Strategies for Stressful Times: Week 2

Well, I wanted to start today by telling you about

a stressful week that I had not too long ago,

and I'm just gonna walk through one day at a time,

because each day it just compounded. In this particular week,

Monday morning. It started on Monday, and Monday morning I

was met with a crisis that I had to deal with,

kind of an emergency, and I.

Wasn't planning on that.

If you looked at my calendar, there was no blocked

off time for crisis management on Monday. But it interrupted

my plans and it took my attention, my troubleshooting to

deal with this crisis. Then on Tuesday, I was here

at work and in the middle of a meeting when

I got a desperate phone call that my father in law,

who lives in Pennsylvania collapsed at work and was rushed

to the hospital and found out had a stroke. Thankfully,

he made a full recovery and was back to work

in a couple of days, no lasting effects. But that

particular day, I was you know, we were worried, we

were anxious, we were stressed, and there was a point

where I was looking at Okay, I may need to

drop everything and get in the car and drive to Pennsylvania.

We don't know how this is going to turn out.

And then on Thursday of that week, many of you

know that my wife owns and operates a retail store

here in the area, and I got a disturbing message

on Thursday that one of our employees had pressed the

emergency panic button behind the counter of the store and

police were en route to the store because there was

a confrontation happening between a customer and one of the employees,

and this customer was threatening the safety of one of

our employees. And thankfully nobody was hurt. But Thursday night

we had to deal with the police. Friday morning, we

were with the police, we had.

To take some legal steps. Like it was stressful.

And then just to top it all off for that week,

my family decided that we would put in an offer

to buy a new house. I think we just thought, man,

Monday's been crazy, Tuesday's been crazy, Thursdays been crazy. Let's

just top it off and let's move. And so it

was a stressful week all in one week. I'm sure

you've had a week like that, maybe different details, different circumstances,

but a week where it just goes from crisis to emergency,

to issue to drama, and.

It's stressful, Like where do I get a break? You know?

For somebody here, it's a work thing that is just

stressing you out right now. I was leading my small

group not long ago, and in the middle of our discussion,

one of the guys in the group stood up and

walked out abruptly. And I texted him later and he

said that he got a message from work that there

was an emergency, a crisis he had to go take

care of. For some of us, it's a financial thing.

Like that is stressing you out right now? What's keeping

you awake at night? What's turning over in the back

of your mind? Even right now when you hear me

say the word stress, I know for many it's a

health thing. There's someone in church I know just last

week had to make an emergency visit to the hospital.

Somebody else in our church just recently lost a parent

suddenly without any warning. Like, these are stressful things. What

is stressing you out well?

Today? I want to share a.

Message about responding to stress. Now here's what I can't do.

I'm not gonna be able to give you three steps

to make your stress go away. And I'm certainly not

gonna put on the screen a phone number or a

website where you can go and get all your problems removed.

I can't do that.

But what I do hope to do today is to

open God's word where we can find supernatural wisdom and

strength and power to respond to stress. So that's what

we're gonna do, and we're gonna do that by looking

at the Book of Philippians. We're gonna move around the

Book of Philippians. Primarily we'll be in chapter one, but

will also be in some other places.

And let me set the context.

Philippians was a letter written in the first century by

the apostle. Paul was writing this to Christians living in Philippi,

and the context around Paul's writing.

Is Philippians was written under stress.

Paul was in stress when he was writing this because

Paul was a prisoner.

He'd been arrested for preaching.

The Gospel, and he was in a Roman jail waiting

his trial and eventual execution. He mentions this in chapter one,

verse thirteen, I'm in chains for Christ. And then in

chapter two, verse seventeen, he says, I'm being poured out

like a drink offering on the sacrifice in service coming

from your faith.

Last year I got.

To visit Rome and I toured this ancient dungeon where

many historians believe Paul was held prisoner in Rome.

And let me tell you if.

That's true, if that's where Paul was, I saw it.

It is a stressful place. It's underground, there's no sunlight,

there's no windows, it's cold, it's dark, there's no electricity,

there's no running water. Well, there is water, but it's

just seeping up through the stone in the floor, so

it's damp. It is, And it's in that environment that

Paul writes this Book of Philippians. I want to return

to Philippians two, verse seventeen. We just read the first

part of that verse. I want to read the whole verse.

I want to read how this verse finishes. He says,

even if I'm being poured out like a drink offering

on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I

am glad and rejoice with all of you.

How can Paul say that he's glad? How can he rejoice?

He's in prison, he's incarcerated, he's in bondage, he's stuck.

How can he say, what's there to be joyful about?

That's our message today because Paul knows something and he

wants to remind us of something in these words of Philippians,

that when you're under stress, shift your attitude. That's the

message today. That's the main point today, is that when

you're under stress, shift your attitude. Attitude is everything. Man,

If you got allows the attitude, you're gonna be crushed

by the stress. If you got the wrong attitude, the

thing that's stressing you out is gonna overwhelm you and

it's gonna ruin you. But if you got the right attitude,

if you got the attitude like Paul, the Christian attitude

under stress, you're gonna endure, You're gonna overcome, and you

will prevail over the thing that is stressing you out.

Shift your attitude.

When you're driving in a car, the engine shifts gears.

You know, whether you're driving an automatic car, the engine

does that automatically, or if you are driving a stick

shift or a manual, the driver shifts between gears as

you go. Every car has the basic simple gears right

you know, there's park, reverse, neutral, and drive like those

are the basic fundamental shift changes.

In driving a car.

And I believe these four shift changes are a metaphor

for how we might respond to stress, because when you're

under stress, you can definitely shift into park like. You

can camp out in the stress. You can wallow in

self pity, you can you can get stuck, you can

call off work, stay in bed like, you can just

sit there. You can also go backwards. You can shift

into reverse when you're under stress. Like, Man, you've been

making progress, you've been following Jesus, you've been growing in

your faith.

Things are good.

But when stress comes, you go backwards old habits, you know,

old coping mechanisms, self medicating, overeating, under eating. You can

shift backwards and return to sinful things like abusing drugs

and alcohol, using pornography, and.

Go back to the old way of like.

You can definitely go backwards when you're stressed, and there's neutral. Man,

when you're stressed, you can shift your attitude into neutral

and say plug your ears and say la la la,

no stress, no stress, and you can just ignore it.

You can avoid it, act like it doesn't exist. But

what happens when a car is neutral, It's pretty easy

to push it and it just coasts it's pretty easy

to kind of direct where it goes with very little pushing.

If you're shifting to neutral under stress, the devil can

influence you. The devil can push you, direct you, steer you.

You can drift in your faith. And of course there's drive,

and that's the metaphor for shifting your attitude. We want

to shift into drive under stress. We want to move forward.

We don't want to go backwards. We don't want to

stay stuck. We want to move forward, shifting our attitude

with the attitude of Jesus, with our eyes focused on him,

following him, facing the issues. We want to shift into drive.

And this is what Paul actually says. Look up chapter three,

Starting in verse twelve, he says, I press on.

He's saying, I shift into drive. I'm moving forward.

I press on to take hold of that for which Christ,

Jesus took hold of me, forgetting what is behind. I'm

not going in reverse.

Streighting toward what is ahead. I press on. In other words,

when we're stressed, shift your attitude, shift your attitude, shift

in to drive the attitude of Christ.

He goes on in verse fourteen, I press on for

the goal for the prize, of the upward call of

God and Christ Jesus. Therefore, all who are mature, let's

have this attitude. Let's have this attitude, the attitude of Christ.

Let's shift into drive. Let's shift your attitude, because ultimately,

your attitude controls how you respond distressful things.

Out of your control.

Your attitude controls how you respond. You can't control the situation,

you can't control the circumstance, but you're you can't control.

Your attitude, and it controls how you respond.

Paul says in one verse twenty seven, whatever happens, whatever

happens good or bad, whatever happens stressful, whatever happens with

the doctor's result, test results, whatever happens.

With report from school, whatever.

Happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel

of Christ.

Shift your attitude.

Your attitude control is how you respond to the things

that you don't control. Controls your conduct, your behavior, your words.

Your attitude controls your witness, especially under stress.

There's a couple sources of stress.

I think two of those sources are stressful circumstance and

stressful people. Now, I know you all want to hear

about stressful people. We'll get there in a minute, A

stressful circumstance, something you can't control. I told you earlier

that our families has been house hunting, house searching, and

when we started that process early on, I crunched the numbers.

I put a budget together.

I looked at income and equity and all these things,

and I came up with a house shopping budget, like

I think we can for this price range for a house. Well,

when I got to work with a mortgage lender, with

a professional, they also crunched the numbers, and they decided

that my number was a little too high, about twenty

percent too high, and so they preapproved me for a

lower number than I had in mind. And so what

that means is it changes how I where I can

look for a house. It changes if I'm looking for

something moving ready or something needs some repairs.

Like there's a limit. I don't control that.

I can't change that no matter how many times I call.

I can't change the numbers. Numbers are numbers. But I

can shift my attitude instead of being disappointed, instead of

being frustrated or pouting, I can shift my attitude and

I can say, well, you know, a smaller number that

means borrowing less.

That means less debt. That's a good thing. You know.

I can shift my attitude. I can remind myself.

Man, seven years ago, got provided the house I'm in now.

Seven years before that, he provided that house.

He knows what I need. God's got me.

Shift your attitude because circumstances are things that you cannot control.

And if you know me well, you know that I

cannot hide what I'm feeling. I don't have a poker face.

I wear my emotion on my sleeves. You can just

see it in my face, and I'll tell you. You might

have been here a few weeks ago. I was in

a situation that was outside of my control. When in

the middle of our service, in the middle of me

up here preaching, the fire alarm went off, and if

you were in here or if you were watching online,

you saw my face.

Set at all just as we evacuated like nothing.

I could do, nothing, I could change, nothing I can control,

And here was my attitude. There are things that you

can't control in life. You can't control the hiring process.

You don't control when the company goes through layoffs. You

don't control the weather. You don't control when the rivers rise,

you don't control. You don't control the blood test results.

You don't control when the car stops working. You don't

control other people. There are things that you can't control.

Paul was in a circumstance beyond his control. He was

in jail, he was stuck, and in the midst of

the stressful situation, Paul redirects his attitude.

Go to chapter one, verse twelve.

We're gonna work our way through twelve, thirteen, fourteen, and on.

He says, I want you to know, brothers and sisters,

that what has happened to me has actually advanced the Gospel.

Paul's attitude is focused on the Gospel. He saying, man,

this stressful situation is for God's glory. How's God gonna

get glory? Next verse verse thirteen, it has become known

throughout the whole Imperial Guard and to everyone else. Then

my imprisonment is because I'm in Christ. A couple of

things that Paul teaches us in these verses. He shows

us that your attitude under stress is a witness to unbelievers.

He says, the Imperial Guard knows about Christ. Everyone else

knows that I'm in chains for Christ. There's a witness

The Imperial Guard was an elite specialized group in the

first century Rome. They're also called the Praetorian Guard, and

they would be most compared to our modern day secret service.

The Praetorian Guard was responsible to protect the emperor, his family,

to protect other government officials, and historically the Pratorian Guard

became politically powerful and influential, so much so that they

could install and remove government leaders as they chose.

In forty one a d.

The Praetorian Guard assassinated Emperor Caligula and then installed a

new emperor of their choice like they had power. And

here's Paul saying, Hey, this powerful group. They've heard about

the Gospel, They've heard about Jesus. Because I'm in prison

under stress. Your attitude is a witness to unbelievers. This

world is looking for Christians who have a different attitude. Man,

this world is looking for Christians. You have an attitude

of hope, who have an attitude of eternity. This world

is looking for Christians who are gonna suffer different, endure

different with a different attitude. You see, when the rest

of the world is panicked because of what's going on

in the economy and the stock market, and interest rates.

It's Christians who have a different attitude and say, man,

Jesus provides my needs, my resources, belong to an eternal,

heavenly father.

What everyone else in this world is is.

Terrified by a fatal diagnosis. Christians have a different attitude,

who say, man, my earthly body is not my permanent,

forever home.

We have a hope for an eternal resurrection.

When the rest of the world gives its allegiance and

loyalty to a politician or a political party.

Or an agenda.

Christians have a different attitude, who say, man, I belong

to a king whose kingdom is not of this world,

and whose throne will not be shaken. You see, your

attitude under stress is a witness to unbelievers about who

your God is and who you belong to. Let's keep

reading the next verse. We're working our way through twelve thirteen.

Now fourteen, Paul says, most of the brothers have gained

confidence in the Lord for my imprisonment, and dare even

more to speak the word fearlessly.

Would you say the word fearlessly? Fearlessly? Paul saying, because

of his stressful situation.

Other believers are speaking up because of his stressful situation.

Other Christians are sharing the gospel because under stress, your

attitude is an encouragement to other believers. How you handle stress,

your attitude under stress is an encouragement to other believers.

I remember talking to one person in our church who

lost his spouse. Man, he was grieving, he was depressed,

and he shared with me how he was really depending

on his adult children, his adult son and leaning on them.

And as we talked, I reminded this widow.

Where I said, Man, your children and your grandchildren, you're

setting an example for them of how to grieve with

the hope that we have in Jesus.

Like they're watching you walk through this turmoil and you're

an encouragement to them.

I know somebody else in our church who got fired

from a job, worked to that job for a long time,

and just kind of without warning, suddenly just let go.

And I admired that person's attitude. They weren't angry, they weren't.

Revengeful, they weren't bitter, and even.

Though they didn't have income, they had a family, they

had responsibilities. That person was like, Hey, God's got me.

God's gonna provide. I'm not stressing because I have faith

in God that I admire that I want to have

that kind of attitude under stress. You see, your attitude

under stress is a witnessed unbelievers, and it's an encouragement

to other believers. How you respond, a stressful circumstance encourages others.

So there are stressful circumstance and then there are stressful people.

That's the one everybody you want to hear about the

stressful people. Well, in these next verses, verses fifteen, sixteen seventeen, Paul,

he talks about some people stressing him out, or some

stressful people. He says in verse fifteen, it is true

that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but

others out of good will. The latter do so out

of love, knowing that I'm put here for the defense

of the Gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition,

not sincerely supposing that they can stir up trouble for

me while I'm in chains.

But what does it matter?

The important thing is that in every way, whether from

false motives or true, Christ is preached.

And because of this I rejoice. Now. I want to

break this down.

I want to go back through these verses, and I

want to share a few things that I learned recently

about this from Pastor Rick Warren. There are people who

stress you out. Look in verse fifteen closely. What does

Paul say. It's true that some preach Christ out of

envy and rivalry.

These are critics.

Critics will stress you out. Critics are stressful people. Usually,

critics are those who are envious or jealous of who

you are and.

What you have.

Anyone who wants to live for Christ will be criticized.

I remember a critic some criticism in the past. Someone

criticized my preaching, and I really want to try and

be open to helpful feedback. I want to be open

to that. But this was not helpful feedback. This was

just criticism. This was unfair. They had strong opinions about

my preaching, and it hurt my feeling. I carried it

for a little bit, but then I just felt the

Holy Spirit speak to me and God say, Andrew, that person,

thenn't call you.

I called you.

Be faithful to what I've called you to do. So

I just release that stress to the Lord, let him

carry it.

And you're gonna have critics. You're gonna have critics look

at verse.

Seventeen, Paul talks about some another stressful type of person.

He says, the former preach Christ out of selfish ambition.

These are competitors.

There are just some people that are gonna compete against you.

Some people that are gonna want to win, want to

beat you. There's just some people. They want more recognition,

more power, more applause. Usually they'll put others down to

elevate themselves. You will always face competitors. If you're in business,

there's a competitor trying to steal your business. If you're

in school, you're gonna have competition.

You're gonna have rivalry. You have a choice to make

when you encounter competition.

Are you going to focus your attitude on the competitor?

Are you gonna try to compete? Are you gonna try

to fight? Are you gonna try to win? Because I'm

telling you, if you shift your attitude to focus on

the competitor, you're probably gonna be miserable. You're probably gonna

lose your joy, and you may even compromise your beliefs

and your values in order to win. We have to

face competitors. There are competitors that we have to deal

with Verse seventeen continues, the former preach Christ have a

selfish ambition, not sincerely supposing.

That they can stir up trouble for me while I'm

in chains. These are challengers. Challengers are stressful people. This

type of person is a troublemaker. Man. They love gossip.

They love having the scoop on something.

They love feeling like they're on the inside, like they

know something that nobody else knows, and they can, at

their discretion, share this information. They love to spread rumors

and start trouble. Let me tell you there's a couple

of favorite phrases that these stressful people have.

Some of their favorite.

Phrases include some people are saying, or let me add

my two cents, or I.

Heard somebody say.

These folks usually have anonymous sources and unverified information. Man,

when you encounter a stressful challenger, if you chase down

every gossip, you're gonna waste your time and energy. If

you try to confront and correct every rumor, you're just

gonna create more conflict. Proverbs chapter sixteen says, a contrary

person spreads conflict, and a gossip separates close friends. We

can't control stressful circumstances. We can't control stressful people and

stressful personalities, but we can't shift our attitude.

We can change our attitude.

Even when things feel out of your control, you can

shift your attitude. Paul reminds Us. He says this in

Philippians chapter three. Here's what he says. Our citizenship is

in heaven, and we eagerly away a savior from there,

the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables

him to bring everything under his control, will transform our

lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

I want you to look closely at the text. Look

closely here at verse twenty one.

What does it say.

Does it say Jesus controls a few things? Does it

say Jesus controls the small things? Does it say that

Jesus controls little things, tiny things? It says he controls everything.

Jesus is the one who is in the storm on

the water, and the winds and the waves obeyed him.

Can he not calm the storm that's swirling around you.

He's the one who healed the sick, who gave sight

to the blind, who restored people's legs who couldn't walk,

don't you think that disease and illness is no match

for him? He is the one, our God, our savior,

the one who cast out demons, the one who.

Rebuke evil spirits.

Don't you think that he can speak to anxiety and

turmoil and fear and depression. He died on the cross,

he faced death and rose from the dead three days later.

That means that cancer is no match for him. The

grave is no match for him. Death is no match

for him. That's our God, that's our savior. And it

says everything's under his control. When you're stressed out by

things that you can't control, remember the one who is

in control. Let's get practical for a few moments. Let's

talk about navigating stress. Return of Philippians one verse eighteen.

Paul says, what does it matter? The important thing is

that in every way, whether from false motives or true,

Christ is preached.

And because of this.

I rejoice and I will continue to rejoice. Wants you

to notice what Paul does not say. Paul does not

say because of this, I feel sad. Because of this,

I feel.

Angry, I feel disappointed. He doesn't even say, well.

I feel happy, I feel glad because Paul does not

talk about his emotions. He doesn't talk about feelings. He

describes a decision that he made that he chooses to rejoice.

He chooses joy.

He makes a decision.

Joy is a Christian attitude in spite of stress. It's

an attitude, it's a mind s it's a state of mind.

Because joy's not the same as happiness. Happiness comes and goes.

Happiness is a feeling, but joy is a decision.

When you're driving in your car and you want to

go faster, the engine down shifts to a lower.

Gear to get that power to accelerate to go faster.

You know, Let's imagine that you're driving on for sixty five,

you know, being sixty miles an hour. Who am I kidding?

Nobody drives sixty miles an hour for sixty five.

Let's just say you're driving along sixty miles.

An hour and you come up behind a slow moving

car that you want to pass, you want to get around.

We've all been there, we've been there.

Well, when you press the gas, let's say you're cruising

out sixty miles an hour and six gear. When you

press the gas, the engine down shifts maybe into like

fourth gear. To get that power, get that accelerator to

go faster. You downshift. That's why I want to encourage

you to downshift to joy when you're under stress.

Downshift to joy. Use joy because joy accelerates your faith.

Joy gives you power to endure when the circumstances and

the people are out of your control. Downshift into joy

because joy is a choice. Joy chooses to worship even

when you're worried. Joy chooses to obey no matter the circumstance.

Joy chooses to trust God in the trial. Joys a choice.

Downshift into joy and you will find supernatural power in

the stress. I want to also encourage you to ask

a question. Ask yourself, who's in the driver's seat when

you're under stress? Ask yourself who's in the driver's seat?

And when you're stressed, you can stay in the driver's seat.

You can grip that metaphorical steering wheel and you can

white knuckle it through the stress. Or you can allow

Jesus to be in the driver's seat. Notice what Paul

writes in verse nineteen. He says, I know, through your

prayers and God's provision of the spirit of Jesus Christ,

what has happened to me, will turn out for my deliverance.

He's like, Man, God's in the driver's seat. God's gonna

take care of it. God's gonna provide. God is steering

and driving, come whatever may, if there's a detour, if

there's a turn, if there's a bridge out, like, God

is gonna provide. God's in the driver's seat. So I

want to ask you a very very important question. Who's

in the driver's seat of your life? This is the

basic fundamental question that every human being has to answer.

Who's in the driver's seat of your life? Who's in charge?

Who's in control of your life? Is it Jesus or

is it not?

Man?

Somebody here, I think I'm speaking to somebody that maybe

you are a follower of Jesus. Jesus is in the

driver's seat, but sometimes you're sitting the passenger and when

things get stressful, when things get tense, you reach over

and want to grab that that steering with.

Who am I talking to?

I'm talking to me for sure, because man, when I'm

stressed out, like yeah, let me see who I can call,

Let me see what I can take control, let me

see what I can do. Man, who's in the driver's seat.

There's only one choice. It's either Jesus or it's not

who's in the driver's seat. Let's finish this passage verse twenty.

I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no

way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that

now as always, Christ will be exalted in my body,

whether by life or by death. For to me, to

live is Christ, and to die is Gain. If I'm

to go on living in the body, this will mean

fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose?

I do not know. I'm torn between the two.

I desired to depart and be with Christ, which is

better by far, but it is more necessary for you

that I remain in the body. So it was Paul

saying in this passage, and he's saying he's focused on Jesus.

He's saying, man, if I die, if my time on

earth is done, great, it's gain. I go to Heaven

I see Jesus. If I stay here on earth, great

I've got more ministry to do to glorify Jesus. He's saying,

it's all about Jesus, It's all about his purpose. He's focused,

he's not distracted by the stress. Last week, my family

was traveling to Pennsylvania and we were driving on I

seventy across Ohio and there's a lot of I seventy

across Ohio, and we came across this unusual sign on

I seven, I think it was maybe around Zanesville, Ohio,

and it says something like it says something like now

entering distraction driver, distraction.

Free enforcement zone, something like that.

And so for like the next ten twenty miles or so,

we were in this zone.

And so we're just.

Driving along, and then after ten fifteen twenty miles somewhere

there was another sign that said now leaving distracted driver zone.

And I just laughed, and I thought, oh, is it

now legal to be a distracted driver? And I'm out

of the zone. Stress can distract us. Stress can get

us off course. And so I want to encourage you.

Keep your eyes on the road, keep your eyes on Jesus,

keep your eyes on your purpose, keep your eyes focused.

On what Jesus is doing.

Don't be focused on the criticism, don't be focused on

your insecurity, don't be focused.

On your fear.

Keep your eyes on the road, stay focused on Jesus.

Keep showing up, keep moving forward, stay and drive. I

want to end with just telling you one more story.

When I was in Pennsylvania last week, I got to

visit the previous church where I served years ago, and

got to reconnect with a lot of friends and family

and old friends and people hadn't.

Seen in a long time.

And one of the persons that I reconnected with last

week was a guy named Ed.

And Ed is just a faithful Christian, faithful to his church.

And Ed is up there in years and every week

Ed serves at the front door of his church. He's

he's greeting and opening doors and shaking hands, welcoming people

to church.

And when I reconnected with Ed, he.

Told me that he had lost his wife about four

years ago. I didn't know that. I didn't know that.

And I remember what Ed said to me. He said, Andrew,

it's been tough. He said, it's been stressful. And then

he said, but that's why I keep showing up here

at church. So that's why I'm here at the front

door every week greeting.

I've got a purpose. He's focused on Jesus.

What I saw in his face, what I heard in

his words, was the joy of the Lord and what

I admired about. It was even in stress, even in grief,

Ed's like, man, I keep my eyes focused on Jesus.

So I want to encourage you when you're stressed, keep

showing up, keep showing up, keep your eyes focused on Jesus.

Shift your attitude to the joy of the Lord. I

want to remind somebody here today. We often say, hey, man,

God's got it. For that expression, God's got it. You know, Hey,

I don't know how it's gonna wrong.

But God's got it. And that's true, God's got it.

But I want to remind you today God's got you.

I thought about that this week, man, and all the

stress and all the unknown, at the end of the day,

my joy is that God's got me. God's got you.

I want to invite us to respond to what we've

heard today. If you're able, would you stand with me.

I want to ask you to bow your head and

close your eyes. And here's what I'm going to ask

you to do. I'm gonna pray, and I'm gonna mention

some things. And if anything that I say relates to

you connects with you, I'm going to ask you, as

a bold step of faith, just to raise your hand

in the air so I can see you and pray

for you. Just keep it up there while we pray.

But I want to ask, is there anybody here that's

in a stressful relationship issue, a stressful family issue? Would

you just raise your hand? Just slip it up there

and keep it up because I want.

To pray for you.

Who's got stressful sign financial needs that's stressing.

You out right now? Just raise your hand.

Who's got stressful stuff with what's going on with the

weather and the water and all that right now?

Who's stressing about that? Who's stressing over a health thing?

Keep your hands up.

Who's got a health issue, even if it's a loved

one that you're concerned about, it's got a health issue.

And there may be so much more.

If you've got anything that's stressing you that even I

didn't mention, and you want to raise your hand and

ask God for his intervention, ask God for his breakthrough.

Just raise your hand, Father, God. I want to pray

for all of us today. First, God, I prays you

would meet our needs. You are the eternal Father, a

good father. You tell us how much more do you

delight to give good things to your children. So, God,

would you meet our needs material needs, financial needs in

the ways that you want to do it.

God, would you provide?

And God, I want to pray for the families, the relationships. God,

there are some that are stressing about a marriage thing,

the parents and adult child issues. God, I pray that

you would bring healing. You bring reconciliation, You'd bring forgiveness

to those stressful relationship things.

God.

The health needs, God, would you bring healing according to

your will?

Would you do miracles in our bodies.

Would you do miracles in the tissue, in the bones,

would you do miracles in the lungs? God, would you

bring healing in the way that only you can. Because

we know that Jesus rose from the death, that means

he's victorious over death, He's victorious over disease, He's victorious

over evil. God, I pray for the one who's stuck

an addiction in its stressing amount. God, break that addiction

with the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. God,

thank you that we have an eternal hope. May we

keep our eyes on You. We pray all of this

by the power of Jesus for his glory.

Amen.