Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Freeing Yourself Up to Laugh Again Msg 12 14

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Freeing Yourself Up to Laugh Again Msg 12 14 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: I want to make a statement that will make a
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Speaker 1: lot of you feel sort of shocked when you first
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Speaker 1: hear it. God intends for His children to be free.
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Speaker 1: That's right, free. He gave you and me minds to
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Speaker 1: think freely, hearts to love freely, and wills to act freely.
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Speaker 1: The irony, however, is that in exercising our freedoms, we
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Speaker 1: often imprison ourselves behind the bars of wrong choices, even addictions.
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Speaker 1: That would include anxiety, which is another word for worry.
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Speaker 1: And so today, we're going to talk about breaking free
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Speaker 1: from these long-standing addictions. Perhaps we could call it a cure. Yes,
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Speaker 1: I said the cure. To help us understand what this means,
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Speaker 1: I'll be reading from Philippians chapter 4, verses 4 through 9.
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Speaker 1: But this time I want to read it from the
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Speaker 1: Living Bible. This particular translation helps us to see that
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Speaker 1: the process toward freedom is through gaining control of our
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Speaker 1: thought life. Listen for that as I read these verses
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Speaker 1: for you. Once again, Philippians 4, 4 through 9 from
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Speaker 1: the Living Bible. Always be full of joy in the Lord.
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Speaker 1: I say it again. Rejoice. Let everyone see that you
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Speaker 1: are unselfish and considerate in all you do. Remember that
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Speaker 1: the Lord is coming soon. Don't worry about anything. Instead,
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Speaker 1: pray about everything. Tell God your needs and don't forget
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Speaker 1: to thank Him for His answers. If you do this,
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Speaker 1: you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful
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Speaker 1: than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep
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Speaker 1: your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as
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Speaker 1: you trust in Christ Jesus. And now, brothers, as I
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Speaker 1: close this letter, let me say this one more thing.
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Speaker 1: Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right.
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Speaker 1: Think about things that are pure and lovely and dwell
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Speaker 1: on the fine, good things in others. Think about all
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Speaker 1: you can praise God for and be glad about. Keep
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Speaker 1: putting into practice all you learned from me and saw
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Speaker 1: me doing, and the God of peace will be with you.
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Speaker 1: There are not many words greater than freedom. Well, maybe forgiveness,
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Speaker 1: but that's a kind of freedom. And certainly relief, which
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Speaker 1: is the result of freedom. But freedom is a great word.
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Speaker 1: Great word. Freedom to think one's thoughts freely and to
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Speaker 1: express oneself freely. Freedom from the tyranny of some governmental
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Speaker 1: ruler over us. That's how we got our nation started
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Speaker 1: by freedom. seeking and fighting for that freedom. We fight
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Speaker 1: no more fierce battle than a battle for freedom. We
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Speaker 1: are more willing to lay our lives down and more
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Speaker 1: quickly for that than any other someone taking away our freedom.
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Speaker 1: Speaking of that, when one person in our land does
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Speaker 1: violence to another, we put that person behind bars. We
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Speaker 1: take away the freedom, we say. So vital to our culture.
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Speaker 1: In fact, our most official and famous statue is called, appropriately,
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Speaker 1: a statue of liberty. Because this is a land people
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Speaker 1: clamor to get into and oh so seldom want to
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Speaker 1: get away from. It's a place of freedom. It's a
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Speaker 1: place of liberty. Freedom to worship according to the dictates
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Speaker 1: of my own conscience. Freedom to worship declare myself and
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Speaker 1: form my own convictions and dream my own dreams and
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Speaker 1: come to the place where I can see those dreams fulfilled.
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Speaker 1: This is the speech, it seems, of every valedictorian of
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Speaker 1: every graduating class. This is our time, they are told,
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Speaker 1: to reach the dreams of their future. It's all revolving
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Speaker 1: around freedom. But freedom isn't an American word. It doesn't
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Speaker 1: even get started in the English language. God started it.
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Speaker 1: God made us free. One of the attractive things about
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Speaker 1: knowing God and developing a personal theology is discovering that
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Speaker 1: it is his genius. It is his creation. He gave
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Speaker 1: us minds that are free to think. To think freely.
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Speaker 1: He gave us hearts to love freely. And he gave
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Speaker 1: us wills to obey him freely. God did not make
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Speaker 1: us into mindless puppets or high-tech robots who walk through
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Speaker 1: the motions that have been programmed inside us. That brings
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Speaker 1: God no delight. When a congregation spontaneously worships and sings
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Speaker 1: and and gives of its money and commits itself to
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Speaker 1: world mission, it is like a sweet-smelling aroma in the
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Speaker 1: nostrils of God. Now, there's a downside to this as well.
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Speaker 1: Since God makes us free, we are free not to obey,
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Speaker 1: aren't we? Since we are not programmed to obey, we
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Speaker 1: are just as free not to love him and not
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Speaker 1: to think his thoughts. We are in fact free to
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Speaker 1: travel the road of disobedience all the way to its
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Speaker 1: dead end. And when we do, we come upon what
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Speaker 1: is known as an addiction. Trapped in our own cell,
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Speaker 1: behind the bars of our own making, we become Victims
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Speaker 1: of habits that started wrong and continued wrong and only
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Speaker 1: intensified until we were unable to back away. It's a
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Speaker 1: tragic scene. And that is why Christ came. That is
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Speaker 1: his commission for leaving heaven and coming to this polluted,
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Speaker 1: addictive earth. coming to a sin-cursed world to set people free.
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Speaker 1: We all know the great commission for the believer to
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Speaker 1: go and to make disciples of all nations and to
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Speaker 1: baptize men and women and boys and girls in the
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Speaker 1: name of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit and
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Speaker 1: to teach them to walk with God and to obey
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Speaker 1: and to do so until we leave this earth. And lo,
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Speaker 1: Christ is with us always, even to the end. But
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Speaker 1: do you know that Christ had a commission when he came?
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Speaker 1: It was a commission to set people free. Knowing that
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Speaker 1: all of us, given our own way, would use our
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Speaker 1: freedom and abuse it, he came to set us free.
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Speaker 1: I want to show you two sections from the Old
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Speaker 1: and New Testament that describe this so clearly. First, Isaiah
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Speaker 1: chapter 61 says, And then when you find that, locate
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Speaker 1: in the New Testament Luke chapter 4. I want to
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Speaker 1: read from both because one is a prediction and the
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Speaker 1: other is the fulfillment. Turn first to Isaiah 61 and
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Speaker 1: then find Luke chapter 4. And we shall read about
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Speaker 1: this commission that God gave the Messiah. Isaiah 61 begins,
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Speaker 1: the spirit of the Lord God is upon me because
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Speaker 1: the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to
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Speaker 1: the afflicted. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
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Speaker 1: to proclaim, there it is, to proclaim liberty to captives,
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Speaker 1: and here it is again, and freedom to prisoners. Not
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Speaker 1: pardoning those behind bars, not literal inmates. This is a
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Speaker 1: spiritual context. This is a personal word. written by Isaiah,
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Speaker 1: but written about one who was yet to come. This
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Speaker 1: is one of those many messianic sections in the prophecy
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Speaker 1: of Isaiah. To proclaim liberty to captives and to free
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Speaker 1: the prisoners. To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord
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Speaker 1: and the day of vengeance of our God. To comfort
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Speaker 1: all who mourn, to grant those who mourn in Zion,
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Speaker 1: giving them a A garland instead of ashes. The oil
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Speaker 1: of gladness instead of mourning. The mantle of praise instead
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Speaker 1: of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called
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Speaker 1: oaks of righteousness. So they will be the planting of
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Speaker 1: the Lord that he may be glorified. Isn't that a
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Speaker 1: great word? Isaiah is not writing this about himself. Oh,
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Speaker 1: perhaps in a measure. But as you will see when
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Speaker 1: you turn to Luke 4, Jesus Christ claimed this for
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Speaker 1: himself personally. As you move ahead to Luke 4, you're
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Speaker 1: moving past seven and a half centuries of time. You're
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Speaker 1: moving from an old era when prophecies were written. on
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Speaker 1: ancient scrolls to a new era when the son of
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Speaker 1: God has come to earth and now at the young
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Speaker 1: age of 30 in his life having served his apprenticeship
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Speaker 1: in life alongside his foster father Joseph and his mother
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Speaker 1: Mary he has come to the place of ministry And
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Speaker 1: it is this very point in Isaiah 61 Christ turns
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Speaker 1: when he gets to the synagogue in the city in
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Speaker 1: which he was raised. Luke 4, verse 14. Jesus returned
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Speaker 1: to Galilee in the power of the Spirit. And news
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Speaker 1: about him spread through all the surrounding district. And he
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Speaker 1: began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all.
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Speaker 1: And he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up.
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Speaker 1: As was his custom, he entered the synagogue on the
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Speaker 1: Sabbath and he stood up to read. And the book
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Speaker 1: of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him and he
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Speaker 1: unrolled the scroll. He opened that book and found the
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Speaker 1: place where it was written. Look, he's at chapter 61.
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Speaker 1: The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he
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Speaker 1: anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He
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Speaker 1: has sent me to proclaim release to captives. And recovery
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Speaker 1: of sight to the blind. To set free the downtrodden.
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Speaker 1: To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. And he
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Speaker 1: rolled that scroll back up. He closed the book. Now
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Speaker 1: picture it. Sitting in the synagogue are the people who
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Speaker 1: knew him as a little boy. Who watched him grow up.
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Speaker 1: They knew nothing of his role as Messiah. It was
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Speaker 1: all blurred right now. It was all unclear to them.
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Speaker 1: They just saw a hometown boy coming back, reading in
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Speaker 1: the synagogue. Now was a young man. He closed the
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Speaker 1: book and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.
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Speaker 1: And the eyes in the synagogue were all fixed upon him.
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Speaker 1: And he began to say to them, today the scripture
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Speaker 1: has been fulfilled in your hearing. And the scripture continues,
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Speaker 1: and all were speaking well of him. It's about the
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Speaker 1: last time that was ever said. in his ministry. Hmm.
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Speaker 1: It's a good word, but notice they were not clear.
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Speaker 1: They were wondering at the gracious words, which were falling
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Speaker 1: from his lips. And they were saying, isn't this Joseph's son?
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Speaker 1: Jesus has read his commission. He's about to begin his
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Speaker 1: public ministry. And it is a ministry, don't miss it,
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Speaker 1: of setting the captive free. And he says, today, this
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Speaker 1: is fulfilled. I have come to this earth, I have
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Speaker 1: begun a ministry of freedom, of releasing people from addictions,
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Speaker 1: of cleansing people from sin, and opening doors that they
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Speaker 1: can't open for themselves, and breaking through bars of their
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Speaker 1: own makings. That is my ministry. And my words will
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Speaker 1: set them free. Turn from Luke again to John chapter 8.
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Speaker 1: One more section if you will. John chapter 8 verse 31.
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Speaker 1: Jesus therefore was saying to those Jews who had believed
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Speaker 1: in him. If you abide in my word then you
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Speaker 1: are truly disciples of mine. And you shall know the truth.
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Speaker 1: And the truth is. Shall what? Shall make you free.
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Speaker 1: There it is again. In fact, verse 36. If the
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Speaker 1: Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.
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Speaker 1: You will be free as no other person on earth
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Speaker 1: can free you because only He can give you a power.
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Speaker 1: Only He can cleanse the heart. Only He can purify
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Speaker 1: the mind. Only he can direct the will. And in
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Speaker 1: the context of freedom in which God has made you,
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Speaker 1: only he could prompt from within you a desire to
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Speaker 1: do his will. This is what God has promised. He's
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Speaker 1: promised good news to the afflicted. He's promised liberty to
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Speaker 1: the captives. He's promised freedom to people caught in their
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Speaker 1: own addictions. People in their self-made dungeons of darkness, trapped
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Speaker 1: there without strength. He's promised release to the captives, recovery
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Speaker 1: to the blind. If I may apply it, it is appropriate.
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Speaker 1: Those with addictions finally have to confess to blindness. How
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Speaker 1: often you've tried to work with one who can't break
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Speaker 1: with alcohol. And if you could only get that victim
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Speaker 1: to say, I am an alcoholic. Or if you can
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Speaker 1: only get the one who has abused drugs and can't
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Speaker 1: seem to find release to say, I am an abuser
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Speaker 1: of drugs. I'm caught. That's me. I'm a sex addict.
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Speaker 1: I can't stay away from it. I return to it
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Speaker 1: in lonely moments and times when there is no one
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Speaker 1: else around. When I travel. Late at night when others sleep.
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Speaker 1: I am in the torment of of this horrible dungeon.
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Speaker 1: The beautiful message is that Christ has come to break
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Speaker 1: through those prison doors. Now, how have we responded? Half-heartedly. Oh,
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Speaker 1: perhaps because of familiarity, we have allowed passages like this
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Speaker 1: to breed contempt. Even though our God has made us
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Speaker 1: free and given us lives to be lived in liberty
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Speaker 1: and love and power, How many are still enslaved to
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Speaker 1: sin and opt for bad choices and embrace addictions? Jean-Jacques Rousseau,
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Speaker 1: the 18th century French philosopher, was never more correct when
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Speaker 1: he wrote, man was born free and everywhere he is
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Speaker 1: in chains. Now, so far everything's safe, right? I mean,
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Speaker 1: how few of us would struggle with alcohol? In a
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Speaker 1: context of Christian people, how relatively few would have to
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Speaker 1: confess that there is drug addiction? Perhaps more would, but again,
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Speaker 1: the minority would have to say, I'm addicted to sexual abuse.
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Speaker 1: This wonderful gift God has given men and women. I
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Speaker 1: have taken it to extremes and can't back away from it.
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Speaker 1: How relatively few. But I've got one that you can't escape.
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Speaker 1: It's called worry. I've said it. It's one that we
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Speaker 1: all escape to. In fact, we give each other permission
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Speaker 1: to do that. I just heard before I began this message,
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Speaker 1: I heard one Christian say to another, well, you know
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Speaker 1: I am When someone said to him, well, don't worry
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Speaker 1: about it. The second one responded, well, you know me.
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Speaker 1: That's just the way I am. And the other one said, yeah,
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Speaker 1: that's okay. I understand. Now, what if that person, the
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Speaker 1: first person had said, don't take a drink tonight. And
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Speaker 1: the second one had said, well, you know how I am.
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Speaker 1: Then the first one would say, yeah, I understand. That's
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Speaker 1: the way it is. Drink one on me. It's altogether different,
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Speaker 1: isn't it? We excuse worry because it's not us. that bad?
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Speaker 1: Or is it? Or isn't it? It's one of those
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Speaker 1: acceptable sins. Strange terms. It's one of those wrongs that
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Speaker 1: we don't make too much of. We tend to laugh off.
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Speaker 1: We probably rationalize more about our worry than about any
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Speaker 1: other sin in our lives. In Matthew chapter 6, I
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Speaker 1: know we got to get to Philippians 4, but give
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Speaker 1: me a few minutes. In Matthew chapter 6, we can
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Speaker 1: sort of define the problem because we need to do that.
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Speaker 1: I think I hear some of you say, well, now
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Speaker 1: wait a minute. I mean, after all, God made us
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Speaker 1: to be responsible individuals. We're supposed to take care of ourselves.
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Speaker 1: And if I don't worry, then I wind up just
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Speaker 1: kind of drifting along, living under a bridge. you know,
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Speaker 1: kicking back. Matthew 6 is the heart of Jesus' longest
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Speaker 1: public discourse. His longest private discourse was, of course, the
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Speaker 1: upper room discourse recorded in John 13 through 16. Some
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Speaker 1: would even include 17. This is the longest public discourse.
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Speaker 1: It's a masterful sermon. It's brief, unfortunately, but it is
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Speaker 1: a masterful piece. I say unfortunately because it doesn't give
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Speaker 1: a lot of us who can't say it that briefly
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Speaker 1: a lot of hope. Jesus could say more in three
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Speaker 1: minutes than I could in three hours. But don't get
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Speaker 1: your hopes up. You just got to do what you
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Speaker 1: got to do. Matthew 6, 6.25 to 6.34 is sort
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Speaker 1: of the crux of the section that I have in mind.
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Speaker 1: Five times he uses the same word. Five times. Translated here,
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Speaker 1: either anxious. Yes, each time it's translated anxious. Look at
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Speaker 1: verse 25. If you like to mark your Bible, mark
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Speaker 1: these five places. For this reason I say to you,
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Speaker 1: do not be anxious. It's a command that is strong.
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Speaker 1: It's a command that is to be obeyed. Do not
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Speaker 1: be anxious. Verse 27, which of you by being anxious? 28,
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Speaker 1: and why are you anxious? Verse 31, do not be
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Speaker 1: anxious then. And again, 34, do not be anxious. You know,
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Speaker 1: for him to say it once in a command is enough.
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Speaker 1: But for him to refer to it five times in
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Speaker 1: a paragraph you could read in a minute, that's enough.
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Speaker 1: That's emphasis. Interesting term translated from Matthew's pen. It's a word, merimnao,
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Speaker 1: comes from a term that means to divide, to separate.
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Speaker 1: It means to strangle, to choke, to cut off the air.
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Speaker 1: In fact, Matthew Mark 4 refers to the cares of
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Speaker 1: this world choking out things that are significant. like thorns
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Speaker 1: choke out the flowers. This word has in mind the
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Speaker 1: idea of being divided in one's life. Understand what it's
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Speaker 1: not saying. He is not referring to that which is
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Speaker 1: wise and prudent foresight. He's not referring to a necessary
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Speaker 1: sense of responsibility. He's not condemning care and thoughtfulness toward
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Speaker 1: other people. What is he saying then? What is this about?
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Speaker 1: He's referring, if I may define worry, as being mentally
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Speaker 1: harassed and emotionally agitated. Being preoccupied with distressing fears to
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Speaker 1: be tormented, burdened, bothered about things that have not happened
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Speaker 1: but could. Few people have done better than William Barclay
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Speaker 1: in his work, more New Testament words, and I quote,
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Speaker 1: There is a right and a wrong anxiety, a right
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Speaker 1: and a wrong carefulness. The worry which comes from too
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Speaker 1: much involvement in the affairs of the world is always wrong.
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Speaker 1: Worry about the future is always wrong. It is wrong
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Speaker 1: because it is blind. It fails to see God's bounty,
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Speaker 1: God's care. Worry is wrong when it means the expenditure
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Speaker 1: of energy on non-essentials. Worry about how to face the
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Speaker 1: oppositions and the trials which come to a Christian is wrong.
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Speaker 1: Worry about how to please the wrong people is wrong.
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Speaker 1: It is not men whom we seek to please, it
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Speaker 1: is God. Well then, the right kind of anxiety. It
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Speaker 1: is right that we should take thought for each other.
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Speaker 1: It is especially right, says Barclay, For us to take
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Speaker 1: thought of our fellow Christians, it is right to take
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Speaker 1: thought of the church of Christ. What is forbidden is
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Speaker 1: disabling worry and not enabling foresight. I want you to
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Speaker 1: understand that. Because I meet up with some Christians who
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Speaker 1: drive me crazy as they talk about how they're trusting
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Speaker 1: God to provide them with a job. And they're not
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Speaker 1: out trying to get one. Almost as if someone could
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Speaker 1: come to the front door and say, hello, John, how
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Speaker 1: are you? I really would like you to work for me.
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Speaker 1: I'll pay you about 40, 50,000 a year. I've just
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Speaker 1: been waiting to see if you're home. It doesn't work
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Speaker 1: like that. And I'm not worried because that knock is
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Speaker 1: going to come to the door. That's foolish. That's called
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Speaker 1: presumption in the scriptures. You're without work. You seek to
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Speaker 1: find work. You send out resumes. You knock on doors.
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Speaker 1: You make contacts. You be willing to change lifestyle if
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Speaker 1: necessary to get that job. This is not an assault
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Speaker 1: on responsibility. Christ never intended his people to model such
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Speaker 1: a life. At the same time, he never intended his
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Speaker 1: people to live in the dread of fear and the
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Speaker 1: addiction of terror. And many of you do. That's the
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Speaker 1: tragedy of it. And often the very ones who would
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Speaker 1: look down their nose at those addicted to booze or
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Speaker 1: drugs have a life marked by habitual worry. What happens
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Speaker 1: when I live a life of worry? I find in
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Speaker 1: Matthew 6 four things occur. Number one, Verse 25, for
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Speaker 1: this reason I say to you, do not be anxious
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Speaker 1: for your life. What you shall eat, what you shall drink,
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Speaker 1: or your body, what you shall put on, is not
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Speaker 1: life more than food and the body more than clothing. First,
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Speaker 1: our value system is confused. When I meet up with
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Speaker 1: a materialist, I meet up with a worrier. Externally oriented worrier. Second,
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Speaker 1: we become selfish. Worriers are selfish people. Verse 31, don't
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Speaker 1: be anxious saying what shall we eat or what shall
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Speaker 1: we drink or with what shall we clothe ourselves. Notice
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Speaker 1: the emphasis on the pronoun. Us, we, my, mine. Selfish mentality.
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Speaker 1: Worriers tend to think mostly of themselves. Third, our distinctives
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Speaker 1: get blurred. Verse 32, for all these things the Gentiles
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Speaker 1: eagerly seek. Well, your heavenly father knows what your needs are.
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Speaker 1: You live like a pagan when you live a life
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Speaker 1: of worry, is the amplified thought of verse 32. Are
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Speaker 1: you with me on this? Our value system is confused.
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Speaker 1: We become selfish. Our distinctives get blurred. And fourth, perhaps
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Speaker 1: as much a dread as any of them, tomorrow becomes
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Speaker 1: a dread. Tomorrow becomes a dread. Anticipate the rising of
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Speaker 1: the sun and with it the heaviness of the day.
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Speaker 1: All this is perfect preparation for Philippians chapter 4. You
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Speaker 1: have patiently, I hope, worked with me through this section
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Speaker 1: of Isaiah and of Matthew and John and Luke in
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Speaker 1: preparation for this, the most familiar part of the letter
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Speaker 1: to the Philippians. I love this section of scripture. While
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Speaker 1: it is a comfort, it is also a reproof. Because
27:27
Speaker 1: I am better at preaching on worry than I am
27:29
Speaker 1: at practicing not worrying. This is sort of God's therapy.
27:35
Speaker 1: And I don't often use these words, but it is
27:37
Speaker 1: a sure cure and a guaranteed route of escape from worry.
27:44
Speaker 1: You do what he says, something will happen to your addiction.
27:49
Speaker 1: You'll break it. Christ will come to your relief and
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Speaker 1: you will discover you can live free of that dungeon
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Speaker 1: that you have lived in for too many years of
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Speaker 1: your life. And I'm speaking to you who are middle-aged
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Speaker 1: and older as well as you who are younger. Worry
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Speaker 1: knows no age limit. I speak to single and married,
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Speaker 1: to long-term married partners and to the divorcee. This is
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Speaker 1: for all of us. If I could put it in
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Speaker 1: a few words, I would draw those words from verse 6.
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Speaker 1: Be anxious for nothing but in everything. By prayer let
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Speaker 1: your requests be made known to God. Here are the words.
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Speaker 1: Worry about nothing. Pray about everything. Worry about nothing. Pray
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Speaker 1: about everything. Say it with me. Worry about nothing. Pray
28:43
Speaker 1: about everything. Again. Worry about nothing. Pray about everything. I
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Speaker 1: suggest you write that on a card. Put that on
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Speaker 1: the visor of your car. Put that under the glass
28:55
Speaker 1: at your desk. Tape it to the mirror in your bathroom,
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Speaker 1: where the first thing you have to deal with, you're
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Speaker 1: looking at every morning. And that will be the beginning
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Speaker 1: focus of your day. Worry about nothing. Pray about everything.
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Speaker 1: That's first. Stop worrying about whatever it is that you
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Speaker 1: can't change, that you're not responsible for, that you don't
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Speaker 1: control and you don't have to answer for. Stop it.
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Speaker 1: Pray about everything, whatever would agitate or frighten or burden
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Speaker 1: or torment you. Now repeat the one-liner. Worry about nothing.
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Speaker 1: Pray about everything. everything. Now, major question. What do you
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Speaker 1: do with all your time now? I mean, good night.
29:51
Speaker 1: You've just given me the gift of several hours a day.
29:54
Speaker 1: What in the world do I do? Well, I'm glad
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Speaker 1: you asked. I want to give you three things to
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Speaker 1: do with your time. And I want you to tolerate them,
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Speaker 1: especially you who are addicts of worry. And I want
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Speaker 1: you just to trust the scriptures. You don't have to
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Speaker 1: trust me. Trust the scriptures. They're worth filling up your
30:16
Speaker 1: time with. Back to verse 4. First word. What do
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Speaker 1: you do with all your time? Well, you start with
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Speaker 1: the word rejoice. Wonderful trade. Trade in your old frowning,
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Speaker 1: grinding worries and put on a heart of rejoicing. Now,
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Speaker 1: this is a command no less emphatic than the one
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Speaker 1: that says worry about nothing. You see, he repeats it. Rejoice.
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Speaker 1: Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice,
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Speaker 1: exclamation point. Look for things to help you enjoy life.
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Speaker 1: Find the bright side. Laugh more freely. Replace the frown
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Speaker 1: with a smile. Live lightheartedly, taking God seriously, but not
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Speaker 1: yourself all that seriously. One man writes, Shared laughter creates
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Speaker 1: a bond of friendship. When people laugh together, they cease
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Speaker 1: to be young and old, master and pupils, worker and driver.
31:33
Speaker 1: They have become a single group of human beings enjoying
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Speaker 1: their existence. Comedian from yesteryear Fred Allen used to say
31:43
Speaker 1: it was bad to suppress your laughter because it goes
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Speaker 1: back down and spreads your hips. Few of you are
31:53
Speaker 1: worrying more than you ever have in your life. Proverbs 17, 22. Listen,
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Speaker 1: a joyful heart is good medicine. You know what the
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Speaker 1: scriptures literally say in the Hebrew? A joyful heart causes
32:09
Speaker 1: good healing. If you haven't read Norm Cousin's book, Anatomy
32:15
Speaker 1: of an Illness, you owe it to yourself. The therapy
32:18
Speaker 1: of laughter kept that man on his feet for years
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Speaker 1: when everyone else had given up hope and diagnosis. The
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Speaker 1: therapy of laughter The joy, the happiness. The text that
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Speaker 1: says a joyful heart is good medicine concludes with, but
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Speaker 1: a broken spirit dries up the bones. A joyful heart
32:41
Speaker 1: makes a cheerful face, but when the heart is sad,
32:45
Speaker 1: the spirit is broken. Proverbs 15, 13. Proverbs 15, 15
32:52
Speaker 1: concludes with, a cheerful heart has a continual feast. Isn't
32:57
Speaker 1: that great? A cheerful heart feeds on great things through
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Speaker 1: the day. Furthermore, you become contagious. You want to learn
33:06
Speaker 1: how to live alone? Be a spreader of bad news.
33:12
Speaker 1: Be a person who has long face and heartache stories
33:16
Speaker 1: and throws a lot of pity parties during the day.
33:19
Speaker 1: You'll enjoy them all along before you're too old. You
33:25
Speaker 1: want people around you. You want to be liked. You
33:28
Speaker 1: want to know what it's like to have friendships. This
33:32
Speaker 1: is your mandate. Rejoice. Cultivate a good sense of humor.
33:39
Speaker 1: I'm not talking about spreading a lot of jokes, though
33:42
Speaker 1: there's nothing wrong with a good joke. I'm talking about
33:48
Speaker 1: a choice sense of humor, a deep-seated joy in life.
33:53
Speaker 1: I love the statement, joy is the flag flown high
33:56
Speaker 1: from the castle of my heart, announcing that the king
34:00
Speaker 1: is in residence here. I'll tell you something. Our greatest
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Speaker 1: advertisement as Christians is not, is not love. As powerful
34:14
Speaker 1: as love is. It is not peace. It is joy.
34:20
Speaker 1: It is a flag. that you don't conceal.
34:23
Speaker 2: When I was at Monaco, I noticed that the flag
34:28
Speaker 2: was not at the castle, and I had hoped to
34:31
Speaker 2: see Prince Rene there in our wonderful 35th anniversary trip.
34:36
Speaker 1: That had been provided for us. We were driving along
34:39
Speaker 1: the street, and several had come to see, but you
34:42
Speaker 1: just look for the flag, and if the flag's not there,
34:44
Speaker 1: then he's gone. The mast was empty. If the king
34:50
Speaker 1: is at home in your heart, the flag of joy
34:53
Speaker 1: flies high. Not circumstances. They always stink. But I'll tell you,
34:59
Speaker 1: when you deal with the Lord being there, it's amazing
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Speaker 1: what it does to your joy. Now, if you're still
35:05
Speaker 1: with me, that's a big if. If you're still with me,
35:08
Speaker 1: verse 5, here's the next word, relax. How in the
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Speaker 1: world do I get that out of? Let your forbearing
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Speaker 1: spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Well,
35:20
Speaker 1: it's that word forbear that hangs us up. We've used
35:23
Speaker 1: it all our lives as Christians. We just don't know
35:25
Speaker 1: what it means. It's the word for gentleness, being easy
35:30
Speaker 1: with people, relaxing the standards. One fine New Testament student writes,
35:36
Speaker 1: sweet reasonableness. Isn't that good? How few people we know
35:42
Speaker 1: are sweet and reasonable. How few applaud the person who
35:46
Speaker 1: just finishes the marathons. I mean, they've already taken the
35:50
Speaker 1: TV cameras back to headquarters by the time you show
35:52
Speaker 1: up five hours later. But you finished. And the person
35:57
Speaker 1: that's forbearing is the person that stands at the end
36:00
Speaker 1: and says, good for you, you finished. That's great. How
36:06
Speaker 1: dogmatic we are to finish first. How tight-fisted we are,
36:11
Speaker 1: how rigid to be high achievers. It's the American way.
36:17
Speaker 1: It isn't the Christian way. God is on the side
36:21
Speaker 1: of those who can't achieve a lot. Just as he's
36:25
Speaker 1: on the side of those who come in first or last. Relax.
36:31
Speaker 1: Like Jesus with the woman taken in adultery. It's funny,
36:35
Speaker 1: you read that section at the first part of John
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Speaker 1: 8 and you don't feel that he compromised with sin,
36:40
Speaker 1: do you? He said to her at the end, go
36:42
Speaker 1: and don't sin like that anymore. But nobody stoned her.
36:47
Speaker 1: I wonder how many of us would have had stones
36:49
Speaker 1: ready The law says stone them. We're going to stone her.
36:57
Speaker 1: Jesus said, you that are without sin, be my guest.
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Speaker 1: That's a forbearing spirit. Relax with your children. Relax a
37:09
Speaker 1: little with your teenagers. Especially if they're junior high. My
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Speaker 1: friend Kenny Poore calls junior highers pre-people. Just relax. They'll
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Speaker 1: make it. I never met anybody who wanted to be
37:27
Speaker 1: a junior higher again. Nobody wants to be. And rest.
37:31
Speaker 1: There's the third word. Rejoice. Relax. It's easy to remember. Rest.
37:35
Speaker 1: Verse 7. And the shalom of God. The peace of God.
37:47
Speaker 1: I love this. Which surpasses all comprehension. Everybody will shake
37:53
Speaker 1: their head wondering how in the world you can be
37:55
Speaker 1: so at rest. It'll guard your hearts and your minds
38:00
Speaker 1: in Christ. Wonderful. Well, that's what we need guarded. We
38:04
Speaker 1: don't need our homes guarded as much as we need
38:06
Speaker 1: our minds and our hearts. It's my heart that gets
38:10
Speaker 1: me into my day. It's my mind that gets me
38:13
Speaker 1: into my study. It's my passion that comes from that.
38:17
Speaker 1: And his peace surrounds that and frees me from the
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Speaker 1: agitation and the horror of worry. Like the song says,
38:27
Speaker 1: take his peace. Take his peace. He never runs dry,
38:34
Speaker 1: never runs low on it. It's yours. Rejoice, relax, rest. Now,
38:46
Speaker 1: three simple exercises will help make all of this happen, okay?
38:50
Speaker 1: And they're described for us in verses 8 and 9.
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Speaker 1: First of all, feed your mind on positive thoughts. This
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Speaker 1: isn't original with me. God wrote it first. God was
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Speaker 1: the first one to come up with it, not Norman
39:03
Speaker 1: Vincent Peale. God thought of it. Whatever is true and
39:08
Speaker 1: honorable and right and pure and lovely and of good report...
39:13
Speaker 1: If there's any excellence, if there's anything worthy of praise,
39:16
Speaker 1: fix your mind on these things. Fix your mind on
39:20
Speaker 1: positive thoughts. You ask some people how they are, you
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Speaker 1: don't have time to listen to them tell you. A
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Speaker 1: litany of heartaches and brokenness. and disappointments and you find
39:32
Speaker 1: yourself wishing you hadn't brought it up you ask a
39:36
Speaker 1: few people how they are and you leave thrilled with
39:40
Speaker 1: life they haven't lied they just have fixed their minds
39:44
Speaker 1: on that which is uplifting it's in God's hands He's
39:50
Speaker 1: in charge. The sun always shines. Just that the cloud
39:53
Speaker 1: cover blocks it out. But take a flight and you'll see.
39:57
Speaker 1: It's there and it's bright and it's clear. Fix your
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Speaker 1: mind on positive thoughts. Second, verse 9, focus your attention
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Speaker 1: on encouraging models. Paul has the audacity to say the
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Speaker 1: things you've learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice.
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Speaker 1: He's not bragging. He's just saying, I've learned how to
40:21
Speaker 1: live like that. You need a model? Look at me.
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Speaker 1: I got a lot of things I could worry about,
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Speaker 1: but I don't. I choose joy. The things you've learned
40:32
Speaker 1: from my teaching, the things you've received from my example,
40:36
Speaker 1: the things you've heard from my lips, the things you've
40:38
Speaker 1: seen occur in my exemplary lifestyle, you do it. Pick
40:44
Speaker 1: a few heroes in life. If you can't find any
40:46
Speaker 1: in life, pick a few from biographies that you admire.
40:51
Speaker 1: Be a good student of biography. Study great men and women.
40:55
Speaker 1: They'll motivate you. They'll help you see you're not alone.
40:59
Speaker 1: The things you've learned and received and heard and seen
41:01
Speaker 1: in them, practice. It works. That's why I'm so grateful
41:08
Speaker 1: for a few mentors in my life. And when I
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Speaker 1: start licking my own wounds, I just remember some of
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Speaker 1: the things I saw and heard and received from those models.
41:22
Speaker 1: And my spirit has changed. Finally, find God's peace in
41:29
Speaker 1: every circumstance. Emphasis on every. Verse 9 concludes, and the
41:34
Speaker 1: God of peace shall be with you. Claim God's peace.
41:37
Speaker 1: Find his peace in every circumstance. You know what happens
41:41
Speaker 1: when worry occurs? Worry forces us to focus on on
41:45
Speaker 1: wrong things. That's the damnable factor in worry. We focus
41:51
Speaker 1: on non-essentials rather than essentials. I read a story this
41:56
Speaker 1: past week that illustrates it perfectly. A woman had lost
41:59
Speaker 1: her husband several months ago. She was lonely and needed
42:02
Speaker 1: someone to talk to. She went to a pet store,
42:05
Speaker 1: told her friend at the pet store about her loneliness,
42:08
Speaker 1: and the pet store owner says, well, I got a
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Speaker 1: great parrot. Let me sell you this parrot. Very expensive parrot.
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Speaker 1: Parrot will talk your arm off. So she puts the
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Speaker 1: parrot in a big cage, takes it home, hangs it
42:18
Speaker 1: in the kitchen, doesn't say a word. One week later,
42:22
Speaker 1: she comes back to the store and she says, they
42:24
Speaker 1: said to her, how's the parrot? It doesn't say a word.
42:27
Speaker 1: Store owner says, well, did you buy a mirror? She said, well, no.
42:32
Speaker 1: He said, we've got to have a mirror. Parrot needs
42:34
Speaker 1: a mirror. And when he sees himself in a mirror,
42:36
Speaker 1: he'll start talking. He'll just kind of prompt it. So
42:38
Speaker 1: she buys this expensive mirror and hangs it in the cage.
42:42
Speaker 1: Week passes. She comes back. down in the mouth. How's
42:47
Speaker 1: a parrot? Doesn't talk. Well, did you buy a ladder?
42:51
Speaker 1: She said, well, no, I didn't buy a ladder. He said, well,
42:53
Speaker 1: you got to have a ladder. Parrot has to walk
42:56
Speaker 1: up and down, feel comfortable, looks in the mirror and
42:58
Speaker 1: starts talking. It's only natural. So she buys this ladder,
43:00
Speaker 1: puts it in the cage. She waits. She comes back
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Speaker 1: a week later.
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Speaker 3: She says, that parrot still doesn't talk.
43:06
Speaker 1: He says, well, did you buy a swing? She says, no,
43:12
Speaker 1: I didn't buy a swing. He said, we got to
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Speaker 1: have a swing. walks up and down, looks himself in
43:16
Speaker 1: the mirror, swings a little, starts feeling casual, and he
43:18
Speaker 1: just starts talking. She gets a swing, puts it in
43:22
Speaker 1: the cage. A week passes, and she comes storming in
43:25
Speaker 1: the store. The guy says, ooh, what's wrong? She said, well,
43:29
Speaker 1: he died. He died.
43:32
Speaker 3: Well, did he say anything before he died? She said, well, yeah,
43:36
Speaker 3: he had one sentence. He said, don't they have any
43:42
Speaker 3: food down at that store?
43:47
Speaker 1: That's a great joke. I mean, a pair of guys.
43:54
Speaker 3: She'd buy mirrors and ladders and swings, bells and whistles.
43:59
Speaker 1: That's what worry does. It's ladders and mirrors and swings
44:03
Speaker 1: and whistles, horns, no food. Died. I got hope for
44:18
Speaker 1: you who are addicted to worry. I got wonderful hope
44:22
Speaker 1: for you. But the tragedy is, see, you've got freedom
44:27
Speaker 1: to accept it or reject it, to live it or
44:30
Speaker 1: fake it, or absolutely ignore it. Tragically, some of you
44:33
Speaker 1: will choose that. And you will be no different a
44:36
Speaker 1: week from now than you are at this moment. And
44:38
Speaker 1: that is tragic. But you're free to do that. But
44:43
Speaker 1: I can give you the hope. His name is Jesus Christ.
44:47
Speaker 1: who came to set captives free. He doesn't focus his
44:52
Speaker 1: attention just on the drug and the alcohol addict. His
44:56
Speaker 1: heart doesn't go out just to the one who is
44:57
Speaker 1: addicted to sexual abuse or the one whose violent temper
45:02
Speaker 1: can't be brought under control. That's not the limit of
45:05
Speaker 1: God's compassion. His heart goes out to you who have
45:08
Speaker 1: allowed yourself to become victims in a cage of worry,
45:12
Speaker 1: surrounded by mirrors and ladders and swings, starving for the
45:16
Speaker 1: food That will put you back on track. Jesus Christ
45:22
Speaker 1: has come to seek and to save the lost. Those
45:27
Speaker 1: who have lost their way. Those who can't seem to
45:29
Speaker 1: find a purpose for living. I'd like you to bow
45:35
Speaker 1: your heads and I'd like to talk to you about that.
45:46
Speaker 1: In the sweet reasonableness of my spirit, I want to
45:53
Speaker 1: help you return to a place of enormous pain and,
46:01
Speaker 1: humanly speaking, tragedy. It was the place of a skull
46:07
Speaker 1: outside the wall of Jerusalem where you could hear the
46:11
Speaker 1: pounding of nails and hands and feet. You could hear
46:15
Speaker 1: the crush. As that cross was lifted and dropped into
46:20
Speaker 1: a hole, if you had been there, you could have
46:23
Speaker 1: watched a man die. In dying, he said, Father, forgive them.
46:31
Speaker 1: They don't even know what they're doing. And he set
46:34
Speaker 1: the captive free. Rather than spending the balance of your
46:43
Speaker 1: life not knowing what you're doing with it, Even though
46:46
Speaker 1: you may have a string of degrees that would impress
46:48
Speaker 1: the highest school of learning, if you've lost your way,
46:54
Speaker 1: you know, and I know, your life is full of
46:57
Speaker 1: worry and terror. You especially fear death, and you should.
47:09
Speaker 1: Jesus so graciously paid the price for our sins, our addictions,
47:14
Speaker 1: our wrongs, our failures. He's able to lift us even
47:22
Speaker 1: from sin and shame, from guilt and blame, and to
47:30
Speaker 1: free us. Wouldn't you like to be free? His blood
47:43
Speaker 1: can make the foulest clean. His blood availed for me.
47:51
Speaker 1: He's got the whole world in his hands. And those
47:56
Speaker 1: hands have nail scars where he paid the price for
48:01
Speaker 1: the world. Come on home. Come on back. Our prayer
48:11
Speaker 1: room is open to all seekers. You'll never be cornered
48:14
Speaker 1: in this place of worship. You'll never be embarrassed. We
48:18
Speaker 1: won't parade your faith or lack of it. You're free
48:21
Speaker 1: to leave a skeptic, but you're also encouraged to believe. Today,
48:28
Speaker 1: do it. Trained counselors will talk with you. They won't preach.
48:32
Speaker 1: Give you materials. Pray if you wish. Let you leave
48:37
Speaker 1: when you need to. Come today.
48:38
Speaker 4: I'm so grateful, Lord, that you allow imperfect people worrying
48:46
Speaker 4: kind of people, even like me, to talk about something
48:50
Speaker 4: that's near to your heart.
48:53
Speaker 1: Thank you for those who have listened so well, and
48:57
Speaker 1: I pray that you will, as a result of this
48:59
Speaker 1: truth that's been declared, set captives free. Soften the hearts
49:06
Speaker 1: of the stubborn and the skeptical, and win them, Lord,
49:11
Speaker 1: by your grace. Free us from the bells and whistles
49:17
Speaker 1: in life from the stupid things we add that only
49:21
Speaker 1: confuse our cage, and bring us the good food of
49:26
Speaker 1: truth that sets us free. In Jesus' name, amen. The
49:36
Speaker 1: preceding message, Freeing Yourself Up to Laugh Again, was copyrighted
49:40
Speaker 1: in 1991, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2008
49:44
Speaker 1: by Charles R.
49:45
Speaker 2: Swindoll, Inc.
49:46
Speaker 1: All rights are reserved worldwide.