Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / The Tranquili Tree- Minister Max Lucado
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: We are envisioning a day in which anxiety is a
- 0:03Speaker 1: thing of the past, and which would come out of
- 0:05Speaker 1: the valley of fret and live more days marked by
- 0:10Speaker 1: peace and diminishing panic. So grateful that you could be
- 0:15Speaker 1: a part of this service today, whether you're watching online,
- 0:18Speaker 1: many of you in the overflow rooms and the rest
- 0:21Speaker 1: of you out here in the auditorium are so grateful
- 0:24Speaker 1: that you could be with us. The Apostle Paul has
- 0:27Speaker 1: given us a prescription for anxiety, and in just a
- 0:30Speaker 1: moment we're going to read it together. In fact, on
- 0:34Speaker 1: this the last installment of the series, I'm going to
- 0:36Speaker 1: ask us to all, in just a moment to stand
- 0:39Speaker 1: up and read it together out of.
- 0:41Speaker 2: Respect for the Lord's word.
- 0:43Speaker 1: But before we read that passage, let me thank you
- 0:47Speaker 1: for this honor that is mine as we bring the
- 0:50Speaker 1: last message of the series to you. Actually, this is
- 0:54Speaker 1: the last weekend of my preaching season at Oak Hills.
- 0:58Speaker 1: For this calendar year, we've done three series together, starting
- 1:02Speaker 1: with Traveling Lights in January and then one Hundred Happy
- 1:05Speaker 1: People and now Spring in summer. We've been finding a
- 1:09Speaker 1: way to battle anxiety. Sometimes I think God is partial
- 1:13Speaker 1: to me. I really do I think it's almost unfair
- 1:17Speaker 1: how kind he is to me. I not only get
- 1:19Speaker 1: to preach, but I get to preach at the greatest
- 1:23Speaker 1: church in the history of humanity, the Oak Hills Church.
- 1:27Speaker 1: And you guys are just You're spectacular. And I can't
- 1:31Speaker 1: tell you how excited I am every weekend to have
- 1:35Speaker 1: this privilege. I'm very excited about what Randy's going to
- 1:38Speaker 1: lead us into for the remainder of the year. And
- 1:41Speaker 1: I want you to know that as I now enter
- 1:43Speaker 1: into a time of travel, wherever I am, whatever city
- 1:47Speaker 1: i'm in, whatever coast i'm on, I'll be thinking of you.
- 1:49Speaker 1: You'll be on my mind and in my heart, and
- 1:53Speaker 1: so I deeply, deeply love you and appreciate you. Now,
- 1:56Speaker 1: one final time, let's recite the God's antidote for anxiety.
- 2:00Speaker 1: But this time let's all stand up. Fill your lungs
- 2:03Speaker 1: with their fill your hearts with hope. Say it like
- 2:06Speaker 1: you mean it, put your shoulders back, put a smile
- 2:09Speaker 1: on your face.
- 2:10Speaker 2: The words will appear on the screen. Many of you
- 2:12Speaker 2: don't need.
- 2:12Speaker 1: Them, though you've memorized the passage, but if you need them,
- 2:16Speaker 1: here they are.
- 2:17Speaker 2: Let's say it together.
- 2:19Speaker 1: Rejoice in the Lord always again, I will say, rejoice.
- 2:24Speaker 1: Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord
- 2:28Speaker 1: is at him. Be anxious for nothing, and the peace
- 2:40Speaker 1: of God will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, Brethren,
- 2:50Speaker 1: whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things
- 2:55Speaker 1: are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are whatever
- 3:01Speaker 1: things are of good report, if there is any virtue
- 3:05Speaker 1: and anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things.
- 3:09Speaker 2: Way to go.
- 3:10Speaker 1: Thank you Lord again for this beautiful scripture. Please grant
- 3:15Speaker 1: that we might receive it. Forgive our speaker his sins
- 3:18Speaker 1: are too many to count. Help us to see Jesus,
- 3:22Speaker 1: just Jesus through Christ. We pray, and all the Church said, Amen,
- 3:27Speaker 1: good job. Please be seated. It's two thirty am and
- 3:32Speaker 1: you cannot sleep. You pound your pillow, you adjust your blankets,
- 3:38Speaker 1: you flip first to this side and then the next.
- 3:42Speaker 1: Nothing helps. You really need to get to sleep. Everyone
- 3:46Speaker 1: else is asleep. Your spouse snores like a grizzly in hibernation.
- 3:58Speaker 1: Not a peep from the kids room down the hallway.
- 4:03Speaker 1: Even the dog is curled up in a lump at
- 4:05Speaker 1: the foot of the bed. Everybody else is asleep. Everyone
- 4:10Speaker 1: that is, except you, and you really need to sleep
- 4:14Speaker 1: because in six hours you're starting a new job. You'll
- 4:18Speaker 1: be at a new office, a new chapter. You'll be
- 4:21Speaker 1: entering a new world. You'll be the rookie on the
- 4:24Speaker 1: sales team, and you're wondering if you made the right decision.
- 4:29Speaker 1: You've been told that the boss is demanding. You know,
- 4:31Speaker 1: the economy is declining, the competition is increasing. Besides, you're
- 4:37Speaker 1: twenty three years old, right out of college.
- 4:39Speaker 2: This is your first job.
- 4:40Speaker 1: You're thirty three years old with two kids to feed,
- 4:43Speaker 1: in the family to care for. You're forty three years old,
- 4:46Speaker 1: the latest victim of layoffs and downsize. And you're fifty
- 4:49Speaker 1: three years old, not the ideal age to change careers.
- 4:52Speaker 2: You're sixty three years old.
- 4:54Speaker 1: What happened to retirement plans and seeing grandkids?
- 5:00Speaker 2: Here?
- 5:00Speaker 1: You are starting over here. You are wide awake. No
- 5:03Speaker 1: matter the age, the transition comes. The questions fall like hailstones.
- 5:10Speaker 1: Will I make enough money? Will I make any friends?
- 5:13Speaker 1: Will I have a cubicle? Will I be able to
- 5:15Speaker 1: learn the software program? Will I learn the sales pitch?
- 5:19Speaker 1: Will I'll be able to find the bathroom? You can't
- 5:25Speaker 1: go to sleep. You feel a twitch in the back
- 5:28Speaker 1: of your neck. That twitch welcomes a whole new strain
- 5:34Speaker 1: of worry. Do I have cancer? Is that a tumor?
- 5:41Speaker 1: Granddad had a tumor, He had chemo for a year. Oh, no,
- 5:46Speaker 1: new job and chemo. How will I be able to
- 5:52Speaker 1: Oh will the insurance cover this? Is this a pre
- 5:57Speaker 1: existing condition? What am I going to do?
- 6:02Speaker 2: The thoughts rage through.
- 6:04Speaker 1: Your mind like a tornado in Texas, and they suck
- 6:11Speaker 1: off to the sky any last vestige of peace? Another
- 6:17Speaker 1: hour passes, two thirty becomes three thirty, and the green
- 6:22Speaker 1: letters on the clock are the only light in your room,
- 6:26Speaker 1: the the only light in your world.
- 6:28Speaker 2: You cover your head with a pillow. You feel like crying.
- 6:35Speaker 2: What does all this mean?
- 6:37Speaker 1: All this trepidation, all this unsettledness, all this anxiety, all
- 6:42Speaker 1: this restlessness, all this insomnia. What does this mean? Can
- 6:47Speaker 1: I tell you what this means? It means you're a person.
- 6:51Speaker 1: It means you're a human. It means you born into
- 6:57Speaker 1: a difficult world on a changing planet. It doesn't mean
- 7:01Speaker 1: that you're emotionally underdeveloped. It doesn't mean that you're mentally ill.
- 7:09Speaker 1: It doesn't mean that you're a wimp or a sissy.
- 7:12Speaker 1: It doesn't mean that you made a wrong decision. It
- 7:15Speaker 1: doesn't mean that you're a failure, doesn't mean that you
- 7:17Speaker 1: don't have any faith. It doesn't mean that you're a jerk.
- 7:20Speaker 1: It doesn't mean that your demon possessed. It doesn't mean
- 7:25Speaker 1: that your parents failed you. And it doesn't mean that
- 7:28Speaker 1: you failed your parents. And it doesn't mean that you're
- 7:30Speaker 1: destined to spend a life in this cycle of anxiety.
- 7:34Speaker 1: It doesn't mean that you're going to worry the rest
- 7:36Speaker 1: of your days like your granddad did or your mom did.
- 7:39Speaker 1: This isn't passed down from generation to generation, and this
- 7:45Speaker 1: is important. It doesn't mean you're not a Christian. Christian's
- 7:50Speaker 1: battle anxiety. Jesus felt anxiety for Heaven's sake in the
- 7:58Speaker 1: garden of Gasemine on the night before his crucifixion. Three
- 8:01Speaker 1: times he prayed, take this cup from me. Prayed with
- 8:06Speaker 1: such intensity that he pounded the ground, and his heart
- 8:10Speaker 1: pounded blood into his system with such ferocity that the
- 8:15Speaker 1: capillaries burst and revulets of crimson came down his face.
- 8:20Speaker 1: He felt anxious, but he didn't stay anxious. He entrusted
- 8:28Speaker 1: his fears to his heavenly father, and that is what
- 8:31Speaker 1: he is teaching us to do. Anxiety comes with life, yes,
- 8:37Speaker 1: but it just doesn't have to dominate our lives. The
- 8:43Speaker 1: presence of anxiety is optional, is unavoidable. But the prison
- 8:49Speaker 1: of anxiety, now that's optional. God has given us a recipe,
- 8:56Speaker 1: a prescription tucked away in a small four chapter epistle
- 9:01Speaker 1: called Philippians written by the apostle Paul. And it's like
- 9:07Speaker 1: a prescription for anxiety. And as we wrap this series
- 9:14Speaker 1: up and back away and look at the passage from
- 9:18Speaker 1: one viewpoint instead of phrase by phrase, it dawns on
- 9:23Speaker 1: us that this passage follows a real practical sequence, almost
- 9:28Speaker 1: like four steps are tucked away in these verses.
- 9:33Speaker 2: Step one, rejoice in the Lord. Step two, ask the.
- 9:38Speaker 1: Lord, Step three leave your problem with the Lord, and
- 9:42Speaker 1: step four meditate on what is good Step one, step two,
- 9:47Speaker 1: step three, Step four we rejoice, we make a request,
- 9:56Speaker 1: we rely on the Lord, and then we rehearse with
- 10:02Speaker 1: positive thoughts what he has done. Step one, step two,
- 10:05Speaker 1: step three, step four. This has the feel to me
- 10:10Speaker 1: of what consultants call a decision tree. Maybe you've seen
- 10:15Speaker 1: a decision tree when you have a question. You can
- 10:19Speaker 1: google decision tree and you'll see a graph. It looks
- 10:21Speaker 1: kind of like an ancestry tree. And you start with
- 10:25Speaker 1: your question and then option one is this answer, Option
- 10:29Speaker 1: two is this answer. If you go option one, that
- 10:31Speaker 1: will lead you here. Option two will lead you there. Well,
- 10:34Speaker 1: the Apostle has given us a decision tree to use
- 10:38Speaker 1: on those two thirty am moments when we cannot get
- 10:40Speaker 1: to sleep. He helps us learn how to think through
- 10:46Speaker 1: with God's help and exit from the valley of anxiety.
- 10:53Speaker 1: It's a decision tree of sort. In fact, I've given
- 10:55Speaker 1: it a nickname. I call it the Tranquila Tree.
- 11:01Speaker 2: Now, I thought that was really clever. Obviously you did not.
- 11:08Speaker 1: The Tranquila Tree is on this handout that you received
- 11:13Speaker 1: as you came in. This handout is intended to give
- 11:19Speaker 1: you a summary of the entire sermon series. I'm hoping
- 11:23Speaker 1: that you'll take this and tuck it away someplace where
- 11:25Speaker 1: you can pull it out on a regular basis and
- 11:28Speaker 1: maybe review some of the main points that we've made
- 11:31Speaker 1: over the last two and a half months. On the back,
- 11:35Speaker 1: you'll see the passage that we've been studying, and then
- 11:38Speaker 1: you'll see, in bullet point fashion, some of the promises
- 11:42Speaker 1: that emerge from this passage. And then on this side, yes,
- 11:47Speaker 1: there is the tranquila tree. You've never heard of a
- 11:50Speaker 1: tranquila tree, but I bet you spent your sheriff time
- 11:54Speaker 1: in the anxietree. It's got wimpy little branches. It blows
- 12:01Speaker 1: and binds AND's hard to hold on to. In residence
- 12:06Speaker 1: of the anxietry spend all of their time holding on
- 12:09Speaker 1: for fear of falling out. If you're ready to come
- 12:12Speaker 1: out of the orchard of anxietrees and explore a new orchard,
- 12:16Speaker 1: a sturdy, stable, shade giving root breaching trees called the
- 12:22Speaker 1: tranquilit trees, then this passage is for you.
- 12:27Speaker 2: Here's how it works.
- 12:29Speaker 1: You begin with a question that's at the top of
- 12:31Speaker 1: the handout, what What's got you anxious?
- 12:35Speaker 2: What's got you anxious?
- 12:38Speaker 1: Each and every one of you, I imagine, could answer that
- 12:40Speaker 1: question right now.
- 12:43Speaker 2: Something's got you anxious?
- 12:46Speaker 1: And your temptation, all of our temptations and tendencies, is
- 12:50Speaker 1: to focus on that problem, to analyze that problem, to
- 12:54Speaker 1: think about that problem.
- 12:56Speaker 2: But that's a mistake.
- 12:58Speaker 1: The first step is not to analyze the problem, but
- 13:02Speaker 1: to shift our eyes to our heavenly father.
- 13:05Speaker 2: The more we look at our problem.
- 13:07Speaker 1: The bigger the problem gets, that destruct That is a
- 13:10Speaker 1: destructive thought pattern.
- 13:12Speaker 2: Here's a better idea.
- 13:14Speaker 1: Turn your eyes away from the problem and for just
- 13:17Speaker 1: a few moments, celebrate God. That's what the apostle says.
- 13:23Speaker 1: He says, rejoice in the Lord always.
- 13:26Speaker 2: Again. I say rejoice. Now.
- 13:28Speaker 1: This may surprise you that the quickest way to deal
- 13:31Speaker 1: with your problem is not to focus on your problem,
- 13:34Speaker 1: but to focus first on your heavenly Father. You see,
- 13:38Speaker 1: the more you stare at your problem, the more you
- 13:41Speaker 1: meditate on the problem, the more it tends to grow.
- 13:44Speaker 1: But the more you think about your heavenly Father, the
- 13:48Speaker 1: more the problem shrinks down to size. This is what
- 13:52Speaker 1: the Psalmist did. Remember this passage in Psalm one, in
- 13:56Speaker 1: verse one, I will lift up my eyes to the
- 13:59Speaker 1: hills from whence comes my help. My help comes from
- 14:02Speaker 1: the Lord who made heaven and earth. Do you see
- 14:06Speaker 1: the intentionality I will lift up my eyes. The default
- 14:12Speaker 1: gaze was on the problems, so he had to say, Okay,
- 14:16Speaker 1: I'm going to lift up my eyes. I will look
- 14:19Speaker 1: to the one who gives me help. He made the
- 14:20Speaker 1: heavens in the earth. I'm going to celebrate him. So
- 14:25Speaker 1: you refuse to stare at the predicament, choose not to
- 14:28Speaker 1: meditate on the mess. You gain nothing by setting your
- 14:31Speaker 1: eyes on the problem. You gain everything by setting your
- 14:34Speaker 1: eyes on the Lord. This was the lesson the Apostle
- 14:37Speaker 1: Peter learned on the storm we see of Galilee. Remembered
- 14:41Speaker 1: the night that the storm came in and the waves
- 14:44Speaker 1: got to be as high as ten feet tall. He
- 14:46Speaker 1: knew that fishing boat could not survive those windy waves,
- 14:51Speaker 1: so he was the first one to invite to ask
- 14:54Speaker 1: Jesus if he could get out of the boat. When
- 14:56Speaker 1: he saw Jesus walking on the water through the storm
- 15:00Speaker 1: toward them, Peter cried out, Lord, if it is really you,
- 15:05Speaker 1: command me to come to you on the water. And
- 15:08Speaker 1: Jesus said come, and Peter left the boat and walked
- 15:11Speaker 1: on the water to Jesus. But when Peter saw the
- 15:15Speaker 1: wind and the waves, he became afraid and he began
- 15:19Speaker 1: to sink.
- 15:21Speaker 2: And he shouted, Lord, save me.
- 15:25Speaker 1: As long as Peter's eyes were focused on the face
- 15:30Speaker 1: of his Savior, he could do the impossible. But when
- 15:34Speaker 1: did he begin to sink? When his eyes shifted from
- 15:39Speaker 1: the face of the Savior to the force of the storm.
- 15:43Speaker 1: If you feel yourself beginning to sink, turn your gaze
- 15:50Speaker 1: back on to your Father in Heaven. Rejoice in the
- 15:53Speaker 1: Lord always. If you're sinking, it's because you're not looking
- 15:59Speaker 1: at the fall. So self correct. Lift up your eyes,
- 16:04Speaker 1: look to the hills from whence comes your help.
- 16:07Speaker 2: Look to Jesus.
- 16:08Speaker 1: Keep your eyes on him, and you'll find your strength
- 16:12Speaker 1: coming back. This is the message of Paul. Rejoice in
- 16:16Speaker 1: the Lord again. I say to you, rejoice. As if
- 16:20Speaker 1: one time wasn't enough, he had to tell us twice.
- 16:23Speaker 1: Now just rejoice in the Lord again. I say to you, rejoice.
- 16:27Speaker 1: Celebrate what God has done. In the Book of Philippians,
- 16:31Speaker 1: as we pointed out in the series, the Apostle celebrates
- 16:34Speaker 1: two attributes of God, God's sovereignty and his mercy. So
- 16:40Speaker 1: you ask yourself the question, is God's sovereign over this circumstance,
- 16:46Speaker 1: whatever it is? Is he sovereign over this circumstance? And
- 16:51Speaker 1: the answer is yes, because He's sovereign over everything. Maybe
- 16:55Speaker 1: your anxiety comes not from a mishap, but from a misstep,
- 17:00Speaker 1: And so you ask the question, is God's grace great
- 17:03Speaker 1: enough to cover this sin? And the answer is always yes.
- 17:08Speaker 1: So you celebrate who God is. You rejoice in the Lord.
- 17:13Speaker 1: And having done that, then you move to step number two.
- 17:18Speaker 1: You ask God for help. You ask him for help.
- 17:24Speaker 1: Let your request be made known to God. Remember, fear
- 17:28Speaker 1: triggers either despair or prayer. Fear always triggers either despair
- 17:38Speaker 1: or prayer. Choose wisely, God said, call on me in
- 17:45Speaker 1: the day of trouble. Jesus said, asking, it will be
- 17:48Speaker 1: given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and
- 17:50Speaker 1: it will be open to you. Both God and then Jesus,
- 17:55Speaker 1: God on Earth invites you. They say, whenever you speak,
- 18:00Speaker 1: we will listen. So let your request be made known
- 18:03Speaker 1: to God. You celebrated who God is. Now you ask
- 18:07Speaker 1: him for help. Ask specifically, and ask because of the
- 18:13Speaker 1: promises of God. Let your request be specific. Just like
- 18:17Speaker 1: Jesus in the Garden of gethsemone, he said, take this
- 18:22Speaker 1: cup from me. Very simple prayer. Jesus' mother came to
- 18:27Speaker 1: him at the wedding that had run out of wines.
- 18:30Speaker 1: She said, they have no more wine. The prayer doesn't
- 18:34Speaker 1: have to be long, doesn't have to be poetic or elaborate.
- 18:37Speaker 1: You state what you need, here is my request, and
- 18:41Speaker 1: then you stand on a promise, But you said you
- 18:45Speaker 1: would hear me.
- 18:46Speaker 2: You said you.
- 18:47Speaker 1: Would walk me through this. You remind God of what
- 18:49Speaker 1: he has said, not because he forgets, but because we
- 18:53Speaker 1: tend to forget. So you stand before God based on
- 18:56Speaker 1: his promises. The Hebrew writer said, let us approach the
- 19:00Speaker 1: throne of grace with what with confidence, not with timidity,
- 19:05Speaker 1: nor with the swagger, but just with confidence. We're confident
- 19:09Speaker 1: that he will hear us. Having done this, then you
- 19:12Speaker 1: can leave it with God. You have rejoiced, you have celebrated,
- 19:18Speaker 1: you have asked for help. Now you can leave it
- 19:21Speaker 1: with God, and God will do his part. The peace
- 19:24Speaker 1: of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts
- 19:27Speaker 1: and minds to Christ Jesus. So you let God take charge.
- 19:30Speaker 1: You let him do what he's so willing to do,
- 19:33Speaker 1: and that is guard your heart and your mind, the
- 19:36Speaker 1: two seats, the seat of intellecting the seat of emotion.
- 19:40Speaker 1: So you let him guard those, and his peace will
- 19:43Speaker 1: stand around you like a sentadel, protecting you. Paul the
- 19:48Speaker 1: apostle said, the one who called you is completely dependable.
- 19:52Speaker 1: If he said it, he'll do it. So you have
- 19:57Speaker 1: this problem. You have rejoiced in God. Ability to solve it.
- 20:01Speaker 1: You take it to him, you ask specifically for help,
- 20:05Speaker 1: and then you leave it with him.
- 20:07Speaker 2: This may be the most difficult step.
- 20:11Speaker 1: Because we leave it with him, we get halfway out
- 20:14Speaker 1: the door, and then we come back and we want.
- 20:16Speaker 2: To fix it.
- 20:16Speaker 1: It's very hard, isn't it? To how many of you
- 20:20Speaker 1: are somewhere between an offered prayer and an answered prayer.
- 20:24Speaker 1: It's hard to leave it, isn't it?
- 20:26Speaker 2: With him?
- 20:27Speaker 1: Have you ever taken an appliance into a store to
- 20:30Speaker 1: be fixed, or a computer laptop to be fixed at
- 20:33Speaker 1: the computer store, or a lawnmower. If you ever had
- 20:36Speaker 1: something break and had to take it to somebody to fix.
- 20:38Speaker 2: It, how does that procedure? What's the protocol on that?
- 20:42Speaker 1: Well, you identify that something's broken, you take it to
- 20:46Speaker 1: the person who can fix it, You offer your request,
- 20:49Speaker 1: you tell them what has happened.
- 20:52Speaker 2: And then what do you do?
- 20:54Speaker 1: Well, you throw out a sleeping bag and you stay
- 20:56Speaker 1: right there with him, and you wait until he gets no.
- 21:01Speaker 1: You follow him around, you hover behind him, giving him suggestions. No,
- 21:08Speaker 1: you wait for him at every turn. You show him
- 21:10Speaker 1: he's on the clock. He better hurry, Come on, come on,
- 21:13Speaker 1: come on, no, what do you do? You leave it
- 21:18Speaker 1: with him, with the promise he will let you know
- 21:23Speaker 1: when he has finished. Leave your problem with God.
- 21:30Speaker 2: Leave it and.
- 21:31Speaker 1: Whenever that emotion of anxiety surfaces, here's what you say, Oh,
- 21:35Speaker 1: I left that with God. That's in good hands. Would
- 21:38Speaker 1: you please repeat after me? I hereby resign as ruler
- 21:44Speaker 1: of the universe. Congratulations in that a load. You are
- 21:49Speaker 1: no longer in charge of the world, and you have
- 21:53Speaker 1: taken that problem. And I really do not mean to
- 21:57Speaker 1: diminish your problems. I know they're hard, I know some
- 22:01Speaker 1: of them are heavy. But God is strong and he
- 22:04Speaker 1: is mighty, and you do nothing for yourself by trying
- 22:09Speaker 1: to solve it on your own. You take it, and
- 22:11Speaker 1: you leave it with him. Then you have all of
- 22:15Speaker 1: this brain matter available, All of this brain sell capacity
- 22:20Speaker 1: that has been going toward anxiety needs to be used
- 22:24Speaker 1: for something, right, So what does the apostle say, Well,
- 22:28Speaker 1: now that all of this brain capacity is freed up,
- 22:31Speaker 1: why don't you use that brain to meditate on something else.
- 22:38Speaker 1: Rather than meditate on the problem, turn your attention to
- 22:42Speaker 1: what is good.
- 22:43Speaker 2: Meditate on good things.
- 22:45Speaker 1: Finally, Brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble,
- 22:49Speaker 1: whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things
- 22:52Speaker 1: are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there
- 22:55Speaker 1: is any virtue, if there's anything praiseworthy. You just meditate
- 22:59Speaker 1: on these things and rather than let your mind be
- 23:04Speaker 1: consumed with anxiety. Since you have been told by your
- 23:08Speaker 1: preacher to be a picky thinker, and you get to
- 23:11Speaker 1: think what you think about, to be careful what you
- 23:13Speaker 1: think about.
- 23:14Speaker 2: And to mind your mind.
- 23:16Speaker 1: Now you're going to carefully guard your thoughts. Do what
- 23:21Speaker 1: my good friend Karen Hill did ten years ago. This weekend,
- 23:27Speaker 1: my longtime assistant and dear friend Karen Hill was diagnosed
- 23:31Speaker 1: with triple negative breast.
- 23:32Speaker 2: Cancer, and the news knocked the wind out of her.
- 23:38Speaker 1: She writes, I knew that I could not fight well
- 23:41Speaker 1: if I fought out of fear. As I prayed, God
- 23:44Speaker 1: reminded me that his word is intended to be a
- 23:47Speaker 1: true god for living even in difficult seasons. This passage
- 23:53Speaker 1: in Philippians is intended for just such times, and it
- 23:57Speaker 1: became my constant friend. Prepared a simple card that I
- 24:02Speaker 1: could carry to doctor's appointments, chemo tests, and hospital stays,
- 24:08Speaker 1: and whenever I sensed these unwelcome thoughts, returning I would
- 24:13Speaker 1: review my card, making a mental list of everything I
- 24:18Speaker 1: knew to be true, noble, lovely, and so forth. By
- 24:21Speaker 1: the time I reached the end of the list, the
- 24:24Speaker 1: Lord had brought peace back into my spirit one little card,
- 24:30Speaker 1: a rich reminder that God is not the author of
- 24:32Speaker 1: fear or pain, but rather the soother and comforter of
- 24:37Speaker 1: my soul. Karen didn't use the word, but she could have.
- 24:42Speaker 1: She climbed up in a tranquilitry, and she left behind
- 24:46Speaker 1: the orchard of anxietraes. I hope you'll do the same.
- 24:52Speaker 1: I know this is not an easy battle. I know that,
- 24:57Speaker 1: and I know that for some of you, this is
- 24:59Speaker 1: the battle of life. It's a challenge every day. And
- 25:06Speaker 1: do not think for a second that I think, by
- 25:08Speaker 1: reducing a sermon series into a card, or giving you
- 25:12Speaker 1: some clever little slogans, that I think that this can
- 25:16Speaker 1: be resolved always without any help. For some of you,
- 25:20Speaker 1: God's healing will include the help of therapy and or medication.
- 25:26Speaker 1: For some of you, your anxiety is not situational. It's
- 25:30Speaker 1: just chronic. And if that's the case, don't think for
- 25:34Speaker 1: a moment you're a second class citizen of heaven. If
- 25:37Speaker 1: you turn to a psychiatrist or a psychologist, or a physician,
- 25:42Speaker 1: or to medication to help you. God can use any
- 25:46Speaker 1: tool to help you, and he will help you. You
- 25:50Speaker 1: just trust him and trust and believe that He is
- 25:54Speaker 1: speaking to you when he says that all of these
- 25:56Speaker 1: things work together for good for those who love him
- 26:00Speaker 1: and are called according to his purpose. I'll leave you
- 26:03Speaker 1: with this thought that God is really on your side
- 26:06Speaker 1: in this. He's not at a distance with his arms
- 26:10Speaker 1: crossed saying I wish that they would get their act together.
- 26:14Speaker 1: He's on your side, pulling for you, in your corner,
- 26:17Speaker 1: cheering for you. I have a good friend by the
- 26:21Speaker 1: name of Bill Fry, a man for whom I have
- 26:24Speaker 1: great respect, served for many years at the Episcopalian diocese
- 26:28Speaker 1: here in South Texas. When he was eleven years old.
- 26:32Speaker 1: He tells this story in one of his books called
- 26:35Speaker 1: Dance of Hope. When he was eleven years old, he
- 26:38Speaker 1: was roaming about the farmland where he was raised in
- 26:43Speaker 1: Georgia looking for stumps, because his job was to pull
- 26:47Speaker 1: stumps out of the ground and cut the stump up
- 26:51Speaker 1: to be used for firewood. He found one large stump
- 26:55Speaker 1: of a pine tree and he began trying to unearth it,
- 26:59Speaker 1: but it was so deeply rooted in the ground he
- 27:03Speaker 1: couldn't get it to budge. He was only eleven years
- 27:05Speaker 1: old anyway, but still he worked, pushing and pulling and
- 27:09Speaker 1: pushing and pulling. Presently, his father appeared and his father
- 27:13Speaker 1: watched didn't say anything for a while, and after a
- 27:16Speaker 1: few moments, Bill's dad said, I think I know your problem.
- 27:21Speaker 1: Bill said what. He said, you're not using all your strength. Well,
- 27:28Speaker 1: Bill took offense at that. He said, I've been working
- 27:32Speaker 1: all day and I've been working very hard. And the
- 27:34Speaker 1: father says, but you're not using all your strength. And
- 27:38Speaker 1: Bill said what. And Bill's dad said, you haven't asked
- 27:42Speaker 1: me to help you, ask your father to help you.
- 27:48Speaker 1: For many of you, anxiety is like wrestling stumps out
- 27:53Speaker 1: of the ground.
- 27:56Speaker 2: And the deep.
- 27:59Speaker 1: Root system of your long embedded worries won't come out overnight,
- 28:08Speaker 1: but it will with God's help, it will come out.
- 28:14Speaker 1: He has given us these promises. In time, you're going
- 28:19Speaker 1: to discover peace that you never knew existed. On one occasion,
- 28:24Speaker 1: God sent the ancient prophet Isaiah to comfort a king
- 28:29Speaker 1: King a Has in Isaiah chapter seven and verse two,
- 28:34Speaker 1: it says that the people of a has shook with fear,
- 28:38Speaker 1: like trees of the forests blown by the wind. Sounds
- 28:43Speaker 1: to me like they're in a grove of anxieties. But
- 28:46Speaker 1: God gave this word to Isaiah. He said, tell the
- 28:49Speaker 1: king be careful, be calm, and don't worry. That's what
- 28:58Speaker 1: God is saying to you. Just be careful, guard your thoughts,
- 29:04Speaker 1: be calm, celebrate God, ask God for help, leave your
- 29:09Speaker 1: problems with him, and meditate on good things.
- 29:13Speaker 2: C A l M. Be calm and don't worry. Amen.
- 29:22Speaker 1: So Lord, this is our prayer that you would help
- 29:24Speaker 1: us to do just this. We celebrate you your sovereign plan.
- 29:29Speaker 2: We ask you for help. We give our concerns to you.
- 29:32Speaker 3: We leave them with you.
- 31:00Speaker 4: You don't have to stay.
- 31:04Speaker 2: If you already chosen me. I don't standing your way.
- 31:12Speaker 4: I can feel it in your distance, in the way
- 31:16Speaker 4: it burns me, like your heart is somewhere else now,
- 31:23Speaker 4: somewhere I can't read it. I was strange, just the horders.
- 31:30Speaker 4: Why are you slowly slipped away? Now I'm left with
- 31:35Speaker 4: all the sides.
- 31:38Speaker 5: You didn't want to say.
- 31:43Speaker 2: Maybe I just held long to something.
- 31:51Speaker 5: Already gone Now I'll be fine.
- 31:57Speaker 4: You can't leave.
- 31:59Speaker 6: You don't know anything.
- 32:03Speaker 2: If your heart is found?
- 32:07Speaker 6: How do what we used to be? How be fine?
- 32:12Speaker 7: Don't look back?
- 32:14Speaker 6: How survived this sempty space?
- 32:18Speaker 2: Not tonight maybe not soon? The holler.
- 32:24Speaker 4: To be okay?
- 32:29Speaker 2: We don't need to fake the feeling. I can see
- 32:34Speaker 2: in your eyes.
- 32:36Speaker 4: There's no reason left the stand.
- 32:40Speaker 6: When the love already died.
- 32:45Speaker 4: Through the quieting your voice, how.
- 32:53Speaker 2: Can hear your choice?
- 32:58Speaker 6: Hob be fine? You Kelly, you don't know me anything.
- 33:06Speaker 6: If your heart is found, how do what we used
- 33:12Speaker 6: to be? How'll be fine? Don't look back.
- 33:16Speaker 5: I'll survive this empty space. Not tonight, maybe not so,
- 33:24Speaker 5: but I'll learned to be okay.
- 33:29Speaker 6: I don't need a reason why.
- 33:33Speaker 5: I can see it in goodbye.
- 33:37Speaker 2: And it breaks me in Dutch, but I won't ask
- 33:41Speaker 2: you to stay.
- 33:46Speaker 7: I'll be fine. You Kelly, you don't know me anything.
- 33:54Speaker 6: Give your heart hotist found? Only? How do what we
- 34:00Speaker 6: to bepp? Be fine? Don't look back?
- 34:05Speaker 7: How survive this empty space? Not tonight maybe not so,
- 34:12Speaker 7: but I'll learn to be okay.
- 34:23Speaker 2: I'll be all right,