Anxiety?

Father, you know the different things in our hearts, in our minds, in our wills that we are anxious about.

You know if we sort of have a bit of a relief from anxiety right now because we're together,

or if being together has caused more anxiety.

Father, you know what's going on.

And you know how hard it is sometimes, Father, for us to bring these things to you in prayer.

We ask, Father, that the Holy Spirit would move very powerfully in each one of our lives

and bring your word home to us in a very real and personal way.

Bring Jesus more real to us and what he's accomplished for us on the cross.

Make that more real to us.

And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

Amen.

We might be one of the first churches to have offered services this week just for a variety of reasons.

We were one of the last churches to actually have a church service as well on the 15th of March.

I don't know how many of you were there for that, but it's good to see you here this morning.

One of the things you can just do for us in the weeks to come is pray that the Lord will help us have wisdom

about how to manage the different things that have to be managed as we just go through this,

the different regulations and all.

I don't know if you can notice, but it's sort of actually really interesting.

This is the stage which was here on the 15th of March because the Ottawa Little Theatre was closed.

So all the posters are about dead, death, actually.

So it's sort of very interesting.

As you're looking at this and you're looking at me,

it's the dark garden, cold secrets, west of death, one last look, five down.

The other thing about this, if you're a guest, this is actually a very classic Anglican setup

because just behind me are bottles of alcohol and a library.

And on one level, nothing says Anglican as much as a library and alcohol while you read the Bible.

So those of you who are just listening to this as an audio,

you just have to imagine that's the stage set up, posters about death,

maker's mark, and books, and the Bible.

Those of you who know me know that I don't do seeker-sensitive things very well.

We don't talk about Mother's Day on Mother's Day.

We don't talk about Father's Day.

If you're going to come here next week for Father's Day,

I'm not going to talk about Father's Day.

I'll just say Happy Father's Day.

That will be about it.

But believe it or not, we're going to talk about anxiety this morning.

And that's just because we're going through the book of Philippians

and we're going to look at a text which is all about anxiety.

And if you're here as a guest or if you're listening to this later on through a podcast

and you don't know much about Christians,

you should know that Christians are very conflicted about anxiety

and they're very conflicted about the biblical teaching on anxiety.

And in fact, ironically, the biblical text like we're going to look at today

often makes Christians more anxious rather than less anxious.

Because if you're listening to Matt read the text,

it sounds as if the Bible is forbidding you to be anxious,

which in an odd way, if that was actually what the Bible was saying,

if you feel anxious and then the Bible says you shouldn't feel anxious,

it would make you more anxious.

So we're going to look at that.

What does the Bible say about anxiety?

You know, some of you maybe are anxious because we're here today.

A bit uneasy about what it's like to be with other people.

And anyway, there's lots of anxiety.

So let's look.

It's Philippians chapter 4, verses 1 to 7.

Philippians 4:1–7

Philippians chapter 4, verses 1 to 7.

Philippians 4:1–7

And there's like four or five different topics in these seven little verses that we're going to look at.

There's four or five different topics, any one of which I could make as a sermon.

I don't have that much time to do them all.

And I'm just going to read the text.

But we're really just going to look at two and a half verses.

And I'm going to say it over and over and over again because I want us to really sort of camp and memorize it.

I just don't have time to deal with the other issues.

So look, this is how it begins.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters whom I love and long for, my joy and crown,

stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.

And we could talk a little bit about standing firm in the Lord and what it means that Paul talks about them as the beloved.

And it's sort of bringing to a close the stuff that's gone on in the previous three chapters

and entering us into sort of some of the more practical type of exhortations and encouragement that the letter is going to begin.

And then it talks about something which is always relevant,

which is Bill Hybels famously said that whenever two or more are together, there is friction.

And we know that's true in churches.

We know it's true in families.

And we know it's in friendship.

And so the very next part addresses it in a little bit.

And we won't really.

I'll just read it.

Verse two.

I entreat Iodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord.

Yes, I ask you also, true companion,

help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel,

together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers,

whose names are in the book of life.

And we could talk about conflict and what it means to have a same mind

and what it means to sort of deal with each other,

knowing that we're all written equally in the book of life.

If you think about a conflict right now,

and then you have to think about the fact that you're going to spend eternity with that person,

then maybe you should be trying to deal with it.

And we could talk about that.

We don't because there's other things to do.

And look at the next thing.

A great thing to preach about, but I don't have time.

Verse four.

Rejoice in the Lord always.

Again, I will say rejoice.

Rejoice.

We could talk about that.

This exhortation to rejoice.

I don't have time.

Next bit also, really good stuff, worth meditating upon.

The very next verse, verse five.

It goes, let your reasonableness.

And some of your Bible translations say gentleness.

And some of your Bible translations say forbearance.

And the original language, if you triangulate this idea of forbearance, reasonableness, and gentleness,

it's the three words together sort of encapture this virtue that the Bible says that you should try to pursue.

What does it go again?

It goes, let your reasonableness, forbearance, gentleness be known to everyone.

And that would be a really good thing to talk about because we all need those things.

But we're going to talk about anxiety.

And so verses five, B, six, and seven, a very famous text in the Bible.

And if all that comes out of this sermon is that you desire to memorize this passage of Scripture and meditate upon it,

then I've done a good job.

And in fact, those of you who like to have sermon points, there's no sermon points this morning.

And the reason there's no sermon points is if you all went home and remembered my pithy little saying

and didn't remember the Bible, I failed.

I want you to remember the Bible because that's God's word written

rather than just I come up with a pithy little saying, you know,

that tickles your ears or something like that.

So what is it that the Bible says?

And those of you who listen to it, you'll hear how it is that this verse is often intimidated and depressed Christians.

It doesn't sound wise.

But I'm going to suggest that if you think about the text,

it ends up being extremely wise and very practical.

Here's how it goes.

The Lord is at hand.

Do not be anxious about anything,

but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,

let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

And just some of you notice this.

It does look almost as if Jesus is saying,

or the Bible is saying one of two things.

It looks almost as if it's saying the Christian shouldn't be anxious.

And the other thing is it almost talks about,

well, maybe you begin like you're a bad Christian like me,

but after you become a better Christian,

you'll be less anxious because the peace of God is going to guard your heart.

And that's just how that normally goes.

And let's read the text again,

and then let's just unpack it a bit.

So is the Bible saying that Christians shouldn't be anxious?

Simple answer, no.

It's not saying that.

If you look at it, it's a big but.

I know I love saying that.

There's a lot of big buts in the Bible.

Let's put it that way.

That's a good thing to get tattooed, I guess, on your arm.

I like the big buts of the Bible.

And this is a big but.

It's not saying that you should never be anxious.

It's talking about where you go with your anxiety.

That's what's going on.

Right?

It's saying the Lord is at hand,

which we're going to get back to in a moment.

Do not be anxious about anything.

But in everything.

So it's anything and everything.

It's saying, you know, it doesn't matter if you're anxious just because,

I don't know, you can't remember your PIN number for your bank machine.

Or it's just something because somebody didn't greet you the right way in church

and now you're getting anxious about it.

Or you just got a cancer diagnosis, a really big thing.

Or you're unemployed and you're maxed out on your credit card.

Those are big things to be anxious about.

Or you're moving.

That's a big thing to be anxious about.

But it's saying, for everything, the smallest thing,

that if you even shared it with your best friend,

they'd go, really?

You're anxious about that?

Like you're too caught up with being a mature adult

to actually want to acknowledge that you're anxious about something so small?

Or something that everybody would recognize, obviously,

is a matter that would cause anxiety.

The big getting a cancer diagnosis.

Something like that.

Like a serious, serious, serious.

I mean, they're all serious.

But it's saying, what do you do with your anxiety?

Because here's the thing.

You can't be human without being anxious.

You cannot be human without being anxious.

And the Bible doesn't tell you to stop being human.

The Bible addresses human realities at the deepest level

in the context of the fact that the triune God actually exists.

And so the Bible is unfailingly realistic

in a way that is compassionate and just and merciful

as it tries to get us to understand who we are as human beings

in a world where the triune God really exists.

And the fact of the matter is, if you think about it for a second,

every human being is an unending torrent of needs.

Every human being is an unending torrent of needs.

If you talk to my friend Jason at the back,

he would talk about, tell you that human beings are contingent,

which is a $153 word, which means we depend on something else.

We depended upon our mother and father for us to be born.

We depended upon our mom to keep us in the womb.

We depended upon our parents to carry us.

We learned language from other people.

We're dependent upon the ozone layer.

We're dependent upon gravity.

Like, we are one, we want to pretend that we're gods,

but we are one unending torrent of needs that will continue until we die.

And if we are an unending torrent of needs,

we will experience anxiety.

What will it be like in the new heaven and the new earth?

Well, that's a whole other thing that we can't talk about

because the Bible doesn't reveal what it will be like

to be in redeemed bodies in a redeemed relationship with God,

the triune God.

But right now we are an unending torrent of needs,

so we will always be anxious.

So the Bible isn't saying if you follow Jesus enough,

you will turn into an angel.

No.

What the Bible does is it helps you to understand

and become more human.

And so there will always be anxiety.

The question is, where do you go with your anxiety?

What do you do with your anxiety?

And that's a big human problem.

It's part of the human experience as to how you deal with anxiety.

For a lot of people, once anxiety gets to a certain level,

they take the Jack Daniels method of dealing with their anxiety

or they go and get some legal marijuana

to help them to deal with their anxiety.

In our culture, it's very common now

to go towards learning a certain meditation technique

from some type of Hinduism or Buddhism

or to learn some type of yoga technique

from some type of Hinduism from Hinduism

or to practice Buddhist mindfulness

as a way of dealing with the anxiety

and the stress that we have in our lives.

But one of the things which is common

to all of those types of things

is that all they do

is they just either numb you

to the anxiety you're feeling,

which is what Jack Daniels does,

or if it's not Jack Daniels, it's shopping

or, I don't know,

some type of adrenaline junkie type of thing.

But it either just numbs you

or helps you to have a bit of a break from it,

but that which causes the anxiety

was there when you began the meditation

and it's still there when you ended it.

And you actually aren't dealing with the anxiety.

You're just taking a break from it.

I don't know if bookstores are open yet,

but once the bookstores are open,

you can go to the Indigo bookstore

and you can see a completely different way

of trying to handle anxiety,

which is the secular method,

often mixed with different spiritual things.

There's a huge section of books,

self-help books,

to basically tell you

how to manage your emotions,

how to manage your job,

how to manage your spouse,

how to manage your kids,

how to manage your money,

how to manage this

and how to manage that

and how to manage this.

It's all ways to try to think through

how we can stop feeling anxiety

and handle it.

And here's two truths

about all those books.

One is, none of them work.

Because if they worked,

there'd only be one book.

And we'd all read it.

Right?

And the other thing about them

is if you read those books like I have,

what do they do?

They almost always,

after the first week,

make you feel more anxious,

not less.

Because you know what?

The author seems to be able to do this.

Why can't I?

Like, what's wrong with me?

And now you have 53 new things

to be anxious and down on yourself about

than you had before

because you can't manage the secret.

You can't manage the process.

No, I'm not saying that you can't learn

certain things that help.

I'm not saying that there's better ways

or worse ways to handle certain situations.

I'm not saying that.

I'm just saying,

the fact of the matter is,

is that we will always have anxiety in our lives.

And the Bible isn't saying

never be anxious.

It's saying,

listen,

all the different things you're anxious,

how do you deal with it?

What does it say?

Listen to what the text says again.

And this whole thing,

it's very, very wise.

This is why it's so wise

to try to memorize this text.

Listen to it.

The Lord is at hand.

Do not be anxious about anything,

but in everything,

by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,

let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God,

which surpasses all understanding,

will guard your hearts and your minds

in Christ Jesus.

So where do you go with your anxiety,

whether it's a small thing or a big thing?

You bring it to Jesus.

You remember that the Lord is near.

You bring it to Jesus.

The smallest thing,

the biggest things,

you bring it to Jesus,

you bring it to other Christians

who can pray about it for you as well.

And in a sense,

the text is reminding you

that it's not just that you can pray about this issue,

and I'm going to talk about this more in a moment,

but that you don't have to face it alone

if you're a Christian.

Like Jesus is with me.

I'm anxious because I've had a breakdown

in a relationship with a person

I don't know how to deal with it.

I don't have to deal with it by myself.

Jesus is near.

And who is he?

He's not just Jesus.

He's the Lord.

The Lord is near.

And the Lord is near to them as well.

So you can pray about it,

and there's this remembrance,

this reminding,

remember the Lord is near.

Remember the Lord is near.

Remember the Lord is near.

Have you remembered that the Lord is near?

But some of you might say,

George, though,

doesn't it talk about this,

the peace that surpasses all understanding?

Doesn't that sort of imply,

because I've talked to lots of Christians,

by the way,

who said I used to be very anxious,

but now I know this peace of God.

I don't feel anxiety anymore.

And I've heard testimonies about that.

I've had all sorts of people

say things like that to me over the years.

I no longer feel anxious like I do.

George, you know,

if you really let go and let God,

if you really just are fully surrendered

to the Holy Spirit,

if you really are motivated

in your spiritual disciplines,

if you're really just following Jesus,

you'll have this peace

that surpasses all understanding,

which means that you'll no longer be anxious.

And we listen to these things,

and we want to listen to these things,

because on one level,

we want to actually wish

that there's the day will come

when we're no longer anxious.

Just before I say something about this,

you know one of the things

which is at the heart of this?

Bit of a time out here.

What motivates our desire

to read self-help books

to think that we can learn

some type of method

or set of techniques

by which we will no longer be anxious?

What is it that makes Christians

wish they can,

believe that they can listen

to a testimony

about being fully surrendered

to Jesus

or fully surrendered

to the Holy Spirit

or fully committed

to the Rosary

or fully committed

to Bible memorizing

or whatever it is,

it will mean you no longer

are going to be anxious.

It's actually appealing

to our desire to be God.

It's actually appealing

to our desire to be God.

to refuse to acknowledge

that I am an unending torrent

of needs.

And if I was just

an unending torrent of needs,

that can be depressing,

but the Father and the Son

and the Holy Spirit,

they don't need,

God doesn't need me,

but He loves me,

not with a need love,

but a gift love.

I am an unending torrent of needs

and the triune God

is an unending fount

of blessing and goodness.

But go back to these Christians

who say these things.

I have one word to say to them.

I don't say it to their face.

Inwardly, I say this.

You are in denial.

I don't think you're so holy.

I'm a bad person.

I'm sorry.

I don't want to encourage you

to be...

But the fact of the matter is

that's not true.

I'm going to describe the three reasons

why that's not possibly true.

The first one is that

there's four.

One I've already talked about.

You're in an ending torrent of needs.

So that means there's going to be

anxiety there.

And so people who say...

Christians who say

they're so surrendered

to the Holy Spirit

that they're never anxious anymore,

I say to them,

you are in denial.

How do I know they're in denial?

Because I'm Exhibit A.

Some of you have heard

this story before

and after the service,

we have a doctor in the room.

Maybe he can remind me

what my condition is.

But I...

I...

I...

Quite a few years ago,

I had a racing...

I keep wanting to put my heart here,

which shows how much I know

about medicine.

The heart's closer to this side.

And I had a problem

of racing heart.

My heart was just racing.

And at the same time,

it felt sometimes

as if my heart was pounding

or the odd pound,

almost as if it was going

to pound out of my chest.

And sometimes it would feel

as if I was missing...

My heart would skip a beat.

Now, I was a typical guy.

I still am a typical guy.

So I did what all typical men do.

Don't tell anybody about it,

which is not the right way

to ever handle it.

So eventually,

I got so worried about it

that I told my wife.

And my wife did

the typical wife thing.

Why haven't you gone

to a doctor about this yet?

Oh, yeah.

There's doctors.

That's when you're supposed to go.

So I went to the doctor.

I was misdiagnosed

and all at first

as if I had a very serious

heart condition

and valve problems

and all this other

really depressing stuff,

which just made my heart

go way worse.

And I finally went

to the Ottawa Heart Institute.

They did a whole barrage

of tests on me.

At the end of it,

he said,

you have this condition.

He gave me the long name.

He said,

you have a condition

when you have too much stress

in your life,

you're going to have

these heart symptoms.

You're young and healthy

and strong.

You don't need drugs.

And I was at the time

I was in a rural church.

He said,

next time you start to have this,

you need to take two weeks off

and go fishing.

That's the solution.

Or you need to go

talk to somebody.

You have too much stress

in your life

and it's showing up

in your body

and you're not handling it right.

And you know what?

I would have said

that I had the peace of Jesus

and wasn't anxious.

It was a huge wake-up call

to me that I

was either not recognizing

my anxiety

or I was numbing

my anxiety

in ways that definitely

were not healthy.

So here's the thing.

One of the reasons

that Christians can say

that they now have

the peace of Jesus

and all of that

and that they no longer

feel anxiety,

sometimes when they say that,

if you're saying that,

it means you're in denial

probably.

There's two other reasons.

One other reason in particular.

And I don't mean

to offend you.

One of the ways

to reduce anxiety

in your life

is to stop doing

hard things for Jesus.

By the way,

that's not a point

to do something.

I'm just telling you

that's what happens.

You know,

so the Holy Spirit

starts to whisper to me

that I should share

the gospel

at some point in time

with the fellow

that I've become friends

with who's gay

and I start to think

maybe I should share

the gospel with them

and I can feel

the Holy Spirit

pressing me on

and say,

no,

I'm not going to do

something like that.

Well,

that's an easy way

to reduce your tension

and anxiety in your life.

Or you're working

in your workplace

and your boss

is doing something

which is just unjust,

unfair,

breaking the rules.

The powerful people

in the company

say you have to go ahead

and do this

and you just feel

the conviction

from within you

that you have to tackle

your boss

and confront them

for the evil

or the wrong

that they're doing

and you decide

you don't do it

and your stress goes down.

Or you get the conviction

of the Holy Spirit

that you have to start

being more financially generous.

I know that when I was

beginning to learn

how to tithe,

there was some real stress

in my life.

All of a sudden

when I had to increase

the amount of giving

that I gave

by $60 every two weeks,

that was a stressful thing.

You do it

and the roof

didn't fall down.

I still ate.

My kids still had clothes.

But you see,

if you stop

doing the hard things

that God is calling you

to do,

you will feel less anxious.

But that's not

a sign of holiness.

It's a sign

that you're no longer

following Jesus.

And the third thing is

is that you're becoming

a sociopath

in a Christian way.

Sorry.

There's a famous actress

who I'm not going to tell you

but it was about

four or five years ago

they had a thing

in the National Post

about the things

that you wish

that you could have

if you could wish

one thing

what it would be.

And one of the things

that this famous actress

said is she wished

that she'd ever feel

any guilt

for the rest of her life.

And I thought to myself

she's just wished

that she becomes

a sociopath.

Why is it that

nobody in the paper

realized she just wished

to become a sociopath

where you feel no guilt?

Because the fact

of the matter is

is if you become

more and more

you don't care

about people

like you really

just don't care

about people at all

and you don't care

about right and wrong

you'll feel less anxiety.

But you know what

if you love people

if you love your friends

if you love your nephew

or your niece

you love your kid

there's always

going to be anxiety.

There always will be

because life

can be really hard

and it breaks

your heart

to see what

they're going through.

And the only way

you stop being anxious

is to start

killing love

and killing concern

and killing your conscience

and who wants that?

If you wanted that

coming into the service

hopefully now you don't.

So whatever

the peace that passes

all understanding

means it doesn't mean

thank you Jesus

as a result

of the Holy Spirit

you're now

permanently in denial

permanently stopping

listening to Jesus

and becoming a sociopath.

No!

That's not what

the peace of Christ means

it can't.

Listen to the text again.

The Lord is at hand

do not be anxious

about anything

but in everything

by prayer and supplication

with thanksgiving

let your requests

be made known

to God

and the peace of God

which surpasses

all understanding

will guard your hearts

and your mind

in Christ Jesus.

It's such a beautiful text.

I'm going to read it again

because if all you do

is remember the text

I've done a good work.

If all you do

is you go home

and you start to wrestle

with God

with this text

that's what my job is.

I'm a herald.

I'm a pointer.

Listen to it again.

The Lord is at hand

do not be anxious

about anything

but in everything

by prayer and supplication

with thanksgiving

let your requests

be made known to God

and the peace of God

which surpasses

all understanding

will guard your hearts

and your minds

in Christ Jesus.

So what does this peace mean?

Does it mean it replaces anxiety?

No, it's referring

to something different.

In the Bible

the word peace

primarily refers

to an objective

state of affairs.

not an emotion.

It refers primarily

to an objective

state of affairs

not an emotion.

Now the objective

state of affairs

will start to influence

your emotions.

It will influence

your affections.

It will influence

your plans.

It will influence

your courage.

It will influence

your desires.

state of affairs.

But it's an objective

state of affairs

that starts to influence

how you feel.

It would be as if

you go to a doctor

and they treat

that you go through

some surgery

and you have the drug

treatments

and you're restored

to health.

The health is an objective

thing and it starts

to have other types

of effects.

Right?

You get your health

and all of a sudden

you have energy.

You get your health

and you're in less pain.

You get your health

and you feel like

you can tackle things.

You get health

and you want to go

like you know what I mean

like it's an objective thing

and what it is.

So the way to understand it

is to think of

you know that people

don't make them anymore

and maybe some of you do.

But if you imagine

that as a bit of a project

in somebody's garage

you wanted to make

the world's most elaborate

mobile.

And so you get

the fishing wire

and you get the fine

pieces of wood

and you have it

be really elaborate.

You have different

lengths of wood

some like this

some like this

and you have different

lengths of wire

and you have different

objects of different weight

and the fishing line

some are long like this

and some are short

and you work on it

and you work on it

until it's all completely

balanced and really beautiful

and that's peace.

That's peace.

And at the heart of peace

is peace with God.

At the heart of peace

is peace with God.

If you just turn in your Bibles

with me to John chapter 20

John 20 · chapter mention

John chapter 20

John 20 · chapter mention

there's this very short

three verse narrative

there's more to the narrative

but there's very short

parts of two and a half verses

which at a narrative level

and plant an idea

into your head

that now that I start

to point it out

you go

oh yeah.

That's the way

narrative works, right?

It's planted there

but one of the main ideas

of what happens

as a result of Jesus'

life, death

and resurrection

is that human beings

can now have peace

with God

and you can't get

that mobile right

if you don't have peace

with God.

You can't get that mobile right

if you don't have peace

with God

and look what happens

so John is an eyewitness

of all of the events

in this

he writes a biography

of Jesus

it's an eyewitness biography

and the very first words

that Jesus speaks

to somebody

after his resurrection

is to Mary Magdalene

we know from other biographies

that Jesus saw other people

but none of the first words

are recorded

these are the first words

of Jesus

other than the words

recorded to Mary Magdalene

these are the first words

recorded by Jesus

that Jesus spoke

that are recorded

when he speaks

to his disciples

in the upper room

look at verse 19

on the evening of that day

so it was in that morning

they discovered

that the grave is empty

the grave clothes

were left behind

and Jesus had risen

from the dead

the first day of the week

the door is being locked

where the disciples were

for fear of the Jewish leaders

Jesus came and stood

among them

and said to them

what's the first thing

he says

peace be with you

and then what does he do

he ties this message

of peace

to his crucifixion

look what he does next

when he had said this

he showed them

his hands

in his side

he shows them

this part of the hand

and he must have

lifted up his jersey

or whatever he was wearing

and showed the

the wound of the spear

that went into his side

that showed that he was dead

and then he says

to them again

peace be with you

he directly connects

his death upon

his life and death

and resurrection

to the fact that

they now have peace

now the fact of the matter is

is that

God doesn't have to have

Jesus

God the Father

doesn't have to have

Jesus do something

so that

you know

he's no longer

at war with us

because God is never

the Father is never

I mean how could the Father

be at war with us

I mean he doesn't even

have to blink

and I just would stop existing

like that's just

like

and the fact of the matter is

is that God's

unfailingly good

he's unfailingly just

he's unfailingly merciful

he's unfailingly kind

he has nothing

he's not at enmity with us

but we're at enmity with him

and we're at enmity with him

and we can't fix

our enmity with him

and if you don't think

you're at enmity with him

if the enmity with him

comes up

when he

his presence

and his sovereignty

and his rule

goes against my desire

would I have to reconcile

with that person

would I'm not allowed

to sleep with that person

you want me to be generous

it's not my money

it's yours

what do you mean

it's not my money

and yours

I need to actually

speak up to my boss

about justice

I need to repent

of racism

like how dare you say that

like you know

whoa

you know

it's that's when we start

to realize our enmity

against God

and we can't fix it ourselves

and that's what Jesus does

the demands of justice

so that the war

that our enmity

can be over

the demands

of penitence

so that

the war

could be over

the demands

of apologies

the demands

of a new life

the demands

of a new way

of living

all of these demands

which we could not

accomplish

to bring about peace

Jesus does

on our behalf

through his sinless life

and his sin bearing death

and his resurrection

and when we put our faith

and trust in him

I have peace with God

at an objective level

and now you see

the power of the teaching

and how it's all connected

George

you have all these anxieties

and George

as I've shared

in some of the last things

one of the main problems

that George has

and if George is all like you

is I keep getting amnesia

I walk out of here

and within minutes

or hours

or the next day

I forget about the fact

that the Lord is near

I forget about the fact

that not only is the Lord near

in terms of he's present

with me now

but that one day

hopefully soon

I will see him

face to face

and I forget about the fact

that in Jesus

by faith with him

I have peace with God

I forget about the fact

that the Lord is near

it means that my destiny

is secure

I forget about the fact

that my identity

is now rooted

in the fact that

Jesus is my Savior and Lord

he loves me

and he died for me

and that's my primary identity

and I forget his presence

I forget my destiny

I forget these things

I forget

that the one

whose judgment

most matters

and a lot of our anxiety

is over judgments

about ourselves

and judgments of others

and senses of what it means

to be a man

or a woman

or to be hip

or not hip

or alt-right

or progressive

or all those things

that are so connected to us

all those judgments

we impose on ourselves

and others say

and all of our fears

there's only one judgment

that really matters

and that is what

the Father says

at the end of our life

and when you put

your faith and trust

in Jesus

you already know

what he will say

welcome

welcome

I am so glad

you're here

I have loved you

with an eternal

and unfailing love

from the moment

you were conceived

in your mom's womb

and I love you so much

my son died

and I love you so much

the Holy Spirit

I just so love you

and I am so glad

you are here

welcome

and so that as we

pour out our hearts

remembering the Lord

is near

and sometimes

when it says

the peace that surpasses

all understanding

what that means

is that in every

Christian's life

and we will

in heaven only

realize it fully

that there is

every one of

in our lives

times

that the

something of the

supernatural

about how we have

responded to anxiety

and we don't realize

that it was just

a surpassing

of our understanding

as a gracious gift

friends

what does the Bible say

oh I have the wrong text

what does the Bible say

let your

the Lord is at hand

do not be anxious

about anything

but in everything

by prayer and supplication

with thanksgiving

let your requests

be made known to God

and the peace of God

which surpasses

all understanding

will guard your hearts

and your minds

in Christ Jesus

don't be afraid

of your anxieties

pour out your heart

to the Lord

there's nothing too small

nothing too big

and not just for yourself

as you look around

your neighbors

as you look around

the church

and you see the anxieties

that others have

pour out your heart

and pray for them as well

pour out your heart

and pray that the Lord

will meet them

in their anxiety

and that rather than

turning to Jack Daniels

and rather than

turning to adrenaline

junky stuff

or rather than

turning to excessive shopping

or rather than

turning to whatever it is

pray that they'll

turn to the Lord

and pray for me

a sinner

who gets amnesia

like you

and needs to learn

to pour out my heart

to the Lord

please stand

Father

we are

these things

that you know us

perfectly

and still you love us

we thank you

Father

that you know

those things about us

that are really immature

and childish

and you know

those things

that are mature

and still you love us

you know

those things about us

that are very shameful

and you know

those things

that are very excellent

and still you love us

we give you thanks

and praise that you do not weigh our merits, but pardon our offenses. We give you thanks and praise

that Jesus knew everything there was to know about us when he died upon the cross, and still he loved

us, and still he died for us. And we thank and praise you that when we could not make peace with

you, because we found you as our enemy, that you still loved us and sent Jesus to be the one

who makes peace with you, that he is our peace. Father, we ask that you deliver us from amnesia,

that you help us to remember our identity in Jesus and our destiny in Jesus and his never-failing

presence in those things in our lives that make us anxious. Father, make us mindful of these things,

and all these things we ask in the name of Jesus and all God's people said, Amen.