Latest / 4-Freedom Podcast / 90. Freedom From Anxiety Part 2
Transcript
- 0:11I found my free every I found it.
- 0:33Welcome to for Freedom podcast, this podcast exist, to bring the
- 0:38freedom of the gospel for every day, Christians, with everyday
- 0:41issues. Now, here are your hosts, John
- 0:44hog, build, and James Seifert. Welcome everybody to the for
- 0:52Freedom podcast. This is the podcast that we
- 0:56desire to bring the freedom of the Gospel freedom of Christ and
- 1:00the sufficiency of scriptures to real people with real issues of
- 1:04life. And so we've gone through a
- 1:06couple subjects are subject for the month of April is freedom in
- 1:09an in anxiety and we covered last week a little bit James.
- 1:14How are you doing this week? John has been great.
- 1:16We had a wonderful time there with you.
- 1:20Still recording this on the same day recording, but I know that
- 1:22we're come on. We are going to love the arc and
- 1:25things are going well and just trying to draw.
- 1:27We have just such a great time of Easter with our Sunrise
- 1:31Service that we did. And then I was able to give a
- 1:34little talk there, the very end and then we had our great
- 1:38massive breakfast that we have every year, our wonderful Sunday
- 1:42school and then the worship service that we had, was just a
- 1:45great overall time we just worse than the Lord.
- 1:47I was reflecting even when I was Given some some things to our
- 1:51main church as I was closing out with service.
- 1:54And I said, I said, I don't want to ever forget that three years
- 1:57ago, we were isolated and trying to figure out church and could
- 2:02not meet. We were not meeting.
- 2:04We were having people come to the church to pick up Easter
- 2:07things and doing any stretch, your home and trying to do
- 2:10Church in our home. And I said, was just a hard time
- 2:13of church, and I said three years later.
- 2:16We're back meeting. Things are great, God's
- 2:19blessing. That's I don't want ever to get
- 2:21the point, we forget what we were at three years ago.
- 2:24I said, because we take that for granted and we come back and
- 2:27we're just in the norm of life. Again, when it's not guaranteed
- 2:30that this is how it's going to be, but I'll just wanted to
- 2:32encourage them. Hopefully I'm encouraging you as
- 2:34well. In understanding that just a
- 2:36couple of years ago, we were struggling.
- 2:38We were in a place where we did not know what was going to go on
- 2:42this. This podcast started out of that
- 2:43place, right? We we had some free time we
- 2:46thought you know let's talk in the microphone and see if people
- 2:49listen And we've had, you know, more downloads than we ever
- 2:53imagined having. And it's been been a blessing to
- 2:56be able to help people the responses that we've got on
- 3:00Facebook, private messages, even people that disagree with us and
- 3:04said, hey, I don't agree in this area, it's been a good time of
- 3:07conversation with people. My dear brother Ray bolt out in.
- 3:11I believe it's Texas. Who started a military Chapel
- 3:16service. I think he's actually called it
- 3:19the For Freedom, sometimes used the name freedom in it, which
- 3:23has been great, but just being able to see the thoughts that
- 3:27we've been able to share through God's word and allies would be
- 3:30able to, in fact, has been an amazing thing.
- 3:33Absolutely, absolutely. And we are going to jump into
- 3:38the second part of this subject today on anxiety.
- 3:40And next week, we'll be dropping an interview with pastor and
- 3:43biblical counsellor palt ouches and he wrote a 31-day devotional
- 3:47on anxiety and so we Encourage you to listen to that sits.
- 3:51A really good interview, much better than what James and I are
- 3:54doing here. But we hopefully we can get out,
- 3:57get ourselves out of the way and just point you to the
- 3:59scriptures, that's our desire. We walk through a little bit of
- 4:02the subject of anxiety, and, and got into just very briefly into
- 4:07Matthew 6. And Jesus is speaking here about
- 4:11to his followers, about, worry and anxiety.
- 4:14And so, we now come to this. And so, last last week, I sort
- 4:19of ended, Him with talking about what you believe about, God.
- 4:23And this comes to what dr. Robert Jones and his little
- 4:28booklet on why worry points to is the second root of worry,
- 4:33which he says is unbelief and so James, why don't we read from
- 4:38verse 25 to 34? Okay, there 25:34.
- 4:42Therefore I say unto you be anxious or take.
- 4:45No, thought about your life, what you will eat or what you
- 4:49will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on is not lie.
- 4:53If more than food and body than clothing, look at the birds of
- 4:57the air for. They do not sow, nor do they
- 4:59reap nor do, they gather into barns.
- 5:02Yet your heavenly father feeds them.
- 5:04Are you not much more better than they who among you is by
- 5:09taking. Thought can add one cubit to his
- 5:13stature. Why takes all about clothing,
- 5:16consider the lilies of the field, how they grow?
- 5:18They neither toil nor work nor spin yet.
- 5:21I say unto you even say. Woman in all of his glory was
- 5:25not dressed like one of these. Therefore, if God, so, clothe
- 5:29the grass of the field, which today is here and tomorrow is
- 5:33thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you?
- 5:37Oh, you of little faith. Therefore, take no thought
- 5:40saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we drink?
- 5:43Or what shall we wear for Gentiles seek after those things
- 5:47for your heavenly father knows that you have need of all these
- 5:50things, but seek you first The kingdom of God, and his
- 5:54righteousness, and all these things will be given unto you.
- 5:58Therefore, take no thought about tomorrow.
- 6:00For tomorrow will take thought of the things of itself
- 6:04sufficient to the days, is the trouble there of, okay?
- 6:10And so, he comes here and he hit one of the things that we see is
- 6:14that this, those who struggle with this and says, have little
- 6:24Which means they have some Faith.
- 6:25Yeah, which helps us. And I find this don't find this
- 6:29discouraging. I find this a little encouraging
- 6:31that this is the idea that Christians struggle with this.
- 6:35We do struggle with this, okay. As we saw earlier, Jesus
- 6:39prohibited worried. But went then, he then also
- 6:42gives us reasons not to worry. God values and cares and
- 6:47provides for his children. We talked a little bit about
- 6:49that last time, maybe if he's going to care for the creatures.
- 6:53He's going to care for you. Yeah.
- 6:55Yeah. If God provides for the plants,
- 6:58he will provide for his own children.
- 7:03Did he redeem and died on the cross?
- 7:06For the plants? Don't think so.
- 7:08Okay, but he did for us and so that means that we are more
- 7:11valuable. We are cared for more than than
- 7:15the plants verse 27. I like this James, Reddit, and
- 7:20different translation in the ESV is says, which of you by being
- 7:23Anxious can add a single hour to his span of life.
- 7:27And he's basically, the idea is this, okay?
- 7:29Tell me how much productivity you're worrying.
- 7:33Has at what is your whirring produced?
- 7:36What is your anxiety? Produced, tell me, tell me the
- 7:38positive results. Give me the data sheet.
- 7:41The statistics of this is where you worried about it.
- 7:45This is how that paid off and I remember our former past few
- 7:48still tell a story about a, get a guy and his wife We're talking
- 7:54and he said, honey, you know, that 80% of the stuff that you
- 7:58worry about never comes true and she said, that means it's
- 8:01working and I guess that's a way you can look at it, but I don't
- 8:06think that's a very wiser, biblical way to look at it.
- 8:11Worry, when it comes down to it, And I'm not trying to say this
- 8:15harshly. I want to say this with a Heart
- 8:17of Love, reflects a mindset of unbelief.
- 8:22Yeah. And it really when you really
- 8:26think about it. John, if you are in a war, a
- 8:30state of worry, gets back to what we talked about last week,
- 8:34you are trusting and self rather than trusting in God.
- 8:39What can I do to change the situation?
- 8:41Because oftentimes, that's what boils down to God.
- 8:44You're not fixing this fast enough for me.
- 8:48You're not taking care of this. The way I want it done and so,
- 8:51just get out of the way. Let me do it.
- 8:54And we begin to put ourselves in the place of God, and we say, I
- 8:57can do it better than you. And so, I'll just take over from
- 9:01here. Yeah.
- 9:02And we get this mindset of unbelief.
- 9:05I like how doctors on says he goes on to say that worry, is
- 9:09the characterization of pagans and those who do not know the
- 9:14Lord, the Gentiles as he said there, it says the Gentiles
- 9:20Seek, after all these things, they seek after the clothing,
- 9:24they seek after the worry of the day, the word of the time he
- 9:28said this is what the Gentiles seek after.
- 9:31But as the ultimate saying, they are seeking after temporal
- 9:35things but Believers should be seeking.
- 9:37After the things us verse 30, God you have resorted to.
- 9:41Yeah, and that's the thing. I think that we have and let me
- 9:46ask you this question listener. Strongly consider. whether you
- 9:53are looking to, Think temporal things, or things of this world
- 10:00for security. Or do you look to your heavenly
- 10:07father? To the God who loves you to
- 10:13provide the security. He deems best right.
- 10:17That doesn't mean check your brain at the door and just like
- 10:20open up your doors and your windows and say invite anybody
- 10:24to come in and they can come to. No, I'm not saying that I'm
- 10:27saying. There's wisdom. and there's a
- 10:31point where the wisdom, Ends and becomes where you're worrying
- 10:36about thing and you know, James, I think women get a bath wrap
- 10:41with this in churches. Everybody thinks that women are
- 10:43worriers women. Worry all the time men do to ya
- 10:47and it manifests itself a little bit differently.
- 10:50In men, I find men tend to just like, go overly prepared about
- 10:55things. Yeah.
- 10:56Because we can't, they can't have the option of the unknown
- 11:00happening. Yeah.
- 11:02And a lot of that's due because of Anxiety, that's going on in
- 11:05the inside and II said it this way.
- 11:08One time I said, whenever you're talking about what's going on in
- 11:11your heart, protecting the asset, we don't check wisdom at
- 11:14the dorm. Think of it, this way we do need
- 11:18to have a protection there, but it's sort of like setting up an
- 11:21alarm system in your home and going full on doomsday prepper.
- 11:26Yeah, you know me? Oh my bad Xerxes.
- 11:28Adam said. Yeah.
- 11:30But but as it regards wisdom. In your own heart.
- 11:35It is not unwise to have like that, that enter inner alarm
- 11:40system that you would protect your home with.
- 11:43But if you're thinking, I've got to do this, I've got to do this.
- 11:46I got to do this and you're going like, Doomsday prepper in,
- 11:50in your own heart with anxiety. I've got to cut myself from all
- 11:53of these things. Yeah, you're out of balance,
- 11:57right? Your you've gone over into the
- 11:59thing of like you don't believe God anymore.
- 12:02You don't trust God anymore, you're trusting.
- 12:06You're in your own strength. Yeah, I like how mr.
- 12:09Jones says, he says four statements to ask yourself which
- 12:13of these statements is hardest-hitting.
- 12:15This is good. Listen this which are these four
- 12:18statements is hardest for you to accept or grasp to the first
- 12:22one. Is this God, my father knows
- 12:26what is best for me. God my father number two is more
- 12:30than able to bring what is best for me.
- 12:34God my father, Deeply wants what is best for me and the last one
- 12:39God my father will always give me what is best for me.
- 12:43Mmm those are hard questions to in.
- 12:46Listen this is the thing you've got to just take some time and
- 12:50mole over. This question has changed
- 12:52reading reading through one more time.
- 12:53Yeah. And we began to relate to our
- 12:57relationships, with our father, to our relationship with our
- 13:00heavenly father in these areas. And we begin to see these
- 13:03attributes come out our life, that's good and it's good and
- 13:07we've been talking about the subject of trusting God.
- 13:11And if we could say it this way, we're talking about putting off
- 13:16sinful worry, sinful exact anxiety.
- 13:20And putting on trusting in God and we see this in the text,
- 13:23he's saying, consider this Consider this don't be anxious
- 13:28for this. What is the anxiety done for
- 13:30you? What is worried helped you
- 13:33consider this? And then it comes to this aspect
- 13:35I think in verse 33 and and it carries the idea of orienting
- 13:42our life around the priorities of God.
- 13:44He says here's what you need to do.
- 13:48This is what you should be doing.
- 13:49Verse 33 seek first, the kingdom of God and his righteousness And
- 13:57these things. Yeah, she'll be added.
- 13:59So what is it? That you need to occupy yourself
- 14:01with instead of worrying instead of anxiety with these things.
- 14:05What are we doing about Kingdom Business?
- 14:07Yeah. Exactly.
- 14:10And simply put the opposite of worry is trusting.
- 14:13God, we must replace anxiety with growing our focus on God's
- 14:18provisions and his priorities in our life.
- 14:21The kingdom priorities as you said as the scripture says here
- 14:24and how we can begin to focus our life around.
- 14:28What is it that I'm doing is worried adding to the kingdom of
- 14:32God. Or is worried taking away from
- 14:35the kingdom? That's good.
- 14:36Is it hindering us from actually?
- 14:38Working the kingdom? You know, doing things for the
- 14:41kingdom of God or yeah. That's because again, because if
- 14:44it is this, if it is, I'm worried and I've got to, I've
- 14:48got to make money, I've got to work and your worry is making
- 14:52money to provide for your family to provide for the kingdom.
- 14:56It could be a righteous worry, but if you're worried is I just
- 15:00don't know how we're going to take this vacation and I are
- 15:02worried. Begins to focus on things that
- 15:06aren't productivity toward our needs that are biblical needs
- 15:10that. The Bible says we should do to
- 15:11provide for our families and it begins to go towards worry of
- 15:15something very, very else than that.
- 15:17All of a sudden were taken away from the kingdom.
- 15:21So we come to this final plea in verse 34 and he says do not be
- 15:24anxious about tomorrow and is it that is it that we're a lot of
- 15:28anxieties comforter of what it? Yeah.
- 15:32It's what. Could Happen.
- 15:34What might happen? What is this person going to do?
- 15:38What is this person going to say?
- 15:40What is this situation going to bring about?
- 15:42What could these people? It's all about.
- 15:46What hasn't happened? And who holds tomorrow and his
- 15:50hand. Yeah.
- 15:52God. All right, so his final plea is
- 15:56Do not be anxious about tomorrow.
- 15:58And I love Jesus is wording here.
- 15:59It's very like, matter of fact, tomorrow will be anxious for
- 16:02itself. Yeah, that's ESV tomorrow.
- 16:05What did, what is your say for tomorrow?
- 16:06We'll take thoughts about the things of itself.
- 16:09Yeah, tomorrow's. Listen.
- 16:10Leave tomorrow to tomorrow. If it's going to take care of
- 16:12himself, it's gonna be what it is.
- 16:16Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
- 16:21Yeah. What is this?
- 16:21Thought he said, listen, you got enough going on today, right?
- 16:26To be worrying about tomorrow. Yeah.
- 16:30And what? Why can't worry improve the
- 16:32future? Yeah, because if we are only
- 16:36works by the Future, IT diverts us from our responsibilities of
- 16:40today. That's that's what you were
- 16:41saying earlier. The things of right now, begin
- 16:44to get put off the times that we're To be impacting the
- 16:47Kingdom right now. And today our are gone because
- 16:51we're only focusing about tomorrow and three days from
- 16:54now, five years from now, what's going to happen and we never can
- 16:57see the the waitress in front of us at the store that needs our
- 17:00help. The, the grocery store manager
- 17:02that's checking us out on the line that's taking a little bit
- 17:05longer because maybe she's had a hard day and she just got reamed
- 17:08out because her kids are having a bad day and she showed up late
- 17:11to work and she got rode up and, you know, her bills aren't being
- 17:14met that day and all of a sudden She's not going fast enough for
- 17:17us and so we're worried about the things they're going to
- 17:20happen. Ten minutes from now and we are
- 17:22not living in the moment and impacting the person right in
- 17:24front of us. So there's one example, I give
- 17:26you a personal example with me. Like I've got a short time to do
- 17:30study for sermon prep and that kind of thing when my mind is
- 17:35filled with it, with any anxieties, here's what happens
- 17:38with me. I find it very difficult to
- 17:42focus on what I need to study and read for what I To prepare
- 17:47for the flock of God instead, what I'm sitting there looking
- 17:50at words, but my mind is filled with the anxieties and that's
- 17:55what it's doing. It's taking me away from the
- 17:57responsibilities of today. It drains our energy, it's EPS,
- 18:02our Vitality, it leads us. Baron Ultima John.
- 18:06It makes us miss the present joys of today and gods daily
- 18:10Provisions. God provides for us every day.
- 18:14And when we worry about tomorrow, we are Focusing on the
- 18:17here and now and what God is doing right now.
- 18:19So some passes for you to reflect on some homework, if
- 18:22you've forsaken a better term, Psalms 2410, which going to
- 18:26mention these, you can look them up for you, some closing
- 18:28thoughts, here, John 16:32, second Timothy 4, 16 and 17 and
- 18:35really the things we need to ask ourselves where this what are
- 18:38the one or two concerns in your life?
- 18:40They could be legitimate concerns.
- 18:42Concerns about good things that most often become areas of work.
- 18:46Worry or anxiety for you and then secondly, what specific
- 18:51truths about God and the promises of God.
- 18:54Do you find it difficult to embrace fully and James?
- 18:58I want to quickly, sort of look at Philippians 4.
- 19:03And look at. Again, the put off, if we're
- 19:06putting off anxiety, putting off sinful worry, what are we?
- 19:10And what can the Holy Spirit and power us to put on?
- 19:13And I want to, I want you to see how Paul addresses this in
- 19:15Philippians, Or starting in verse 4.
- 19:17He starts off with worship and says rejoice in the lord always.
- 19:21Again, I will say rejoice, he starts off.
- 19:25He says, let me ask you a question, where's your worship
- 19:29at? And not just we're talking about
- 19:31something, we're talking about your daily worship, not daily,
- 19:35devotions or something, if you call it at this fine, but I
- 19:38think so many people from our background get hung up with the
- 19:42I like to call it daily worship. Are you worshiping God?
- 19:46On your own by yourself daily. Yeah.
- 19:50And almost even that same since John, are you worshiping God,
- 19:53like you would on a Sunday morning, Easter Sunday, musics,
- 19:58prominent good. The spirit of the Lord is there
- 20:02your with the Believers you're praising?
- 20:05God together. Is that looking like that in
- 20:08your daily life every day or is it looking like let me read
- 20:12three verses and praying won't my life.
- 20:14Yeah we will all that church and here's Another passage in verse
- 20:175 and the next verse is sort of goes along with that, you know,
- 20:20being about the kingdom responsibility being about
- 20:22Kingdom Business. He says this, let your
- 20:24gentleness or graciousness or forbearance, be known to all
- 20:28men. The Lord is at hand.
- 20:31They saying this. He said, listen, you need to let
- 20:34where your lines are, where your patience is where your
- 20:36forbearance were, your graciousness be gracious to
- 20:39people, and you need to be about the Lord's word, because the
- 20:42Lord is at hand Verse 6. Here's where most people focus
- 20:46on verse 6. But you can't avoid that from
- 20:49the he's like he's asking you first about to worship.
- 20:52You need to be rejoicing that he says this be anxious for
- 20:56nothing. Be anxious for nothing but in
- 21:00everything, what? By prayer and supplication by
- 21:07prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving.
- 21:10Let your requests be made known to God.
- 21:13Now I know what you're probably thinking.
- 21:15Oh, here it goes again. Here's how I fight.
- 21:17Anxiety, pray and read my Bible. In short.
- 21:22Yes. And long-form.
- 21:24No, yeah. Because what you've probably
- 21:27been told or taught on praying and read your Bible, is it going
- 21:31to work? But what we're going to talk
- 21:33about and what Paul couches explains in the next episode
- 21:37about how you pray and how you read your Bible.
- 21:40Yes. And what does he say here?
- 21:43What is? Robert Jones say about prayer
- 21:45and this aspect simply put he gets four basic attributes,
- 21:48things that you should do in Practical life.
- 21:51Life because we want to be super super duper practical.
- 21:53And everything we do is simply place has pray.
- 21:57He defines us as this seek the Lord and mythus in of anxiety.
- 22:02Ask God to help you with it. Repent of the various ways that
- 22:06you have sinned, okay? So think about prayer this way.
- 22:09Not just God, help me with my anxiety today.
- 22:12God I just need you God, will you be in this situation?
- 22:15That's not what we're talking about?
- 22:16No I'm start. I'm talking about starting off
- 22:19with worshipping God. Yeah.
- 22:21Spend about five minutes, just praising God and your own prayer
- 22:25time. Where's we got?
- 22:26For a different attribute each day.
- 22:29So maybe Monday, you're going to praise God.
- 22:31And say, think about how faithful God has been and then
- 22:34write down the ways. God has been faithful in your
- 22:36life, then you're going to go to him and confession and say God,
- 22:39you're such a great God. But I have been such a sinner in
- 22:43my own life and my heart and these are the ways that I have
- 22:46sinned against you, will you? I'm confessing my sin to you to
- 22:51see Seek your forgiveness. And so you're going to him and
- 22:53confession. And what does he say?
- 22:54In verse 6, he says prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving.
- 23:01So then you're going to thanking God.
- 23:03Yeah. And you're thanking him for his
- 23:05forgiveness, for his Mercy, for his grace, for his provision, in
- 23:10your life. Yeah.
- 23:12And then your supplicating you are asking him for.
- 23:15Thanks God, there's a situation. And it's causing this problem
- 23:19and it's causing me to get my eyes off of you.
- 23:22Will you help me with a holy spirit?
- 23:24Please Empower me not to go down this road again and see that's
- 23:28prayer and it is not just some quick 30 word, prayer, your
- 23:31communing with your God, your communing with your God.
- 23:35So and you're pretty specific. You're saying, God, you're
- 23:37getting specific God, I am struggling in this area.
- 23:40Worry, I'm struggling in this era of anxiety.
- 23:42I need you to help. So, pray and then turn turn back
- 23:46to the Lord and worship him. After you've worship, after
- 23:49you've focused on his attribute after you've specifically right
- 23:52now we're trying to back and say, God, let me worship you for
- 23:55today. When we worship me for another
- 23:56moment of my life getting up and be able to do that.
- 23:59And then the last the third thing, not the last, but the
- 24:02third respond to the Lord with the appropriate steps of
- 24:06obedience by faith act on what you have know and trust the Lord
- 24:11and continue to overcome your anxiety in that area.
- 24:14Okay so I want to look at verses 7 and 8 a beings for with that
- 24:18thought. Alright, verse 7 says, this
- 24:20after you are rejoicing, you're worshipping like, James was
- 24:23talking about your being gracious to others.
- 24:26You putting off anxiety, you're putting on worship prayer,
- 24:31Thanksgiving making it going to God with your, with your heart,
- 24:35with your request, and that's what he says.
- 24:38What do you think? Anxiety, robs you of the joy and
- 24:42peace and what does he say? He says verse 7 and the peace.
- 24:47Of God, not the piece of you. Not what you would desire is
- 24:52peace. Yeah.
- 24:53See because a lot of times in our minds we've setup piece as
- 24:56quiet. Yeah.
- 24:58And that's not quiet. That it's not peace.
- 25:00Peace, isn't necessarily Serene Meadow quiet.
- 25:04Nothing going on. That's not how God answers.
- 25:06Our request of knowing xiety, he doesn't change the circumstances
- 25:10and gets rid of people and gets rid of problems.
- 25:12So that now we can have peace. Know what does he do?
- 25:15He changes our hearts so we can have peace in the circumstances.
- 25:20I heard a little stretching one time.
- 25:21I think I heard Tony Evans say it.
- 25:23He said that he was going through an art gallery and he
- 25:25was walking through this art gallery and he saw this picture,
- 25:27this portrait of painting of a Serene Meadow and just like the
- 25:31wind blowing on the grass and beautiful flowers and all of
- 25:34this sun shining and the beautiful trees and everything
- 25:37like that. And he said it just said the
- 25:39titles of portrait was peace and he was like, huh, interesting?
- 25:42And he kept up walking, he returned to corner and he saw
- 25:44this other painting and he first looked at the title, First.
- 25:47And he said that the title of that painting that portrait said
- 25:50Peace. And he's like, I just saw that
- 25:52one will let me look at this one and he said the port, the
- 25:55painter painted, a portrait of a stormy sea, and you can see land
- 26:00on the side, the trees were blowing, it seemed like the,
- 26:04there's a ship off in the distance and the waves and
- 26:06Waters crashing in on the ship and it's dark, clouds are dark.
- 26:10Lightning striking at one of the points and it's like all turmoil
- 26:14storm going on in the water. And in the middle of the
- 26:18portrait, there's a rock that protrudes out of a low part of
- 26:22the water and on the Rock is a little bird.
- 26:26It is resting on the Rock and The Sun Shines down on it and he
- 26:31said that's peace. Because piece does it have to do
- 26:35with our circumstances piece has to do with where God we have
- 26:42seen God in our circumstances. Which means that whenever life
- 26:49is crazy, trials, hardships suffering things that are not
- 26:57going our way. We can still have peace in those
- 27:01situations because this is What it is listener.
- 27:05What did he say? It passes all understanding.
- 27:10This is this is something that it doesn't make sense.
- 27:14Yeah, to the common person, it doesn't make sense.
- 27:18We're not talking about health wealth, Prosperity Gospel kind
- 27:20of crap, where forgive my language there, but we're
- 27:23talking about this is what God does in changing your heart, and
- 27:28orienting it to him, because on the old hooker of the
- 27:32illustration John The bird by all accounts would not be
- 27:36peaceful someone looking on that bird.
- 27:40Like how can I Burgess it they're not be worrying about
- 27:42what's around them and in the same way we can look at people
- 27:45in their life and say, how are they going through those
- 27:49situations that I could never imagine going through and still
- 27:53be serving the lord and still be peaceful their life?
- 27:56Yeah, the guy, my church specifically, his name is, Jerry
- 27:59dermyer. Have some of the most utmost
- 28:00respect for Jerry, faithful, man of God.
- 28:03And one of our deacons in our church and Jerry, wouldn't he
- 28:08wouldn't his wife were just recently married.
- 28:10They had a three-year-old boy, and they've gotten pregnant and
- 28:13they had still birthed a baby daughter.
- 28:16And they had a berry that baby daughter.
- 28:19And so, when I first got there, I was asking about his family
- 28:22and he said, he said, when his son was 18 years old, he was
- 28:26working making money on the back of a truck reading some water
- 28:30meters, and the guy thought he was on there and he wasn't He
- 28:34went to take off and as he took off, he fell the back of the
- 28:36truck. Hit his head on the concrete and
- 28:38died. So, now within 16 years of each
- 28:42other, he's lost his daughter. He's lost his son.
- 28:45And he said, for those next couple of years, my wife would
- 28:47just love Lord, we serve the Lord together and then she got
- 28:50diagnosed with the disease and within three years.
- 28:53She had passed away, and I did not know this.
- 28:56And he's every Sunday he sitting on the front row, he's
- 28:59worshiping the Lord, he's praising the Lord and he
- 29:02understands the goodness of God in a way, where I would not, if
- 29:05I lost a child at when they were 18 or 20 or whatever age, I
- 29:09don't understand how I would be able to go through that, but yet
- 29:12he's lived through those things and he's coming up on those
- 29:15anniversaries of the death of his son, the death of his
- 29:18daughter, the death of his wife, all happened, within a couple
- 29:21weeks of each other different years apart, and the anniversary
- 29:25of their marriage. Mmm is all within a month and he
- 29:28always tells me. Pray, for me, it's a hard month
- 29:31for me, hmmm, but he's there. He's faithful.
- 29:35And the old looker the storms are around.
- 29:37He's the burden of rock. How does he see peace in that
- 29:41because of where his eyes are at fixed on?
- 29:42Yes, putting off this, putting on this, I think Jerry.
- 29:46Probably figure out verse 8. Yeah, because it's what Paul
- 29:48says in verse 8, finally. Whatever things are true,
- 29:54whatever things are noble, whatever things are, just,
- 29:59whatever things are pure, whatever things are, lovely,
- 30:02whatever, things are of good report.
- 30:05If there is any virtue, there is if there is any praise
- 30:09worthiness, there is think or meditate on these things and
- 30:14this is what I encourage you to do listener.
- 30:16If you struggle with this, when you have time, make a list of
- 30:20the good things that God has done for you.
- 30:23Make a list of Noble things that God does in his Justice.
- 30:28Make a list of just things, make a list of pure things that God
- 30:33does make a things, make a list of things of God, and of God's
- 30:38nature that our lovely Mega think make a list of things that
- 30:42are good news that God has provided And then when you feel
- 30:47those anxiety anxiety attacks or that anxiety coming on, carry
- 30:50that list around in your back pocket or in your purse or
- 30:53something. Pull that list out and start
- 30:55recounting and thinking on those things we're good.
- 31:00Very last thing that we're going to say and I think this gets
- 31:03back to also looking at Jerry's life of that little illustration
- 31:06is, he comes up to me and he says, Pastor James, pray for me
- 31:11because the part that I'm going to go through these next couple
- 31:14weeks and months of stuff and He's doing is he's involving
- 31:16others. Absolutely.
- 31:18We are not alone in this battle. You are not on an island.
- 31:22I don't know how many people have told me coming out of
- 31:24fundamentalism. I felt like I was on an island.
- 31:27I was by myself. I felt like no one was around me
- 31:30and I'm fighting this battle alone.
- 31:32You have to surround yourself with Believers brothers and
- 31:35sisters. That care about you study God's
- 31:37word together. Pray together have Fellowship
- 31:39together have an intimate relationship with those that are
- 31:42around you and involve them in your life.
- 31:45And as you go through this journey because they're going to
- 31:48be the ones you can call when anxiety hits and you are focused
- 31:52on, whatever it may be this sinful and you're able to call
- 31:55them and say, hey, I need just some help talk to me.
- 31:57So talk me through this pray with me?
- 31:59Yeah, pray with me. Talked me down off this Cliff
- 32:01almost. And that's where we get to this
- 32:03point where we are involving other people in our life.
- 32:06So, pray, turn back respond to the Lord, but then bring other
- 32:10people into this relationship, into this journey with you so
- 32:14that you're not alone. Absolutely.
- 32:17And so that's a great, a great word James.
- 32:20And and so this is just scratching the surface.
- 32:23There have been some really good resources written about this
- 32:27which I think Paul even mentions.
- 32:29I've mentioned Paul touches his book that we're going to get to
- 32:32interview him next week on so we invite you to come back next
- 32:36week. Listen to that.
- 32:38James mentioned the the booklet by dr.
- 32:41Robert Jones on this there is a much lengthier.
- 32:45Our work on this by a guy named dr.
- 32:47Ed Welch called when people are big and God is small, and that
- 32:52is a fantastic resource about this.
- 32:54If you want to dig into it a little bit more, we are thankful
- 32:58for your attention and we understand.
- 33:02There have been people that have been hurt and church and that
- 33:05kind of thing with just trite and quick, bad advice when it
- 33:10comes to worry and anxiety and we don't want to downplay that,
- 33:14but we We want to point you back to the truth of the scriptures,
- 33:20the truth of the Saviour, the truth of Christ, and how that
- 33:24good news can even bring you freedom in the midst of anxiety.
- 33:31Let's go. Well, John until next time to
- 33:35God, be the glory found that good grace.
- 33:42Found that healing in the tears fell down.
- 33:45My face when I find my beginning.
- 34:08Thanks for listening to the for Freedom podcast.
- 34:11If you enjoyed the content of the podcast, please do us a
- 34:13favor by liking subscribing. Typing or sharing the podcast on
- 34:17whatever podcast platform you listen to.