SPEAKER_01: Hey, thanks for tuning in to the Haven City Church podcast.
SPEAKER_01: My name is Josh Taransky, and this message is a part of our series on mental health.
SPEAKER_01: At the end of 2019, we decided to set aside some time as a church for three weeks to discuss mental health.
SPEAKER_01: This is the second sermon that I gave in the series, and it's entitled Depression and the Hope of Heaven.
SPEAKER_01: If you'd like to see more resources from this series, you can go to our website, BaltimoreChurch.com slash mental health.
SPEAKER_01: There you'll find links, books, and some of the other teaching that I did.
SPEAKER_00: Do not store for yourselves treasures on earth.
SPEAKER_00: Where moths and vermin destroy.
SPEAKER_00: But store for yourselves treasures in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
SPEAKER_00: The eye is the lamp of the body.
SPEAKER_00: If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light.
SPEAKER_00: But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness.
SPEAKER_00: If then the light within you is dark, how great is that darkness?
SPEAKER_00: No one can serve two masters.
SPEAKER_00: Either you will hate the one and love the other.
SPEAKER_00: Or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot serve both God and money.
SPEAKER_00: Do not worry.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body.
SPEAKER_00: What you will wear is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?
SPEAKER_00: Look at the birds of the air, they do not sow or reap or store away in bonds, and yet your heavenly father feeds them.
SPEAKER_00: Are you not much more valuable than they?
SPEAKER_00: Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
SPEAKER_00: And why do you worry about clothes?
SPEAKER_00: See how the flowers of the field grow.
SPEAKER_00: They do not labor or spin.
SPEAKER_00: Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
SPEAKER_00: If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, you of little faith.
SPEAKER_00: So do not worry, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear?
SPEAKER_00: For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly father knows that you need them.
SPEAKER_00: But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.
SPEAKER_00: Each day has enough trouble of its own.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_01: Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word, that it is so um direct to our own experience.
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, we ask that this morning your Holy Spirit would apply these truths and the things that we speak of into our own lives.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, apply these things we ask.
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You may be seated.
SPEAKER_01: I've asked uh Ray's gonna pass out an outline.
SPEAKER_01: This is something new, we haven't done this before, but this will give you a sense of where we're going um with the teaching today.
SPEAKER_01: And you can, it's kind of like a fill-in-the-blank if you have a pen.
SPEAKER_01: Um there's it's uh kind of an interactive or you can interact with the um worksheet as we're going along.
SPEAKER_01: We have been um looking at this study, we've been considering mental health as a theme.
SPEAKER_01: And um last week we looked at uh depression, this week we're considering anxiety, the week uh two weeks ago we looked at um uh a theological framework for understanding mental health.
SPEAKER_01: And um my hope for this time, for these few weeks, and and we'll do this again someday in the future, but just um want to shine some light in on this this topic.
SPEAKER_01: Um I want to make sure that um we as a church um are correctly kind of framing these things up, that we're participating in the in the conversation as a church, and that your only input isn't just um from the world, but that you're getting input also um from your pastor.
SPEAKER_01: And so um I just wanted to make sure that um uh that we that we're covering these things.
SPEAKER_01: So sometimes uh you you have the kind of at the top there of your page, um we've got this thing.
SPEAKER_01: Depression sometimes is a reflection of how we think about it, should be the past.
SPEAKER_01: And anxiety is oftentimes our anticipation of the future.
SPEAKER_01: Oftentimes these uh when we we ex when we experience depression, it can relate to things that have already occurred in our life.
SPEAKER_01: Um but the things that we're anxious about almost always are things that are yet to happen or are kind of there out there in the future.
SPEAKER_01: And so um that's kind of that's kind of even though these two get lumped together, in fact, when you listen to like a um advertisement on TV for some kind the like latest uh psychotropic drug or medication, it's for depression and anxiety.
SPEAKER_01: These two are are radically um different in terms of uh their disposition or outlook um on life.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe the maybe the medication helps with both, but um we're talking about two very different different things.
SPEAKER_01: Um before we get into um looking at some of these different texts, I just want to say this.
SPEAKER_01: And this was kind of as I kind of had this message put together, and as I was thinking about it this morning, just this thought came to me, and maybe this is just for one person, but I I I want to encourage you um to draw near to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And I would as I was thinking about this, I I was thinking about my Christian friends who are struggling with their faith.
SPEAKER_01: I I right now I have two groups of friends.
SPEAKER_01: I have friends that I went to Bible college with about 20 years ago, and um, and then I have more current friends.
SPEAKER_01: And the amazing thing about Facebook and social media is that you can kind of lump all of those people together in one location, and it's interesting to kind of watch life unfold.
SPEAKER_01: And I have a group of friends that I went to Bible college with, and you can imagine being 20 years old or 18 years old, where everybody's a Christian and you're worshiping God every day and you're taking Bible classes and everybody's excited about who the Lord is.
SPEAKER_01: So it's very fascinating to see us all 20 years down the road.
SPEAKER_01: And um, I have a chunk of friends who I knew in Bible college, and they've completely walked away from the Lord, some more publicly than others, but they've um they're they've essentially one of the latest friends basically put up a post and just said, I'm no longer a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: And the things you're gonna see on my Facebook page are gonna be things um uh that relate to how how um Christianity is just a narrow-minded, bigoted religion, and and uh I'm gonna share with you how uh there's a bigger and broader perspective.
SPEAKER_01: I was like, oh great, okay, I can't wait to see this.
SPEAKER_01: But you know, that there's another group of people that I'm near to, and and that's walking with you all, and and some that are not here this morning, walking with saints.
SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, we've been doing church and I've been a part of people's lives here for the last few years, and I it's been interesting to see um people who are struggling and people that are going through different things not grab on to the Lord and um kind of allow um to kind of take for granted this season of their life.
SPEAKER_01: And I think I think there's a group of Christians that I've engaged with that have kind of come through our church who are their their mentality is that they'll get things right with the Lord in the future.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm looking at them and I'm saying, man, if you don't take a hold of this moment, this is your moment to get right with the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And there's this passage, I think it's Isaiah 55, that says, draw near to the Lord, he will draw near to you.
SPEAKER_01: And and I think there's this moment where the Lord just comes near to us and and he wants to extend himself to us and and speak into our lives.
SPEAKER_01: And I just for for us as a church, I just want to encourage you and those that are listening to this after the fact on on the podcast, I just want to encourage you to just really grab a hold of the Lord in your life and to not not expect that um you know there's gonna be a season down the road where where where you can kind of get into the game spiritually.
SPEAKER_01: Um I wrote here, Jesus talked about this when he told his disciples about the man who built his house on the sand versus the man who built his house on the rock.
SPEAKER_01: That's this passage here.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Why do you call me Lord and you do not do what I say?
SPEAKER_01: As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like.
SPEAKER_01: They're like a man building a house who dug down deep, laid a foundation on the rock.
SPEAKER_01: When the floods came and the torrent struck that house, um, but they could not shake it because it was well built.
SPEAKER_01: But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation.
SPEAKER_01: The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was completed.
SPEAKER_01: And um so I just want to encourage you.
SPEAKER_01: What as we've gone through this series, um, as we've talked specifically about depression and anxiety, I I just again want to encourage you, not not that my sermon, hopefully you're not looking at me persuading you.
SPEAKER_01: My hope is that I'm bringing to the surface some some theological ideas, so doctrine is kind of like the weaving together of theological concepts, and then the scriptures themselves.
SPEAKER_01: My prayer for you is that you are um being captured, your attention is being captured by the things that we've considered, and that you're really um giving yourself to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Um, some of us are dominated in our lives by worry, anxiety, and nerves.
SPEAKER_01: And I just want you to know look, it's not God's will for you to be dominated by these emotions.
SPEAKER_01: God has called you to live from a position of victory and triumph.
SPEAKER_01: He has not bought you, or he has bought you and your victorious future with the blood that he shed on the cross.
SPEAKER_01: And so you may at varying degrees struggle with anxiety, some some more than others.
SPEAKER_01: Some may some of your friends may look at you and say, man, you're a ball of nerves, you know.
SPEAKER_01: You're constantly struggling with anxiety, and and that might that might be you.
SPEAKER_01: Others of us rarely, you know, may struggle with anxiety.
SPEAKER_01: And it's just kind of like it'll come through really, you know, when the finances are tight or there's some very significant occasion, you know, you're getting ready to get married and it's more intense than normal.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't I don't know what it is for you.
SPEAKER_01: But I just want you to know that it is not God's will for you to be dominated by those feelings of anxiety.
SPEAKER_01: Those those feelings of anxiety, um, if you're a Christian, are not meant to shape you.
SPEAKER_01: And God has purchased for you a life of peace.
SPEAKER_01: Um, at the same time, as you feel those emotions of anxiety and restlessness and worry, you need to not, you need to know that you're not condemned, that you're loved by God, that those feelings of worry don't separate you from God's love, and that that ongoing battle is um does not make you less of a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: Um the fact that you may struggle with anxiety more than the next person doesn't mean that you are more um uh or that you're less spiritual.
SPEAKER_01: Um you are loved by him, but I just want to right from the beginning paint this picture so that you understand that there is a hope and that um God's plan for you.
SPEAKER_01: If you'll submit to the plan of God in your life, that his plan for you is that you'll have victory over those anxieties and that that God's peace will come to dominate your life.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but you have to cooperate with him.
SPEAKER_01: You have to cooperate with him.
SPEAKER_01: And in the last two weeks we've talked about some medication, and I've told you that I'm very uh um medication.
SPEAKER_01: I think that you'd take that early on in the process rather than a last resort.
SPEAKER_01: But I've also said, listen, that that deals with a symptom that can be debilitating, but you need to press into the Lord, right?
SPEAKER_01: God wants to work in your life, God wants to set you free.
SPEAKER_01: He loves you, and he wants to um do more than just um change your biology uh, you know, the that chemical maybe that might be off.
SPEAKER_01: He wants to work in you.
SPEAKER_01: Just for a moment, you have space there.
SPEAKER_01: Write down the three things that are most that that cause you the most anxiety.
SPEAKER_01: Things that cause you the most anxiety.
SPEAKER_01: These are the things that you wake up at 3 a.m.
SPEAKER_01: and you have a cold sweat and you're just like, man, I'm worried.
SPEAKER_01: I'm worried.
SPEAKER_01: What are some of the things that you wrote down there?
SPEAKER_01: Debt, yeah, money, that's definitely one of mine.
SPEAKER_01: Menopause, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Now we're getting honest.
SPEAKER_01: What restlessness, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: School, yeah, illness, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: What is it?
SPEAKER_01: Finance, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Good.
SPEAKER_01: You guys are being honest with uh me this morning.
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate your honesty and your transparency.
SPEAKER_01: There's there are things that come up in life that are difficult, you know.
SPEAKER_01: In Matthew 6, Jesus is talking to his disciples about three common ones clothing, food, and housing.
SPEAKER_01: Um you know, in for us though, you know, in the US, our um our anxieties maybe have an origin in a different location, but anxiety is anxiety, right?
SPEAKER_01: That suffering, that that um agonizing over what's going to happen is very real.
SPEAKER_01: Now, here's some of the lies that anxiety says to you and I.
SPEAKER_01: You are going to fail.
SPEAKER_01: You're going to look like an idiot.
SPEAKER_01: You will not have enough money.
SPEAKER_01: You will not be able to handle the pain.
SPEAKER_01: You are going to die.
SPEAKER_01: That's that's that's what our anxiety, that's that's basically what it's saying to us.
SPEAKER_01: You know?
SPEAKER_01: Laying there awake in the middle of the night.
SPEAKER_01: These are the kinds of things that um that dominate us.
SPEAKER_01: Last last um week I very quickly mentioned spiritual warfare.
SPEAKER_01: And I I think that this is a uh a primary, if I was gonna list like what are the top three ways that Satan attacks us, I would say that this is one of them.
SPEAKER_01: That that Satan attacks us and causes us to worry.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Why is that?
SPEAKER_01: Well, this this is the case.
SPEAKER_01: The the Christian life, God wants us to live our life by faith.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, in Romans 15 it says, whatever is not of faith is sin.
SPEAKER_01: So God wants you and I to live our life from faith to faith, where we're literally trusting God continually.
SPEAKER_01: So if you can imagine having an enemy, a spiritual enemy that's able to seed emotions and thoughts into your mind, what do you think he's going to attack?
SPEAKER_01: He's going to attack the life of faith, right?
SPEAKER_01: In fact, in Hebrews chapter 11, it says, without faith, it's impossible to please God, right?
SPEAKER_01: So on one hand, you live, your life is pleasing to God because Jesus paid for your sin and you're covered, your life is covered with the blood of Jesus, right?
SPEAKER_01: And so when the Father looks at you and I, he sees the work that Jesus did on our behalf.
SPEAKER_01: Like he's attributed to you the righteousness of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: But at the same time, as we interact with God, there is this way to please him, that individually we're pleasing before him.
SPEAKER_01: And the way that we're pleasing is by is when we live by faith, when we take steps of faith.
SPEAKER_01: And so if Satan can come in and if he is our number one enemy, the one that is opposed to you today, the chief substantial enemy that you have, um, being Satan number one, death number two.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, those are the two enemies that you have.
SPEAKER_01: It's not your spouse, it's not your kids, it's not your boss.
SPEAKER_01: You may feel like that thing, that that's the case.
SPEAKER_01: But listen, your number one enemy, Satan and death, right?
SPEAKER_01: Satan wants to come in and he wants to get you off of God's plan, right?
SPEAKER_01: Because God sent his son into the world to redeem you and I, right?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus came in to get you established in a in the kingdom, right?
SPEAKER_01: Kingdom values, loving one another, people in the kingdom, kingdom mission, right?
SPEAKER_01: So he's getting, and so if Satan can come in and he can get us worried out of that place of faith, then Satan's having his way with us.
SPEAKER_01: And so he will see these types of lies in our minds.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna fail.
SPEAKER_01: You won't be able to handle the pain, you're gonna die, you're gonna lose face, you're not gonna survive the semester, whatever it might be.
SPEAKER_01: So I want to give you six steps for handling anxiety.
SPEAKER_01: And uh, you have slicks six slots there, and we will um walk through those.
SPEAKER_01: The first is this freedom from anxiety begins with confession that it is not God's will.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, anxiety is a sub subtle insinuation that God is either unable or disinclined to see our welfare.
SPEAKER_01: So it's Starts with just a putting it in place.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: So most of the anxiety that I feel, track with me here for a second, think about this.
SPEAKER_01: When you're anxious, if you're like me, you're anxious in the middle of the night, right?
SPEAKER_01: You're losing sleep over something, right?
SPEAKER_01: And the first thing, the first thing that we need to do is we just need to put it in its proper context, that this is not, this anxiety is not God's will for me.
SPEAKER_01: We want to recognize truth and error.
SPEAKER_01: So a lot of these anxieties are just built off of lies.
SPEAKER_01: But some of the scenarios that we're worried about could really happen.
SPEAKER_01: If you go back, I think it's Psalm 27.
SPEAKER_01: I think it's Psalm 27.
SPEAKER_01: No, it's not Psalm 27.
SPEAKER_01: It eludes me now.
SPEAKER_01: But David praised this psalm, and he said, God, if even if my family forsake me, I will worship you.
SPEAKER_01: It's the one where he talks about being in the courts of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: I want to dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
SPEAKER_01: So there's a school of thought about anxiety and worry that you know 96% of the things that we worry about don't ever take place, right?
SPEAKER_01: Well, and so we shouldn't worry about them.
SPEAKER_01: Well, David, he actually goes, runs through those scenarios in his head, and he says, if these things happen to me, I'm going to still worship you, God.
SPEAKER_01: It's a different way.
SPEAKER_01: As a Christian, we want to make sure that we're not just ignoring our fears, right?
SPEAKER_01: That's not a Christian response.
SPEAKER_01: Our response is the things we're afraid of should not dominate us because there's a greater spiritual reality that exists.
SPEAKER_01: So death for us isn't something that should be like our own physical death, doesn't have to be something that we fear as if we didn't know God.
SPEAKER_01: Our death has great meaning.
SPEAKER_01: It means our entrance into heaven, being in the presence of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: So, first of all, getting things into their proper place, calling out truth and error, you need to know that God is for you, God loves you, God knows what's going on, God is right in how He handles our future.
SPEAKER_01: You may have gone through something that's painful, you may have gone through an abusive situation, you may have been the victim of abuse, and so there may be this reflexive turning away in your anxiety of like, I, you know, I just I'm worried about the next blow that's gonna take place, and you feel like it's hard to trust the Lord in that place, and you just need to know that um the Lord's gonna be with you through difficult things, he's gonna be with you in the things that are painful, and that you can trust in him.
SPEAKER_01: The second thing here is this recognize the futility of worry.
SPEAKER_01: Recognize the futility of worry.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, um Matthew 6 27 speaks to this.
SPEAKER_01: We read this already, but he Jesus asks this question Can any one of you be by worrying add a single hour to your life?
SPEAKER_01: Can you add a can you add an hour to your life?
SPEAKER_01: Can you um add an inch to your height?
SPEAKER_01: You know, Jesus asks a number of these types of questions because he wants you to consider what is how futile it is to be a person who is paralyzed by worry.
SPEAKER_01: The third thing that we can do is cultivate a growing understanding of God's power and fatherly disposition.
SPEAKER_01: Cultivate a growing understanding of God's power and fatherly disposition.
SPEAKER_01: I want to show you a few more scriptures about this as well.
SPEAKER_01: Um, one is Matthew 6, 26, which we also already read, but here's what Jesus says.
SPEAKER_01: Look at the birds of the air, they do not sow or reap or stow away in barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them.
SPEAKER_01: Are you not much more valuable than they?
SPEAKER_01: I'll go back to this just in case you're trying to take notes and get it all in there.
SPEAKER_01: But the the point in Matthew 6.26 is Jesus says, look at how the birds are taken care of, and then he says, How much more valuable are you than they?
SPEAKER_01: Look at God, God's disposition towards you is this fatherly disposition, a good heavenly father.
SPEAKER_01: And he is powerful.
SPEAKER_01: God wants to work powerfully in your life.
SPEAKER_01: We've talked about this before, but I just want to keep reminding you that if you're going through something that is difficult, God allows us to be pressed.
SPEAKER_01: God being a good heavenly father does not mean that you avoid every painful circumstance.
SPEAKER_01: It means that God allows us to go through painful things because he wants to put on display through our life the resurrection power of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: So our King is Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: We're following our King, and the route, the path that he went on was a path that took him to the cross.
SPEAKER_01: So if we expect that the path of discipleship, being apprentice of Jesus, is any other path than a path that takes us to a cross, then we're mistaken.
SPEAKER_01: His invitation was come and follow me, take up your cross, take up your cross and follow me.
SPEAKER_01: And so you need to know that the power of God has not been subtracted from your life, even though you're experiencing a difficulty, even though you're facing anxiety and worry.
SPEAKER_01: God is powerful towards you.
SPEAKER_01: There's another scripture here that I want to show you, Romans 8.32.
SPEAKER_01: This says, He who did not spare his own son, who didn't spare his own son?
SPEAKER_01: The Father, right?
SPEAKER_01: The Father didn't spare his own son, but he gave him up for us all.
SPEAKER_01: How will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
SPEAKER_01: Amazing.
SPEAKER_01: Paul, the Paul the Apostle is saying, look at what the Father did, that the Father gave us his son.
SPEAKER_01: If he was willing to do that for us, you need to know in your life that his fatherly disposition towards you is to continue to work in your life.
SPEAKER_01: Do not allow Satan, don't let him have ground in your life, tempting you to think that he does not have good for you, that he cannot work in your situation.
SPEAKER_01: You need to know that God loves you and he is at work in your story.
SPEAKER_01: You have to be patient.
SPEAKER_01: When Paul prayed for the church in Colossae, I think it's Colosse, he prayed that they would be able to be long-suffering, they would, they would have this capacity to suffer long with joy.
SPEAKER_01: That's what you and I need.
SPEAKER_01: We need the capacity to wait for God's resurrection work in our life.
SPEAKER_01: Wait, wait, wait, wait for God to work in a powerful way.
SPEAKER_01: But cultivate a growing understanding of God's power and fatherly disposition.
SPEAKER_01: Number four is entrusting to God the things that we cannot control.
SPEAKER_01: Entrusting to God the things that we cannot control.
SPEAKER_01: This is just a turning turning it over, right?
SPEAKER_01: Turning something over.
SPEAKER_01: Imagine just giving something up or giving something away, relinquishing something, right?
SPEAKER_01: When you turn something over, it's not yours anymore, right?
SPEAKER_01: When you go into the store and you say, okay, you know, I'm gonna buy this thing of milk and I'm gonna give the cashier the money, you're not gonna get the money back.
SPEAKER_01: The money goes away, right?
SPEAKER_01: And and what we're called to do is we're called to relinquish, we're called to entrust to God the things that we cannot control.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Peter 5, 7 says, cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
SPEAKER_01: Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
SPEAKER_01: If he cares for you, then he is worth you casting your anxiety upon him, right?
SPEAKER_01: He he can handle it, right?
SPEAKER_01: So you can turn it over to him, you can relinquish it, you gotta let it go.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta let it go.
SPEAKER_01: Um the the whole principle is that you're if you're going to relinquish it, you're not gonna hold on to it any longer.
SPEAKER_01: If you're gonna entrust it to him, then that means your hands are off.
SPEAKER_01: And it's it's the Lord's.
SPEAKER_01: Fifth, increasingly view things in an eternal perspective.
SPEAKER_01: That's not grammatically written right, but you get the idea.
SPEAKER_01: Increasingly viewing things through or in an eternal perspective.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew 6 32, we we looked at this passage, for the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly father knows that you need them, but seek first his kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: That's the eternal perspective.
SPEAKER_01: That we're seeking his kingdom, his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.
SPEAKER_01: Each day has enough trouble of its own.
SPEAKER_01: This is like a great chance right here.
SPEAKER_01: This um this number five is a great chance to talk about why psychologists are now linking social media with anxiety and why Instagram is saying we're not going to give you the like counts on your Instagram posts any longer.
SPEAKER_01: Because we have a young generation, even an older generation, that's grown up on these things, and that rather than thinking um about the kingdom and his righteousness, instead the perspective is um how many likes did I get on that post?
SPEAKER_01: It's a worrying that exists, it's not a seeking God's kingdom, but instead it's a worrying about tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01: It's a pursuit of the things that the pagans run after.
SPEAKER_01: And yet God's saying, or or Jesus here is preaching through this sermon, he's saying, Listen, if you're my apprentice, if you're a follower of me, you need to seek the things that are above.
SPEAKER_01: Seek my kingdom, my righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: Let let God handle clothes, food, housing.
SPEAKER_01: He do you see, he says, right before this, he's already taught the disciples to pray.
SPEAKER_01: So the um, you know, praying for our um daily bread, deliver us from temptation, all that Jesus is already taught on by the time you get to this text.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Don't worry about it.
SPEAKER_01: Each day has enough trouble of its own.
SPEAKER_01: Very strong language, right?
SPEAKER_01: Very strong language.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is saying, don't let these things capture your attention.
SPEAKER_01: Instead, view things in an eternal, with an eternal perspective.
SPEAKER_01: And then number six here is substitute prayer for worry.
SPEAKER_01: Substitute prayer for worry.
SPEAKER_01: You may have things that are legitimate concerns, you know.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think when you're a parent, you're concerned about what's gonna happen with my kids when they grow up.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, the world is crazy.
SPEAKER_01: Substitute prayer for worry.
SPEAKER_01: What about my what about this bill over here?
SPEAKER_01: What's gonna happen over here with my finances?
SPEAKER_01: Substitute prayer for worry.
SPEAKER_01: You know, what's gonna happen at work next week when this when I have to give this report?
SPEAKER_01: Or I finally have to turn in this assignment at school.
SPEAKER_01: Substitute prayer for worry.
SPEAKER_01: In um Philippians 4, 6, it gives this instruction.
SPEAKER_01: It says, do not be anxious about this thing or that thing.
SPEAKER_01: No, right?
SPEAKER_01: Don't be anxious, except for this thing over here.
SPEAKER_01: No, it says, do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your request to God.
SPEAKER_01: Present your request to God.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, substitute, substituting prayer for worry.
SPEAKER_01: We want to be of this people that are making our petition before God, presenting our requests before God our Father.
SPEAKER_01: Now, those six things, I don't think that you can do your life how it is, and just do these things in passing.
SPEAKER_01: I believe that you have to be intentional about these things if you're going to work them in.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think that you can do most of these things without getting out a journal or typing out using an online journal or whatever you use to kind of process your thoughts.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think that you get to um do these things without really thinking it through, thinking it through with the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And so let me just encourage you, again, going back to that whole thought of like capture the day, capture the moment, I would just encourage you, right?
SPEAKER_01: Don't let this set of six points go by as just some anecdote.
SPEAKER_01: But but I would encourage you, cultivate those spiritual disciplines, intentionally set aside time in your daily schedule where you can um where you can fulfill, you can do these six steps.
SPEAKER_01: Schedule it in.
SPEAKER_01: Let me close with this: the peace of God.
SPEAKER_01: The peace of God is the opposite of worry, anxiety, a turbulent feeling that's inside of you.
SPEAKER_01: There are a number of references in the New Testament to the peace of God, but first you have to understand the peace of God throughout the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_01: It's called the shalom.
SPEAKER_01: It's a very broad term.
SPEAKER_01: Shalom is the idea of God um bringing both external peace and then internal peace.
SPEAKER_01: And the two are interrelated.
SPEAKER_01: The covenant, um, being a covenant people and abiding by the covenant leads to a peace for the people of God.
SPEAKER_01: So God's coming and he's promising: here's what I'm gonna do, here's what I want for you, here's the covenant I want to make for you.
SPEAKER_01: And the prophets, a lot of the both the major and minor prophets of the Old Testament are all about how the shalom of God is taken away from his people because they are violating his covenant.
SPEAKER_01: And then the New Testament, Jesus picks up on this idea, the shalom, and he um he talks about giving, being the one who wants to give his followers peace.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna give you three scriptures: John 14, 27, John 14, 27, and in your handout, you have these there, um, and you can kind of fill in the blank as we go along.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you.
SPEAKER_01: I do not give to you as the world gives.
SPEAKER_01: Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid.
SPEAKER_01: This is Jesus talking to the disciples the night before his crucifixion.
SPEAKER_01: These are super important instructions that he's giving to the apostles.
SPEAKER_01: And then John records this for us so that we can see that it is God's will that you and I understand that we have been given a supernatural peace from heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus gives us peace.
SPEAKER_01: Do not let your hearts be troubled.
SPEAKER_01: But Lord, my heart's troubled.
SPEAKER_01: Do not let your hearts be troubled, right?
SPEAKER_01: Go to war with that troubled heart, right?
SPEAKER_01: Don't settle as a person racked with anxiety.
SPEAKER_01: Know that God took on flesh, that he purchased your redemption from the world of tumult and chaos, that he purchased you and pulled you out, put you into his kingdom, made you a follower of him, and that he has given you his peace, and he doesn't want you to be troubled.
SPEAKER_01: John 20, 21 and 22, you have this one there as well.
SPEAKER_01: Again, Jesus said, Peace be with you.
SPEAKER_01: As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.
SPEAKER_01: This is after the resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: This is Jesus, one of his appearances to the apostles in the upper room.
SPEAKER_01: And with that he breathed on them and he said, Receive the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: It's interesting the connection here between the Holy Spirit and this peace.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Peace be with you.
SPEAKER_01: This is actually the second time.
SPEAKER_01: If you go up just a verse earlier, he's already said, peace be with you.
SPEAKER_01: But again, it's this peace.
SPEAKER_01: Peace be with you.
SPEAKER_01: And then Galatians 5, 22, you know this one.
SPEAKER_01: You learned it in Sunday school.
SPEAKER_01: The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace.
SPEAKER_01: It's peace.
SPEAKER_01: The fruit of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, as you cultivate this relationship with God by the Spirit living in you, He's producing, He's overflowing in you.
SPEAKER_01: Just by being in you, He's making, He's filling you with love.
SPEAKER_01: He's giving you joy.
SPEAKER_01: And He's giving you this sense of peace.
SPEAKER_01: The Holy Spirit is given to the disciples there after the resurrection, and the same Spirit has been given to you and I.
SPEAKER_01: If you are an anxious person, if you are an anxious person, I want to encourage you to press in and know the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: The final um line there to fill in is this take your anxiety as an invitation, as an invitation to draw near to God.
SPEAKER_01: I just want to encourage you to not run away from, even though you know that anxiety is not God's victorious living for you, I do want you to take that anxiety as an invitation to draw near to the Lord, to come close to God and not to run away from him.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to know that the things that you're anxious about may be God just allowing the stage to be set as a difficulty where God wants to answer the prayers that you lift up to him about that setting.
SPEAKER_01: Let that be the place where you meet with God.
SPEAKER_01: The psalmist over and over again would lift up his anxious heart before the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what I want to encourage for you as well.
SPEAKER_01: That you would lift up your anxious heart before the Lord and you'd allow him to work in that setting.
SPEAKER_01: Let it be his calling you into a close relationship with him.
SPEAKER_01: Let's bow our heads for a moment.
SPEAKER_01: You earlier on, I asked you to look and write down the three things that cause you the most anxiety.
SPEAKER_01: And God, we want to take those three things and we want to lift them up before you.
SPEAKER_01: We want to entrust them to you.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we're anxious about those things because we care about them.
SPEAKER_01: And um, Lord, we ask that that would be the setting where you put on display your glory.
SPEAKER_01: Glory.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we pray that your power and your goodness, the fact that you're a good father, Lord, we ask that you would make that so clear and so real in that setting.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I pray for my brothers and sisters here this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I pray that you would just give them victory, victory over their anxious hearts, and that you would establish your peace, your shalom over their life.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, um, draw near, draw near to my friends.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, make yourself known this week in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: As we open up our Bibles these mornings and evenings throughout this week as we're journaling, as we're just lifting up our hearts before you, God, we ask that you would meet with us, speak into our lives.
SPEAKER_01: We want to hear your voice this week.
SPEAKER_01: We want to live by faith, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: We don't want to live from worry to worry.
SPEAKER_01: We want to live by faith.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, work in our lives by your Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Let this peace be the fruit of your spirit at work in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: We ask these things in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Let's stand together and sing this last song.
SPEAKER_00: You unravel me.