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Anxious For Nothing- Minister Max Lucado · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

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Speaker 1: Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Hello from
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Speaker 1: San Antonio, Texas, just down the street. What about that
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Speaker 1: extra hour of sleep? Why can't we do that every
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Speaker 1: Saturday night? Is there some reason we can't? I love
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Speaker 1: it because now my clocks are right for six months.
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Speaker 1: It's really a treat to be with you, and it's
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Speaker 1: really a special treat. I have a My daughters with me,
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Speaker 1: one daughter and one sister-in-law, and my wife, Deanlyn, have
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Speaker 1: come along for the trip. And so that's really a
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Speaker 1: fun blessing for me to have them here. I also
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Speaker 1: have a granddaughter here somewhere. We all traveled a little
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Speaker 1: bit together. You know, when a fella finds the right wife,
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Speaker 1: that's something special. Some people say my wife is my
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Speaker 1: better half. I say my wife is my better 99%.
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Speaker 1: I looked for a wife when I was in college
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Speaker 1: and found a girl that I thought was the perfect one,
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Speaker 1: and I took her home, and Mom didn't like her,
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Speaker 1: so I took her back. I found another one I
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Speaker 1: thought was the one, so I took her home. Mom
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Speaker 1: didn't like her, so I took her back. I went
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Speaker 1: through a dormitory full of girls until I found just
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Speaker 1: the right one. I thought she was the right one
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Speaker 1: at least. I thought because she looked like my mom
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Speaker 1: and she talked like my mom, she walked like my mom,
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Speaker 1: that mom surely would like her. I took her home
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Speaker 1: and then dad couldn't stand her, so I had to
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Speaker 1: take her back. We live not far from our church.
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Speaker 1: I mean, it's just off the interstate there at Interstate 10.
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Speaker 1: So funny things happened. There was a car that got
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Speaker 1: pulled over on Interstate 10 some time back for going
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Speaker 1: too slow. Going too slow. I mean, they were going
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Speaker 1: dangerously slow. So the highway patrolman stopped the car and
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Speaker 1: walked up to the side of the car. Notice there's
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Speaker 1: an elderly gentleman and the gentleman's wife. And he said, sir,
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Speaker 1: you're just going so slow. You're a hazard on the highway.
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Speaker 1: And the gentleman said, well, I'm just going the speed limit.
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Speaker 1: And he pointed at the sign that said Interstate 10.
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Speaker 1: And the officer corrected him. He said, sir, that's not
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Speaker 1: the speed limit sign. That's the highway sign. And then
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Speaker 1: the officer noticed that the gentleman's wife was just the
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Speaker 1: face of terror. Her eyes were wide open. Her hair
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Speaker 1: was blown back. She was holding on to the dashboard.
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Speaker 1: He said, sir, what's wrong with your wife? He said,
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Speaker 1: I'm not sure. We just got off of Farm to
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Speaker 1: Market Road 177. Laughter So if you've ever known the
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Speaker 1: fear of going too fast, you're not alone. And I
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Speaker 1: think that's the topic of our discussion today. We'll help
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Speaker 1: address that. We're talking about a life in which we're
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Speaker 1: anxious for nothing and how God has a plan to
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Speaker 1: help us deal with anxiety. Heavenly Father, please help us
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Speaker 1: now as we soften our hearts to receive your word.
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Speaker 1: We pray blessings on this church, on Pastor Robert and
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Speaker 1: the amazing people hear that you would continue to bless them,
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Speaker 1: keep them free from anxiety and centered in you. Please
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Speaker 1: forgive our speaker today. His sins are many. Help us
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Speaker 1: to see Christ, just Christ. Through Christ we pray. And
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Speaker 1: all the church said. It's 2.30 in the morning and
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Speaker 1: you cannot sleep. You roll from one side to the other.
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Speaker 1: You pound your pillow. Nothing helps. Everyone else sleeps. Your
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Speaker 1: spouse has entered the world of dreamland. Your dog is
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Speaker 1: curled up in a lump at the foot of your bed.
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Speaker 1: Everyone else sleeps, but not you. It's 2.30 in the morning.
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Speaker 1: In six hours, you begin a new job, new chapter,
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Speaker 1: new season, new era of life. You'll be the rookie
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Speaker 1: on the sales team, and you're wondering if you made
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Speaker 1: the right decision. After all, the hours are going to
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Speaker 1: be long. The competition is severe. The economy is threatening
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Speaker 1: to decline. Besides, you're 23 years old right out of college.
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Speaker 1: 33 years old with two kids to feed and a
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Speaker 1: family to care for. 43 years old, the latest victim
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Speaker 1: of layoffs and downsizing. 53 years old, not the perfect
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Speaker 1: time to begin a new career. 63 years old, what
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Speaker 1: happened to retirement? and time with the grandkids, regardless of
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Speaker 1: the age. Anxiety can come like a tornado through a
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Speaker 1: Texas prairie, sucking every final vestige of hope out into
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Speaker 1: the sky. And so it's 2.30 in the morning, it
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Speaker 1: becomes 3.30, and you still haven't slept. The only light
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Speaker 1: in the room is the green light that comes from
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Speaker 1: the clock. The only light in your life Indeed, all
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Speaker 1: of a sudden, a new strain of worry enters your mind.
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Speaker 1: You feel a twitch in the back of your neck. Oh, no,
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Speaker 1: it's a tumor. Just like great-grandpa, I knew I was
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Speaker 1: next in line. I knew my time was coming. Will
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Speaker 1: the insurance kick in soon enough to cover chemotherapy? Who's
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Speaker 1: going to take care of the kids? And anxiety begins
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Speaker 1: to have its way with you. Another hour passes. You
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Speaker 1: cover your head with a pillow. You feel like crying.
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Speaker 1: What a mess. What does all this anxiety mean? All
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Speaker 1: this insecurity, all this trepidation, all this worry, all this restlessness.
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Speaker 1: What does it mean? Well, it means simply this. You
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Speaker 1: are a human being. You're not stupid. You're not emotionally underdeveloped.
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Speaker 1: You're not immature. Your parents didn't fail you. It doesn't
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Speaker 1: mean you failed them. And this is important. It does
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Speaker 1: not mean you're not a Christian. Christians battle anxiety. Jesus did.
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Speaker 1: for heaven's sake. In the garden of Gethsemane on the
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Speaker 1: night before his crucifixion, he prayed for the cup of
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Speaker 1: suffering to be taken away from him, and he prayed
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Speaker 1: with such ferocity that the capillaries burst and rivulets of
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Speaker 1: crimson rolled down his face. Jesus battled anxiety. He faced fears,
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Speaker 1: but he fought through his fears and surrendered them to
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Speaker 1: God and fulfilled his mission, and anxiety did not win.
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Speaker 1: And such is God's plan for you. Anxiety comes with life,
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Speaker 1: but it doesn't have to dominate your life. God's plan
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Speaker 1: for you is not a life that is drenched in anxiety.
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Speaker 1: It is his will that you and I learn to
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Speaker 1: live a life that is characterized by calm and not chaos.
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Speaker 1: By peace and not panic. There's a pathway out of
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Speaker 1: the valley of fret. And God has used the Apostle
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Speaker 1: Paul to sketch the map. In this passage from Philippians
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Speaker 1: chapter 4, verses 4 through 8. Rejoice in the Lord always.
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Speaker 1: Again I will say, rejoice. Let your gentleness be made
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Speaker 1: known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be
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Speaker 1: anxious for nothing. But in everything, by prayer and supplication,
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Speaker 1: with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
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Speaker 1: And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will
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Speaker 1: guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
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Speaker 1: If there is any virtue,
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Speaker 1: if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. A
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Speaker 1: person would be hard-pressed to find a passage more practical
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Speaker 1: and applicable to our day and age. Wouldn't you agree?
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Speaker 1: The land of stars and stripes has become the land
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Speaker 1: of stress and strife. We are now officially the most
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Speaker 1: anxious nation on the planet. And this is the most
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Speaker 1: anxious nation since anxiety has been measured. How could this be?
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Speaker 1: Our cars are safer than ever. We have more technological tools. Well,
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Speaker 1: more than our great grandparents or grandparents could have ever
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Speaker 1: even dreamed of. And yet, citizens of third world countries
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Speaker 1: score healthier on the anxiety meter than we do. In fact,
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Speaker 1: when people from third world countries move to the United States,
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Speaker 1: their anxiety spikes dramatically. It is as if anxiety is contagious.
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Speaker 1: One of the calmest nations in the world is the
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Speaker 1: one that we assume is one of the most stress-filled,
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Speaker 1: and that is Mexico. And yet across the border, we
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Speaker 1: who pride ourselves in not having what Mexico sometimes has
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Speaker 1: are the nation that battles with anxiety enough to make
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Speaker 1: me want to move to Acapulco. How do we explain it?
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Speaker 1: What's more, our college kids are feeling it as well.
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Speaker 1: A recent study of 200,000 incoming freshmen stated students reported
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Speaker 1: all-time lows in overall mental health and emotional stability. One
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Speaker 1: psychologist said the average child today exhibits the same level
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Speaker 1: of anxiety as the average psychiatric patient of the 1950s.
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Speaker 1: Kids have more toys, more opportunities, more clothing than ever,
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Speaker 1: but by the time they go to college, they're wrapped
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Speaker 1: tighter than Egyptian mummies. We're tense. A doctor received a patient.
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Speaker 1: The patient said, Doc, I have a problem. Last night
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Speaker 1: I dreamed I was a pup tent. Night before I
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Speaker 1: dreamed I was a teepee. What's wrong with me? The
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Speaker 1: doctor said, oh, that's easy. You're too tense. You are
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Speaker 1: one rough crowd. I'll tell you that. We are tense
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Speaker 1: and we pay a price for it. One doctor friend
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Speaker 1: told me To see the consequences of anxiety, just read
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Speaker 1: half the ailments in a medical textbook. The psalmist said,
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Speaker 1: do not fret, it only causes harm. Harm where? Well,
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Speaker 1: harm to our necks, to our jaws, to our backs,
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Speaker 1: to our bowels. Anxiety can twist us into emotional pretzels.
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Speaker 1: It can make our eyes twitch, our blood pressure rise,
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Speaker 1: our heads ache, and our armpits sweat. Anxiety ain't fun.
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Speaker 1: So what can we do? Can I be clear? I
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Speaker 1: do not want to leave the impression that anxiety can
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Speaker 1: be waved away with one sermon, one book, or one season.
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Speaker 1: For some of you, anxiety is the challenge of life,
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Speaker 1: and it has been. And part of God's healing for
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Speaker 1: you might very well include professional help, therapy, a counselor,
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Speaker 1: a physician, some medication. And if that is the case,
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Speaker 1: you are not a second-class citizen. God has healing, and
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Speaker 1: sometimes that comes through professional help. All of us, however,
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Speaker 1: could benefit from a general, I'm sorry, from a healthy life.
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Speaker 1: dose of Philippians chapter 4 verses 4 through 8. And
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Speaker 1: right in the center of this passage, the apostle says,
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Speaker 1: now be anxious for nothing. I would have been happy
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Speaker 1: had he said just be anxious on Thursdays or be
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Speaker 1: anxious on occasion or be anxious only on tough days.
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Speaker 1: How can somebody really live a life in which they're
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Speaker 1: anxious for nothing? On occasion, it's helpful for us to
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Speaker 1: remember that that sometimes the Bible uses tense, Greek tense language,
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Speaker 1: that helps us understand what the apostle meant. In this case,
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Speaker 1: the phrase is written in the present active tense, which
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Speaker 1: implies an ongoing state, which could lead us to translate
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Speaker 1: the passage, do not let yourself be caught in a
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Speaker 1: state of perpetual anxiety. That's what he's saying. It's impossible
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Speaker 1: to lead a life free of anxiety, But we can
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Speaker 1: discover a life that is void of perpetual anxiety. Anxiety
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Speaker 1: comes with life, but it does not have to dominate
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Speaker 1: our lives. But how do we do it? How do
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Speaker 1: we find this? Well, I think this passage can help us.
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Speaker 1: Paul lists here four helpful ideas for winning the war
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Speaker 1: on worry. I think they make a nice acrostic. that
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Speaker 1: spells out the word C-A-L-M. And if you want to
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Speaker 1: move from chaos into calm, consider what Paul says. First, celebrate,
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Speaker 1: celebrate God's goodness. Rejoice in the Lord always, he says. Again,
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Speaker 1: I will say rejoice. Paul, ever the preacher, knows to
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Speaker 1: repeat what he wants to say. Rejoice in the Lord always.
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Speaker 1: You weren't listening, Locato. Again, I say rejoice. Rejoice! And
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Speaker 1: then he sticks an exclamation point on the end of
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Speaker 1: it as if to say, come on! Rejoice in the
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Speaker 1: Lord always, the apostle writes with chains dangling from that
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Speaker 1: Roman jail cell. Rejoice in the Lord always, he writes
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Speaker 1: with no penny in his pocket and perhaps the sound
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Speaker 1: of the footsteps of the executioner in the hallway. Rejoice
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Speaker 1: in the Lord always, he writes beneath the shadow of
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Speaker 1: Nero and the threat to the church. He says, now
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Speaker 1: just rejoice in the Lord always. His point is, don't
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Speaker 1: meditate on the mess. The more you stare at the problem,
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Speaker 1: the bigger it gets. The more you stare at the problem,
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Speaker 1: the bigger it gets. So when you have a problem,
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Speaker 1: lift up your eyes and rejoice in the Lord. The
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Speaker 1: minute the anxiety comes, rather than giving in to the anxiety,
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Speaker 1: you lift up your eyes and you rejoice in the Lord.
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Speaker 1: This was the counsel of the psalmist. He said, I
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Speaker 1: will lift up my eyes to the hills. From whence
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Speaker 1: comes my help? My help comes from the Lord who
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Speaker 1: made heaven and earth. Do you see the intentionality in
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Speaker 1: those words? I will lift up my eyes. This was
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Speaker 1: the decision that the psalmist made. The apostle Peter is
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Speaker 1: a testimony to this. You remember how when the storm
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Speaker 1: struck the Sea of Galilee, he knew what 10-foot waves
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Speaker 1: could do to a fishing boat. Maybe that's why he
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Speaker 1: volunteered to walk on the water when he saw Jesus
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Speaker 1: walking on the water. And Peter cried out, Lord, if
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Speaker 1: it's really you, then command me to come to you
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Speaker 1: on the water. And Jesus said, come. And Peter left
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Speaker 1: the boat and walked on the water to Jesus. But
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Speaker 1: when Peter saw the wind and the waves, he became
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Speaker 1: afraid and And he began to, what? Sink. As long
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Speaker 1: as he kept his eyes on Christ, he was able
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Speaker 1: to do the impossible. But when he saw the wind
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Speaker 1: and the waves, when he turned his gaze away from Christ,
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Speaker 1: he began to sink. If today you feel like you're sinking,
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Speaker 1: or the next time you feel like you're sinking, lift
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Speaker 1: up your eyes. Set your gaze on Christ. Rejoice in
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Speaker 1: the Lord. Rejoice in his sovereignty. Is God greater than
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Speaker 1: your problem? Has God ever faced this problem before? Does
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Speaker 1: God have solutions you've not thought of? Has God got
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Speaker 1: you through these types of things before? Does God have
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Speaker 1: a good track record? Is God strong? Is God sovereign?
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Speaker 1: Is God still on the throne? Is he overall? See
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Speaker 1: how you lift that up? You're rejoicing in the Lord.
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Speaker 1: You're lifting your mind away from the problems and you're
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Speaker 1: setting your mind on the one who can solve it.
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Speaker 1: Do not meditate on the mess. I have a childhood
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Speaker 1: memory I'm fond of. When my dad had everybody in
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Speaker 1: the house in bed, I was probably eight or nine
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Speaker 1: or 10 years of age. I had an older brother.
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Speaker 1: When he had us in bed, his wife was in bed.
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Speaker 1: He'd make the rounds in the house. And he'd stop
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Speaker 1: in the kitchen and drink a glass of buttermilk and
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Speaker 1: crumble up some cornbread in it. Can you guess I
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Speaker 1: was raised in a small West Texas town? And then
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Speaker 1: I was, oh, he was always, always, I just remember
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Speaker 1: he's always wearing his t-shirt and his boxer shorts. And
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Speaker 1: then he would make the rounds and he'd make sure
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Speaker 1: all the doors were locked, which took about two minutes
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Speaker 1: because there were three doors, front door, back door, and
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Speaker 1: door to the garage. So click, click, click, click, click, click.
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Speaker 1: And then as if he were a commander of a
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Speaker 1: great vessel, He would bellow out loud enough, probably for
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Speaker 1: the neighbors to hear, everything is locked up. You can
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Speaker 1: go to sleep now. It's safe. And you know, I
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Speaker 1: believed him. You might say I rejoiced in my father's strength.
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Speaker 1: Because he spoke, I calmed down. And I could go
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Speaker 1: to sleep. I have no inclination to think that God
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Speaker 1: loves buttermilk and cornbread. But everything in my spirit says
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Speaker 1: he wants you to hear what my father would say
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Speaker 1: to us. And that is, I'm in charge of this house.
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Speaker 1: You're not. And I've checked the entrances and the exits.
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Speaker 1: And I determine who enters and who leaves. You can
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Speaker 1: rest now. So you rejoice. That's what it means to
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Speaker 1: rejoice in the Lord. Oh, I've got a great God.
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Speaker 1: I've got a wonderful father. I rejoice in the Lord.
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Speaker 1: And then the apostle says, having done that, you'll be
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Speaker 1: ready to ask God for help. You've calmed yourself down.
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Speaker 1: Now you ask God for help. Let your requests be
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Speaker 1: made known to God. You see fear triggers either despair
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Speaker 1: or prayer. Fear triggers either despair or prayer. So choose wisely.
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Speaker 1: God said, call on me in the day of trouble.
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Speaker 1: Jesus said, ask and it will be given to you.
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Speaker 1: Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will
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Speaker 1: be opened to you. The path to peace is always
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Speaker 1: paved with prayer. That's why the devil doesn't want you
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Speaker 1: to pray. The path to peace is always paved with prayer.
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Speaker 1: The Old Testament prophet Isaiah said, put the Lord in
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Speaker 1: remembrance of his promises. Keep not silence. God told Isaiah,
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Speaker 1: put me in remembrance. Let us contend together. That is
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Speaker 1: to say, Go ahead and remind the Lord of what
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Speaker 1: he said he will do. Not that he needs the reminder,
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Speaker 1: but we need the reminder. We are agreeing with God,
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Speaker 1: which stands in defiance of the devil and any demons
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Speaker 1: who might be lurking away. You're standing not on the
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Speaker 1: pain in life or the problems of life, but you're
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Speaker 1: standing on the promise of life. Lord, you said you'd
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Speaker 1: walk me through the valley. Lord, you said you would
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Speaker 1: never leave me or forsake me. Lord, you said that
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Speaker 1: you would walk me through the waters. So you find
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Speaker 1: a promise that fits your problem and then you make
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Speaker 1: a prayer out of it. You find a promise that
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Speaker 1: fits your problem and then you just make a prayer
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Speaker 1: out of it. And these prayers touch the heart of
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Speaker 1: God and activate the angels in heaven. Your prayer might
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Speaker 1: not be answered overnight, but it will come with an
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Speaker 1: answer to prayer and you will overcome. And having done so,
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Speaker 1: you can then do this. Leave your concerns with God.
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Speaker 1: You celebrate God's goodness. You ask God for help. Then
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Speaker 1: you leave your concerns with God. Please raise your hand
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Speaker 1: if you have ever taken anything to an appliance store.
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Speaker 1: How about a computer to be fixed? Have you ever
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Speaker 1: done that? Have you ever taken a car in to
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Speaker 1: be fixed? So you know what it's like when you
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Speaker 1: take something to be repaired. When you take something to
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Speaker 1: be repaired, you take a sleeping bag with you, do
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Speaker 1: you not? And you roll it out on the floor.
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Speaker 1: And you tell the repairman, I'm just going to lie
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Speaker 1: here until you get it fixed. In case, sorry. In
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Speaker 1: case you need my help. That's not how it works,
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Speaker 1: is it? You take it to the repairman and you
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Speaker 1: leave it with him. When you offer a request to God,
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Speaker 1: do you tell God, now God, I'm just going to
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Speaker 1: stay around until you get it fixed. If you need
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Speaker 1: my advice, I'm going to be putting you on the clock.
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Speaker 1: I'm going to check in with you. No, you leave
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Speaker 1: your concern with your heavenly father. Please raise your hand
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Speaker 1: and repeat after me. I hereby resign as ruler of
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Speaker 1: the universe. There, doesn't that feel better? It was never
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Speaker 1: your job anyway. Let your requests... be made known to God.
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Speaker 1: And the word for request there is a word that
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Speaker 1: could be translated itemized requests. These are specific concerns that
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Speaker 1: you have. The more specific you can get, the better.
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Speaker 1: So you wake up in the morning and you think, oh,
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Speaker 1: I've got that interview with that person at 2.30 this afternoon.
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Speaker 1: I always get tied up into a knot thinking about
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Speaker 1: how difficult that's going to be. But today, instead of
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Speaker 1: giving in to the anxiety, I'm going to offer a
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Speaker 1: specific prayer based on a specific promise. And so, Heavenly Father. Please,
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Speaker 1: at 2.30 this afternoon, go ahead of me. Go into
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Speaker 1: the room. Be preparing it. Clean it out. Change the atmosphere.
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Speaker 1: Be softening his heart or be giving me wisdom. Grant
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Speaker 1: that I can know exactly what to say before I
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Speaker 1: get there. And then get specific with it. Give us
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Speaker 1: this day our daily bread, Jesus taught us to pray.
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Speaker 1: Give us today what we need. And then between early
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Speaker 1: in the morning and 2.30, when you feel that anxiety coming,
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Speaker 1: you can say, oh, no, I left that at the
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Speaker 1: repair shop. I left that with the heavenly father. He's
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Speaker 1: working on that. He has gone ahead of me. I
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Speaker 1: trust him. Instead of giving into the anxiety, then you
24:08
Speaker 1: can rejoice. And you say, oh good, I'm gonna rejoice
24:11
Speaker 1: in the Lord because I know he's gonna keep that
24:13
Speaker 1: promise because he's a faithful father. I'm gonna leave that
24:16
Speaker 1: with him. And instead of giving into that tailspin, that
24:21
Speaker 1: quicksand of anxiety, you lift up your eyes and you
24:25
Speaker 1: rejoice in the Lord. And by the time it's time
24:28
Speaker 1: to go into the meeting, You're a better person. You're
24:31
Speaker 1: a better person. You're going in armed with faith. And consequently,
24:37
Speaker 1: where that anxiety has gone, you can now place gratitude. Gratitude.
24:43
Speaker 1: Look what the apostle says. He says, in everything by
24:49
Speaker 1: prayer and supplication with what? Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving. Anxiety and
24:57
Speaker 1: gratitude cannot share the same heart. Test me on this.
25:06
Speaker 1: Anxiety and gratitude cannot share the same heart. If someone
25:12
Speaker 1: comes to see me as a pastor about anxiety, I say,
25:15
Speaker 1: let's just make a list of 10 good things in
25:17
Speaker 1: your life. Sometimes I have to talk them into it
25:21
Speaker 1: because they've gotten hooked on their anxiety. It can be addicting.
25:27
Speaker 1: But if we can get them out of that mindset
25:28
Speaker 1: and say, no, let's just think about 10 good things
25:30
Speaker 1: in your life. As they begin making the list, you
25:33
Speaker 1: actually begin to see light returning to their face. Test
25:37
Speaker 1: me on that. Try it sometime. The next time you're anxious,
25:41
Speaker 1: begin to make a list of things for which you're grateful.
25:44
Speaker 1: Because anxiety and gratitude refuse to share the same heart.
25:49
Speaker 1: I have a friend named Jerry who's a retired dentist.
25:52
Speaker 1: He's 78 years old. and he regularly beats me on
25:56
Speaker 1: the golf course. He often shoots his age. If I
26:01
Speaker 1: do the same, I'll need to live to be 100.
26:03
Speaker 1: And he's the most joyful, happy man. You'd never know
26:10
Speaker 1: that his life has been marred by crisis. Over the
26:15
Speaker 1: last 18 years, his wife has battled Parkinson's disease. And
26:19
Speaker 1: what they thought would be a wonderful season of retirement
26:21
Speaker 1: and travel has been populated by multiple trips to the
26:26
Speaker 1: hospital and managing medication. It's not what they had hoped
26:31
Speaker 1: it would be. One day I asked him, I said, Jerry,
26:35
Speaker 1: how do you stay so peaceful, so happy? He said, well,
26:39
Speaker 1: every morning when Ginger and I wake up, she says,
26:43
Speaker 1: can we sing a hymn? And I say, what do
26:46
Speaker 1: you want to sing? And she always says, can we
26:48
Speaker 1: sing Count Your Many Blessings? Name them one by one.
26:56
Speaker 1: And so we do. And they have learned the importance
27:01
Speaker 1: of dealing with anxiety through the power of gratitude. So
27:09
Speaker 1: you leave your concerns with him. You fill your heart
27:13
Speaker 1: with gratitude. And then lastly, meditate on good things. Meditate
27:19
Speaker 1: on good things. And the apostle gives us a long
27:21
Speaker 1: list here. He says, finally, brethren, whatever things are true,
27:25
Speaker 1: whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things
27:28
Speaker 1: are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things you have
27:30
Speaker 1: good report. If there's any virtue, if there's anything praiseworthy,
27:34
Speaker 1: meditate on these things. Don't let anxious, negative thoughts take
27:39
Speaker 1: over your mind. You cannot control your circumstances, but you
27:42
Speaker 1: can control how you think about them. One of the
27:49
Speaker 1: most difficult days of my life found me in Dalton, Georgia.
27:52
Speaker 1: I was 19 years old. I had spent the night
27:57
Speaker 1: before in a Salvation Army. An ebriated fellow in the
28:03
Speaker 1: bunk above mine had rolled over in the middle of
28:05
Speaker 1: the night and puked. If loneliness was water, I was
28:10
Speaker 1: soaked to the bone. On the promise of fast cash
28:15
Speaker 1: and new sites, I had signed on to sell books
28:20
Speaker 1: door to door, and got shipped out to Georgia from Texas.
28:27
Speaker 1: My two good friends who signed up with me, they
28:29
Speaker 1: quit the first day. So I was all by myself.
28:34
Speaker 1: I learned something. I learned that people don't like door
28:37
Speaker 1: to door salesmen. Even a nice one like me. I
28:43
Speaker 1: would knock on the first door. Hello, I'm Max Slam. Hello,
28:47
Speaker 1: I'm Max Slam. Hello, I'm Max. Slam. The next day
28:53
Speaker 1: wasn't any better. Noon on the second day, I pulled
28:58
Speaker 1: into a diner, nursed my bruised ego, and ate a hamburger.
29:04
Speaker 1: As I was paying for the burger, next to the
29:07
Speaker 1: cash register, there was a display of magnetized, rubberized truisms,
29:16
Speaker 1: little quotes, slogans. that you could purchase and maybe affix
29:20
Speaker 1: to a refrigerator or something. Well, one of them was
29:23
Speaker 1: shaped like a lemon. And in it were the words,
29:27
Speaker 1: you know what I'm going to say? If life gives
29:30
Speaker 1: you a lemon, make. It was folksy. It was homespun.
29:37
Speaker 1: It was overused. It was corny. But I'd never heard
29:40
Speaker 1: it before. And it was exactly what I needed. And
29:45
Speaker 1: so I purchased that little rubberized, magnetized truism, yellow and
29:51
Speaker 1: shaped like a lemon. If life gives you a lemon,
29:54
Speaker 1: make lemonade. And I affixed it to the metal strip
29:59
Speaker 1: on the dash of my 1973 Duster. I can't tell
30:07
Speaker 1: you how many times over the summer I would rub
30:09
Speaker 1: my thumb over that little quote. I made it through
30:15
Speaker 1: the summer. People still slam doors. And life gave me
30:20
Speaker 1: a lemon. But I discovered the idea of trying to
30:25
Speaker 1: make lemonade Out of the lemons of life. Now that's
30:29
Speaker 1: 40 years ago. Well, not quite. Heading toward it. And
30:36
Speaker 1: you know what I've learned? Life still gives lemons. And
30:42
Speaker 1: the lemons that I was facing that day back in
30:45
Speaker 1: Georgia are nothing compared to the lemons some of you
30:47
Speaker 1: are facing. Spoke to a lady this week, a single mom.
30:53
Speaker 1: She genuinely wonders if she'll ever have a good night's
30:56
Speaker 1: sleep again. Spoke with a fellow on Friday, ran into him,
31:02
Speaker 1: 70 years old, and is going through a divorce, of
31:06
Speaker 1: all things, at age 70. Spoke to a lady whose
31:11
Speaker 1: husband battles dementia. He was a pilot for the Air Force,
31:18
Speaker 1: but now he can no longer drive a car, and
31:20
Speaker 1: she was going to have to go and take his
31:22
Speaker 1: keys away from him. Life still gives limits. Life gives
31:28
Speaker 1: lemons to young people, to old people, to rich people,
31:30
Speaker 1: to poor people, to good people, to bad people. Life
31:34
Speaker 1: comes with lemons. But you don't have to suck on them.
31:51
Speaker 1: Anxiety happens as we suck on lemons. The apostle says
31:58
Speaker 1: meditate on good things. Some years ago I wrote this
32:02
Speaker 1: in a journal. I read it quite often. Today I
32:09
Speaker 1: will live today. Yesterday has passed. Tomorrow is not yet.
32:15
Speaker 1: I'm left with today. So today I will live today.
32:20
Speaker 1: Relive yesterday?
32:21
Speaker 2: No.
32:22
Speaker 1: I will learn from it. I will seek mercy for it.
32:26
Speaker 1: I will take joy in it, but I won't live
32:29
Speaker 1: in it. The sun has set on yesterday. The sun
32:34
Speaker 1: has yet to rise on tomorrow. Worry about the future?
32:37
Speaker 1: To what gain? It deserves a glance and nothing more.
32:42
Speaker 1: I can't change tomorrow until tomorrow. Today I will live today.
32:47
Speaker 1: I will face today with, I'm sorry, I will face
32:50
Speaker 1: today's challenges with today's strength. I will dance today's waltz
32:55
Speaker 1: with today's music. I will celebrate today's opportunities with today's hope. Today,
33:02
Speaker 1: may I laugh, listen, learn, and love. And if tomorrow comes,
33:08
Speaker 1: may I do it again. The next time that anxiety
33:15
Speaker 1: awakens you at 2.30 in the morning, would you believe
33:21
Speaker 1: what I'm suggesting to you? And that is, it is
33:24
Speaker 1: not God's will. that you lead a life of perpetual anxiety,
33:29
Speaker 1: that your heavenly father will help you. He will help
33:32
Speaker 1: you pull out the roots of your anxiety. He will
33:36
Speaker 1: help you deal with the fears that face you. He
33:40
Speaker 1: loves you. And what my father would say to us
33:44
Speaker 1: in our small West Texas home, your heavenly father says
33:47
Speaker 1: to you, everything is safe now. You can rest. Heavenly father,
33:55
Speaker 1: Have mercy upon us now. I have a sense in
33:58
Speaker 1: my heart that there are those who truly needed to
34:00
Speaker 1: hear this message directly from you. Not from me, but
34:04
Speaker 1: from you. And you're promising them a new chapter. You're
34:08
Speaker 1: ready to turn the page and begin a new season.
34:11
Speaker 1: The sun has come up. The skies are going to
34:14
Speaker 1: be blue again. And this season is going to pass.
34:18
Speaker 1: You're with them, Father. You're with them. And you have
34:21
Speaker 1: allowed this time of testing to develop the skill, the
34:24
Speaker 1: muscle of faith. Help them not to see the presence
34:28
Speaker 1: of the problem as the absence of God, but just
34:30
Speaker 1: the opposite, to see the presence of the problem as
34:33
Speaker 1: an opportunity for God, for you to do your work.
34:37
Speaker 1: May you do so in Jesus' name. And all the
34:40
Speaker 1: church said, thank.
34:44
Speaker 3: You.
34:56
Speaker 1: As long as you're somewhere out there, that's enough for me.
35:02
Speaker 4: I don't need to hold you near me Don't need
35:10
Speaker 4: promises to keep Just the thought that you are breathing
35:16
Speaker 4: Somewhere in this world I see Even if I'm not
35:21
Speaker 4: beside you Even if you never know There's a quiet
35:27
Speaker 4: kind of comfort just in knowing you still glow I
35:34
Speaker 4: don't need forever.
35:40
Speaker 3: I just need you to exist.
35:45
Speaker 5: You don't have to stay with me You don't.
35:48
Speaker 4: Have to feel the same Just as long as you're
35:53
Speaker 4: still out there Calling softly through my days.
35:58
Speaker 5: You don't have to look my way You don't have
36:02
Speaker 5: to be my home It's.
36:05
Speaker 4: Enough to know you're living In a world I'm not
36:10
Speaker 4: alone I won't chase you through the distance Won't disturb
36:19
Speaker 4: your chosen life I'll just keep you in my silence
36:24
Speaker 4: Like a star that shines at night.
36:29
Speaker 3: Through the dark and through the blue.
36:36
Speaker 5: I still think of you.
36:43
Speaker 4: You don't have to feel the same Just as long as.
36:48
Speaker 5: You're still out there Calling softly through my days You
36:54
Speaker 5: don't have to look my way You don't have to
36:58
Speaker 5: be my home It's enough to know you're living In
37:04
Speaker 5: a world I'm not alone.
37:22
Speaker 3: I don't need to be your light I don't need
37:26
Speaker 3: to cross your mind All I need is just the
37:29
Speaker 3: truth That you're somewhere Still alive.
37:38
Speaker 2: You don't have to stay with me You don't have
37:42
Speaker 2: to feel the same Just as long as you're still
37:47
Speaker 2: out there Calling softly through my days You don't have
37:52
Speaker 2: to look my way You don't have to be my
37:57
Speaker 2: home It's enough to know you're living
38:04
Speaker 3: In a world I'm not alone