKER_02: Oh, you of little faith.
SPEAKER_02: Now, I've talked before about the tone of voice Bible that I would like.
SPEAKER_02: I think I think the tone of voice that Jesus uses here is not, oh, you have little faith.
SPEAKER_02: Come on.
SPEAKER_02: It's not a shaming question, it's an invitation.
SPEAKER_02: Like whatever your faith is, could you trust me just a little more today in this situation?
SPEAKER_02: It's a very personal question.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is getting, yeah, it's practical, not to worry, it's a priority.
SPEAKER_02: But Jesus is saying, now what about you in this moment?
SPEAKER_02: Would you trust me just a little bit more with this?
SPEAKER_02: And I know how this works.
SPEAKER_02: I know that when we feel like we're trusting Jesus with something and it doesn't work out the way we want, we're wondering, can I trust him with the next thing?
SPEAKER_02: And I'm not asking you to trust Jesus for the things in your life.
SPEAKER_02: I'm asking you to trust Jesus with your life.
SPEAKER_02: There's a difference.
SPEAKER_02: Because things don't always work out the way we want, even when we pray.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe especially when we pray.
SPEAKER_02: It feels like it's not working.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus is just saying to us, listen, just trust me a little more.
SPEAKER_02: See, Jesus cares for you and he wants you to learn to trust him.
SPEAKER_02: He's asking this question not to shame you, but open to open your mind to the possibility of a growing faith.
SPEAKER_02: And again, he could have said, You need to trust me more.
SPEAKER_02: It could have been a demand, but the question draws us into relationship.
SPEAKER_02: This this idea, this idea of trusting Jesus goes back, it's deeply rooted in the Hebrew scriptures.
SPEAKER_02: In Psalm 37, 1 through 2, David says, Fret not yourselves because of evildoers.
SPEAKER_02: Be not anxious of wrongdoers, for they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb.
SPEAKER_02: See these questions collectively that Jesus asks encourage us to assess our priorities, make practical changes, and learn to trust Jesus on a very, very personal level.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus knows and experience confirms that worry can move to fear and anxiety, right?
SPEAKER_02: That worry can move to fear and anxiety.
SPEAKER_02: And left unchecked, these things have profound impact on our mental, emotional, and physical lives.
SPEAKER_02: And so we thought it'd be good this morning if there could be some folks that could help us understand that connection between anxiety and our physical and emotional lives.
SPEAKER_02: So we've invited a couple of folks to the stage.
SPEAKER_02: Would you welcome Aaron Rudine and Laura Van Sickle Devers to the stage as they help us continue this conversation?
SPEAKER_02: Well, I think many of you uh might know Laura, but uh Aaron is uh with us this morning and he's agreed to come and share with us.
SPEAKER_02: So, Aaron, why don't you introduce yourself as we get started?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so uh my name's Aaron Rudine.
SPEAKER_00: Uh thank you so much for uh bringing me in, welcoming me this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Um I came here uh at an invitation from John Benda, who uh then decided to just get the flu and not come this morning.
SPEAKER_00: So uh I won't take it personally.
SPEAKER_00: No, I appreciate you didn't invite me here and then give me the flu.
SPEAKER_00: So um, yeah, really happy to be here.
SPEAKER_00: I um I got my PhD from the New University of Kansas in molecular and developmental biology.
SPEAKER_00: And right now I work at a um a cancer pharmaceutical company.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the projects I've been working on for the past five years or so um actually directly looks at the cellular stress pathways and and how um cancer can take advantage of that, but also how we can take advantage of that as well to fight it.
SPEAKER_00: So um very interesting, and in this concept of stress at a cellular biological level is um yeah, something I spend a lot of time looking at.
SPEAKER_02: Cool.
SPEAKER_02: I think we're gonna value your um contribute contributions to the conversation.
SPEAKER_02: Laura, introduce yourself to us.
SPEAKER_03: Hi, I'm Laura Vansickel Devers, and I'm a licensed clinical psychotherapist.
SPEAKER_03: I have a practice here in Lawrence, and I work with kids, teenagers, adults with a variety of issues, but do a lot of work with folks struggling with anxiety and with trauma.
SPEAKER_02: Great.
SPEAKER_02: Well, given your areas of expertise, what can each of you share with us about the impact that worry, anxiety, andor fear uh has on our lives, and then maybe what we can do about that?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so maybe I'll start from looking at this from a purely biological perspective.
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, the the passage talks about worry a lot.
SPEAKER_00: And um when we look at the original Greek, the word that is translated as worry um is perhaps a little bit stronger in that context, sort of a chronic gripping anxiety or worry of something that you know you can't move past.
SPEAKER_00: Um and I think it's important to understand that worry and sort of this stress response is an innate um survival mechanism that humans are conditioned to have, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's benefited humans for generations, this sort of fight or flight response.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and it is important in many aspects of our life.
SPEAKER_00: And our bodies are conditioned to use that as an advantage, um, whether it's an acute stress, like say a viral infection or um a car slamming on the brakes in front of you, right?
SPEAKER_00: You need a quick response, you need a stress response to activate and sort of to resolve that situation.
SPEAKER_00: Um, where you start getting into trouble biologically is these chronic states, this chronic states of stress where where the body can't doesn't release that response, um, and it and it continues.
SPEAKER_00: So if you initially have, say, an anti-inflammatory response, um, that can be really good in some contexts.
SPEAKER_00: Eventually, that can suppress your immune system and weaken you.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, the these contexts can can go on and on.
SPEAKER_00: And and yeah, as Nate mentioned about with the phrase of can any of you add a moment to your life by worrying?
SPEAKER_00: Um, science has shown in a lot of ways that you in fact cannot, and it is the opposite.
SPEAKER_00: And there are really interesting studies about you know pessimistic uh um you know mindsets and optimistic minds mindsets and real measurable biological impacts um on the body from that.
SPEAKER_00: And so taking this all into the context that things are happening in our body and at a cellular level um is important to consider when we're thinking about ways we think about things.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's great.
SPEAKER_02: Laura, what would you contribute?
SPEAKER_03: Well, when we think about that um anxiety response, as Aaron said, that that is an important piece for our survival when we just first have that uh kind of alerting to whatever it is that our body is picking up as a threat.
SPEAKER_03: And just want to, is it we all have different personalities, right?
SPEAKER_03: So some of us are wired to get anxious more easily than others.
SPEAKER_03: And uh I just want to share an example with you of this isn't actually wiring.
SPEAKER_03: This is where someone's brain was uh their amygdala, which is your kind of danger sensor in your brain was deficient.
SPEAKER_03: And uh that's the amygdala.
SPEAKER_03: And this person, she was known, a patient known by the initials SM, and they did some because she had this unique disease, they did some studies on her.
SPEAKER_03: She reported that she was afraid of snakes and spiders.
SPEAKER_03: So they took her to this exotic pet shop and they had her hold snakes.
SPEAKER_03: She showed no fear.
SPEAKER_03: She was like petting them, she was like touching their tongue as it flickered out.
SPEAKER_03: And then she asked repeatedly if she could touch and quote, poke the bigger, more dangerous snakes.
SPEAKER_03: There was the tarantula cage she was told not to put her hand in, and she put her hand in it anyway because it was dangerous.
SPEAKER_03: And she had a ton of episodes of trauma and crime in her life where she did not show the uh normal fear response.
SPEAKER_03: So you can see fear is helpful.
SPEAKER_03: Um, if you guys, uh those of you out here who have parents who are parents, if you have kids, these were not my kids, they were more the worry type.
SPEAKER_03: But if you have kids that didn't have enough worry, right, and you're like, man, I wish they were like a little more aware of the dangers out there.
SPEAKER_03: Um but so that that's one extreme.
SPEAKER_03: And then we have this other extreme of the chronic worry.
SPEAKER_03: And we have all probably experienced times where we have felt that way.
SPEAKER_03: That initial feeling of fear, not the problem, it's what we do with that, and we have choices, and that's what we don't often recognize because our response is so fast.
SPEAKER_03: So the first thing to do is to when you recognize, like, oh, I'm feeling this anxiety, I'm having anxiety thoughts, I'm feeling my heart racing.
SPEAKER_03: Or that pressure in my chest is to stop and notice and be curious about what is happening here.
SPEAKER_03: And some questions you can ask are: Is this something that's really a threat?
SPEAKER_03: What's the story?
SPEAKER_03: I'm telling myself about that.
SPEAKER_03: We have very automatic thoughts with these reactions often.
SPEAKER_03: How does that story fit into God's bigger narrative?
SPEAKER_03: And then you can make an intentional choice to stay focused on that anxiety and that automatic response, or shift your focus to something that's more beneficial.
SPEAKER_03: Just a super quick illustration.
SPEAKER_03: There is in the field of what's called acceptance and commitment therapy, they have this, um, they do use a lot of metaphors, and there's this video.
SPEAKER_03: You can look up ACT Annoying Neighbor if you want to see the video.
SPEAKER_03: But there's this person who's having a party, and an annoying neighbor wants to come to the party, but they weren't invited, and they keep coming to the door.
SPEAKER_03: And that's the annoying neighbor is um symbolizing like the thing you're your problem, the thing you're worried about or the thing you're angry about.
SPEAKER_03: And rather than enjoying their party, this person at the beginning stays focused in this um dispute, keep going back to the door again and again with the neighbor, saying, No, you can't come in, you can't come in, go away.
SPEAKER_03: And he misses his party.
SPEAKER_03: Second, they show a better way to do it is to invite the neighbor, okay, come in to the party.
SPEAKER_03: And he focuses on the other things at the party that he wants to focus on, even though the neighbor is in the background.
SPEAKER_03: We can do that with our worries.
SPEAKER_03: So once we recognize we have that worry, it may be in the background, but we can choose not to focus there.
SPEAKER_03: Some other things we can do is focus on the things that are good around us.
SPEAKER_03: Um our brains are automatically tuned to find what's gonna go wrong here because it's survival value.
SPEAKER_03: Unfortunately, um, we don't automatically look for what's good.
SPEAKER_03: What are we grateful for?
SPEAKER_03: What's good in the moment?
SPEAKER_03: So tuning to those things intentionally is a habit we can develop.
SPEAKER_03: There are physical exercises we can do to cue our bodies to physically relax, things like breathing exercises, yoga.
SPEAKER_03: There's more.
SPEAKER_03: Um a prayer I like to use is called the welcome prayer.
SPEAKER_03: Um, and it's really welcoming Jesus into whatever that situation is.
SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna read just a little segment of it.
SPEAKER_03: Uh, welcome, Jesus, welcome.
SPEAKER_03: I release my need to have power, respect, and control in the situation.
SPEAKER_03: Control's a big one, right?
SPEAKER_03: When we're anxious.
SPEAKER_03: Um, welcome, Jesus, welcome.
SPEAKER_03: I release my need to feel safety, security, and ease.
SPEAKER_03: Jesus, I release my need to change reality and receive it as it is.
SPEAKER_03: Welcome, Jesus, welcome.
SPEAKER_03: So for me, that's a short, kind of just a short cut in my brain to just say, Welcome, Jesus, welcome.
SPEAKER_03: I have a friend that uses this prayer and we text it to each other.
SPEAKER_03: When one of us texts something that's not going on, the other will text back, welcome, Jesus, welcome.
SPEAKER_03: So that's a way to shift your focus as well.
SPEAKER_03: And at Easter, or I'm sorry, the Sunday after Easter, we're gonna be kicking off a sermon series called Transform the Mind of Christ.
SPEAKER_03: And if you're interested in this, um, well, whether you're interested or not, we're gonna do it.
SPEAKER_03: But um, show up, please, if you're interested, and and give it a try if you're not.
SPEAKER_03: But we're gonna learn even more about what are these things we can do to help put ourselves in the position for the Holy Spirit to transform our minds to be like that of Christ, which is not a worried mind.
SPEAKER_02: That's good.
SPEAKER_02: Aaron, you you talked uh earlier about um how this impacts our body.
SPEAKER_02: I talk a little bit about the hormones and how that impacts and what happens like biologically that way.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it's it's a it's a good segue to talk about from some of the things that we which we'll talk about next, also in resolving this and some techniques you can take.
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I think it's also important to keep in mind throughout this process that, yeah, as Nate mentioned, the the hormones, right?
SPEAKER_00: When we have thoughts that can trigger glands in the brain and our adrenal glands in our kidneys to start producing hormones, um, which are compounds.
SPEAKER_00: You know, these are things we can extract.
SPEAKER_00: They're physical, you know, um basically like drugs that bind different receptors in our body and have an actual physical response, right?
SPEAKER_00: We talked about increased heart heart rate, um, maybe sweating a little bit, you know, all of these types of tremors, you know, all these different physical effects that come about from purely a mental state, which I think is really fascinating.
SPEAKER_00: Um, I think I for a long time didn't thought my thoughts are in my brain and that's it.
SPEAKER_00: They're just there, they're not affecting anything else.
SPEAKER_00: But um that's that's been shown scientifically to be actually not true.
SPEAKER_00: And I think it's really fascinating looking at some of the writings in the Bible from either Paul or from Jesus or you know, these these ancient um writers um that were making these same connections.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they didn't know anything about interferon gamma elevating integrated stress response levels in the cell, right?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, but they knew they could see that these um these techniques, these prayer and partition, similar to how meditation or some of these ways of reducing anxiety, um, do have physical effects.
SPEAKER_00: And so I think that that's that's important to consider as well, that there is a brain to gut.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we could talk at length about the gut-brain connection and how that really can impact um a variety of different health um consequences.
SPEAKER_00: So uh I think it's you know, this intersection of how science and faith, I really appreciate the opportunity to come here and discuss it because I think in a lot of ways, science and and and faith sometimes are talked about through a lens of butting up against each other.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I really think that's not the case and that they can work really beautifully together, and there's a a lot of compliment there with each other.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, some of these ancient writers, while maybe not scientists, were doing some things that were and saying some things that were pretty scientifically accurate for for today, which is pretty remarkable.
SPEAKER_00: That's cool, that's good.
SPEAKER_02: I had somebody after first service, uh they went to graduate school and they were they had all kinds of health issues, so they went to the doctor, and the doctor asked what medications doctors looked at and said, You're stressed, dude.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if he said dude or not.
SPEAKER_02: I added that, it's fun.
SPEAKER_02: But getting that connectivity between that.
SPEAKER_02: So, Laura, there's one more question I want to ask before we wrap this up.
SPEAKER_02: You've talked about these things that we can do to help um move out of stress and worry and anxiety, some great tools, but uh help us understand maybe and suggest ideas for those who are dealing with a mental health disorder, um, how they can how they can manage this conversation.
SPEAKER_03: Sure.
SPEAKER_03: No, that's a great question.
SPEAKER_03: I'm glad you asked that.
SPEAKER_03: Because if you're sitting out there or you know someone like this who just gets stuck in uncontrollable, overwhelming worry, um, I am sure Jesus did not write these verses to shame you that we live in a broken world and uh physical and mental health disorders are part of that.
SPEAKER_03: And there are really good reasons, and also there are some medical disorders that cause anxiety as well, and um and medications that side effect is anxiety.
SPEAKER_03: So in those cases where it is not possible to just shift your attention away from a worry, um, there are lots of good helps for you out there in the way of physical types of therapies, um, mental health therapies, medicine, and perhaps what it looks like to um follow God in that situation and to be transformed, to be like Jesus, is not to just shame yourself into this is something I can't do and keep setting yourself up for failure, but instead to have the courage to try one of the types of treatments that might be helpful to help you learn to move out of that, to help you deal with maybe there's some underlying trauma that causes that.
SPEAKER_03: So yes, I definitely don't want people to walk away feeling shamed or like I'm hopelessly stuck.
SPEAKER_03: I don't know what to do with this.
SPEAKER_02: That's good.
SPEAKER_02: Well, this is fascinating.
SPEAKER_02: Let's let's let's thank Aaron and Laura for their contribution this morning.
SPEAKER_03: Thanks.
SPEAKER_02: So Jesus asked three questions, and the apostle Paul um gives us three practices that can help us here.
SPEAKER_02: And when I talk about these three practices, there's gonna be so much overlap between the questions, the panel discussion, and these practices.
SPEAKER_02: So in Philippians chapter four, Paul writes, Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
SPEAKER_02: And the peace of God which transcends or past surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Finally, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there's anything excellent, if there's anything worthy of praise, think about these days.
SPEAKER_02: What you've learned and received and heard from me, practice these things and the God of peace will be with you.
SPEAKER_02: Just three practices.
SPEAKER_02: It's pretty easy to pick them out of this passage, but I want to center on as we leave today.
SPEAKER_02: There's words that were used up here that I won't remember.
SPEAKER_02: Aaron, you're, you know, I but man, the conversation was so good.
SPEAKER_02: I I particularly love this myth this idea that science and faith can work together.
SPEAKER_02: But as we leave, I just want to give you some real practical things to do.
SPEAKER_02: First of all, Paul says to pray.
SPEAKER_02: If you can worry about it, you can pray about it.
SPEAKER_02: It's such a practical piece.
SPEAKER_02: Paul doesn't say, don't worry, be happy.
SPEAKER_02: He says to pray.
SPEAKER_02: In all things.
SPEAKER_02: He talks about it again in 1 Thessalonians.
SPEAKER_02: I used to try a strategy, I kind of joked about it a little bit, but I actually tried this strategy for a bit in my life.
SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm not gonna worry about anything all day, and then and then at night, I'm just gonna take 15 minutes on my drive home from work.
SPEAKER_02: I'm just gonna worry.
SPEAKER_02: Turn off the radio, I'm just gonna get out my list mentally, I'm just gonna worry.
SPEAKER_02: Put on my worried face.
SPEAKER_02: That's a silly strategy.
SPEAKER_02: I changed it to like every time I worry, I'm just gonna whisper a prayer.
SPEAKER_02: I'm just gonna invite that prayer that that prayer that Laura mentioned.
SPEAKER_02: Come Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: I've I've reduced it even to just Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Just saying his name in those moments.
SPEAKER_02: And again, prayer is such a tricky and uh subject for us because I think we have the idea that prayer means God's going to do something to solve or resolve our problem.
SPEAKER_02: Even even sort of bringing that down to this simple narrative if he's gonna say yes, no, or wait.
SPEAKER_02: Like, I understand that, but I think prayer is so much more than that kind of a formula.
SPEAKER_02: Prayer is just getting closer to Jesus and how better it would be when we're trying to discern responsibility versus over over-responsibility to just be closer to Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Second one is gratitude.
SPEAKER_02: Start and finish with Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Like what I mean by that is if you can't think of anything else to be grateful for, start and end with Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Because sometimes your life gets in such a traumatic place or such a difficult place or such a stress-filled place that to be grateful, it almost feels like you're not paying attention.
SPEAKER_02: Like you, it's hard sometimes when you get in those situations, right?
SPEAKER_02: To to be grateful.
SPEAKER_02: Now you can make the list.
SPEAKER_02: I get that.
SPEAKER_02: Like everybody can find something to be grateful for, but rather than forcing ourselves into some sort of practice of just coming up with a list of things, why don't we just start with Jesus?
SPEAKER_02: That never goes off the list of things to be grateful for.
SPEAKER_02: And end with Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: And in the middle, find some other stuff.
SPEAKER_02: And there's a lot of other stuff.
SPEAKER_02: Don't get me wrong, but this is more than just a mental exercise.
SPEAKER_02: This is a spiritual focus.
SPEAKER_02: When you don't know what else to thank God for, thank him that he chose to send his only son, and he knew that was gonna need to happen the moment he created humans because he knew if I give them free will, they're gonna break the law.
SPEAKER_02: And he sent Jesus, he wrapped himself in flesh, he died on the cross, rose from the dead, sent his spirit, created the church.
SPEAKER_02: Man, there's so much gratitude that can be found in Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: And then the last one, intentional focus.
SPEAKER_02: This is what we talked quite a bit out about on the panel, just what we focus on grows.
SPEAKER_02: Little uh little marriage tip here.
SPEAKER_02: I learned this uh in a book, but I've applied it to my life, to our marriage, and that is what you focus on grows.
SPEAKER_02: Every marriage here has problems.
SPEAKER_02: In your mind, if you're married, I want you to think of a percentage.
SPEAKER_02: How much of your marriage is a problem?
SPEAKER_02: 10%?
SPEAKER_02: 20%, 50%, I should keep going.
SPEAKER_02: Give the problem the attention it deserves, but don't focus on the problem.
SPEAKER_02: Focus on what's right with your marriage.
SPEAKER_02: If there's 10% wrong with your marriage, that means there's 90% that's good.
SPEAKER_02: Lean into that, grow that, think about that, be thankful for that, talk about that.
SPEAKER_02: Don't don't deny your problems, all right?
SPEAKER_02: So that's your marriage advice.
SPEAKER_02: Back to the same principle.
SPEAKER_02: Once you focus on grace.
SPEAKER_02: This this remember Jesus said, or Paul said, think about good things.
SPEAKER_02: What's trustworthy?
SPEAKER_02: Think about they're out there, friends.
SPEAKER_02: No matter how bad things get globally or in your own life, there are good things to think about.
SPEAKER_02: Again, this doesn't deny action.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to be really clear.
SPEAKER_02: I want to be really clear.
SPEAKER_02: Overcoming worry does not happen at the expense of stepping into hard things.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you are avoiding hard conversations.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you are avoiding hard realities in your life, some stuff that you don't you're in denial about.
SPEAKER_02: Worry never goes away by denying the problem, but by leaning into prayer and gratitude and focusing on Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: I think the Lord knew, well, that was a silly way to frame this question.
SPEAKER_02: I know the Lord knew that when we prepared this sermon series and put this on the calendar way back in July of last year, that I would have a situation pop up in my life.
SPEAKER_02: And when I share this in first service, people were worried about my family and my wife.
SPEAKER_02: Someone were looking around.
SPEAKER_02: Is Janet here today?
SPEAKER_02: See, okay, it's a situation I don't really want to go into detail about, but it's put something on my plate that I did not want, I do not deserve, and is completely unfair.
SPEAKER_02: It has nothing to do with my family or anyone here.
SPEAKER_02: And so I'm in that space of trying to figure out what's my responsibility here as a leader.
SPEAKER_02: Let me put one more thing, is it has to do with my role as district superintendent, not as pastor of Connect Church.
SPEAKER_02: Everybody good?
SPEAKER_02: What's my responsibility as a leader and what am I trying to take care of that's not my responsibility?
SPEAKER_02: And so, man, I've had some good prayer times this week.
SPEAKER_02: I've had some good prayer times.
SPEAKER_02: I've been more intentional about my focus this week.
SPEAKER_02: More grateful for my Lord this week.
SPEAKER_02: Because here's the reality if we are going to move past worry into healthy ways, it's probably some things are gonna have to change in our life.
SPEAKER_02: It probably isn't gonna get better on its own.
SPEAKER_02: God may ask you to think differently about your daily life and put some of these things into play because we'll never eliminate worry.
SPEAKER_02: But if we show focus, if we shift our focus from the threat to the provider by way of prayer, then our physical, mental, and emotional lives will find an alignment that they were originally intended for.
SPEAKER_02: Why don't you stand with me as I pray?
SPEAKER_02: Lord, we pause in this moment just to practice what we've preached.
SPEAKER_02: We just want to bring all of our stuff to you.
SPEAKER_02: We want to be grateful if for nothing else and it's everything, but we just want to be grateful for you, for what you did for us and what you're doing in us.
SPEAKER_02: And that we want to focus on you in these last couple of worship songs because you are a good guy.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, do your work in us and help us to trust you just a little more.
SPEAKER_02: Help us to hear that question you asked.
SPEAKER_02: Owe you a little faith as an invitation into deeper trust, regardless of what's going on around us.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, whether we have a worried face or a worried liver, we turn it over to you in this moment.
SPEAKER_02: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, listen, some of you might want someone else to pray with you a little bit longer.
SPEAKER_02: Across the hallway, there's some folks in the youth student room that would be glad to pray with you for the rest of us.
SPEAKER_02: Let's worship and keep our focus on Jesus.