Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / Powerful Sermon GOD HELP YOU FLIGHT HIGH- Minister Max Lucado
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: In your life, just waiting to be written, in which
- 0:04Speaker 1: fret will become a thing of the past, in which
- 0:08Speaker 1: peace will be increasing, anxiety daily diminishing. God has a
- 0:14Speaker 1: prescription with which we can deal with worry, and that
- 0:21Speaker 1: prescription reads like this, Rejoice in the Lord always. Again,
- 0:27Speaker 1: I say, rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to all men.
- 0:34Speaker 1: The Lord is at hand. So be anxious for nothing,
- 0:40Speaker 1: but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving. Let
- 0:46Speaker 1: your requests be made known to God. And the peace
- 0:51Speaker 1: of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts
- 0:58Speaker 1: and your minds. In Christ Jesus Finally, Brethren, whatever things
- 1:04Speaker 1: are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just,
- 1:09Speaker 1: whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things
- 1:13Speaker 1: are of good report, If there's any virtue, if there's
- 1:17Speaker 1: anything praise worthy, meditate on these things. Before I offer
- 1:26Speaker 1: a prayer. Let me proudly announce that Denlon and I
- 1:29Speaker 1: have just entered the world of grandparenthood. But I don't
- 1:39Speaker 1: want you to be anxious. I'm not going to be
- 1:42Speaker 1: one of those grandparents who shows you picture after picture.
- 1:49Speaker 1: I'm not going to endlessly bore you with details and
- 1:54Speaker 1: trivia about little Rose Margaret Bishop, I'm not going to
- 1:59Speaker 1: belay you with cute little details like her fingernails that
- 2:05Speaker 1: are already long, and how she winked when she saw me,
- 2:10Speaker 1: and how she mouthed the words Papa Max on the
- 2:13Speaker 1: very first day. I'm not going to get into all that.
- 2:17Speaker 1: Please don't think for a moment that I'll ever use
- 2:19Speaker 1: our big screens at church and our microphones to project
- 2:24Speaker 1: image after image and tell story. I'd never do anything
- 2:29Speaker 1: like that. Don't be anxious. We do thank you Lord
- 2:39Speaker 1: for new life. We do. We're grateful for fresh starts,
- 2:45Speaker 1: and those of us who've been around this world now
- 2:48Speaker 1: for a few years are aware that it can grow
- 2:52Speaker 1: on us, and we can grow weary and anxious. Grant us, Father,
- 2:56Speaker 1: a childlike faith, a trust in You. Please forgive our
- 3:00Speaker 1: speaker his sins are many, and help us to see Christ,
- 3:04Speaker 1: just Jesus through Christ. We pray, and all who agreed
- 3:08Speaker 1: with the prayer said, well, I grew up in a
- 3:12Speaker 1: camping family. My dad's idea of a family vacation involved
- 3:19Speaker 1: a tents and sleeping bags and camping gear and Coleman
- 3:25Speaker 1: stoves and lanterns. I tried to carry that tradition into
- 3:29Speaker 1: my family. I didn't succeed roughing it for us as
- 3:33Speaker 1: a motel six. That's about us. We do like campfires
- 3:37Speaker 1: as somebody else builds them and then somebody serves room
- 3:40Speaker 1: service afterwards. We're not big on camping, but my dad was.
- 3:45Speaker 1: And boy, he loved not just camping, he loved the
- 3:47Speaker 1: camping gear. His favorite place to hang out was one
- 3:50Speaker 1: of those old Army Navy surplus stores. And I remember
- 3:54Speaker 1: one summer he came home just a couple of weeks
- 3:57Speaker 1: before summer vacation with a new tent. I was about
- 4:01Speaker 1: nine years of age, and we were preparing to join
- 4:04Speaker 1: my father. And I'm say my father and our family
- 4:07Speaker 1: was preparing to join all of his siblings at a
- 4:10Speaker 1: family reunion in Estes Park, Colorado. Now, my dad came
- 4:15Speaker 1: from a family of nine kids, so I mean they
- 4:18Speaker 1: took over the campground. Well, he was so proud because
- 4:22Speaker 1: he had purchased a new tent. And this tent came
- 4:25Speaker 1: from the Army Navy cirplus store. It looked like something
- 4:28Speaker 1: that come right out of the Korean War. It was huge,
- 4:32Speaker 1: It could hold twelve cots. It was huge. It wasn't fancy,
- 4:39Speaker 1: but it was big. And to support it. He had
- 4:43Speaker 1: two cast iron poles, two of them. Now we think tents,
- 4:48Speaker 1: we usually think those aluminum retractable poles. This was solid
- 4:54Speaker 1: cast iron pole as thick as my big bice apps.
- 4:57Speaker 1: I mean they were big. Why are you laughing? He
- 5:03Speaker 1: had built these two by four braces foundations upon into
- 5:07Speaker 1: which he could place those two poles, and then we
- 5:10Speaker 1: would set up that tent. We would often set that
- 5:13Speaker 1: tent up around a picnic table. It was that big
- 5:16Speaker 1: and still have room to sleep, and it was stable.
- 5:20Speaker 1: Nothing was going to blow that tent over. Let the
- 5:23Speaker 1: Colorado wind blow, let the rain fall, let the hail
- 5:27Speaker 1: pulmult the ground, but it's not going to knock that
- 5:30Speaker 1: tent over. In fact, on one day, one afternoon, Colorado
- 5:35Speaker 1: sky got real black, and all my dad's siblings started
- 5:39Speaker 1: running to their different tents and cabins and trailers. And
- 5:43Speaker 1: I mean that storm just kept blowing in, just kept
- 5:46Speaker 1: wailing like it's been doing here in South Texas over
- 5:49Speaker 1: the last few days, and all of a sudden, everybody
- 5:52Speaker 1: was out of their tent in our tent and ours
- 5:55Speaker 1: was standing firm, And my dad was so proud, and
- 5:59Speaker 1: I can remember him touching those two cast iron poles
- 6:02Speaker 1: to make sure that they were steady. I've been thinking
- 6:05Speaker 1: that we could all use some cast iron poles like that.
- 6:09Speaker 1: Not in our tents, but in our lives. Winds blow still,
- 6:15Speaker 1: and if only our winds brought just rain or even hail,
- 6:21Speaker 1: our winds tend to bring those big d's death and
- 6:26Speaker 1: divorce or debt and disease. And some of you are
- 6:32Speaker 1: passing through hard times and it's stirring up some winds
- 6:35Speaker 1: and emotions of anxiety, and you're very worried. And your
- 6:39Speaker 1: question is is there a place where I can find
- 6:43Speaker 1: safe shelter. Well, the Apostle Paul would answer that question
- 6:48Speaker 1: with a resounding yes. He believed that there are some
- 6:55Speaker 1: truths that can serve like those tent poles, sirve that
- 7:01Speaker 1: we can establish some convictions in our lives that will
- 7:04Speaker 1: do for our souls what those cast iron pipes did.
- 7:10Speaker 1: From my father's tint. Remember, the Apostle Paul wrote this
- 7:14Speaker 1: prescription for peace in a Roman prison. We pointed this
- 7:18Speaker 1: out last week. Nero had realized he could curry favor
- 7:23Speaker 1: with people by killing Christians. What better known Christian was
- 7:28Speaker 1: there than the Apostle Paul. So Paul was under house arrest.
- 7:32Speaker 1: He was chained to a Roman guard twenty four hours
- 7:35Speaker 1: a day, so he had a problem with Rome. He
- 7:39Speaker 1: also had problems with his churches. The very churches that
- 7:42Speaker 1: he began were beginning to call him an impostor. There
- 7:48Speaker 1: were false preachers who were accusing the apostle Paul of
- 7:51Speaker 1: prophiteering or self promoting. So the apostle had problems on
- 7:57Speaker 1: the out, problems on the end, problems with Rome, problems
- 8:00Speaker 1: in the church. On top of that, the guy was
- 8:03Speaker 1: sixty years old. He was worn out. His back was
- 8:07Speaker 1: covered with scars from the Roman whips and sticks. He
- 8:10Speaker 1: had been left for dead twice. He was weary from
- 8:14Speaker 1: all that travel. He was a mess. You would think
- 8:19Speaker 1: he would write a letter of complaint to God, but
- 8:22Speaker 1: he didn't. One of the reasons we cherish this brief
- 8:26Speaker 1: four chapter epistle is because though Paul had every reason
- 8:30Speaker 1: to write a letter of complaint, he wrote a letter
- 8:33Speaker 1: calling for unbridled joy, and he spoke of a joy
- 8:38Speaker 1: that was independent of any circumstance. He promoted a joy
- 8:44Speaker 1: that would lead a person to discover and anxiety free life.
- 8:48Speaker 1: In fact, beginning in the fourth chapter, after three chapters
- 8:52Speaker 1: of teaching, beginning in the fourth chapter. That's when he said,
- 8:55Speaker 1: now be anxious for nothing, be anxious for nothing. And
- 9:00Speaker 1: we read that phrase and say, is that possible or
- 9:02Speaker 1: is that hyperbole? Is it really possible to get to
- 9:07Speaker 1: the point in a person's life where they're not anxious,
- 9:11Speaker 1: where they're able to deal with anxieties quickly and put
- 9:14Speaker 1: them aside, and they don't live in that perpetual state
- 9:18Speaker 1: of anxiety. As we pointed out last week, anxiety serves
- 9:21Speaker 1: a helpful purpose. It alerts us to potential dangers. It
- 9:26Speaker 1: calls us to react. What the apostles wanting to protect
- 9:29Speaker 1: us from is a state of life in which we
- 9:32Speaker 1: inhale anxiety, in which we live in a state of worry.
- 9:38Speaker 1: And the Apostle said we could do this because he
- 9:41Speaker 1: had reached two wonderful discoveries. Now, remember, by the time
- 9:47Speaker 1: the Apostle says in Philippians four, be anxious for nothing,
- 9:52Speaker 1: he has spent three chapters telling us why we can
- 9:55Speaker 1: be anxious for nothing. And so we would be wise
- 9:58Speaker 1: to reach back and and get the context of Philippians
- 10:02Speaker 1: and try to understand exactly why we can be anxious
- 10:06Speaker 1: for nothing. When you read the first three chapters of
- 10:09Speaker 1: the Book of Philippians, you find that the Apostle Paul had,
- 10:14Speaker 1: like my father, two polls, two convictions, two deep seated
- 10:20Speaker 1: beliefs around which he built his life. We call these
- 10:26Speaker 1: a belief system. You have one, you do. If we
- 10:33Speaker 1: could somehow flip back the flap of the tint of
- 10:38Speaker 1: your soul, we would see some convictions. These convictions lead
- 10:46Speaker 1: to decisions. Belief always creates behavior. So if your belief
- 10:55Speaker 1: is right, your behavior is going to be healthy. If
- 11:00Speaker 1: your beliefs are wrong, they are going to manifest themselves
- 11:04Speaker 1: in unhealthy behavior. For that reason, anytime you read one
- 11:09Speaker 1: of the epistles, the Apostle Paul spends the first section
- 11:14Speaker 1: of that epistle, whether it be Ephesians or Romans or Philippians,
- 11:18Speaker 1: talking about beliefs. He establishes beliefs. The most important thing
- 11:23Speaker 1: about you, my friend, It's not the car you drive,
- 11:27Speaker 1: or the amount of hair on your head, or your
- 11:29Speaker 1: looks or your age. The most important thing about any
- 11:33Speaker 1: human being is what we find when we look into
- 11:35Speaker 1: their soul, the belief system. When you look into the
- 11:41Speaker 1: soul of the Apostle Paul in the Book of Philippians,
- 11:45Speaker 1: as well as in any of the epistles. There are
- 11:48Speaker 1: two solid beliefs around which he has built his life.
- 11:53Speaker 1: This is his belief system. We're going to look at
- 11:57Speaker 1: one of those beliefs this week, a second belief next week.
- 12:02Speaker 1: But the reason the apostle could say be anxious for
- 12:04Speaker 1: nothing is because these two cast iron poles were holding
- 12:09Speaker 1: up his tent. You want to know what they are.
- 12:13Speaker 1: Belief number one is simply this God is in control.
- 12:17Speaker 1: God is in control. The word for that in the
- 12:20Speaker 1: Bible is sovereign ty, sovereign te. You'll look in the
- 12:24Speaker 1: middle of the word sovereignty and there's the word rain
- 12:27Speaker 1: re ig n rain, God's reigning, He's over everything, Solveigin
- 12:34Speaker 1: t the apostle Paul firmly believed that God is in control.
- 12:40Speaker 1: I mean he has scarcely placed pin to parchment and
- 12:44Speaker 1: he is talking about the sovereignty of God. In chapter
- 12:48Speaker 1: one he says, God began doing a good work in you,
- 12:51Speaker 1: and I am sure that he will continue it until
- 12:54Speaker 1: it is finished when Jesus Christ comes again. We're not
- 12:57Speaker 1: victims of fate. God is doing a good work in us.
- 13:01Speaker 1: We're children of God, beneficiaries of a perfect plan, and
- 13:06Speaker 1: even when things go wrong, they're going to turn out
- 13:08Speaker 1: right because of God's sovereignty. The things which have happened
- 13:13Speaker 1: to me have actually turned out for the further into
- 13:15Speaker 1: the Gospel. So it has become evident to the Palace
- 13:19Speaker 1: Guard and to all the rest that my chains are
- 13:21Speaker 1: in Christ. Well, sure, Paul didn't want to be in prison,
- 13:25Speaker 1: but as Paul considers this through the sovereignty of God,
- 13:28Speaker 1: he says, Oh, okay, God is using my time in
- 13:31Speaker 1: prison to give me an opportunity to talk about Jesus
- 13:35Speaker 1: to this soldier from the Palace Guard who has chained
- 13:38Speaker 1: next to me. I have a captive audience. And so
- 13:43Speaker 1: it turned out for something good. It wasn't exactly what
- 13:46Speaker 1: Paul wanted, but it was good. And those troublemakers in
- 13:50Speaker 1: the church, Paul says in Philippians one point fifteen, that
- 13:53Speaker 1: they preached out of envy and strife, Well, that's no problem,
- 13:59Speaker 1: because Paul envisioned a sovereign God. And whether their motives
- 14:04Speaker 1: are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being
- 14:07Speaker 1: preached either way. So I rejoice and I'll continue to rejoice.
- 14:11Speaker 1: He was not worried about false preachers because high above
- 14:16Speaker 1: it all is a God who works in you both
- 14:19Speaker 1: to will and to do for his good pleasure. So
- 14:25Speaker 1: take a good look inside the tint of the soul
- 14:28Speaker 1: of the Apostle Paul, and you'll see two polls, one
- 14:32Speaker 1: of which says the sovereignty of God in the treatment
- 14:37Speaker 1: of anxiety. Sovereignty is essential. Here's why anxiety is at
- 14:49Speaker 1: its core a perceived loss of control. Anxiety is the
- 14:58Speaker 1: perceived loss of control. That's what anxiety is. Control creates
- 15:03Speaker 1: a sense of calm. The lack of control creates a
- 15:07Speaker 1: sense of fear. If we're certain about the outcome, then
- 15:11Speaker 1: we feel better. If we're uncertain about the outcome, then
- 15:15Speaker 1: we feel restless, we feel troubled. You don't need me
- 15:19Speaker 1: to convince you of that, but there are many research
- 15:22Speaker 1: studies that unveil this truth. One of the most interesting
- 15:25Speaker 1: is an ancient one comparatively came out of World War Two,
- 15:29Speaker 1: in which psychologists looked at the emotional impact, or the
- 15:34Speaker 1: impact that combat would have upon the emotions of soldiers.
- 15:39Speaker 1: It won't surprise you at all to hear that living
- 15:43Speaker 1: in a state of attack in combat on the battle
- 15:47Speaker 1: field just does a guy in sixty days is what
- 15:53Speaker 1: the psychologists determined. After sixty days of combat, soldiers tend
- 15:59Speaker 1: to be emotionally exhausted. They've lost their capacity to cope,
- 16:04Speaker 1: and they need to be restored. Find some type of encouragement,
- 16:09Speaker 1: find some type of treatment that's understandable. They were victims
- 16:13Speaker 1: of carpet bombs, that were victims of tear gas. They
- 16:17Speaker 1: were victims of mustard gas fitts, victims of snipers and attacks.
- 16:21Speaker 1: They didn't even know what was coming next. They didn't
- 16:23Speaker 1: know whether to run, or whether to hide, or where
- 16:26Speaker 1: to hide. That level of anxiety doesn't surprise anybody. What
- 16:31Speaker 1: surprised the psychologists, however, was the comparative level of calm
- 16:39Speaker 1: found among fighter pilots. Fighter pilots were the most calm
- 16:48Speaker 1: soldiers of any of those in the military forces. Unlike
- 16:55Speaker 1: the soldiers on the ground, the fighter pilots registered a
- 16:59Speaker 1: high level of calm, and ninety three percent of them
- 17:04Speaker 1: registered a high level of job satisfaction. Even though one
- 17:11Speaker 1: out of every two fighter pilots was killed in combat
- 17:15Speaker 1: during World War Two, ninety three percent of them said
- 17:18Speaker 1: they would re enlist immediately. What was the difference, Well,
- 17:24Speaker 1: the fighter pilots had a sense of control. They could
- 17:29Speaker 1: keep their hands on the controls. Where the soldiers on
- 17:33Speaker 1: the ground felt like they were vulnerable, they were exposed,
- 17:37Speaker 1: they didn't know what was going to happen next, the
- 17:39Speaker 1: pilots felt like they at least could control. They had
- 17:42Speaker 1: a perceived sense of control over their own destiny, and
- 17:47Speaker 1: that created a sense of calm. That's interesting, isn't it. Now.
- 17:51Speaker 1: You don't have to go to war to discover that
- 17:55Speaker 1: a traffic jam will do just fine. German psycho just
- 18:00Speaker 1: recently shared with us that one hour spent in intense
- 18:04Speaker 1: traffic increases the odds of a heart attack by threefold.
- 18:10Speaker 1: One hour spent in intense traffic increases the odds of
- 18:15Speaker 1: a heart attack by threefold. This traffic's going to kill us,
- 18:20Speaker 1: and we understand why, right. I mean, you can be
- 18:22Speaker 1: the best driver since Mario Andretti. You can be alert,
- 18:28Speaker 1: you can have your hands on the wheel and your
- 18:29Speaker 1: eyes on the road, But you can't control that jerk
- 18:32Speaker 1: in the lane who keeps checking his text messages while
- 18:37Speaker 1: he's driving. You can't control what that lady's doing, who's
- 18:40Speaker 1: coming in your direction, and there is a sense of
- 18:44Speaker 1: loss of control. Anxiety is the perceived loss of control.
- 18:54Speaker 1: So sinse anxiety is the perceived loss of control. How
- 18:58Speaker 1: do we respond to moments or how do we respond
- 19:01Speaker 1: to anxiety? Well, one way is to take control. To
- 19:06Speaker 1: take control, to stalkpile cans in case of can goods
- 19:11Speaker 1: in case of nuclear fallout. To wrap our children in
- 19:15Speaker 1: bubble wrap so they won't fall off of a bicycle
- 19:18Speaker 1: and get hurt. To never give our heart to anyone
- 19:24Speaker 1: for fear of having our heart broken. To never step
- 19:28Speaker 1: on a crack so we won't break our mother's you've
- 19:32Speaker 1: heard that, I guess. We try our best to take control. Ironically,
- 19:39Speaker 1: we discover we can't take control because control is not
- 19:44Speaker 1: ours to be taken. No matter how many nuts and
- 19:51Speaker 1: veggies you eat, you can still be diagnosed with cancer.
- 19:56Speaker 1: No matter how much money you save, you could still
- 19:59Speaker 1: lose it all in a f financial collapse. And no
- 20:03Speaker 1: matter if you take a parachute on the airplane with you,
- 20:07Speaker 1: the plane could still go down. You cannot control every event.
- 20:12Speaker 1: For this reason, the most anxious people on earth are
- 20:16Speaker 1: control freaks. Ironic, isn't it that the people who are
- 20:22Speaker 1: trying to stave all anxiety by controlling everything end up
- 20:27Speaker 1: becoming more anxious because they realize they cannot do the
- 20:30Speaker 1: very thing that they want to do. The only certainty
- 20:34Speaker 1: in life is the lack of certainty, and a control
- 20:39Speaker 1: freak is a certainty addict addicted to certainty, attempting to
- 20:44Speaker 1: create a system that is fail proof and safeguarded and
- 20:50Speaker 1: anticipates every possible collapse, But then collapses always happened, leading
- 20:55Speaker 1: that person on a downward spiral of anxiety failure and
- 21:00Speaker 1: anxiety failure anxiety failure. The apostle Paul has a better idea.
- 21:08Speaker 1: Rather than try to control everything, he suggests that we
- 21:12Speaker 1: do this, that we surrender control to God, that we
- 21:18Speaker 1: turn everything over to God and trust the sovereignty of
- 21:22Speaker 1: God to control everything. We simply trust God to take control,
- 21:30Speaker 1: and our focus shifts from managing and hyper controlling our
- 21:36Speaker 1: world to pondering the strength and the majesty of God
- 21:40Speaker 1: and what he has done. Peace is within reach, not
- 21:43Speaker 1: for absence of problems, but for the presence of a
- 21:47Speaker 1: sovereign God. Passages abound in scripture reminding us of God's sovereignty.
- 21:55Speaker 1: Here's one from the Book of Proverbs. There is no wisdom,
- 21:58Speaker 1: no insight, no plan that can exceed against the Lord.
- 22:01Speaker 1: Here's one from the Book of Daniel. He does as
- 22:04Speaker 1: he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples
- 22:06Speaker 1: of the earth. No one can hold back his hand
- 22:09Speaker 1: or say to him, what have you done? Hebrews one
- 22:11Speaker 1: three says he sustains all things, all things. He knows
- 22:15Speaker 1: the name of the stars, and he knows the sparrows
- 22:18Speaker 1: great and small. He knows every detail. The Book of Lamentations,
- 22:23Speaker 1: Jeremiah asks, can anything happen without the Lord's permission? Is
- 22:28Speaker 1: it not the most High who helps one and harms
- 22:31Speaker 1: the other? So the Bible reveals a sovereign God, a
- 22:35Speaker 1: God of wonders, a God with a robust plan that
- 22:38Speaker 1: will not be derailed. So God is on the throne.
- 22:42Speaker 1: He's in charge of everything. That's what paul has been
- 22:45Speaker 1: saying so far in the Book of Philippians. He who
- 22:48Speaker 1: has begun a good work, and you will complete it.
- 22:50Speaker 1: There is no doubt this imprisonment will turn out from
- 22:54Speaker 1: my deliverance. No doubt. To live is christ. To die
- 22:58Speaker 1: is even better to die? Game or God is working
- 23:02Speaker 1: in you to help you want to do and be
- 23:06Speaker 1: able to do what pleases him. See to read the
- 23:09Speaker 1: words of Paulus to read the words of a man who,
- 23:12Speaker 1: in the innermost part of his being, believed in God's
- 23:15Speaker 1: great sovereignty. He was protected by God's strength, he was
- 23:20Speaker 1: preserved by God's love. He lived beneath the shadow of
- 23:25Speaker 1: God's wing. How about you, How firm are your polls?
- 23:34Speaker 1: What's holding up your tent? Do you believe in the
- 23:41Speaker 1: sovereignty of God? If your answer is I'm not sure,
- 23:50Speaker 1: or your answer is no, with all due respect, I
- 23:54Speaker 1: think we've just stumbled upon the cause of your anxiety.
- 24:00Speaker 1: Think of it this way. Imagine three passengers on a
- 24:05Speaker 1: commercial flight. They share a row on the airplane. There's
- 24:11Speaker 1: passenger A, there's passenger B, and there's passenger C. They
- 24:17Speaker 1: have a conversation as a plane is taking off about
- 24:20Speaker 1: the pilot of the plane. Passenger A acknowledges something that
- 24:26Speaker 1: passenger B and C think is very odd. Passenger A says,
- 24:30Speaker 1: you know, I don't think that there's a pilot in
- 24:32Speaker 1: the cockpit. I mean, why should I. I got on
- 24:37Speaker 1: the plane, the door was closed. I've never seen him.
- 24:42Speaker 1: I don't think there's a pilot in the cockpit. I
- 24:44Speaker 1: think we're on a big drone. This thing is being
- 24:48Speaker 1: flown by somewhere in some headquarters underground. Well, passenger B says, well,
- 24:54Speaker 1: that's kind of whack o. I think there's a pilot,
- 24:58Speaker 1: but I just don't think awake. I know what these
- 25:02Speaker 1: pilots do.
- 25:04Speaker 2: Now.
- 25:04Speaker 1: They get the plane up in the air and they
- 25:05Speaker 1: set it on autopilot, and they sit back with a
- 25:08Speaker 1: good book or bring a pillow, and they take a nap.
- 25:10Speaker 1: He has no idea. They wake him up right before
- 25:13Speaker 1: we land. Well, passenger SEE cannot believe what she is hearing.
- 25:19Speaker 1: She looks at Passenger A, and she looks at passenger BEING,
- 25:23Speaker 1: and she says, let me tell you something. We are
- 25:27Speaker 1: in a plane that is piloted by a good pilot.
- 25:32Speaker 1: He's alert, he's experienced, and he cares. I know because
- 25:39Speaker 1: I had breakfast with him this morning. He is my husband.
- 25:44Speaker 1: And so you have three different views of the airplane's pilot.
- 25:50Speaker 1: One person says there is no pilot. The other person says,
- 25:53Speaker 1: there isn't a pilot, but he's disengaged. The other said,
- 25:56Speaker 1: he is a careful, skillful pilot, and I know him well.
- 26:03Speaker 1: Fast forward ten or fifteen minutes. Turbulence strikes and the
- 26:07Speaker 1: plane starts bouncing around in the air like popcorn inside
- 26:10Speaker 1: a paper sack. What is going to be the reaction
- 26:14Speaker 1: of the three passengers to the sudden arrival of turbulence.
- 26:19Speaker 1: What's going to be the reactor? Are they going to
- 26:20Speaker 1: react the same way? Passenger A and Passenger B are
- 26:26Speaker 1: prone to get sucked into the sinkhole of anxiety, right?
- 26:32Speaker 1: I mean, they don't have anyone to talk to. They
- 26:34Speaker 1: think the thing is out of control. They wonder if
- 26:36Speaker 1: anybody's awakened. The pilot passenger C she doesn't really enjoy
- 26:42Speaker 1: the turbulence, but if anyone's peaceful, she is why because
- 26:48Speaker 1: she has a relationship, She has experience with the pilot
- 26:56Speaker 1: and she trusts him. So who flies your plane? Who
- 27:04Speaker 1: flies your plane? I know it sounds like an oversimplification,
- 27:10Speaker 1: but there really are three views of God in the world.
- 27:14Speaker 1: There is no God. There is a God who started
- 27:17Speaker 1: everything and then backed away. And then there is the
- 27:21Speaker 1: God discovered by the apostle Paul and millions upon millions
- 27:24Speaker 1: of us, A God who cares, who's in control, who
- 27:30Speaker 1: knows his passengers, and who is determined to get them
- 27:33Speaker 1: home safely. Who flies your plane? The Bible never promises
- 27:43Speaker 1: a lack of turbulence, just the opposite. We will have trouble,
- 27:49Speaker 1: but the Bible always promises the presence of a loving
- 27:53Speaker 1: and caring God to get us home safely. That's where
- 27:58Speaker 1: the cure for an anxiety begins in your understanding, in
- 28:04Speaker 1: your belief system about who God is. The most important
- 28:11Speaker 1: thing about you and about me is the way we
- 28:14Speaker 1: answer the question who is God? Who is God? And
- 28:20Speaker 1: the way you answer that question would give an onlooker
- 28:25Speaker 1: the ability to forecast your level of anxiety. The more
- 28:31Speaker 1: you understand the sovereignty of God, the greater the odds
- 28:36Speaker 1: that you'll have a peaceful life. The less you understand
- 28:40Speaker 1: the sovereignty of God, the more greater the odds you'll
- 28:45Speaker 1: be an anxious person. Many years ago, when we as
- 28:50Speaker 1: a church were studying the sovereignty of God, I wrote
- 28:53Speaker 1: a prayer. And I've used this prayer many times in
- 28:56Speaker 1: my own devotions and never did need to share it
- 28:58Speaker 1: with the church. But I dug it out of the
- 29:01Speaker 1: files and I thought i'd share it with us today.
- 29:04Speaker 1: It's printed on your Sunday hand out. I'm hoping maybe
- 29:07Speaker 1: you'll take it home and use it as a way
- 29:09Speaker 1: to activate in your own devotions. And deeper understanding of
- 29:14Speaker 1: the sovereignty the perfect will of God. The prayer goes
- 29:18Speaker 1: like this, Dear Lord, you are perfect. You could not
- 29:23Speaker 1: be better than you are. You are self created. You
- 29:27Speaker 1: exist because you chose to exist. You are self sustaining.
- 29:33Speaker 1: No one helps you, No one gives you strength. You
- 29:37Speaker 1: are self governing. Who can question your deeds? Who dares
- 29:40Speaker 1: advise you? You are correct in every way, in every choice.
- 29:46Speaker 1: You regret no decision. You have never failed, never you
- 29:51Speaker 1: cannot fail. You are God. You will accomplish your plan.
- 29:56Speaker 1: You are happy, eternally joyful, endlessly content. You are the King,
- 30:02Speaker 1: supreme Ruler, absolute monarch, over lord and Rajah of all history,
- 30:09Speaker 1: in arch of your eyebrow, and a million angels will
- 30:12Speaker 1: pivot and salute. Every throne is a footstool to yours.
- 30:17Speaker 1: Every crown is paper machet to yours. No limitations, hesitations, questions,
- 30:23Speaker 1: second thoughts, or backward glances. You consult no clock, you
- 30:28Speaker 1: keep no calendar. You report to no one. You are
- 30:32Speaker 1: in charge, and I trust you. Anxiety passes as trust increases.
- 30:43Speaker 1: So rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord's sovereignty,
- 30:48Speaker 1: and see if you soon aren't discovering what the apostle
- 30:52Speaker 1: was telling us when he said, be anxious for nothing. Amen.
- 30:57Speaker 1: Thank you, Lord for your grade and mighty hand. Thank
- 31:01Speaker 1: you that you oversee all the affairs of the world.
- 31:04Speaker 1: Thank you that there is nothing happening anywhere on the
- 31:07Speaker 1: planet right now that has you troubled, surprised, or upset.
- 31:12Speaker 1: There has never been a moment that someone has asked
- 31:14Speaker 1: you a question and you said, I don't know what
- 31:16Speaker 1: to do. And there's never been a situation in which
- 31:19Speaker 1: you've been presented a problem and you thought, I don't
- 31:22Speaker 1: know how to respond. You always know what to do,
- 31:25Speaker 1: and you always do what is right. Your plan is perfect,
- 31:28Speaker 1: and you are worthy of praise because you are a
- 31:31Speaker 1: perfect God. We're in your hands, Father, and that makes
- 31:36Speaker 1: us very happy. That makes us very happy. I would
- 31:39Speaker 1: like to resign from the role of trying to run
- 31:42Speaker 1: the world. We voluntarily resign from being king of the universe.
- 31:47Speaker 1: We're not going to try to control everything anymore. We're
- 31:50Speaker 1: going to leave that job to you. You take the throne.
- 31:53Speaker 1: Will be your follower and your worshiper. May we know
- 31:57Speaker 1: your place and may we know ours. This is our
- 32:00Speaker 1: prayer through Jesus Christ. And all who agreed with it said, amen.
- 32:09Speaker 3: Mhm.
- 34:39Speaker 4: At s.
- 35:08Speaker 3: Keep at. Let's keep to keep, to keep.
- 35:32Speaker 2: Keep people.
- 38:09Speaker 5: You know, you don't have to stay close. As long
- 38:21Speaker 5: as you're somewhere out there. That's enough for me.
- 38:30Speaker 6: I don't need to hold you near me, don't need
- 38:34Speaker 6: promises to keep.
- 38:37Speaker 7: Just the thought that you are breathing.
- 38:40Speaker 4: Somewhere in this world.
- 38:41Speaker 6: I see, even if I'm not beside you, even if
- 38:48Speaker 6: you never know, there's a quiet kind of comfort just.
- 38:53Speaker 4: In knowing you still glow. I don't need for am
- 39:04Speaker 4: I just need you to exist.
- 39:09Speaker 7: You don't have to stay with me.
- 39:12Speaker 4: You don't have to be the same.
- 39:16Speaker 7: Just as long as you're still out there, calling softly.
- 39:20Speaker 4: Through my days. You don't have to look my way.
- 39:26Speaker 7: You don't have to be my home. It's enough to
- 39:30Speaker 7: know your living in a world I'm not alone.
- 39:39Speaker 6: I won't chase it through the distance, won't disturb your
- 39:43Speaker 6: chosen life.
- 39:46Speaker 7: I'll just keep you in less silence, like a star
- 39:49Speaker 7: that shines at night.
- 39:53Speaker 4: Through the darkened through the booth.
- 40:00Speaker 7: I still think of you.
- 40:04Speaker 3: You don't have.
- 40:05Speaker 7: To stay with me, you don't.
- 40:08Speaker 4: Have to feel the same.
- 40:11Speaker 7: It's just as long as you're still out there, calling
- 40:15Speaker 7: softly through my days.
- 40:18Speaker 3: You don't have to look my way.
- 40:21Speaker 1: You don't have.
- 40:22Speaker 7: To be in my home. It's enough to know you're
- 40:27Speaker 7: living in a world.
- 40:29Speaker 3: I'm not alone.
- 40:46Speaker 4: I don't need to be your late. I don't need
- 40:50Speaker 4: to cross your mind. All I need is just the
- 40:54Speaker 4: truth that you're somewhere, still alive.
- 41:02Speaker 7: You don't have to same with me, You don't have
- 41:06Speaker 7: to feel the same just as long as you're still
- 41:11Speaker 7: have to calling softly through my days.
- 41:15Speaker 3: You don't have to look like way.
- 41:19Speaker 4: You don't have to be my home. It's enough to
- 41:23Speaker 4: know you're living.
- 41:28Speaker 3: In the world.
- 41:29Speaker 1: I'm not alone.