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Powerful Sermon GOD HELP YOU FLIGHT HIGH- Minister Max Lucado · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

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  Speaker 1: In your life just waiting to be written in which
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  Speaker 1: fret will become a thing of the past in which
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  Speaker 1: peace will be increasing anxiety daily diminishing god has a
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  Speaker 1: prescription with which we can deal with worry and that
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  Speaker 1: prescription reads like this rejoice in the lord always Again
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  Speaker 1: I say rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to all men.
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  Speaker 1: The Lord is at hand. So be anxious for nothing.
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  Speaker 1: But in everything by prayer and supplication. With thanksgiving let
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  Speaker 1: your requests be made known to God. And the peace
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  Speaker 1: of God which surpasses all understanding. will guard your hearts
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  Speaker 1: and your minds in Christ Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: Before I offer a prayer,
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  Speaker 1: let me proudly announce that Dean Lynn and I have
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  Speaker 1: just entered the world of grandparenthood. But I don't want
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  Speaker 1: you to be anxious. I'm not going to be one
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  Speaker 1: of those grandparents who shows you picture after picture. I'm
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  Speaker 1: not going to endlessly bore you with details and trivia
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  Speaker 1: about little Rose Margaret Bishop. I'm not going to belabor
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  Speaker 1: you with cute little details like her fingernails that are
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  Speaker 1: already long and how she winked when she saw me
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  Speaker 1: and how she mouthed the words Papa Max on the very...
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  Speaker 1: first day i'm not going to get into all that
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  Speaker 1: please don't think for a moment that i'll ever use
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  Speaker 1: our big screens at.
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  Speaker 2: Church and our microphones to project image after image and
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  Speaker 2: tell store i'd never do anything like that don't be anxious.
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  Speaker 1: We do thank you lord for new life We do.
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  Speaker 1: We're grateful for fresh starts. And those of us who
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  Speaker 1: have been around this world now for a few years
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  Speaker 1: are aware that it can grow on us and we
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  Speaker 1: can grow weary and anxious. Grant us, Father, a childlike faith,
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  Speaker 1: a trust in you. Please forgive our speaker. His sins
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  Speaker 1: are many. And help us to see Christ, just Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: Through Christ we pray. And all who agreed with the
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  Speaker 1: prayer said... Well, I grew up in a camping family.
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  Speaker 1: My dad's idea of a family vacation involved tents and
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  Speaker 1: sleeping bags and camping gear and Coleman stoves and lanterns.
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  Speaker 1: I tried to carry that tradition into my family. I
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  Speaker 1: didn't succeed. Roughing it for us is a Motel 6.
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  Speaker 1: That's about it. We do like campfires if somebody else
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  Speaker 1: builds them and then somebody serves room service. afterwards. We're
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  Speaker 1: not big on camping, but my dad was. And boy,
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  Speaker 1: he loved not just camping, he loved the camping gear.
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  Speaker 1: His favorite place to hang out was one of those
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  Speaker 1: old Army-Navy surplus stores. And I remember one summer, he
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  Speaker 1: came home just a couple of weeks before summer vacation
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  Speaker 1: with a new tent. I was about nine years of age,
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  Speaker 1: and we were preparing to join my father and, I'm sorry,
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  Speaker 1: my father and our family was preparing to join all
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  Speaker 1: of his siblings in at a family reunion in Estes Park, Colorado. Now,
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  Speaker 1: my dad came from a family of nine kids. So,
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  Speaker 1: I mean, they took over the campground. Well, he was
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  Speaker 1: so proud because he had purchased a new tent. And
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  Speaker 1: this tent came from the Army-Navy surplus store. It looked
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  Speaker 1: like something that come right out of the Korean War.
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  Speaker 1: It was huge. It could hold 12 cots. It was huge.
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  Speaker 3: Huge.
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  Speaker 1: It wasn't fancy, but it was big. And to support it,
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  Speaker 1: he had two cast iron poles, two of them. Now,
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  Speaker 1: we think tents, we usually think those aluminum retractable poles.
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  Speaker 1: This was solid cast iron pole as thick as my
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  Speaker 1: big biceps. I mean, they were big. Why are you laughing?
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  Speaker 1: I don't know. He had built these two by four braces,
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  Speaker 1: foundations upon into which he could place those two poles.
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  Speaker 1: And then we would set up that tent. We would
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  Speaker 1: often set that tent up around a picnic table. It
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  Speaker 1: was that big and still have room to sleep. And
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  Speaker 1: it was stable. Nothing was going to blow that tent over.
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  Speaker 1: Let the Colorado wind blow. Let the rain fall. Let
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  Speaker 1: the hail pummeled. the ground, but it's not going to
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  Speaker 1: knock that tent over. In fact, on one day, one afternoon,
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  Speaker 1: Colorado sky got real black and all my dad's siblings
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  Speaker 1: started running to their different tents and cabins and trailers.
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  Speaker 1: And I mean, that storm just kept blowing in, just
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  Speaker 1: kept wailing like it's been doing here in South Texas
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  Speaker 1: over the last few days. And all of a sudden
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  Speaker 1: everybody was out of their tent in our tent and
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  Speaker 1: ours was standing firm. And my dad was so proud,
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  Speaker 1: and I can remember him touching those two cast iron
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  Speaker 1: poles to make sure that they were steady. I've been
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  Speaker 1: thinking that we could all use some cast iron poles
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  Speaker 1: like that. Not in our tents, but in our lives.
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  Speaker 1: The winds blow still. And if only our winds brought
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  Speaker 1: just rain or even hail. Our winds tend to bring
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  Speaker 1: those big D's, death and divorce or debt and disease.
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  Speaker 1: And some of you are passing through hard times and
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  Speaker 1: it's stirring up some winds and emotions of anxiety and
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  Speaker 1: you're very worried. And your question is, is there a
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  Speaker 1: place where I can find safe shelter? Well, the Apostle
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  Speaker 1: Paul would answer that question well. With a resounding yes.
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  Speaker 1: He believed that there are some truths. That can serve
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  Speaker 1: like those tent poles serve. That we can establish some
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  Speaker 1: convictions in our lives. That will do for our souls.
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  Speaker 1: What those cast iron pipes did for my father's tent.
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  Speaker 1: Remember the apostle Paul wrote this prescription for peace. In
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  Speaker 1: a Roman prison, we pointed this out last week, Nero
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  Speaker 1: had realized he could curry favor with people by killing Christians.
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  Speaker 1: What better known Christian was there than the Apostle Paul?
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  Speaker 1: So Paul was under house arrest. He was chained to
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  Speaker 1: a Roman guard 24 hours a day. So he had
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  Speaker 1: a problem with Rome. He also had problems with his churches.
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  Speaker 1: The very churches that he began were beginning to call
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  Speaker 1: him an imposter. There were false preachers who were accusing
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  Speaker 1: the apostle Paul of profiteering or self-promoting. So the apostle
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  Speaker 1: had problems on the out, problems on the in, problems
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  Speaker 1: with Rome, problems in the church. On top of that,
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  Speaker 1: the guy was 60 years old. He was worn out.
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  Speaker 1: His back was covered with scars from the Roman whips
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  Speaker 1: and sticks. He had been left for dead twice. He
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  Speaker 1: was weary from all that travel. He was a mess.
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  Speaker 1: You would think he would write a letter of complaint
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  Speaker 1: to God, but he didn't. One of the reasons we
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  Speaker 1: cherish this brief four-chapter epistle is because though Paul had
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  Speaker 1: every reason to write a letter of complaint, he wrote
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  Speaker 1: a letter calling for unbridled joy. And he spoke of
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  Speaker 1: a joy that was independent of any circumstance. He promoted
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  Speaker 1: a joy that would lead a person to discover an
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  Speaker 1: anxiety-free life. In fact, beginning in the fourth chapter, after
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  Speaker 1: three chapters of teaching, beginning in the fourth chapter, that's
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  Speaker 1: when he said, now be anxious for nothing. Be anxious
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  Speaker 1: for nothing. And we read that phrase and say, is
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  Speaker 1: that possible or is that hyperbole? Is it really possible
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  Speaker 1: to get to the point in a person's life where
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  Speaker 1: they're not anxious, where they're able to deal with anxieties
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  Speaker 1: quickly and put them aside, and they don't live in
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  Speaker 1: that perpetual state of anxiety? As we pointed out last week,
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  Speaker 1: anxiety serves a helpful purpose. It alerts us to potential dangers.
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  Speaker 1: It calls us to react. What the apostle's wanting to
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  Speaker 1: protect us from is a state of life in which
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  Speaker 1: we inhale anxiety, in which we live in a state
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  Speaker 1: of worry. And the apostle said we could do this
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  Speaker 1: because he had reached two wonderful discoveries. Now, remember, by
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  Speaker 1: the time the apostle says in Philippians 4, be anxious
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  Speaker 1: for nothing, he has spent three chapters telling us why
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  Speaker 1: we can be anxious for nothing. And so we would
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  Speaker 1: be wise to reach back and get the context of
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  Speaker 1: Philippians and try to understand exactly why we can be
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  Speaker 1: anxious for nothing. When you read the first three chapters
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  Speaker 1: of the book of Philippians, you find that the apostle
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  Speaker 1: Paul had, like my father, two poles. two convictions, two
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  Speaker 1: deep-seated beliefs around which he built his life. We call
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  Speaker 1: these a belief system. You have one.
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  Speaker 4: You do.
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  Speaker 1: If we could somehow flip back the flap of the
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  Speaker 1: tent of your soul, we would see some convictions. These
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  Speaker 1: convictions are lead to decisions. Belief always creates behavior. So
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  Speaker 1: if your belief is right, your behavior is going to
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  Speaker 1: be healthy. But if your beliefs are wrong, they are
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  Speaker 1: going to manifest themselves in unhealthy behavior. For that reason,
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  Speaker 1: anytime you read one of the epistles in The Apostle
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  Speaker 1: Paul spends the first section of that epistle, whether it
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  Speaker 1: be Ephesians or Romans or Philippians, talking about beliefs. He
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  Speaker 1: establishes beliefs. The most important thing about you, my friend,
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  Speaker 1: is not the car you drive or the amount of
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  Speaker 1: hair on your head or your looks or your age.
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  Speaker 1: The most important thing about any human being is what
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  Speaker 1: we find when we look into their soul, the belief system.
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  Speaker 1: When you look into the soul of the Apostle Paul
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  Speaker 1: in the book of Philippians, as well as in any
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  Speaker 1: of the epistles, there are two solid beliefs around which
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  Speaker 1: he has built his life. This is his belief system.
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  Speaker 1: We're going to look at one of those beliefs this week,
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  Speaker 1: a second belief next week. But the reason the Apostle
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  Speaker 1: could say be anxious for nothing is because these two
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  Speaker 1: cast iron poles were holding up his tent. You want
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  Speaker 1: to know what they are? Belief number one is simply this.
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  Speaker 1: God is in control. God is in control. The word
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  Speaker 1: for that in the Bible is sovereignty. Sovereignty. You'll look
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  Speaker 1: in the middle of the word sovereignty. And there's the
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  Speaker 1: word reign. R-E-I-G-N.
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  Speaker 3: Reign.
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  Speaker 1: God's reigning. He's over everything. Sovereignty. The apostle Paul firmly
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  Speaker 1: believed that God is in control. I mean he has
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  Speaker 1: scarcely placed pen to parchment. And he is talking about
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  Speaker 1: the sovereignty of God. In chapter 1 he says God
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  Speaker 1: began doing a good work in you. And I am
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  Speaker 1: sure that he will continue it. until it is finished
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  Speaker 1: when Jesus Christ comes again. We're not victims of fate.
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  Speaker 1: God is doing a good work in us. We're children
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  Speaker 1: of God, beneficiaries of a perfect plan. And even when
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  Speaker 1: things go wrong, they're going to turn out right because
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  Speaker 1: of God's sovereignty. The things which have happened to me
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  Speaker 1: have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel.
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  Speaker 1: So it has become evident to the palace guard. And
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  Speaker 1: to all the rest that my chains are in Christ.
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  Speaker 1: Well sure Paul didn't want to be in prison. But
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  Speaker 1: as Paul considers this through the sovereignty of God. He
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  Speaker 1: says oh okay. God is using my time in prison
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  Speaker 1: to give me an opportunity. To talk about Jesus to
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  Speaker 1: this soldier from the palace guard. Who is chained next
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  Speaker 1: to me. I have a captive audience. And so it
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  Speaker 1: turned out. For something good. It wasn't exactly what Paul wanted.
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  Speaker 1: But it was good. And those troublemakers in the church.
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  Speaker 1: Paul says in Philippians 1.15. That they preached out of envy.
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  Speaker 1: And strife. Well that's no problem. Because Paul envisioned a
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  Speaker 1: sovereign God. And whether their motives are false. Or genuine.
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  Speaker 1: The message about Christ is being preached. Either way. So
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  Speaker 1: I rejoice. And I'll continue to rejoice. He was not worried.
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  Speaker 1: About false preachers. Because high above it all is a
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  Speaker 1: God who works in you both to will and to
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  Speaker 1: do for his good pleasure. So take a good look
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  Speaker 1: inside the tent of the soul of the Apostle Paul
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  Speaker 1: and you'll see two poles. One of which says the
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  Speaker 1: sovereignty of God. In the treatment of anxiety, sovereignty is essential.
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  Speaker 1: Here's why. Anxiety is at its core a perceived loss
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  Speaker 1: of control. Anxiety is the perceived loss of control. That's
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  Speaker 1: what anxiety is. Control creates a sense of calm. The
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  Speaker 1: lack of control creates a sense of fear. If we're
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  Speaker 1: certain about the outcome, then we feel better. If we're
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  Speaker 1: uncertain about the outcome, then we feel restless. We feel troubled.
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  Speaker 1: You don't need me to convince you of that, but
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  Speaker 1: there are many research studies that unveil this truth. One
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  Speaker 1: of the most interesting is an ancient one, comparatively, came
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  Speaker 1: out of World War II, in which psychologists looked at
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  Speaker 1: the emotional impact or the impact that combat would have
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  Speaker 1: upon the emotions of soldiers. It won't surprise you at
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  Speaker 1: all to hear that Living in a state of attack
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  Speaker 1: in combat on the battlefield just does a guy in.
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  Speaker 1: 60 days is what the psychologist determined. After 60 days
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  Speaker 1: of combat, soldiers tend to be emotionally exhausted. They've lost
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  Speaker 1: their capacity to cope and they need to be restored,
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  Speaker 1: find some type of encouragement, find some type of treatment.
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  Speaker 1: That's understandable. They were victims of carpet bombs. They were
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  Speaker 1: victims of tear gas. They were victims of mustard gas,
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  Speaker 1: victims of snipers and attacks. They didn't even know what
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  Speaker 1: was coming next. They didn't know whether to run or
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  Speaker 1: whether to hide or where to hide. That level of
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  Speaker 1: anxiety doesn't surprise anybody. What surprised the psychologists, however, was
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  Speaker 1: the comparative level of calm found in among fighter pilots.
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  Speaker 1: Fighter pilots were the most calm soldiers of any of
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  Speaker 1: those in the military forces. Unlike the soldiers on the ground,
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  Speaker 1: the fighter pilots registered a high level of calm and
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  Speaker 1: 93% of them registered a high level of job satisfaction.
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  Speaker 1: Even though one out of every two fighter pilots was
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  Speaker 1: killed in combat during World War II, 93% of them
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  Speaker 1: said they would reenlist immediately. What was the difference? Well,
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  Speaker 1: the fighter pilots had a sense of control. They could
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  Speaker 1: keep their hands on the controls where the soldiers on
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  Speaker 1: the ground felt like they were vulnerable. They were exposed.
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  Speaker 1: They didn't know what was going to happen next. The
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  Speaker 1: pilots felt like they at least could control. They had
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  Speaker 1: a perceived sense of control over their own destiny. And
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  Speaker 1: that created a sense of calm. That's interesting, isn't it? Now,
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  Speaker 1: you don't have to go to war to discover that.
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  Speaker 1: A traffic jam will do just fine. German psychologists recently
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  Speaker 1: shared with us that one hour spent in intense traffic
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  Speaker 1: increases the odds of a heart attack by threefold. One
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  Speaker 1: hour spent in intense traffic increases the odds of a
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  Speaker 1: heart attack by threefold. This traffic's going to kill us.
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  Speaker 1: And we understand why, right? I mean, you can be
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  Speaker 1: the best driver since Mario Andretti. You can be alert.
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  Speaker 1: You can have your hands on the wheel and your
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  Speaker 1: eyes on the road. But you can't control that jerk
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  Speaker 1: in the lane anymore. who keeps checking his text messages
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  Speaker 1: while he's driving. You can't control what that lady's doing
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  Speaker 1: who's coming in your direction. And there is a sense
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  Speaker 1: of loss of control. Anxiety is the perceived loss of control.
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  Speaker 1: So since anxiety is the perceived loss of control, how
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  Speaker 1: do we respond to anxious moments or how do we
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  Speaker 1: respond to anxieties? Well, one way is to take control.
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  Speaker 1: To take control. To stockpile cans in case of canned goods,
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  Speaker 1: in case of nuclear fallout. To wrap our children in
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  Speaker 1: bubble wrap so they won't fall off of a bicycle
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  Speaker 1: and get hurt. To never give our heart to anyone
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  Speaker 1: for fear of having our heart broken. To never step
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  Speaker 1: on a crack so we won't break our mother's heart.
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  Speaker 1: You've heard that, I guess. We try our best to
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  Speaker 1: take control. Ironically, we discover we can't take control because
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  Speaker 1: control is not ours to be taken. No matter how...
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  Speaker 1: many nuts and veggies you eat you can still be
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  Speaker 1: diagnosed with cancer no matter how much money you save
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  Speaker 1: you can still lose it all in a financial collapse
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  Speaker 1: no matter if you take a parachute on the airplane
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  Speaker 1: with you the plane can still go down You cannot
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  Speaker 1: control every event. For this reason, the most anxious people
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  Speaker 1: on earth are control freaks. Ironic, isn't it? That the
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  Speaker 1: people who are trying to stave off anxiety by controlling
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  Speaker 1: everything end up becoming more anxious because they realize they
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  Speaker 1: cannot do the very thing that they want to do.
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  Speaker 1: The only certainty in life is the lack of certainty.
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  Speaker 1: And a control freak is a certainty addict, addicted to certainty,
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  Speaker 1: attempting to create a system that is fail-proof and safeguarded
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  Speaker 1: and anticipates every possible collapse. But then collapses always happen,
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  Speaker 1: leading that person on a downward spiral of anxiety, failure, anxiety, failure, anxiety, failure.
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  Speaker 1: The Apostle Paul has a better idea. Rather than try
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  Speaker 1: to control everything, he suggests that we do this. That
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  Speaker 1: we surrender control to God. That we turn everything over
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  Speaker 1: to God and trust the sovereignty of God to control everything.
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  Speaker 1: We simply trust God to take control. And our focus
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  Speaker 1: shifts from managing and hyper-controlling our world to pondering the
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  Speaker 1: strength and the majesty of God and what he has done.
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  Speaker 1: Peace is within reach, not for absence of problems, but
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  Speaker 1: for the presence of a sovereign God. Passages abound in scripture,
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  Speaker 1: reminding us of God's sovereignty. Here's one from the book
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  Speaker 1: of Proverbs. There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan
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  Speaker 1: that can succeed against the Lord. Here's one from the
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  Speaker 1: book of Daniel. He does as he pleases with the
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  Speaker 1: powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No
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  Speaker 1: one can hold back his hand or say to him,
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  Speaker 1: what have you done? Hebrews 1.3 says, he sustains all things,
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  Speaker 1: all things. He knows the name of the stars and
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  Speaker 1: he knows the sparrows, great and small. He knows every detail.
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  Speaker 1: The book of Lamentations, Jeremiah asks, can anything happen without
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  Speaker 1: the Lord's permission? Is it not the most high who
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  Speaker 1: helps one and harms the other? So the Bible reveals
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  Speaker 1: a sovereign God. A God of wonders. A God with
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  Speaker 1: a robust plan that will not be derailed. So God
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  Speaker 1: is on the throne. He's in charge of everything. That's
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  Speaker 1: what Paul has been saying so far in the book
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  Speaker 1: of Philippians. He who has begun a good work in
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  Speaker 1: you will complete it. There is no doubt. This imprisonment
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  Speaker 1: will turn out for my deliverance. No doubt. To live
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  Speaker 1: is Christ. To die is even better. To die is gain.
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  Speaker 1: Or God is working in you to help you want
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  Speaker 1: to do and be able to do what pleases him. See,
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  Speaker 1: to read the words of Paul is to read the
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  Speaker 1: words of a man who in the innermost part of
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  Speaker 1: his being believed in God's great sovereignty. He was protected
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  Speaker 1: by God's strength. He was preserved by God's love. He
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  Speaker 1: lived beneath the shadow of God's wing. How about you?
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  Speaker 1: How firm are your poles? What's holding up your tent?
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  Speaker 1: Do you believe in the sovereignty of God? If your
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  Speaker 1: answer is, I'm not sure, or your answer is no,
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: with all due respect, I think we've just stumbled upon
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: the cause of your anxiety. Think of it this way.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: Imagine three passengers on a commercial flight. They share a
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: role on the airplane. There's passenger A, there's passenger B,
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: and there's passenger C. They have a conversation as the
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: plane is taking off about the pilot of the plane.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: Passenger A acknowledges something that passenger B and C think
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: is very odd. Passenger A says, you know, I don't
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: think that there's a pilot in the cockpit. I mean,
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: why should I? I got on the plane. The door
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: was closed. I'd never seen him. I don't think there's
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: a pilot in the cockpit. I think we're on a
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: big drone. This thing is being flown by somewhere in
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: some headquarters underground. Well, passenger B says, well, that's kind
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: of wacko. I think there's a pilot, but I just
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: don't think he's awake. I know what these pilots do.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: They get the plane up in the air and they
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: set it on autopilot and they sit back with a
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: good book or bring a pillow and they take a nap.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: He has no idea. They wake him up right before
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: we land. Well, passenger C cannot believe what she is hearing.
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: She looks at passenger A and she looks at passenger
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: B and she says, let me tell you something. We
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: are in a plane that is piloted by a good pilot.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: He's alert. He's experienced and he cares. I know because
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: I had breakfast with him this morning. He is my husband.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: And so you have three different views of the airplanes pilot.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: One person says there is no pilot. The other person
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: says there is a pilot, but he's disengaged. The other
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: said he is a careful, skillful pilot. And I know
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: him well. Fast forward 10 or 15 minutes. Turbulence strikes.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: And the plane starts bouncing around in the air like
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: popcorn inside a paper sack. What is going to be
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: the reaction of the three passengers to the sudden arrival
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: of turbulence? What's going to be the react? Are they
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: going to react the same way? Passenger A and passenger
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: B are prone to get sucked into the sinkhole of anxiety. Right?
• 26:30
  Speaker 5: Right?
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: I mean, they don't have anyone to talk to. They
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: think the thing is out of control. They wonder if
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: anybody's awakened the pilot. Passenger C, she doesn't really enjoy
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: the turbulence. But if anyone's peaceful, she is. Why? Because
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: she has a relationship. She has experience with the pilot.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: And she trusts him. So who flies your planes? Who
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: flies your plane? I know it sounds like an oversimplification,
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: but there really are three views of God in the world.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: There is no God. There is a God who started
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: everything and then backed away. And then there is the
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: God discovered by the Apostle Paul and millions upon millions
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: of us. A God who cares, who's in control, who
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: knows his passengers and who is determined to get them
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: home safely. Who flies your plane? The Bible never promises
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: a lack of turbulence. Just the opposite. We will have trouble.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: But the Bible always promises the presence of a loving
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: and caring God to get us home safely. That's where
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: the cure for anxiety begins. In your understanding, in your
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: belief systems, About who God is. The most important thing
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: about you. And about me. Is the way we answer
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: the question. Who is God? Who is God? And the
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: way you answer that question. Would give. An onlooker. The
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: ability to forecast. Your level of anxiety. The more you understand.
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: The sovereignty of God. the greater the odds that you'll
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: have a peaceful life. The less you understand the sovereignty
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: of God, the more greater the odds you'll be an
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: anxious person. Many years ago, when we as a church
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: were studying the sovereignty of God, I wrote a prayer.
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: And I've used this prayer many times in my own devotions.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: I never did need to share it with the church,
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: but I dug it out of the files and I
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: thought I'd share it with us today. It's printed on
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: your Sunday handout. I'm hoping maybe you'll take it home
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: and use it as a way to activate in your
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: own devotions a deeper understanding of the sovereignty, the perfect
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: will of God. The prayer goes like this. Dear Lord,
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: you are perfect. You could not be better than you are.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: You are self-created. You exist because you chose to exist.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: You are self-sustaining. No one helps you. No one gives
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: you strength. You are self-governing. Who can question your deeds?
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: Who dares advise you? You are correct in every way,
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: in every choice. You regret no decision. You have never failed.
• 29:50
  Speaker 5: Never.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: You cannot fail. You are God. You will accomplish your plan.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: You are happy, eternally joyful. Endlessly content. You are the king,
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: supreme ruler, absolute monarch, overlord and Raja of all history.
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: An arch of your eyebrow and a million angels will
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: pivot and salute. Every throne is a footstool to yours.
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: Every crown is paper mache to yours. No limitations, hesitations, questions,
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: second thoughts or backward glances. You consult no clock. You
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: keep no calendar. You report to no one. You are
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: in charge. And I trust you. Anxiety passes as trust increases.
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: So rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord's sovereignty.
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: And see if you soon aren't discovering what the apostle
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: was telling us when he said, be anxious for nothing. Amen.
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Lord, for your great and mighty hand. Thank
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: you that you oversee all the affairs of the world.
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: Thank you that there is nothing happening anywhere on the
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: planet right now that has you troubled, surprised, or upset.
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: There has never been a moment that someone has asked
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: you a question and you said, I don't know what
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: to do. And there's never been a situation in which
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: you've been presented a problem and you thought, I don't
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: know how to respond. You always know what to do
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: and you always do what is right. Your plan is
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: perfect and you are worthy of praise because you are
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: a perfect God. We're in your hands, Father. And that
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: makes us very happy. That makes us very happy. We'd
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: like to resign from the role of trying to run
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: the world. We voluntarily resign from being king of the universe.
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: We're not going to try to control everything anymore. We're
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: going to leave that job to you. You take the throne.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: We'll be your follower and your worshiper. May we know
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: your place and may we know ours. This is our
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: prayer through Jesus Christ and all who agreed with it said, Amen.
• 32:14
  Speaker 3: So, Thank you. so so We'll be right back.
• 35:40
  Speaker 4: Thank you for watching.
• 36:58
  Speaker 3: So so so.
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 38:08
  Speaker 3: You don't have to remember.
• 38:14
  Speaker 5: You don't have to stay close. As long as you're
• 38:21
  Speaker 5: somewhere out there, that's enough for me.
• 38:26
  Speaker 4: I don't need to hold you near me.
• 38:33
  Speaker 6: Don't need promises to keep. Just the thought that you
• 38:38
  Speaker 6: are breathing Somewhere in this world I see Even if
• 38:44
  Speaker 6: I'm not beside you Even if you never know There's
• 38:50
  Speaker 6: a quiet kind of comfort Just in knowing you still glow.
• 38:58
  Speaker 3: I don't need forever I just need you to exist.
• 39:09
  Speaker 4: You don't have to stay with me you don't have
• 39:13
  Speaker 4: to feel the same just as long as you're still
• 39:18
  Speaker 4: out there.
• 39:19
  Speaker 6: Calling softly through my days you don't have.
• 39:23
  Speaker 4: To look my way you don't have to be my
• 39:28
  Speaker 4: home it's.
• 39:30
  Speaker 6: Enough to know you're living in a world I'm not alone.
• 39:39
  Speaker 3: I won't chase you through the distance. Won't disturb your
• 39:43
  Speaker 3: chosen life.
• 39:46
  Speaker 6: I'll just keep you in my silence like a star
• 39:49
  Speaker 6: that shines at night.
• 39:53
  Speaker 3: Through the dark and through the blue I still think
• 40:01
  Speaker 3: of you.
• 40:07
  Speaker 4: You don't have to be my home It's enough to
• 40:12
  Speaker 4: know you're living In a.
• 40:14
  Speaker 3: World I'm not alone I don't need to be your
• 40:48
  Speaker 3: light I don't need to cross.
• 40:51
  Speaker 6: Your mind All I need is just the truth That
• 40:55
  Speaker 6: you're somewhere.
• 40:58
  Speaker 3: Still alive.
• 41:02
  Speaker 7: You don't have to stay with me You don't have
• 41:06
  Speaker 7: to feel the same Just as long as you're still
• 41:11
  Speaker 7: out there Calling softly through my days You don't have
• 41:16
  Speaker 7: to look my way You don't have to be my.
• 41:21
  Speaker 3: Home It's enough to know you're living In a world
• 41:29
  Speaker 3: I'm not alone.