Sermon

Finding Peace from Worry and Anxiety

Sunday Message Podcast

Open publisher episode ↗

Publisher transcript

Transcript

View source ↗
  1. Welcome to the Illuminate Church podcast.

  2. We hope today's message is encouraging to you.

  3. We are in a series called Weeds in My Garden where we're being

  4. honest about mental health, a subject the church has been

  5. silent on for too long and left people in this Gray area of what

  6. do I do? How do I go forward?

  7. And the Lord God loves us enough to say, OK, it's time to deal

  8. with this now. And it shouldn't be surprising

  9. to you, but it's kind of amazing to think about what we're

  10. addressing today in light of what's going on in our nation.

  11. Because God intended this message over a year ago.

  12. He said, hey, you're going to be preaching this message.

  13. And here's when you're going to be preaching it.

  14. And this is the subject. And the subject today is worry

  15. and anxiety. And our nation is worried and

  16. anxious. Even within the church, we are

  17. worried and anxious. And the Lord loved us so much

  18. that sovereignly appointed this time to be this message.

  19. The 2 came together. I love when God does that.

  20. We took a survey in the church before this series began to kind

  21. of see where people were in regards to mental health.

  22. And we had all these different mental health issues and people

  23. said, yeah, I have this, I don't have this, I have this.

  24. And this one, worry and anxiety, was by far the one that most

  25. people checked. I'm dealing with worry and

  26. anxiety. In fact, 69%, almost 70% of

  27. people who call Illuminate home wrestle with worry and anxiety.

  28. If you look down your road to the four people next to you, 5

  29. people next to you, nearly four of them are wrestling with

  30. warrior anxiety. That's a lot.

  31. And also on Tuesday night, we did a question and answer during

  32. that time where people could anonymously submit questions.

  33. And it shouldn't have shocked me.

  34. I should have expected it, but so many questions were submitted

  35. related to fear, being shook up, traumatized.

  36. What do we do? Can we be bold again?

  37. Can we Are we led to preach without fear of being harmed?

  38. How do we move forward? I mean it makes total sense now,

  39. but I just wasn't expecting it. In fact, I couldn't get those

  40. questions off my mind Tuesday night into Wednesday morning

  41. when I'm writing the message and I'm thinking wow, we need to

  42. deal with more than worry and anxiety.

  43. We need to include it's near cousin, which is fear and the

  44. three of them kind of go together today.

  45. So let's lay some groundwork. If you want to, you can take out

  46. your Bibles. We're going to be in Matthew

    Matthew 6 chapter mention

  47. chapter 6 in just a moment. If you need a Bible, raise your

  48. hand. We almost ran out of Bibles in

  49. the first service that felt like we were handing out so many

  50. Bibles in Jesus name. And we're bringing you a Bible

  51. right down here. Yes, Sir.

  52. Is that you Edward? Hey, my neighbor.

  53. Anyone else need a Bible mezzanine?

  54. Here we go. We got them.

  55. We're coming to you. We're coming to you right here

  56. down the aisle from you as well. Raise your hand again.

  57. It went down. There it is.

  58. Hey, Bibles for free. So let's lay some groundwork.

  59. We'll get to Matthew 6 in just a moment.

  60. We tend to use worry and anxiety as words interchangeably.

  61. What we're talking about is this general feel, this sense of

  62. nervousness or unease and even all the way to dread.

  63. Everyone say dread. Yeah, we're in anxiety, or the

  64. suspension between hope and fear.

  65. We're in the middle. How is this going to go?

  66. Is it going to go well? Is it not going to go well?

  67. I'm fretting that it's not going to go well.

  68. And you don't know if you're supposed to be excited or

  69. afraid. Your body is responding.

  70. There's chemical things happening.

  71. You feel this, this sense of these emotions arising.

  72. Is this excitement? Is this fear?

  73. I don't feel like I have a solid foundation for what's about to

  74. happen. I don't know how to proceed.

  75. And so we use these words, and we use them for incredibly

  76. different things. For instance, we may say I feel

  77. anxious or nervous about asking a date for prom.

  78. Got these jitteries. And then we'll use the same

  79. words to say I'm not sure I feel anxious or worried that I can't

  80. pay the hospital bill or pay for food.

  81. I would say we're worried and anxious about going to Islands

  82. of Adventure, Universal Studios. Can I say that?

  83. Am I allowed to use those words? Nobody's going to Disney.

  84. Crucify me. OK, Yeah, when you're in line

  85. for Velocicoaster. Anyone done this?

  86. Yep. And you're in line thinking I'm

  87. an idiot. Like I'm willfully about to do

  88. this. And the whole line, 17 hours of

  89. line, you're just worried and anxious at least.

  90. And then they shoot you out 70 miles an hour times 10, and then

  91. you're up in a hot top hat and upside down and puking.

  92. And then we use the same words when we say, hey, I'm afraid

  93. about the diagnosis. I'm anxious about end of life.

  94. And we use these words and what do they mean and what power do

  95. they have for us? From a physiological

  96. perspective, we can start to see the divergent of the word worry

  97. and the worry and the word anxiety.

  98. Worry is an automatic response. It might be more called concern

  99. in this case that your body has naturally.

  100. It's a natural mechanism that is a purpose for helping us from

  101. danger. This is where flight, flight,

  102. flight, fight or freeze, it's hard to say, emerges.

  103. It's the heightened awareness of like when you're walking to your

  104. car alone at night in the middle of the city, you're just alert.

  105. Your, your body is telling you be alert, stay vigilant, be

  106. safe. It's when you have a test coming

  107. on Friday and it's Tuesday and your body is saying you better

  108. prepare for that so that it goes well.

  109. It's informing you to change your behavior so that there are

  110. better outcomes in the future. It can be helpful.

  111. Anxiety though, is different physiologically because what

  112. happens is we have this persistent period of worry that

  113. brings us deeper roots in our Physiology.

  114. It can be caused by situational challenges, it can be caused by

  115. past trauma. But whatever it is, your brain

  116. literally physically changes and it hard wires differently in

  117. your brain so that you live in a constant state of this unease

  118. worry. It comes and goes.

  119. Anxiety. It's a constant state of this

  120. unease, this nervousness, this dread and fear creeps in, tries

  121. to snuff our life out from us. Think of worry and anxiety on a

  122. spectrum. Worry can motivate, while

  123. anxiety can incapacitate. Somebody say, Yep, too much

  124. worrying becomes anxiety. So you can see that the spectrum

  125. can tilt towards incapacitation. Doesn't have to go that way, but

  126. it can go that way. It's a slippery slope.

  127. The best way that I can talk about this is to describe how I

  128. feel about heights. I ain't never sitting up in the

  129. mezzanine. Me and heights, we're not

  130. friends. High places are not.

  131. Nope, don't like it. There's only one wedding that

  132. I've ever said no to that wasn't a schedule conflict.

  133. I've had to say no to some scheduling conflicts, but

  134. there's only one other wedding that I said no to.

  135. And it's because the people getting married said we want to

  136. step into a Wicker basket that's tied to a gigantic flaming

  137. cannon that's shooting at flammable fabric and go up in

  138. the air and you marry us. These people wanted to get

  139. married in a hot air balloon while it was hot airing.

  140. You know what I said? See you at the reception.

  141. I did not do it. Another pastor in the church,

  142. they went up in the balloon and it was guys.

  143. It was a terrible experience for them.

  144. There was no wind. It was so hot.

  145. They barely went out anywhere in the they just went up a little

  146. bit and they stayed there. They didn't move anywhere.

  147. They got married and they came back down.

  148. They got to the reception all sweaty and like told y'all we

  149. could have done this on the ground in the air conditioning.

  150. But our family went to Paris 2 summers ago.

  151. You know what's in Paris? Eiffel Tower.

  152. They're like, it's iconic. I'm like Nope it's historic.

  153. Nope Nope. You'll see.

  154. So Many thanks from up there. Nope.

  155. So a bunch of people went up to the top of the tower.

  156. I rented an E bike and went around the tower.

  157. True story. Yep, glad you're laughing at me.

  158. Some of you find this funny because you have No Fear of

  159. heights because some of you are wired differently.

  160. God made you in an unfortunate way, your brain says.

  161. Put me in an airplane with a backpack full of fabric and when

  162. it gets up to 5000 feet, let me jump out of a perfectly good

  163. airplane, which is the backpack and some fabric.

  164. It's called skydive. Yep.

  165. Now for me, situationally being afraid of heights is not a big

  166. deal because I don't interact with heights all that often.

  167. God loves me and he made me short 5 foot 9 on a good day.

  168. Imagine if I was Bob Spraker. Tall Bob?

  169. How tall are you? 6 what?

  170. 6-8? He was almost 6/7.

  171. If I was 6-8 Can you imagine every day I'd be like I'm so

  172. high up here get me down right? The Lord loves me so he put me

  173. in Florida. Flat boring next to sea level

  174. Florida. Our mountains are called space

  175. splash and Thunder. Yep, he loves me.

  176. I don't have to deal with it very often.

  177. Now imagine if the church decided that we wanted to honor

  178. the Lord and build a big tower out front like this glorious

  179. thing, and they put my office at the top of the tower.

  180. Now what I barely interacted with suddenly situationally

  181. becomes regular to me and I have to deal with this terrifying

  182. thing in my life every single day.

  183. Situationally, I've gone from barely having to deal with it to

  184. always having to deal with it, and it goes from worry to

  185. anxiety and incapacitation as a result.

  186. Now, for you, it may not be heights.

  187. For you, it could be speaking from a platform like this in

  188. front of 1000 people. Anybody have a fear of public

  189. speaking? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

  190. Makes sense. What seems like nothing to me is

  191. everything to someone else. But what about actual important

  192. things? Not heights or speaking on a

  193. platform. What if we're concerned about

  194. things that really matter? Things like being separated from

  195. your family when somebody goes off to college or somebody gets

  196. married and starts a new household, Whatever.

  197. Concerned about losing our marriages?

  198. Or maybe you're concerned about being in large rooms with large

  199. groups of people. You're struggling right now.

  200. Maybe you have a fear of failure.

  201. Maybe you're worried concerned about an upcoming test, be it

  202. medical or academic. Maybe you're worried about

  203. performance reviews, losing your job, financial pressure, social

  204. rejection. Or maybe you're concerned that

  205. somebody's going to find out your secret sin.

  206. And so you have this constant situational right in your face

  207. anxiety. Here's the point.

  208. Unchecked worry can lead to anxiety, and unchecked anxiety

  209. can lead us into a debilitated state.

  210. Believe it. It can drive us into isolation.

  211. It can rob from us our passions. It can cause us to miss out on

  212. making so many memories, and it can make us feel like we are

  213. disqualified from participating in the mission of Jesus Christ.

  214. Remember last week we said the devil comes to steal, kill and

  215. destroy. Anxiety is the stealing part.

  216. Worrying is the stealing part. Now, Jesus knew that we would

  217. wrestle with it. This is not on the screens.

  218. But you know, John chapter 16 says that Jesus says in this

    John 16 chapter mention

  219. world you will have trouble. And then he says, take heart, I

  220. have overcome the world. How do you do that?

  221. We're going to find that out today together.

  222. The truth is we live in a fallen world, and because of the

  223. fallenness of the world, there are things that injure us and

  224. erode our belief and trust in the Lord our God.

  225. But Jesus has given us an advantage.

  226. Jesus has given us a way to overcome and hear me fear,

  227. anxiety and worry. All of these things are trying

  228. to get you to ignore the advantage that it doesn't exist.

  229. Satan tries to get you to a nor ignore the advantage.

  230. We're going to see this all unfold in Matthew chapter 6.

    Matthew 6 chapter mention

  231. If you're there, we're in verse 25, verse 25, Jesus is speaking

  232. and he says therefore I tell you do not worry about your life,

  233. what you will eat or drink or about your body.

  234. What you will wear is not life more than food and the body more

  235. than clothes. First, if you ever read in the

  236. Scripture and you see a therefore, you got to ask the

  237. question, what's the therefore, therefore it's a contextual

  238. question. What is, what am I reading and

  239. why does it matter? Just before this, in Matthew

    Matthew 6 chapter mention

  240. chapter 6, Jesus says do not store up for yourself treasures

  241. on earth. They're just going to fade away.

  242. They're going to be eaten up, but instead store it for

  243. yourself, treasures in heaven, things which are eternal, things

  244. that matter. Jesus is saying to us right

  245. before we read Matthew chapter 6, verse 25.

    Matthew 6:25

  246. I think you're caring about the wrong things.

  247. I, I think you have the world's economy ahead of the Kingdom

  248. economy and for your benefit, I'm telling you, store it for

  249. yourself treasures in heaven. Therefore, because you have

  250. treasures in heaven, because you have a Kingdom focus, because

  251. you have a king, therefore do not worry.

  252. Exactly. That was so perfect.

  253. If you couldn't hear the baby laughing up here, she ain't

  254. worried. I think she just preached way

  255. better than I did. That wasn't funny.

  256. Jesus says do not worry. How do you receive those words?

  257. What do you hear? Is Jesus making an invitation to

  258. you? Is Jesus saying, hey, maybe you

  259. shouldn't worry. The right way to receive these

  260. words is as command. Jesus is commanding his church

  261. not to worry. He's commanding you not to

  262. worry. Just like do not commit

  263. adultery, do not use the Lord's name in vain, do not murder.

  264. Jesus says do not worry. Whoa, think about that for a

  265. second. Now, when you read that, would

  266. Jesus give us a command that is not possible for us to follow?

  267. Yes or no? Would Jesus give us a command

  268. that is not possible for us to follow?

  269. No, of course not. Why?

  270. He is a good God and he's given us a command so that you and I

  271. could leave here today saying, you know what?

  272. It is possible for me not to worry.

  273. It is possible for me not to be anxious because He is good.

  274. Matthew 2626. Look at the birds of the air.

  275. They do not sow or reap or Stow away in barns, and yet your

  276. heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable

  277. than they? Have you ever seen a bird pacing

  278. on a branch trying to sort out life?

  279. Birds are so chill and relaxed they land on electrical wires.

  280. What's up? And God says we are much more

  281. valuable than they. No worries.

  282. Why? Because God is good.

  283. We need to be convinced of this today, of the goodness of God.

  284. He sees us, He values us, He cares about our needs.

  285. And here's what happens if you don't think that God is good.

  286. You end up trying to control things for yourselves.

  287. I don't know if God can do it, so I better do it for myself.

  288. Case in point, verse 27. Can any one of you, by worrying,

  289. control your life, Add a single hour to your life.

  290. You can see that by worrying, we're trying to exert our

  291. control. We are trying to do the

  292. impossible. We're trying to add to our

  293. lives. Well, listen, worry does not

  294. stop time and worry does not stop death.

  295. What worry stops is life, and you're living of it.

  296. Worrying does not make tomorrow's troubles go away.

  297. It makes today's peace go away. When we worry, try to wrest

  298. control. I can do this.

  299. Matthew, chapter 6, verse 28. And why do you worry about

    Matthew 6:28

  300. clothes? See how the flowers of the field

  301. grow? They do not labor or spend.

  302. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon and all of his splendor

  303. was dressed like one of these. If that is how God closed the

  304. grass of the field which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown

  305. into the fire, will he not much more clothe you?

  306. Addendum. Hear from Jesus, you of little

  307. faith. Again, the question is, do we

  308. believe that God is good? You of little faith?

  309. Do you think that God can supply?

  310. Do you think that God will supply?

  311. Jesus says you have little faith.

  312. Remember the song we sang his kids?

  313. Will you sing it with me now? Come on, nice and loud.

  314. Don't leave me alone up here all by myself.

  315. He's got the whole world in his hands.

  316. What? In his hands He's got the whole

  317. world. OK, Yeah, Let me explain this

  318. song to you in terms of a family.

  319. My children don't worry if the mortgage is going to be paid.

  320. My children, two of them are adults.

  321. So it's we're calling them children.

  322. They don't worry about car payments.

  323. They don't worry about saving up for vacation.

  324. They don't worry about whether or not there's going to be food

  325. or Christmas presents because they trust mom and Dad and they

  326. know that we're good. And mom and dad are imperfect

  327. humans. Mom and dad are limited humans

  328. in terms of resource. So when we say that God is good.

  329. And that he can provide, if even here's we learn at a young age

  330. to trust our parents or, or maybe you had a difficult

  331. upbringing and I'm, I'm not trying to wound you in this, but

  332. we learn from a young age that we can trust God.

  333. And then it's like through time we stop feeling that way and

  334. believing that way that He will provide, that He'll take care of

  335. it, that He is able. Let's move on here.

  336. Matthew chapter 6, verse 31. So do not worry, There's the

    Matthew 6:31

  337. command again, not a suggestion, not an invitation, a command

  338. saying what shall we eat? What shall we drink?

  339. What shall we wear? For the pagans, You know what a

  340. Pagan is, one who does not have a good God.

  341. They run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows

  342. that you need all these things. Follow me along here.

  343. Let's say that you have a friend who knows that you have a

  344. medical condition that can only be cured by cupcakes.

  345. And let's say that your friend who knows that you have a

  346. disease that can only be cured by cupcakes happens to own a

  347. cupcake bakery. And let's say that your friend

  348. who knows that you have an illness, a disease that can only

  349. be cured by cupcakes, who owns a cupcake bakery, happens to be

  350. your #1 fan. They love you like crazy.

  351. They're always around the highs and the lows, the faithfulness

  352. of this friend. And so when the doctor comes to

  353. you and says, hey, you have a disease that can only be cured

  354. by cupcakes, you go perfect, I have a friend, you won't believe

  355. this. They love me like crazy and they

  356. own a cupcake factory. I'm good.

  357. I'm assured I'm not going to worry about this disease for one

  358. single moment. Y'all know where I'm going with

  359. this? Do you know where I'm going with

  360. this? God knows what you need, and God

  361. is the endless supply of what you need.

  362. And he loves you, he's wild about you.

  363. And so when the disease has come, they seek to devour us.

  364. We say, wait a second, I've got a God who has an endless supply

  365. of what I need. I'm going to be good.

  366. How so? Why doesn't it feel this way?

  367. Where's the disconnect between what we're experiencing and what

  368. God is promising here? In Matthew chapter 6, it's in

    Matthew 6 chapter mention

  369. the next verse, verse 33. But seek first His Kingdom and

  370. His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as

  371. well. Therefore, do not worry.

  372. There it is again about tomorrow.

  373. For tomorrow we'll worry about itself.

  374. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

  375. This is the key to all of this, to freeing us from worry and

  376. anxiety, is to seek first. This sounds strange, but seeking

  377. first is the advantage that God has given us that the devil

  378. tries to get us to ignore. What do I mean?

  379. When worry creeps up, you are not left helpless.

  380. The devil wants you to think you're helpless, but you can say

  381. in the back of your head, no devil, I'm going to seek the

  382. Kingdom of God and his righteousness.

  383. And as I seek him and his righteousness, everything that I

  384. need, that I'm worried about it that you're trying to get me to

  385. be worried about and anxious about, the Lord my God will

  386. provide His peace, His love, His provision.

  387. They're all coming from Him. With an open hand to me, you can

  388. seek the Kingdom who happens to have a king.

  389. This is our advantage as believers.

  390. If we don't have a king with a Kingdom, there is no hope.

  391. There's nowhere to turn. What you're facing is all you

  392. got and all that you have in your hand, all that you have in

  393. your brain. That's it.

  394. It's the end of the that's all you got.

  395. But we have an advantage that in each and every situation and say

  396. hold up a minute, quit lying to me devil and stealing what God

  397. has given me the ability to know without a shadow of a doubt my

  398. king is on his throne and I will not be shaken.

  399. This is my advantage. This is what it looks like.

  400. How do you live it out? How do you seek God's Kingdom

  401. first? Well, you may say get up early

  402. in the morning to read the Bible.

  403. I would say yes, absolutely, but let me give it to you in another

  404. biblical way. First, Peter chapter 5, verse

  405. six and seven says humble yourselves.

  406. Therefore, under God's mighty hand, you go from being up here

  407. where you're the boss and you said, no, I'm going to submit

  408. myself instead to God's mighty and I'm going under the

  409. authority and the leadership of the Lord that he may lift you up

  410. in due time. Verse 7, cast all your anxiety

  411. on to him because he cares for you.

  412. There's something beautiful here in the original text that we

  413. don't get in our English. These look like 2 separate

  414. sentences. 1 is about humbling yourself.

  415. Another one's about dealing with anxiety, but the two are

  416. actually together. Humbling yourself is

  417. surrendering control, acknowledging God's sovereignty

  418. and His superiority so that He can add His time and in His way,

  419. lift us up out of every miry pit.

  420. The word cast, which comes in verse 7, is not a command, it's

  421. not a verb. It's not the beginning of a new

  422. sentence, though it looks like that in English.

  423. In the original text, it's a subordinate clause.

  424. How many all came today? Ready for a grammar lesson?

  425. Some of you are sweating. This Is your fear a subordinate

  426. clause? It's only job is to add more

  427. information to the main clause. The main clause is verse 6, to

  428. humble yourself. Verse 7, the subordinate clause

  429. says how to do it. How do you humble yourself?

  430. You get to this point and say I cannot handle this, I'm giving

  431. it to you. This is a picture of humility.

  432. I have been the king over this situation and it's not going

  433. well for me. I'm going to allow you to be

  434. king and I'm going to give this care to you because not only do

  435. you care for me, but you can care about this a lot better.

  436. I'm giving this to you. I don't have it.

  437. You have it over and over. Now here's the key.

  438. Don't walk back over to the pile and pick it up again.

  439. Leave it under the care of Jesus.

  440. Seek first his Kingdom. You guys know that we often seek

  441. our own Kingdom first, our own ways.

  442. The world will tell you ways this way is better.

  443. Do this secular humanism, Marxism, these are better.

  444. Instead, we're going to submit everything under the care of

  445. God. And be careful here.

  446. It says seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness, which

  447. means don't you seek the person but seek his ways.

  448. So when I worship you God, that's one thing.

  449. When I obey you, that's a whole nother kind of worship and the

  450. 2GO together. So we can't come to church and

  451. say God you are great and then go out there and say devil you

  452. are better and then expect us not to be worried and anxious.

  453. Instead, God says worship me and follow me and you will see worry

  454. and anxiety dried up in your life, much if not all of it

  455. completely gone because of who He is.

  456. This is our advantage that we have as believers in Jesus,

  457. according to His Word and according to His Kingdom

  458. culture. Anxiety and worry attempt to get

  459. us to forget what we already have in Christ Jesus.

  460. When you start an intimate personal relationship with Jesus

  461. Christ, you were placed in Him, in His body, in the body of

  462. Christ. The advantage that Satan tries

  463. to get us to ignore is that you are in Christ eternally in

  464. relationship. And if we could let that fully

  465. dwell within our hearts, it would castaway fear and anxiety.

  466. So today I want to close by reminding you of the

  467. immeasurable riches that you have in Christ Jesus our Lord.

  468. Were you ready to? Are you ready to receive these?

  469. Say yes. These are things that you have

  470. and things that you are because of your relationship with Jesus

  471. Christ. And only through a relationship

  472. with Jesus Christ, you have freedom, innocence, grace upon

  473. grace, redemption, and the righteousness of God in Christ.

  474. You have a Heavenly Father, the selfless Son, a Holy Spirit, and

  475. billions of brothers and sisters in the faith in Jesus Christ.

  476. There's no condemnation. There's new birth, new life, new

  477. creation, new clothes, new mind, new heart, new nature, new

  478. covenant, new spirit that rose Christ from the dead, then

  479. placed you in a new family and sealed you with a new destiny

  480. and a new identity. In Christ you are chosen, you

  481. are saved, you are accepted and you are adopted.

  482. In Christ you have been consecrated, liberated,

  483. initiated, supplied, anointed, purified, sanctified and

  484. justified. In Christ Jesus.

  485. Are you here at church? You have love, joy, peace,

  486. patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and

  487. self-control in Christ. You have wisdom and knowledge,

  488. vision, imagination, creativity, focus and purpose In Christ.

  489. You have the mission of God. You have the meaning of life and

  490. the mystery of the gospel. In Christ, the veil has been

  491. lifted and torn. The distance has been erased.

  492. The ransom has been paid. The trespasses have been

  493. cancelled. Woo, the chains have been

  494. broken. Praise God in Christ, you have

  495. been made alive, made new, made steadfast, made one, and made

  496. grateful. You have been given power,

  497. victory, triumph, strength, every spiritual blessing in the

  498. heavenly realm, immeasurable riches in Christ.

  499. Are you hearing what I'm saying? You have been given a promise

  500. that one day you will be consummated.

  501. One day you will be vindicated. One day you will be resurrected,

  502. rewarded, crowned and perfected. In Christ you have an identity,

  503. You have a story. You have eternal value and

  504. worth. You have the image of God.

  505. You have the cross shaped heart of love of Jesus.

  506. You have a realistic assessment of your evil.

  507. But even greater than that, you have a way out of evil.

  508. In Christ you have a transfusion of life, an epic mission, an

  509. epic purpose, an epic ending filled with life giving, hair

  510. raising, breathtaking lovemaking meaning.

  511. In Christ alone, Christ is enough.

  512. You have all that you need. You have too much going for you

  513. to worry and be anxious in Jesus Christ.

  514. To close it, I'm going to ask you to do something a little

  515. different, and you may be here by yourself.

  516. You may not know the person sitting next to you.

  517. I'm asking you just for a little bit of boldness.

  518. Get over the awkward. This is the House of the Lord.

  519. I'm going to ask you just to join hands with somebody next to

  520. you. If you're by yourself, you want

  521. to slide over. If you want to come up here and

  522. hold my hand, I'm just kidding. Don't do that.

  523. Come on, everyone, come to you at home.

  524. Hope you got somebody holding your hand with the reason that

  525. we're doing this is because I want you to know that you're not

  526. alone, that there are others who are struggling, But in the body

  527. of Christ we're binding together to remind ourselves that God is

  528. near, that he is enough, and that he is able.

  529. So let the person sitting next to you be a physical

  530. representation of what is guaranteed to us in the

  531. heavenlies by the Lord our God. And if you continue, hold on

  532. that hand as we pray, would you bow your heads and close your

  533. eyes? Thank you, Father, for your

  534. word. It gives us hope that a life

  535. without worry and anxiety, debilitating fear, overwhelming

  536. dread, it is possible. Why?

  537. Because you are good God, and all you do is good.

  538. Root it in our hearts so that no lie can remain.

  539. Reframe, restructure, rebuild the synapses in our brain so

  540. that those hardwired traumas are replaced by the glory and the

  541. beauty and the power and love of who you are.

  542. God in church, just as we're praying, I want to say this to

  543. you clearly, there is no hope with fear and worry and anxiety

  544. outside of a relationship with Jesus.

  545. All you have is you against the fear, and you cannot win on your

  546. own. And I believe you know that to

  547. be true, based on the pain and the seasons of fear and anxiety

  548. you've walked through, you need a helper.

  549. And that helper's name is Jesus. We all do.

  550. He is the only one, the only one to defeat Satan.

  551. And so today you have an opportunity to cross the line of

  552. faith and believe in Jesus for the first time, to receive him

  553. as the power over sin and death, as the victory over fear and

  554. anxiety, by simply believing in your heart and confessing with

  555. your mouth. So the whole church is going to

  556. pray this prayer together. Would you repeat after me

  557. everyone saying, Father, in the name of Jesus?

  558. I recognize that I am a Sinner in need of a Savior to overcome

  559. my fears, to overcome my doubts, to give me salvation.

  560. So I believe and I confess that Jesus is Lord.

  561. I receive him as my Savior into my heart.

  562. Live your life through me all the days of my life in Jesus

  563. name. Wow.

  564. Praise God, keep your heads bowed.

  565. Make that personal. If you're praying that for the

  566. first time, believe it in your heart.

  567. You've just been saved by the grace of God through the blood

  568. of Jesus. He stepped into your place and

  569. sacrificed his life for you. Thanks be to God.

  570. If you prayed that prayer for the first time, I'm going to ask

  571. you in just one moment to raise your hand when I count to 3.

  572. And the reason you're doing that is just a bold expression.

  573. God, I'm in. But it's also a chance for us to

  574. give you something that's crucial and important to your

  575. brand new journey of faith. So if you're believing for the

  576. first time on the count of three, raise your hand 123 nice

  577. and high. Just hold it there for a second.

  578. Come on, we see you. Congratulations.

  579. Well done. The Lord bless you.

  580. He sees you. You're making a good decision.

  581. He's making all things new. He saved you.

  582. He's redeemed you from the pit. He's brought you newness of

  583. life. We see you.

  584. Did we miss anybody? If we miss you, did we miss

  585. anybody? This is important part.

  586. Pastor Dave is going to come in just a moment and tell you what

  587. to do with the stuff you got in your hands and to dismiss you.

  588. But I say to you, the Lord blesses you and he loves you,

  589. and so do I Thank you for sitting closely with one another

  590. in this very sacred space of mental health.

  591. God is doing a good thing. Amen.

  592. Amen. Let's give him praise.

  593. Thanks for joining us today. We hope God is speaking to your

  594. heart through this message. If you'd like to connect with

  595. us, you can text Connect to 4:07 588-0115 or visit Illuminate dot

  596. Church. Have a great week.