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