WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.319 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:02.479 --> 00:00:07.040 We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:08.640 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:21.039 Well, good morning. 00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:22.800 Good to be with you. 00:00:22.879 --> 00:00:25.199 If you weren't anxious before, you are now. 00:00:26.719 --> 00:00:28.320 If you're new, my name's Ryan. 00:00:28.399 --> 00:00:30.559 We're absolutely thrilled to have you join us today. 00:00:30.640 --> 00:00:35.759 And we're starting today a brand new series, a four-part series on anxiety. 00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:40.719 And just a little thing so you know, I've been listening and reading a lot of books on anxiety. 00:00:40.880 --> 00:00:47.679 In fact, I've listened to many books at 1.5 speed on anxiety, making me more anxious. 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:51.679 But before we dive in, I just thought I'd give you a few resources. 00:00:52.399 --> 00:00:57.359 One is uh we actually did a series by this title a little over a year ago called Try Softer. 00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:03.039 If you're in uh wanting to get dive in a little bit deeper on this, this would be wonderful for you. 00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:04.640 I enjoyed it immensely. 00:01:04.799 --> 00:01:08.400 If you have kids, this book, Scene, is a great book. 00:01:08.480 --> 00:01:09.200 It's thin. 00:01:09.439 --> 00:01:15.439 Our uh youth and family team uh uses this and encourage you uh check this book out. 00:01:15.599 --> 00:01:18.319 And then uh this is just a this is a leadership book. 00:01:18.400 --> 00:01:22.640 It's a Christian book called Managing the Leadership Anxiety, but I think it's good for everyone. 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:26.239 The principles are really, really powerful. 00:01:26.799 --> 00:01:28.640 All right, commercial over. 00:01:28.799 --> 00:01:29.680 You ready? 00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:31.280 Let's pray. 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:35.040 Heavenly Father, thank you so much for today. 00:01:35.760 --> 00:01:37.840 Thank you for gathering us in this moment. 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:40.879 This is a holy moment that you've brought us to here. 00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:46.079 And we invite you to speak to us, to meet us. 00:01:47.280 --> 00:01:57.599 And so we bring ourselves our worries, our concerns, our doubts, our struggles, our pain, our hurt to you. 00:02:00.239 --> 00:02:01.280 Would you meet us? 00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:08.240 Would you bring healing and hope and purpose in life? 00:02:08.479 --> 00:02:10.080 In Jesus' name. 00:02:10.400 --> 00:02:11.039 Amen. 00:02:12.560 --> 00:02:14.400 I thought I'd begin this way. 00:02:14.639 --> 00:02:18.240 Um, well, welcome to the club. 00:02:18.960 --> 00:02:20.400 Yeah, it's exciting. 00:02:20.479 --> 00:02:21.599 You made it, you're in. 00:02:21.759 --> 00:02:26.159 You're a part of the club, and it didn't take a whole lot to be a part of the club. 00:02:26.240 --> 00:02:30.479 If you're breathing and alive and human, uh, you made it. 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:31.439 You're a part of the club. 00:02:31.520 --> 00:02:35.520 Go ahead and turn to your neighbors and say, Welcome to the anxiety club. 00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:36.879 You can give them a high five too. 00:02:36.960 --> 00:02:37.280 Go ahead. 00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:40.159 Welcome to the anxiety club. 00:02:42.639 --> 00:02:44.719 Now, some of you are a little uncertain about that. 00:02:44.879 --> 00:02:47.919 You're like, I don't know if I'm a part of the anxiety club, Ryan. 00:02:48.159 --> 00:02:53.280 Well, maybe you're just a visitor, maybe you are, you know, um, an attender from time. 00:02:53.360 --> 00:02:55.520 You may not be a full-fledged member. 00:02:55.759 --> 00:02:58.879 I remember when I became a full-fledged member, though. 00:02:59.039 --> 00:03:13.840 Uh, it was 2004, and my daughter was born, our oldest uh was born the very first, and I didn't know the human heart had a capacity to love at that level in depth. 00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:18.479 It was as if a chamber in my heart opened up and I was able to love. 00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:22.960 I'm like, oh my goodness, this little being that I never met before, and I meet. 00:03:23.120 --> 00:03:26.639 I I she was born in the middle of the night, and like 5 a.m. 00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:36.560 I'm headed to Starbucks because I'm a copic addict uh and trying to bring Jenny and I coffee, and I show up to the Starbucks, I'm like, she's here, and they're like, What? 00:03:36.639 --> 00:03:37.280 Are you going up? 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:39.759 I'm a dad! And they're like, just sh bring it down. 00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:42.159 We'll give you free coffee if you just be quiet. 00:03:42.400 --> 00:03:55.120 Um, and and I was just so excited, but then that capacity to love brought a whole new capacity and level of anxiety. 00:03:55.280 --> 00:03:59.680 I mean, that drive from the hospital to our home was only about a mile, mile and a half. 00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:01.360 I drove so slow. 00:04:01.919 --> 00:04:05.360 And then um, my we were living in Atlanta at the time. 00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:12.400 My wife's mom was out for the birth, and I had to drive her to the um to the airport. 00:04:12.719 --> 00:04:14.560 Airport's about 45 minutes away. 00:04:14.639 --> 00:04:21.199 I was in the slow lane driving so slow, it took us uh like an hour and a half. 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:28.480 Dangerously slow, and she and she's the most kind, wonderful, she's like never pressure anything. 00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:31.600 She's like, Ryan, I'm afraid I'm gonna miss my flight. 00:04:31.759 --> 00:04:32.959 I'm like, she did. 00:04:33.120 --> 00:04:34.240 She she missed her flight. 00:04:34.319 --> 00:04:37.600 I drove, I drove that slow. 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:41.759 And all of a sudden, I became a full-fledged member. 00:04:41.839 --> 00:04:47.680 I was a tender before that, but I'm I became a full-fledged member of the anxiety club. 00:04:48.639 --> 00:04:53.680 Fast forward maybe a decade later, and we're planting this church. 00:04:53.839 --> 00:05:09.600 This was 11, almost 12 years ago, and the stress and the anxiety of trying to start a new community and then having three kids, and our youngest was um, you know, only about six months, or no, he's like two or three years old. 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:11.519 And I began to spiral out. 00:05:11.680 --> 00:05:13.279 I don't know if you've ever been there. 00:05:13.759 --> 00:05:24.000 I um I would stay up in the middle of the night and stare into the backyard, absolutely certain that somebody was gonna break into our home. 00:05:24.399 --> 00:05:28.399 And I just would stare, watching for shadows and movements. 00:05:29.680 --> 00:05:36.160 If we were gonna go to, like, say my brother's house who has a pool, my mind would spin the entire night. 00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:36.800 I would be up. 00:05:36.879 --> 00:05:37.519 What's gonna happen? 00:05:37.600 --> 00:05:38.240 How are they gonna do? 00:05:38.639 --> 00:05:41.279 And and then if we went to Disneyland, it's the happiest place on earth. 00:05:41.360 --> 00:05:43.680 No, it's the most anxious place on earth with kids. 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:44.959 Am I gonna lose them? 00:05:45.040 --> 00:05:54.319 If we went to, you know, a um a hotel, I'm like, well, I want to have the floor level uh because if we're up a couple levels, my I have two boys, man. 00:05:54.480 --> 00:06:01.439 If they climb, they jump, they fall, they die, you know, and it's like that's where my mind went. 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:10.000 And the truth is, and the reality is, is anxiety has become an American epidemic. 00:06:11.279 --> 00:06:17.040 We live in an anxious age, and we recognize this, we know this. 00:06:17.199 --> 00:06:25.199 In fact, some of you are here simply for the reality that you know that we are walking through a mental health crisis. 00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:40.879 Ed Eric Severied said this: the biggest big business in America is not steel automobiles or television, it is the manufacture, refinement, and distribution of anxiety. 00:06:42.079 --> 00:06:46.000 That was written 60 years ago in 1964. 00:06:47.680 --> 00:06:55.279 See, anxiety isn't a new problem, yet it is a heightened problem in our day. 00:06:55.600 --> 00:06:57.839 Uh show you this graph, the percent of U.S. 00:06:57.920 --> 00:06:59.360 anxiety and prevalence. 00:06:59.439 --> 00:07:02.399 Uh, this is taken from uh the U.S. 00:07:02.480 --> 00:07:03.439 National Survey. 00:07:03.519 --> 00:07:06.959 It was used in a really prominent book that just released. 00:07:07.040 --> 00:07:11.600 I'm currently reading it right now, The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. 00:07:11.680 --> 00:07:21.519 Uh you'll notice since 2010 that anxiety from in ages 18 to 25 has increased 139%. 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:30.319 Ages 26 to 34, it's increased 103%, 35 to 49, 52%. 00:07:31.199 --> 00:07:33.439 Age 50, you don't care. 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:36.800 You just don't care anymore. 00:07:37.600 --> 00:07:38.800 It's gone down. 00:07:38.959 --> 00:07:40.079 Good for you. 00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:44.240 You you can go, you know, anyways. 00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:51.040 And anxiety, Gen Z has been called the anxious generation, Gen Alpha. 00:07:52.160 --> 00:07:59.360 And so we're going to spend the next four weeks, and today's just an introduction, getting uh our arms around this. 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:03.600 And not just our arms around this, but what God has to say. 00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:04.240 Isn't it? 00:08:04.319 --> 00:08:06.399 I just think we were praying earlier today. 00:08:06.560 --> 00:08:12.240 Isn't this good news that 2,000 years ago Jesus spoke to this? 00:08:13.120 --> 00:08:22.560 That God actually spoke into this, and He wants to meet us and guide us and lead us in this. 00:08:23.279 --> 00:08:29.600 Well, as we begin, let's start just with what is anxiety in the first place. 00:08:30.160 --> 00:08:35.279 Anxiety is the anticipation of future threats. 00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:44.080 Fear is the emotional response to a perceived or real imminent danger, right? 00:08:44.320 --> 00:08:50.320 Anxiety is the fear of a future threat, that something is coming. 00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:54.559 And in fact, uh we live in an uncertain world. 00:08:54.879 --> 00:08:57.519 Uncertainty leads to anxiety. 00:08:57.759 --> 00:09:05.600 Anxiety is worrying about what will be, and anxiety ultimately produces fear of what could be. 00:09:06.559 --> 00:09:10.559 One psychologist kind of gave general framing this way. 00:09:10.799 --> 00:09:18.559 If we tend to overemphasize the past, we'll struggle with depression. 00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:26.480 If we tend to overemphasize and focus on the future, we'll struggle and wrestle with anxiety. 00:09:26.639 --> 00:09:28.240 And I just go, yeah, I got them both. 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:29.440 Hello, here we go. 00:09:29.600 --> 00:09:32.080 Let's let's why go halfway? 00:09:32.240 --> 00:09:33.039 Come on. 00:09:35.039 --> 00:09:38.799 I mentioned Jonathan Hyatt's book, The Anxious Generation. 00:09:39.120 --> 00:09:42.639 Um, he actually it's fascinating, it's worth a read. 00:09:42.720 --> 00:09:44.080 I'm only about halfway through. 00:09:44.320 --> 00:09:47.279 Not a Christian book, but it's getting a lot of press right now. 00:09:47.519 --> 00:09:51.120 But he begins to talk about the effects of anxiety on our body. 00:09:51.279 --> 00:09:56.639 That anxiety, just the same as fear, puts us in a fight, flight, freeze, or fawn mode. 00:09:56.879 --> 00:09:58.480 And he talks about the impact. 00:09:58.639 --> 00:10:05.039 And in it, he writes, anxiety affects the mind and the body in multiple ways. 00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:14.080 For many, anxiety is felt in the body as tension or tightness and as discomfort in the abdomen or chest cavity. 00:10:14.399 --> 00:10:20.960 Emotionally, anxiety is experienced as dread, worry, and after a while, exhaustion. 00:10:21.519 --> 00:10:38.960 Cognitively, it often becomes difficult to think clearly, pulling people into states of unproductive rumination and provoking cognitive distortions that are the focus of cognitive behavioral therapy, such as catastrophizing, overgeneralizing, black and white thinking. 00:10:39.200 --> 00:10:41.360 We'll explain those later. 00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:58.080 For those with anxiety disorders, these distorted thinking patterns often elicit uncomfortable physical symptoms, which then induce feelings of fear and worry, which then triggers more anxious thinking, perpetuating a vicious cycle. 00:10:58.240 --> 00:10:59.519 Well, what is anxiety? 00:10:59.759 --> 00:11:00.720 Oh man. 00:11:01.360 --> 00:11:07.600 It's this anticipation, this worry about the future. 00:11:07.840 --> 00:11:12.639 Now, anxiety is actually a signal and not a root cause. 00:11:12.960 --> 00:11:19.440 It acts like the light on the dash of our board to tell us that something needs to be addressed. 00:11:19.519 --> 00:11:23.600 You need to lean in, you need to ask, what is the root cause? 00:11:23.759 --> 00:11:33.440 And then anxiety, this is what's really challenging with anxiety, especially in our age, especially in the social media age, is anxiety is contagious. 00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:36.879 We catch it from one another. 00:11:37.840 --> 00:11:46.000 I remember in high school, my buddy Luke was a germophobic, and his girlfriend's like, that's nothing. 00:11:46.159 --> 00:11:52.000 And they're at the movie theater going up the escalator, and she had her hand on the rail, thank you. 00:11:52.080 --> 00:11:54.159 Uh, and then she licks her hand. 00:11:55.679 --> 00:11:57.919 And then she got sick as a dog. 00:11:59.279 --> 00:12:02.240 And then I became a germophobe after that. 00:12:04.879 --> 00:12:06.960 Because all of a sudden it becomes contagious. 00:12:07.120 --> 00:12:09.360 Those around us, we begin to catch it. 00:12:09.679 --> 00:12:16.799 I even noticed that my anxiety began to be caught by my kids. 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:19.279 Anxiety. 00:12:19.519 --> 00:12:22.960 It's this future threat, this concern of a future threat. 00:12:23.039 --> 00:12:24.639 It's a signal, not a root cause. 00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:26.000 Anxiety is contagious. 00:12:26.159 --> 00:12:29.120 Now the question is how do we navigate it? 00:12:29.919 --> 00:12:33.120 How do we navigate the anxious world we find ourselves in? 00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:36.240 Anxiety's on the rise. 00:12:36.320 --> 00:12:37.840 How do we navigate it? 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:40.879 More personally. 00:12:41.919 --> 00:12:44.240 How do you navigate your anxiety for this world? 00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:50.080 Navigate the anxiety in your world. 00:12:51.279 --> 00:12:51.840 Jesus. 00:12:57.120 --> 00:13:00.399 In the greatest sermon that has ever been told. 00:13:02.080 --> 00:13:03.120 Actually speaks. 00:13:06.879 --> 00:13:10.080 On anxiety and worry and concerns. 00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:30.480 And my prayer is not to resolve all of your anxiety today. 00:13:31.360 --> 00:13:33.679 But I'm praying for a breakthrough moment though. 00:13:34.879 --> 00:13:37.279 That God wants to meet you significantly. 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:39.840 He wants to speak to you. 00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:45.759 And he wants to lead you through what you're going through. 00:13:46.320 --> 00:13:51.759 Here's what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6, 25. 00:13:52.159 --> 00:13:56.240 Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life. 00:13:56.480 --> 00:14:03.039 What you'll eat or drink or about your body, what you'll wear, is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes. 00:14:03.279 --> 00:14:04.720 Look at the birds of the air. 00:14:04.799 --> 00:14:09.919 They do not sow or reap or store away in barns, yet your heavenly father feeds them. 00:14:10.159 --> 00:14:12.639 Are you not much more valuable than they? 00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:17.360 Can any of you, by worrying, add a single hour to your life? 00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:21.200 By the way, that last line that was powerful for me. 00:14:21.600 --> 00:14:22.799 We'll close with that. 00:14:23.039 --> 00:14:27.600 Well, how do we navigate the anxious world we find ourselves in? 00:14:28.480 --> 00:14:30.559 What does Jesus say right at the beginning? 00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:36.080 He says, Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life. 00:14:36.320 --> 00:14:36.960 There you go. 00:14:37.039 --> 00:14:38.000 There you have it. 00:14:39.840 --> 00:14:40.720 Peace be with you. 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:41.600 Have a great Sunday. 00:14:41.679 --> 00:14:42.879 We'll see you next week. 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:43.919 Don't worry. 00:14:44.159 --> 00:14:45.279 Be happy. 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:52.159 Now, um, I know how to eliminate some things, right? 00:14:52.240 --> 00:15:02.480 I know how to like, so okay, my wife and I are on an elimination diet to kind of find some kind of health stuff, and for me, it's just uh I want to lose a little bit of weight, let's be real. 00:15:02.639 --> 00:15:06.720 Uh, in a cut a few weeks, you probably won't even be able to see me when I turn sideways. 00:15:08.480 --> 00:15:15.279 I know how to cut out sugar in my diet, but I don't know how to not think about things or not feel things. 00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:20.399 I mean, I let me tell you, uh, do not think about a purple elephant. 00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:21.279 You can't. 00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:24.559 Now that I said don't think about it, you thought about it. 00:15:25.600 --> 00:15:30.000 Is Jesus telling us you have to just stop it right now? 00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:34.080 Or that it's a sin to be anxious. 00:15:34.960 --> 00:15:38.399 Gosh, man, that's where some have felt and some have been told. 00:15:38.480 --> 00:15:42.240 Like if you're anxious, if you're worried, if you're concerned, it's sinful. 00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:48.320 And then you feel guilt and the shame and more anxiety because you're trying to get rid of the anxiety. 00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:50.240 Do not worry. 00:15:50.559 --> 00:15:52.159 Present active imperative. 00:15:52.240 --> 00:15:53.679 Here's what Jesus is saying. 00:15:53.840 --> 00:15:58.720 He's saying there's an there's a state that you currently are in that needs to be addressed. 00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:05.279 It's a command to lean in that you're currently experiencing worry, and so there's something in that you need to stop. 00:16:05.440 --> 00:16:10.639 Here's what he's saying: resist the urge to avoid anxiety and address it. 00:16:11.440 --> 00:16:17.039 Our natural, our natural is to do two things avoid or ruminate. 00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:22.320 When it comes to anxious thoughts, we're gonna avoid it, we're gonna put it off. 00:16:22.559 --> 00:16:33.919 We you know, that conversation that we don't want to have, that relationship that's struggling, uh, the issue at work, um, the concern with the fear, I'm just gonna avoid it, I'm gonna ignore it, I'm gonna keep putting it off. 00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:41.759 And what uh one I love how one psychologist says that when we avoid it, it's like taking a small fire and putting a little bit of gasoline on it. 00:16:42.159 --> 00:16:45.360 It just takes off and grows. 00:16:46.399 --> 00:16:52.240 Or then we ruminate on it, we spin out, we think about it, we constantly go over it. 00:16:52.559 --> 00:16:58.559 And Jesus says, resist the urge to avoid. 00:17:00.480 --> 00:17:01.120 Address. 00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:02.639 We gotta address it now. 00:17:03.039 --> 00:17:06.960 Now, to address something, we have to be aware of it. 00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:12.319 And some of us aren't aware that we're anxious. 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:18.400 In fact, um I experience anxiety physically. 00:17:19.200 --> 00:17:22.640 You'll see me, like as I'm talking, holding my chest quite a bit today. 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:24.799 Because it comes right here. 00:17:25.759 --> 00:17:27.519 That's where I experience it. 00:17:27.759 --> 00:17:34.559 As my chest begins to tighten up, and I begin to feel like this knot build in my throat, like the anxiety. 00:17:34.960 --> 00:17:39.680 For some, let's just be real, you're like, I'm not in the club, Ryan. 00:17:41.119 --> 00:17:45.599 Well, by the way, 37% of college students say they're anxious all the time. 00:17:45.759 --> 00:17:50.079 31% of college students say they're anxious at least half the time. 00:17:50.319 --> 00:17:56.960 That gives 68% just of college students that are anxious half or all of the time. 00:17:58.400 --> 00:18:01.680 And the reality is we're all anxious some of the time. 00:18:03.279 --> 00:18:04.720 But we have to be aware of it. 00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:08.559 And the question then, okay, is I'm aware. 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:10.720 Where is it in my body? 00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:14.799 How am I addressing it or not addressing it? 00:18:15.680 --> 00:18:20.880 Well, Jesus is gonna give us just incredible, incredible wisdom of how do we address it. 00:18:21.039 --> 00:18:23.039 In fact, he gives us three questions. 00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:30.480 Jesus has given us three questions uh to teach us how to think about how we think. 00:18:31.359 --> 00:18:38.480 Like to think about how you're thinking and to begin to wrestle with the thoughts that are going through your head. 00:18:38.720 --> 00:18:51.119 The first question that he gives us is simply this is not life more than food and the body more than clothes? 00:18:51.920 --> 00:19:00.799 Okay, is not life more than what you're anxious about? 00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:11.359 More than your job, more than uh that conversation you need to have, more than that family drama, more than is not life more? 00:19:11.519 --> 00:19:12.880 Here's what he's saying. 00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:17.759 He's saying, when you start spinning out, stop to zoom out. 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:33.839 When your mind starts to race, when your mind starts to spin, when your mind starts to either push it away or ruminate on it, instead of spinning out, would you begin to zoom out and get a bigger picture about life? 00:19:34.480 --> 00:19:40.559 Because what happens is we begin to get a very small picture of life. 00:19:40.720 --> 00:19:43.759 Our anxiety becomes our world. 00:19:44.160 --> 00:19:47.599 In fact, a psychologist called this cognitive distortions. 00:19:47.759 --> 00:19:51.519 Uh, when I did a series, uh we did a series called Navigating Normal. 00:19:51.599 --> 00:19:55.279 We talked a lot about uh depression through Elijah's story. 00:19:55.359 --> 00:20:02.480 Uh Barbara Zandu, she's a therapist in our church and a friend, she sent me a list of cognitive distortions. 00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:05.279 Let me read a few of these because this is how we spin out. 00:20:05.519 --> 00:20:08.000 We spin out in all or nothing thinking. 00:20:08.400 --> 00:20:10.880 You see things in black and white categories. 00:20:11.119 --> 00:20:16.000 If your performance falls short of perfect, you see yourself as a total failure. 00:20:16.319 --> 00:20:18.079 Maybe it's overgeneralization. 00:20:18.160 --> 00:20:22.880 You see a single event as a never-ending pattern of defeat. 00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:25.839 Or maybe it's catastrophizing. 00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:37.200 You focus on the worst possible outcome, however unlikely, and thinking that a situation is unbearable or impossible when it's really just uncomfortable. 00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:39.920 Uh, this is kind of silly, but it's true. 00:20:40.079 --> 00:20:46.160 Um when I was a youth pastor back in the day, there that I found this little book called The Worst Case Scenario. 00:20:46.880 --> 00:20:58.559 And it was this little field guide thing, and it was meant to be funny, and it's like if you get bit by a snake, if you get caught in sand, you know, uh quicksand, and all these different, you know, bit by shark, all these different things. 00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:03.440 That I I naturally go to the worst case scenario. 00:21:04.319 --> 00:21:10.000 It was not helpful for me as I catastrophized. 00:21:11.279 --> 00:21:12.720 Emotional reasoning. 00:21:12.880 --> 00:21:17.440 You assume that your negative emotions necessarily reflect the way things really are. 00:21:17.839 --> 00:21:20.240 I feel it, therefore it must be true. 00:21:20.480 --> 00:21:21.839 Now, friends, let's talk about this. 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:29.599 Your feelings are real, and they don't necessarily tell you what's reality. 00:21:30.160 --> 00:21:31.200 It's both. 00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:46.240 Your feelings are real, and they're a sign of what's really going on inside of you, and yet at the same time, they are not an indicator or telling you exactly what is reality around you. 00:21:47.440 --> 00:21:52.960 And so when you start spinning out, stop to zoom out. 00:21:53.119 --> 00:21:54.400 Isn't life more? 00:21:54.559 --> 00:21:59.759 And the reason we don't stop to zoom out is because we spend our lives zooming through. 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:01.440 Life, don't we? 00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:08.880 We live hurried, rushed lives that rarely have time to stop. 00:22:11.519 --> 00:22:12.559 Isn't it funny? 00:22:12.720 --> 00:22:20.559 I mean, just think about your this thing that doesn't allow you to stop, and then it's got stuff like this, like a breathe app. 00:22:21.359 --> 00:22:26.079 Isn't that like why would we need to be told to breathe? 00:22:26.480 --> 00:22:38.079 And then you read the book, breathe, and realize, oh, the way we breathe is terrible and it's changed, and like there's all this research that we're breathing quicker, shallower, and it's to the detriment of our own health. 00:22:38.319 --> 00:22:40.160 Like we now track our sleep. 00:22:40.319 --> 00:22:42.160 Why should we track our sleep? 00:22:42.480 --> 00:22:48.319 Because we we live lives beyond the boundaries of nature now. 00:22:48.640 --> 00:22:51.680 Electricity that allows us to work whenever we want. 00:22:51.839 --> 00:23:03.039 We we live in an industrialized, technolized age where no longer do we move with the rhythms of creation, with the seasons of harvest and sowing and reaping. 00:23:03.279 --> 00:23:07.759 No, we reap all the time, every day, all day long. 00:23:08.960 --> 00:23:13.839 And we zoom through life to the detriment of our life. 00:23:16.880 --> 00:23:20.000 When you start spinning out, stop. 00:23:24.319 --> 00:23:25.839 Stop and zoom out. 00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:26.799 Life is more. 00:23:27.119 --> 00:23:29.759 First question to think about the way we're thinking. 00:23:29.839 --> 00:23:35.839 And then Jesus says this, then look at the birds of the air. 00:23:36.720 --> 00:23:41.839 They do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. 00:23:42.079 --> 00:23:45.599 Are you not much more valuable than they? 00:23:47.359 --> 00:23:54.319 Zoom out and then zero in, is what Jesus is saying. 00:23:54.400 --> 00:23:55.519 Zoom out, get a bigger picture. 00:23:55.599 --> 00:23:59.359 Your life's way more and way bigger than what you're anxious about. 00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:05.359 It's not all there, but then zoom in on God's tender, loving care. 00:24:06.640 --> 00:24:09.440 Because aren't you way more valuable than the birds? 00:24:09.519 --> 00:24:11.839 When's the last time you looked at the birds? 00:24:12.960 --> 00:24:14.319 Probably never. 00:24:14.880 --> 00:24:16.960 Because we're too busy zooming. 00:24:19.519 --> 00:24:21.279 Look at the birds. 00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:24.160 And God cares about them. 00:24:26.559 --> 00:24:28.880 How much more does He care about you? 00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:43.200 The all-infinite, all-wise, all good, perfect, loving, heavenly Father, Creator, Sustainer, Sovereign God cares about you. 00:24:46.400 --> 00:24:49.759 And so would you surrender to God's care? 00:24:51.119 --> 00:24:53.279 Would you surrender to God's care? 00:24:53.519 --> 00:24:58.240 It's a more effective strategy for your anxiety. 00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:10.240 See, the reason we anxiously worry and struggle and strive is we want to have control over the things we don't have control over. 00:25:10.640 --> 00:25:12.240 That's what anxiety is. 00:25:12.400 --> 00:25:15.519 Is there's a future thing that I have no control over. 00:25:15.599 --> 00:25:19.119 There's something looming on the horizon, and I want to have control. 00:25:19.519 --> 00:25:22.640 But a better strategy is I don't have control. 00:25:22.799 --> 00:25:25.200 I'm gonna entrust the one who does have control. 00:25:25.359 --> 00:25:29.839 And surrendering to God is a far better strategy than what I'm currently doing. 00:25:30.559 --> 00:25:32.400 Where I'd zero in. 00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:38.160 I would zero in on God's tender care for me. 00:25:38.319 --> 00:25:44.799 That's where Peter would say, cast all of your cares on him, cast all of your worries, cast all of your anxieties on him. 00:25:45.119 --> 00:25:45.759 Why? 00:25:46.160 --> 00:25:48.000 Because he cares for you. 00:25:48.799 --> 00:25:50.559 That's such good news. 00:25:51.680 --> 00:26:01.359 You're a daughter, you're a son of the God most high, who invites you into the family to be his kid, call you dad, call him dad. 00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:04.640 He cares. 00:26:05.759 --> 00:26:09.200 See, here's the illustration that has always helped me. 00:26:09.519 --> 00:26:13.519 It's this little, this is what we do with our anxiety in this little quarter here. 00:26:13.759 --> 00:26:22.799 If our anxiety or the things that you're concerned, the things that are weighing you down, let's say this represents your concern, your cares, your worries, your anxiety. 00:26:22.880 --> 00:26:26.319 And let's just say this room represents your heavenly father. 00:26:26.400 --> 00:26:29.599 Now he's what he's infinite, so he's way bigger than this room, but it's good enough for now. 00:26:29.680 --> 00:26:30.319 Yeah? 00:26:30.640 --> 00:26:31.440 Yeah, okay. 00:26:31.599 --> 00:26:32.559 I said that by me. 00:26:32.720 --> 00:26:33.279 You're with me. 00:26:33.440 --> 00:26:33.759 Okay. 00:26:34.640 --> 00:26:35.759 Here's what we do. 00:26:37.599 --> 00:26:44.799 Our tendency is to zero in on our anxiety so we cannot see the activity of our Heavenly Father. 00:26:45.519 --> 00:26:51.440 And it's all we see, and it's all we know, and so we live stressed, burdened lives. 00:26:51.599 --> 00:26:54.400 And here's what Jesus is saying: zoom out. 00:26:55.920 --> 00:26:57.039 Stop and zoom out. 00:26:57.200 --> 00:27:02.160 Lives far much more, but then zero in on God's tender, loving care. 00:27:02.319 --> 00:27:05.200 That the Almighty God knows your name. 00:27:06.319 --> 00:27:10.559 That he loves you so much that he came to the cross to die for you. 00:27:10.799 --> 00:27:13.039 That's how valuable you are. 00:27:14.640 --> 00:27:17.039 He says, I care for you. 00:27:19.519 --> 00:27:24.000 Steve Cuss, in his book Managing Leadership Anxiety, says it this way. 00:27:24.160 --> 00:27:34.880 He says, When we are under pressure, exhausted, or feeling threatened, we revert to depending on the stories we tell ourselves rather than the story of God. 00:27:35.200 --> 00:27:47.279 He goes on to say, the goal of managing anxiety is not simply relief, it is to connect more fully with God and to raise awareness of God of what God is doing. 00:27:47.599 --> 00:27:53.920 Anxiety blocks our awareness of God because it takes our subconscious attention. 00:27:54.160 --> 00:28:04.240 And so anxiety actually gets to be an early detection sign that we're depending on something other than God for our own well-being. 00:28:05.920 --> 00:28:11.599 So Jesus says, resist the urge to avoid it, address it. 00:28:11.839 --> 00:28:15.599 When you start spinning out, stop to zoom out. 00:28:16.640 --> 00:28:25.680 Whatever your care, whatever your burden, what you're worrying about, would you surrender it into the care of God? 00:28:26.400 --> 00:28:27.759 And then he says this. 00:28:28.000 --> 00:28:29.039 He closes this way. 00:28:29.119 --> 00:28:30.240 Well, he's still in the middle of it. 00:28:30.400 --> 00:28:31.440 We'll get back to it. 00:28:31.680 --> 00:28:38.000 But he says this can any one of you, by worrying, add a single hour to your life? 00:28:40.880 --> 00:28:41.519 Can you? 00:28:43.279 --> 00:28:45.119 In fact, this is really fun. 00:28:45.599 --> 00:28:48.079 Sometimes in church, you don't know the answers. 00:28:48.160 --> 00:28:50.000 And so you just say Jesus. 00:28:50.160 --> 00:28:50.480 Right? 00:28:50.640 --> 00:28:53.119 You're like, I don't know the answer, probably Jesus. 00:28:53.519 --> 00:28:54.640 But here's the thing. 00:28:54.799 --> 00:28:57.119 Every single one of us know the answer to this question. 00:28:57.200 --> 00:28:58.079 So I'm going to read again. 00:28:58.160 --> 00:28:59.039 Let's just say it out loud. 00:28:59.119 --> 00:29:00.559 If you get it wrong, I'm sorry. 00:29:01.200 --> 00:29:05.440 Can any one of you, by worrying, add a single hour to your life? 00:29:06.480 --> 00:29:12.319 In fact, here's what we know, and research tells us our anxiety doesn't lengthen our life, it shortens our life. 00:29:12.640 --> 00:29:17.680 Has tremendous physiological and emotional effects. 00:29:19.279 --> 00:29:25.519 And in fact, instead of being present, we live preoccupied lives, and so we're actually losing life. 00:29:26.720 --> 00:29:30.640 See, worry is not just ineffective, it's counterproductive, isn't it? 00:29:31.359 --> 00:29:33.839 And the funny part is we know this. 00:29:35.200 --> 00:29:37.200 All of us, we know this. 00:29:42.960 --> 00:29:50.079 And yet there's something in us, because we want to have control, we go back to it. 00:29:52.000 --> 00:29:53.599 I go back to it. 00:29:55.359 --> 00:30:00.640 We were preaching this passage about 10 years ago, and it was that line. 00:30:01.519 --> 00:30:09.119 Can any of you, by worrying, add a single hour to your life? 00:30:09.440 --> 00:30:12.240 That worrying is effectively ineffective. 00:30:21.039 --> 00:30:23.680 And all of a sudden the light went on for me. 00:30:26.400 --> 00:30:31.359 Like, what is staying up in the middle of the night staring into the backyard doing? 00:30:32.720 --> 00:30:35.279 Ain't nobody come through the house. 00:30:35.759 --> 00:30:38.000 Still to this day, it's crazy. 00:30:40.400 --> 00:30:47.359 And what does spinning out, worrying about all the possibilities that could happen in Disneyland do? 00:30:51.039 --> 00:30:52.480 Or the pool. 00:30:54.000 --> 00:30:56.559 Or what's gonna happen at awakening? 00:30:57.440 --> 00:30:59.279 Or a relationship. 00:31:01.599 --> 00:31:13.519 See, the minute when we can get to the reality that my anxiety doesn't um actually help me, it hurts me, then we're in a place where we go, okay. 00:31:15.200 --> 00:31:21.359 But we use anxiety as a coping tool for the uncertainty of life to try to have control. 00:31:25.279 --> 00:31:29.519 And it's not just ineffective, it's counterproductive. 00:31:32.559 --> 00:31:35.359 See, here's what's interesting back to that. 00:31:36.160 --> 00:31:38.960 Would you surrender it to the care of God? 00:31:39.039 --> 00:31:40.720 I love how Max Lucado says it. 00:31:40.799 --> 00:31:50.720 He says, our anxiety decreases when our understanding of our heavenly father increases. 00:31:52.400 --> 00:31:55.440 Your anxiety decreases. 00:31:57.680 --> 00:31:59.039 What did I do with that quarter? 00:31:59.279 --> 00:32:00.079 There it is. 00:32:01.039 --> 00:32:09.920 When my understanding of my heavenly father increases, I just need more of you. 00:32:10.079 --> 00:32:24.799 I need a bigger picture of you, I need a bigger vision of you because my vision is just me, my strength, my ability, my lack of anything to affect change over here, so I'm gonna anxiously toil and spin out. 00:32:27.359 --> 00:32:30.000 Heavenly Father, I just return it back to you. 00:32:34.880 --> 00:32:37.279 Anxiety is part of the human condition. 00:32:37.519 --> 00:32:40.319 You're gonna experience anxiety. 00:32:41.599 --> 00:32:45.440 Jesus is just telling us when we do, this is what we need to do. 00:32:46.799 --> 00:32:50.000 And so as we close, I just want to lead us in a time. 00:32:50.160 --> 00:32:53.920 We don't have enough time to stop and zoom out. 00:32:54.720 --> 00:32:59.119 I just want to lead us in a time to stop and zoom out. 00:33:00.400 --> 00:33:02.160 And so, would you do this with me? 00:33:02.480 --> 00:33:05.839 Would you mind if you're not already put both feet on the ground? 00:33:06.160 --> 00:33:08.240 Get your hands in your lap. 00:33:10.559 --> 00:33:13.200 Why don't you just take a big deep breath? 00:33:15.680 --> 00:33:19.279 You could even start your iPhone and breathe out if you want. 00:33:22.160 --> 00:33:23.680 Big deep breath. 00:33:25.519 --> 00:33:27.359 What are you anxious about? 00:33:29.519 --> 00:33:32.319 What are you worried or concerned about? 00:33:35.039 --> 00:33:39.039 What are the fears or the weight that you're carrying? 00:33:46.400 --> 00:33:49.759 Where are you experiencing it in your body? 00:33:50.559 --> 00:33:51.599 Is it in your chest? 00:33:51.759 --> 00:33:52.880 Is there a tightness? 00:33:54.079 --> 00:33:55.359 Is it in your gut? 00:33:56.640 --> 00:33:59.359 Do you experience it in your mind or your head? 00:34:03.839 --> 00:34:14.079 You might want to take your hands and just take a clenched fist and just open them up just as a sign. 00:34:16.159 --> 00:34:22.239 I've been holding tightly on this, and now I'm gonna surrender it to the care of God. 00:34:23.039 --> 00:34:25.840 Would you bring it to your Heavenly Father? 00:34:27.119 --> 00:34:29.280 Friends, you are not what you do. 00:34:32.320 --> 00:34:34.000 You are not what you have. 00:34:36.000 --> 00:34:40.239 You are not what others think about you, or even what you think about you. 00:34:42.239 --> 00:34:43.840 You are what God thinks of you. 00:34:45.039 --> 00:34:45.679 Beloved. 00:34:48.639 --> 00:34:56.880 And in this moment, bring your care and your worries to your Heavenly Father. 00:34:57.039 --> 00:35:00.719 And you know that at some point later this week you're gonna take it back. 00:35:00.880 --> 00:35:03.199 It might even be later this day. 00:35:03.519 --> 00:35:09.599 And when you do, may it be that signal or sign, God, I'm gonna bring it back to you. 00:35:11.199 --> 00:35:13.440 We hope you are blessed by this message. 00:35:13.679 --> 00:35:18.079 Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded. 00:35:18.239 --> 00:35:20.320 And hey, we'd love to connect with you. 00:35:20.480 --> 00:35:26.400 Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.com slash card.