Annihilating Anxiety

Take your Bibles today and let's turn to 1 Peter chapter 5. And as you're turning, let me just say this. Elders and deacons, let's have a real quick meeting up here after we're done, okay? Nothing, no emergencies, nothing of earth-shattering consequence, just, well, a couple things occurred to me while I was sitting there, and especially during the moment with missions, I think we need to talk about a few things.

So, up here, okay? Are you all in 1 Peter 5? Good. 1 Peter 5, let's begin reading in verse 1. So I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not on a compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.

And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.

Be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Let's pray. Father, now would you please open our hearts to your word. we pray Lord that this would be this would help us to continue down the steps of growth in wisdom wisdom that helps us to fight fear and anxiety a wisdom that gives us peace the wisdom that we exercise that will make us that would help us glorify the name of our Father Help us now to listen carefully.

Help us by your Spirit to do what we're told. Help us to seek your grace and power to change. For that we will thank you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Anxiety.

We've all struggled with it, right? Some find themselves annoyed by it periodically. Others consumed by it constantly. And when you think about it, there's plenty to worry about. we live in the midst of a pandemic anxious about the reach of the disease or anxious about the reach of the government cities are exploding with protests and riots and are anxious about what will happen to life as we know it and what will life be like for our children and grandchildren you're wondering about your job wondering if the economy will go south and you'll lose your employment?

What about the school? What about your children's education? Anxiety brings everything to our attention, leaving very little free space in our brains. There's the presentation next week, the new job you start tomorrow, the trip the kids are taking in a few days, the wedding you're supposed to plan, your husband who's been kind of sick, the meeting tonight with your friend whose marriage is troubled, the angry father-in-law with whom you have to be reconciled, the oldest son who's struggling in college, the youngest daughter who can't find a job, and the water heater doesn't work, and you don't think if you have enough money to pay for it, right?

It's just never-ending, constant, constant thoughts of all these things that are on your plate, and you're consumed with it, and anxiety just doesn't let up. There's always something that grabs your attention. There's always something you have to think about That the way it works How in the world can you be free from all that How can you be free from all that Well the good news is that you can find peace and joy and that by God help you can battle anxiety successfully So we going to talk about that today in this final installment in our series on fear and worry We're going to talk about that.

Annihilating anxiety. I think the first thing we have to ask is why should you annihilate anxiety? What's the purpose of it? now for many of us the purpose is i want a peaceful life i just i just want life to be good again a life that's enjoyable because you're rid of anxiety if your goal in ridding yourself of anxiety is merely a peaceful enjoyable life with a mind free of all those intrusive thoughts you're never going to get there you won't get there Ephesians 4 22 has been a verse that rings in my head all the time there's a phrase in that verse that really helps me understand some things listen to it put off your old self which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires it's corrupt through deceitful desires if your goal is getting something for yourself you will not get it because that desire is deceitful the desire that says if you get what you want you'll be happy right like uh um james or jay street i can't remember which one the twins john street's twins One of them said to their dad one time, Dad, if you get me a Nintendo 64, I'll be happy and I'll never ask for anything for the rest of my life.

Deceitful desire. He'd get it. If he got it, it wouldn't deliver. Those desires are deceitful. They never deliver what they promise. And so if you're saying, if only I could be free from anxiety, and the reason why I could, I would have a good, easy life.

My life would be better. It'd be so good. I'd be able to live what I wanted to live if I didn't have anxiety. Guess what? If your desire is to just have that for yourself, you're never going to get rid of worry. Well then, why should you want to rid yourself of anxiety?

Let start today where we ended last week 2 Corinthians chapter 1 Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 1 2 Corinthians chapter 1, verses 8 and 9. For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia, for we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death.

But that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead. Again, Paul reminds us here that when they came into Asia, they were so stressed out, they despaired of even life itself. The anguish was so great, they despaired of life itself. But he says that he reminds us that God graciously orchestrates our circumstances in order to strip us of our self-reliance.

To strip us of our habit of relying on ourselves. Again, remember this. I think this is key. Anxiety is the child of self-reliance. when you are constantly relying on yourself you can be sure that you will be anxious you can be sure you will be you will worry anxiety is the child of self-reliance setting your hope on God alone and not setting your hope on improving your circumstances or your situation is the ultimate remedy for anxiety.

Setting your hope on God alone, not on your circumstances changing, but on God who raises the dead. This God who is powerful, who can raise his son and anyone from the dead. This is the one upon whom you must rely. You must strip yourself of all self-reliance if you will be rid of anxiety. As you rely on God, you will give him the credit. And others will glorify God because he has changed you.

You will show those around you how redeemed people live. That redeemed people are not those consumed by anxiety. That's the reason why you want to rid yourself of anxiety. To strip yourself of self-reliance so that people will honor and glorify God and the name of Christ will be magnified. Well then, how do you go about doing that? How do you go about doing that?

How do you go about crucifying self-reliance, putting off anxiety, and magnifying Christ? How should you annihilate anxiety? How should you do that? This morning I'm going to give you four biblical strategies to eliminate anxiety and glorify your Savior and your Father. I want to just give you four strategies. Now, there's more than this.

As you search the scriptures, as you seek to understand God's word, you will find there is tons of stuff out there, in there, that will help you in fighting the anxiety that plagues you. I'm only going to give you four because I'm a merciful pastor. And if you dump the whole truck, no one will get anything. So I'm just going to give you four, okay? And I will encourage you to search the scriptures for even more.

All right? Here's the first. Here's the first strategy for annihilating anxiety. Repent for failing to fulfill your responsibilities. Repent for failing to fulfill any of your responsibilities. please. Proverbs chapter 28, verse 1.

The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion. You say, how does that apply? The wicked flee when no one pursues. If there is sin that's plaguing you, you will tend to worry. The righteous are as bold as a lion, but when there's unresolved guilt, when there's sin that I haven't dealt with, when I have failed, I will have a tendency to worry.

Anxiety is often connected with wrong living. How do you feel? Let me ask you, how do you feel at the end of the day when you goofed off and wasted time How do you feel Do you find yourself almost slipping into worry when at the end of the day you know you haven done what you should have done that day Sure You know some people worry about losing their jobs because they have not fulfilled the responsibilities that God has given them in their job.

For example, in the book of Colossians, God says, slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters not by way of eye service as people pleasers but with sincerity of heart fearing the Lord whatever you do work heartily as for the Lord and not for men and some folks because they haven't done that worry about losing their jobs right or some people worry about finances because they know they're in the habit of spending too much and so they worry about that you follow what happens what happens to worry when you know what you've done what God commands you to do for that day what happens to worry it's not an issue is it when you have exercised self-discipline in your spending you tend not to worry about finances. So, here's where you always ought to start. This is the low-hanging fruit right here.

Start with looking at yourself and saying, is there a failure on my part to fulfill some of my God-given responsibilities? When you're anxious, ask that question first and deal with that. I mean, it's not like I'm speaking out of personal experience or anything. Right? All right, here's the second. Employ the dragon slayer.

Say what? Just write it down. Employ the dragon slayer. Philippians chapter 4. Now, I'll tell you why I call this the dragon slayer. When I was consumed with worry, when anxiety was my constant companion, and that was the case with me for about a year.

I told you the story about coming here and becoming a pastor and just totally being consumed by worry within a little over a year. Then I went to my counseling training and found out that all my anxiety and worry was actually sin but I was taught something that the Lord used in a mighty way to help me slay the dragon of anxiety and I want to share that with you today. Some of you have heard this some of you have heard it many times my children have heard it a thousand and one times but this is what I call the dragon slayer Philippians 4 verses 6 through 9.

Now there's more to it than the whole context is here, but I just want to center on these four verses. Now Philippians 4, 6 through 9, in my view, are all connected to worry because in verse 6 he talks about anxiety, 6 and 7 he talks about anxiety and peace, and in verse 9 he talks about peace. And so 6 through 9, actually I think it's 4 through 9, but we're just concentrating on 6 through 9 is this power-packed passage that helps us slay the dragon of anxiety.

So let's look at it. Verse 6. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Furthermore, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there's any excellence, if there's anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things and the God of peace will be with you. This is the pray right, think right, do right strategy for annihilating anxiety. This is what I call it. Pray right, think right, do right. This is what God has given us as to how we can deal with anxiety and worry. So he begins in verse 6 with saying, pray right, pray right.

Fight back with prayer. He says, don't be anxious about anything. never worry always pray okay you know you know what's going through my head right now an old old sunday school song and probably most of you who are younger than me don even know it it called why worry when you can pray And I know right now it going through Beck head I sure she hears the melody in her head And I'm not going to sing it for you. But it's a song that says, why worry when you can pray?

And so what God says is, if you're going to fight anxiety, the first thing to do is to pray right. Well, what do you mean by pray right? Well, first of all, fight back with prayer. That word, there are three words that have to do with praying here. Right? There is prayer, there is supplication, there is thanksgiving.

Pray right. That fight back with prayer, this word highlights worshipful prayer focusing on God's character. It's a prayer of worship. You focus on God's character. Anxiety is a crippling focus on our circumstances. This prayer has a healing focus on God's character. and so it takes my eyes off of the circumstances that are tempting me to anxiety and focuses them on the character of God it reminds you of Isaiah 26.3 which says you keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you alright and so I pray Father I praise you for your infinite wisdom that has brought me to this situation.

I praise you for your power that can see me through this situation. And I praise you for your love that ever cares for me even in this situation. Your prayers focusing on the character of God. Then he says fight back with supplication. This is approaching your God with petitions. you ask him specifically urgently with hands open to him to handle the situation in which you find yourself in that spirit you present your requests to God you ask you bring your requests father so you continue as you pray father I'm overwhelmed I see no way out I feel like I'm starved of resources.

My gas tank is on E. My resources are depleted. Rather than trusting in myself, I'm clinging to you. I'm fable. You're almighty. I refuse to rely on myself.

I choose to rely on you. Father, please. work. All right? I'm asking. And then the strange part of this. Do all of this with thanksgiving.

Now, for a while I could not understand that. I didn't understand it. I would pray with thanksgiving, but I didn't understand what that meant. Here's what it means. Listen to me. Worriers are ungrateful people.

You can never be a worrier and grateful. It's impossible for those two to exist. Why is that? Because worriers want a different reality than the one that God has given him. You follow? Why am I worried?

Because I don't like what's coming down the pike. I see this thing coming. I don't like it. God, it looks like this is going to enter my life. I don't like that. Worriers are, by nature, ungrateful.

They want a different reality than the one that God is giving them. And when anxiety assaults you, everything looks negative, dark, and hopeless, which does not contribute to gratitude. Would you agree? When everything looks negative, dark, and hopeless, that's not good fertile ground for thanksgiving to grow in. and so I must also pray Father this situation is difficult but I thank you because you've promised to work good oh God I know I will be a better husband on the other end of this trial and thank you for your faithfulness and steadfast love that you have shown me all the days of my life in which I know will be present in this situation.

See, you can pray with thanksgiving. Pray right. Pray with worship. Pray with supplication. Pray with thanksgiving. Pray right. then think right now when you look at verse 8 typically we look at verse 8 of Philippians 4 and think about this is good for guys who are struggling with pornography and images in their minds and stuff And it is but I want to suggest to you that it part of this whole issue of worry because verse 9 is still talking about peace The context is still anxiety.

And you know what happens? I remember years ago, it must have been within the first year of my ministry, when a woman called me and said, Pastor, I know that when I worry, I'm supposed to pray, but here's what I find. I come to the Lord, I kneel at his throne, I pray, I lay the burden at his feet, and then when I'm done praying, I get up off my knees and pick up the burden and walk away again.

Now, many of you have found that to be true as well. What do you do about that? That's what he's talking about here. Think right. As Christians, we have the ability to switch our thinking. The world will tell us that you are powerless to change your thinking.

Think about how the world describes anxiety. It talks about anxiety attacks. Now, what does that say to you? It says that you're not responsible, that you can't help it, that you've been attacked even though we all know that anxiety originates in our own hearts we're not attacked what's the point i'm trying to make the point i'm trying to make is you do have the ability by the grace of god and the power of the holy spirit to change your thinking when you need to you can change your thinking and so what the apostle paul is saying here is once you've prayed you get up off your knees now you switch your thoughts and it's time to think about something else.

It's time to think about something that meets the criteria of verse 8. What is pure? What is honorable? Think on those kinds of things. Don't think about all the negative, hopeless, dark things that are intruding on your mind. Now you need to switch your mind and start thinking about those things that meet this criteria.

It may be memory verses. It may be I'm going to memorize a hymn. It may even be, you know, I do have that wedding to plan. I need to get busy on that. Anything that meets that criteria, get busy. When I'm counseling people struggling with anxiety and I teaching them the dragon slayer here oftentimes I tell them this I want you to take a three by five card Let do that right now Take a three by five card and hand it to him Put number 1 on there I want you to number 1 to 10 Okay On the first line I want you to write down this I need to think of 9 other things.

Okay? Alright, now, here's what you've got to do this week. When you're tempted to worry, you pray, then you pull out that card and you start filling it out. Once it's filled out, when you're tempted to worry you pray get off your knees pull that card out and say i'm going to think about number five now you may think wow that seems really hard i mean that just seems so mechanical sure is but if that's what it takes that's what it takes to get you in the habit of changing your thinking carry the card with you and i tell them carry that card with you all the time And when you're tempted to worry, pray right.

Pray right, the way we've talked about here. When you get up off your knees, pull that card out and say, I'm going to think about this. Pray right, think right, verse 9. Do right. Do right. Paul says, what I've taught you, what you've heard from me, what you've seen me do, put it into practice.

Do right. Get busy. start doing what God has given you to do today. What has God put on your plate today? Start doing it. Start getting busy. Do you remember what Jesus says in Matthew 6.33?

He says, but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you. What things? All the things that you're worried about. Your clothes, your food, all those things. Look, you don't have to worry about that. Get busy serving me.

I'll take care of that. You get busy. And that's what the Apostle Paul is essentially saying here. Get busy for the kingdom of Christ. Right? Get busy for the kingdom of Christ and for his righteousness. that may mean all right look I've got children I got to take care of I don't have I don't have to waste my time and worry about that I've got children here in front of me I've got to converse with I got to minister to this is seeking Christ kingdom in his righteousness is it not your job you seek the kingdom of christ by what we just looked at it before not working for men as men pleasers but hardly and for the lord and so i get busy with my job the point is you get busy now when i was struggling and anxiety was my constant companion i learned these things i started doing this i would you remember me telling about being home and I'd be at the table and I was totally oblivious to my family because my mind was a thousand miles away running in a million different directions worried about all these things I didn't even see my sons my wife was invisible this is what I learned to do I learned to get up go upstairs and I learned to pray and I said God you know the situation that I'm worried about you know what's happening would you please work in it God please work in it and Lord I can thank you because I know that at the end of that, whatever it was that was coming, you're going to make me a better husband, a better pastor, a better dad.

You're going to do something in my life, and I can thank you for that. And I had to get up, change my thinking, go downstairs, and engage. No matter what I felt like, I had to do right. And that meant ministering to my family. And the Lord, by His grace, dealt with anxiety in my life. that's why I'm forever thankful for him and the dragon slayer now I'm saying to you do it whatever it takes pray right, think right, do right now, third what's the third strategy we can talk about here it is, learn the skill of today not learn the skill that is required for today.

Learn the skill of today. Okay? You need to trust God for today rather than being distressed about tomorrow. Today is your day in which you must work. Don't think about tomorrow. You don't think about tomorrow.

You have today to deal with. Learn the skill of today. Ed Welch, I love what he says, and I think I quoted him before. Worries can be born in the past, live in the future, and invade the future. present. Now listen, they focus our attention on things over which we are relatively powerless and they take our attention away from the mission that is right in front of us.

You see, I'm so worried about and distressed about tomorrow that I've lost, my attention is drawn away from the mission that I have today. What's your mission for today? That's what you concentrate on. God teaches us this in Exodus chapter 16. Turn there. Exodus 16.

Very familiar story. But it teaches us a number of things. It teaches us about anxiety, grace, and God's faithfulness. It teaches us about today. Exodus 16. Now we're not going to read the entire chapter, but we'll look at a few verses that give us the sense of this chapter.

Exodus chapter 16. all right verses four and five then the lord said to moses behold i am about to rain bread from heaven for you and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day that i may test them whether they will walk in my law or not on the sixth day when they prepare what they bring in it will be twice as much as they gather daily so only get enough for one day don't get enough for the next day. Only today. You only get your bread for today.

Don't get any for tomorrow. Unless it's, what did I just read? On the sixth day. Then get two. You can get two days worth. But only one day the rest of the week.

Well then let's turn over to verse 15 now. dropped down when the people of Israel saw it that is this bread they said to one another what is it the the the Hebrew word for what is it is manna manna okay what is it for they did not know what it was and Moses and nobody today knows what it was and um and Moses said to them it is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat This is what the Lord has commanded Gather of it each one of you as much as he can eat You shall each take an omer according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent And the people of Israel did so. They gathered some more, some less. But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.

Each of them gathered as much as they could eat. And Moses said to them, let no one leave any of it over till the morning but they did not listen to Moses of course some left part of it till the morning and it bred worms and stank and Moses was angry with them morning by morning they gathered it each as much as he could eat but when the sun grew hot it melted on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread two omers each and when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses he said to them this is what the Lord has commanded tomorrow's a day of solemn rest a holy sabbath to the lord bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till morning so they laid it aside till the morning as moses commanded them and it did not stink and there were no worms in it moses said eat it today for today is a sabbath to the lord today you will not find it in the field six days you shall gather it but on the seventh day which is a sabbath there will be none now these people had just left the land in which they had lived for 400 years 400 years of plowing planting and reaping and getting their food then they saw the faithfulness of God in delivering them from Egypt with mighty signs of of power mighty mighty acts of power and his great love and now the lesson of his faithfulness continued with the provision of manna. They saw God provide for each day, but not the next.

Only today. And when they took matters into their own hands, when they said, what? Well, we'll save some for tomorrow. It didn't work. God was teaching the lesson. You've got to depend on me every day to provide for you.

When you start storing it, that's you relying on yourself and I'm not going to allow it until the sixth day. Then God in some miraculous way kept it pure for them His provision even for that day But what they had to learn was to trust God for every single day as it comes and not think about tomorrow God will provide for tomorrow Don't think about tomorrow. You only have to think about today.

God was teaching them that lesson. And he also teaches us that he will provide grace for every day. On the day we need it. again we must trust that God will provide the grace for the day when we need it that is to say you cannot store up grace and that's what we do when we worry we want God's grace we want God's grace for that event that's two weeks down the road that we're just consumed with we want God's grace now for that and God says I'm not going to give you the grace for that and so what happens we worry.

He says, I'll give you the grace for today. And what we have to learn is that God is faithful. He will provide what I need for tomorrow, tomorrow. Can you trust him to do that? So when you look down the road and you see what's coming down the pike, God hasn't given you the grace for that yet. But when the day arrives, will you have the grace to handle it yes so don't be distressed about that now God will give you the grace when you need it Jesus himself made this clear in verse 34 of Matthew 6 it almost sounds like Jesus is sinking to the level of practicality can you believe that after this huge wonderful sermon about.

You don't have to worry about your food and clothes. God takes care of the birds. He takes care of these plants that are thrown in the oven. Don't you think he'll take care of you? So seek his kingdom and he'll add all these things. And then he ends up by saying this.

Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. You know what he's saying there? Deal with today. Don't think about tomorrow. when tomorrow arrives you'll have the grace for it so you don't have to think about that now you don't have to worry worry is just another attempt to do something without the grace of God helping you so learn the skill of today now here the fourth and last thing I want to talk to you about cast all your anxieties on your father Cast all your anxieties on your father So let just imagine this You in a strange city with your dad You had to go for us it was going to Milwaukee, right?

Milwaukee. Milwaukee was our Columbus, if you will, okay? That's the big town. That's where we hardly ever went there. So let's say we're in Milwaukee and I'm with my dad and I'm walking down a dark street. So you're with your dad.

You're walking down a dark street. You don't know where you're going. And it's kind of a frightening situation and you're just a little bit scared. And then you realize something. Wait a minute. Dad's here.

He knows where we're going. And it's his job to get me there. And if there's any trouble on this dark street, it's his job to protect me. I don't have to worry about that. That's his job. Because of your dad, you don't have to worry about anything.

That's, worry about that stuff, that's his job. Not yours. That's his job to worry about where you're going. It's his job to protect you. You don't have to give it another thought. That's his job. all of the burden of that is on him, not on you.

So it is with your Heavenly Father. It's his job to worry about everything, not yours. That's his job. You know where you find that? In 1 Peter chapter 5. Let's turn there.

1 Peter chapter 5. first peter chapter five we'll pick it up we read this earlier verse six and seven humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of god so that at the proper time he may exalt you casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you this is what peter is telling us it's his job. He writes to people who are suffering persecution. They have a lot to worry about.

How will we make a living if the government throws me in jail? What will happen to my family if I die for the faith? If my co-workers keep bad-mouthing me, My reputation will be ruined. Those are the sorts of things that you find in the book of 1 Peter. Those are the sorts of things they were under. And the first thing that Peter says is they have to humble themselves under God's mighty hand.

Remember, he just got done saying, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Right? How do you do that? Well, you humble yourself under his mighty hand. So that his hand, that same hand under which you are humbled, that same hand will exalt you at the right time. Yes, you're persecuted, but there's coming a time when all those who persecuted you will be terrified as God exalts you in their sight and says, you were wrong for what you did to these people.

Right? But that time's not here yet. So what do you do in the meantime? What does he say? You cast all your anxieties on him. How do we make a living? if the government throws me in jail.

Hey, it's God's job to make sure you're fed. Well, what if I die? Who's going to take care of my family? Hey, it's his job to take care of your family. Yeah, but what if my co-workers keep bad-mouthing me and ruin my reputation? Listen, it is God's job.

It is your father's job to guard your reputation. And if he doesn't, it's his job to see that you come through with it, transformed into the likeness of Christ, and accomplishing good through that trial. That's his job. You don't have to worry about it. That's what Peter's telling us. Casting all your cares on him.

Whatever you're worried about, you can assert, well, it's not my job to see that everything turns out. It's my father's job. Can you get the picture here? Can you get the picture? It's time we started saying, hey, that's not my job. It's his.

I'll cast my cares on him because that's his job now how do you do that how do you cast your cares on the father well obviously the first thing you need to do is to pray is to pray Lord God you have promised to work good in my life please do I'm worried about this but I give it to you that what your job right you know how else you do it You know how else you cast your cares on the Lord You believe that God is who He says He is You believe that God is who He says He is. And right here we have one thing that's emphasized for us. Cast all your anxieties upon Him because He what?

He cares for you. How can I do that? Because he's told me he cares for me. God is not a distant deity who's playing games with me. He's not a distant deity who says, you know what, I'm going to glorify myself right now. And you know what that means?

That means I'm going to put you through some horrible things, but I'll look good. Is that the God we have? No. Is our God going to glorify himself in whatever he puts us through? Yes. but it's not disconnected from the fact that all the while he's glorifying himself. He cares for you.

He cares for you. I just can't believe the providence of this. Last night I was looking through some Facebook stuff and my friend Steve Vires had posted something on Facebook. Steve's a pastor in Indiana. Steve has a son named Andrew And Andrew's a special needs boy. He's been a real blessing in their lives.

And they call him the bear. That's his nickname, the bear. So there's this picture of the bear sitting at the table, and Steve writes this. The bear has a doctor's appointment today. And so I sat down with him and reviewed with him 1 Peter 5, verse 7, casting all your anxieties on him for he cares for you. And the bear responded, hmm, that's nice of him.

Yeah, it is, isn't it? Yeah, that is nice of him. That's the way our God is. He cares for you. He cares for you. What else can we think about God?

How do we cast our anxieties on him? We believe that God is who he says he is. He is for you and not against you He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all how will he not also along with him give us graciously give us all things Do you think the one, do you think the one who sent his son to die for you is now just going to throw you to the wolves?

You think that's what's going on? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? God's not going to abandon you. He's for you, not against you. No matter what the situation is, you must believe that God is for you and never against you. No matter what the situation, God is for you.

He's not playing games with you. I need to come to grips with the fact that God loves me. Do you think this perfect father will ever allow irreparable damage into your life? Do you think he'll do that to you if he loves you? He's wise. Do you think he's making a foolish mistake right now with the circumstances you're in?

Is he wise or is he not? He is just. Do you think that people can harm you and get away with it? They won't. Not in the long run, they won't. He is faithful. this is the one I think that has helped me the most.

Has he ever failed to come to your aid? Has he ever failed? No. No. Whatever anxiety, or not anxieties, whatever comes my way now, I can look back and I can say, God, you have been faithful to me for these many, many years. That's the advantage of sitting where I am at 65. there's a whole history to look at and even in those situations that turned out worse than I imagined you were faithful in that and you saw me through you will certainly be faithful to me now why do I worry how do I cast my burdens on him I pray and I believe that God is who he says he is and so as you walk down the dark path of this fallen broken world you don't have to worry because as your heavenly father walks with you you can say it his job These are the ways that we can strip ourselves of self and trust in our Father and our Savior.

Nothing has changed was the first thing that Ed's friend Carl said after he was told that his cancer was malignant and untreatable. But it seemed to Ed that everything had changed. With four words, your cancer is malignant, Carl's future is forever rearranged. Within a year, his parents are going to lose their oldest son, his wife is going to become a widow, and his four children will not have a father.

But that's not what Carl meant. he was certain that Jesus was the reigning king. He was certain that Jesus' love was established beyond a shadow of a doubt because he died for those who held him in contempt. He was certain that nothing could separate him from the love of God in Christ. He was certain that his Heavenly Father could take care of his wife and his children with a special affection.

And so Carl could say, nothing has changed. Let me ask you, wouldn't you like to say nothing has changed? Wouldn't you like to say that? Imagine what life would be like if we could say nothing has changed. when we encounter the snags and the inconveniences and the downright tragedies of life? If we could just say nothing has changed, wouldn't that be great?

Unshakable. You can. You can. If you look to God, if you grow in wisdom, and little by little, day by day, you continue in that gradual, unstoppable process of growing in Jesus. then you will be able to say, nothing has changed. Father, we are so thankful for your word. how comforting it is, how incisive it is, how powerful it is, how it changes us as your Spirit works its precepts into our souls, into our hearts.

God, I pray for this congregation. I pray that there would be changes happening, that there would be that gradual, unstoppable, beautiful process of growing in Jesus in people's hearts today with regards to anxiety. I beg you, Father, work in this congregation so that we will be, as a whole, a people who do not worry, a people who cast our cares on you, a people who pray right, think right, do right.

God, help us. We want to magnify your name, and we know we can as we learn to kill anxiety and trust you. help us we ask in Jesus name Amen