The Jesus Stories • Anxiety

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- Well, good morning.

If you have your Bible, and I hope you do,

I wanna invite you to join us in Matthew chapter six.

As you turn there, I wanna share with you

an opportunity for you to be praying over this next month.

We have a couple in our church, Tim and Maggie Rice,

who will be departing this week

to head for the next month onto the mission field

with the IMB to head to Thailand.

And so I wanna make sure that you are praying for them

and for what their ministry that they're gonna be doing,

the people that they're gonna be interacting with,

their opportunities that they have to share the gospel,

but also if you've never traveled

and then traveled abroad or traveled in other climates,

just the wear and tear that that does on your body

and all the things that are going on with that.

And so just continue to be in prayer for Tim and Maggie

as they go to serve for a month on the mission field.

What an admirable calling to go and to do that.

And we thank them for hearing, for listening,

and for most importantly,

obeying God's call on their life to go.

I wanna echo what Pastor Dave said

about our discipleship studies.

There's some really good ones that we're offering.

They're really good every time.

Some one that we're excited about though as well,

and would love for you to join in that.

This is that kind of time of year as school starting back.

I hope all of us who are,

heard those who are not in school,

we're even thinking, man,

maybe this is a new time for me in pattern of life,

especially with the discipleship.

So whether that's a study on Sunday morning,

whether that's get involved with a small group,

a men's group, a women's group, whatever it is,

we wanna encourage you to take that next step of obedience

of what Christ has called us to do

so we can grow as his disciples

and share the gospel where he has for us.

Well, I wanna share just briefly,

this isn't the official summary of the week,

but you will get one of those at a later time

about our student ministry.

But this builds into what I'm gonna be talking about

this morning.

Our student ministry,

I think it was roughly like 62 of us left Lexington

and went up to Black Mountain Children's Home

and served there over the last week.

I had the privilege and the honor

to serve as a part of the kitchen crew

alongside my wife and Trisha Evans.

And here's what I would like to say about this trip.

It was great.

It was wonderful.

It was exciting.

God did a lot of things and I'm exhausted, right?

But all of those things rolled up into one,

a wonderful, wonderful time.

Erin and I, we got home yesterday about 1230.

We had laundry to start doing things,

to start taking care of.

And then she said, "Let's change the sheets on our bed."

I said, "Okay."

It's about four o'clock.

I took those old dirty sheets off,

took that old comforter off,

threw it in the pile to be washed,

grabbed those new sheets, that new comforter.

And I looked at her and I said,

"I know it's four o'clock, but I'm going to bed."

And I'm out, right?

Out, out, till about 630, woke up,

grabbed some goldfish and a granola bar,

and then slept again until 430 this morning, all right?

Well, here's what happened to me.

Here's the part of the trip that I wanna share.

You'll hear all about what God did.

This kind of brings us into, I think, something cool

in my kind of silliness of things that I do.

Before I left, I knew that I had to come back

and preach on Sunday morning,

so I went and got all of my stuff, all my supplies,

all the things that I needed to do,

and I glanced at the teaching calendar

and was excited because the teaching calendar

had me teaching the prodigal son, is what I read.

Now, I want you to look at Matthew 6.

That's not there.

Wednesday, I had a conversation with Josh and Kim Nix.

They're up there serving, I'm serving,

and Josh is like, "Man, I gotta ask you this question.

"How do you come on these mission trips

"and do all of these things, and then you come back

"and you preach on Sunday morning?"

I said, "Well, Josh, there's always message prep,

"always things that you need to do."

I said, "But you gotta be smart about that,

"and you gotta make sure that you're preaching

"off of a passage of scripture

"that you're really comfortable with,

"that you know really well,

"that you could honestly preach it with your eyes closed.

"You know it so well."

I said, "So for me, one of those passages

"is the prodigal son, so I'll be excited

"to preach the prodigal son on Sunday."

Now, look back at Matthew 6.

That's not there.

Yesterday, sitting there at the table

before I'm knocked out, I pull up my church app

for the planning of everything that's going on,

just to kinda see the flow, see who's singing,

see the song, see all the stuff that's there.

I like to do that just to kinda get my brain set

on everything that's happening.

And on the top bar, it gives the passage of scripture.

And I looked at that top bar,

thinking that it would say prodigal son,

and it said anxiety.

And looks at me, she's like, "What's going on?"

I was like, "You know how this week,

"I've been prepping and ready to do the prodigal son?"

She said, "Yeah."

I said, "Well, I'm talking about anxiety,

"and I just realized that.

"So right now, I'm wrestling with anxiety, right?

"As we prepare to do this."

But here's what's gonna happen.

Here's one that kinda connects you in with this.

Joel and I did something different

with our lesson time at Black Mountain this year,

and it went over wonderful.

It was fantastic.

We sat down with five students in our student ministry,

and just said to 'em, "Hey, you know how one of the adults

"always prepares a lesson to kinda lead the group

"at the end of the night?

"So here's what we'd like to do.

"We would like for you, we're gonna come alongside you,

"we're gonna work with you with this.

"We're gonna give you the resources,

"and the time, and the prayer

"that you're gonna need to come alongside you.

"But we would like for you to lead those lessons."

And these five students, Ella Van Ham, Emma Bradbury,

Avery Bush, Grayson Bradbury, and Micah Hood,

just for a couple months, worked, and worked,

and worked, and worked, and worked,

and came up with these lessons.

They came up with small group discussion guides

to go along with those lessons,

and that's what the week was.

And I tell you, man, those teenagers leading other teenagers

to talk about the Lord, and what that looked like

to teach from God's word, was just better

than any of us could ever possibly imagine.

And so, yesterday I worked for a little bit,

and then I got up super early this morning,

and started diving into God's work.

And here's why I tell you all of the foolishness

of me forgetting things, of where I'm at

in this message series.

As I begin to work through this passage of scripture,

I begin to draw from so many different things

that God was teaching me.

But overwhelmingly, it seemed like it came back

over, and over, and over again to,

man, Ella said this, let me throw this in here.

Man, Emma said this, let me throw this in there.

Man, look at what Avery brought out.

I wanna connect that here.

Micah, and Grayson, and all of those.

So if you're a student that was on the trip,

I think one of the cool things is,

is you're gonna see the narrative of what God's teaching,

and how it threads it through.

And if you're one of us that are adults,

and just think that, man, these students

are just people that need to be taught,

and these people that need to be instructed,

what's really cool is when you can sit back,

and you can hear God's truth as God's truth,

and watch them teach and what they're gonna do.

So I tell you the foolishness that a man

forgot what Bible passage he was supposed

to preach out of, right?

Carried all the wrong resources, all the wrong things,

did all the wrong stuff, so that God could work

and move on what God wants to do this morning.

So I'm excited, ironically enough,

to talk about anxiety this morning, all right?

So with that said, let's get started.

Matthew 6, I wanna start reading in verse 25.

"Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life,

"what you will eat or what you will drink,

"nor about your body.

"What you will put on is not life more than food,

"and the body more than clothing.

"Look at the birds of the air.

"They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns,

"and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

"Are you not of more value than they?

"In which of you, being anxious,

"can add a single hour to his span of life?

"And why are you anxious about clothing?

"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.

"They neither toil nor spin.

"Yet I tell you, even Solomon, in all his glory,

"was not arrayed like one of these.

"But if God so clothes the grass of the field,

"which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven,

"will he not much more clothe you?

"Oh, you of little faith.

"Therefore, do not be anxious, saying,

"'What shall we eat, or what shall we drink,

"'or what shall we wear?'

"For the Gentiles seek after all these things,

"and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,

"and all these things will be added to you.

"Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow,

"for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.

"Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

This is something that you've probably heard

many, many times if you've come to church.

It's a topic that's very prevalent in our culture today,

and it is a topic that I would think is very prevalent

in Jesus' culture then.

Why?

Because Jesus talked about it.

Just as we, anxiety and mental health

is something that we feel is a hot topic issue

in our culture in which we live,

obviously it was in Jesus' day as well.

In the context of what we see here,

Jesus is giving the Sermon on the Mount,

and sandwiched right here in the middle

between Jesus teaching on laying up treasures

and judging others, we find this passage

just nestled right in there.

We find that Jesus adds this to this group of people

that have gathered to hear these words from this man,

and Jesus shares them.

I have a feeling very, very while on the surface,

simplistic verses, words, very complicated

when we dive into them and begin to try to understand them

and even oftentimes place them into our lives.

But I want us to notice just a handful of things

with not only what Jesus says,

but how Jesus teaches this passage of Scripture

that we just read.

How Jesus works through this with a group of people

who are oppressed, with a group of people,

some who have maybe been enslaved,

a group of people who would have experienced loss,

a group of people who are going through

financial difficulties.

Anybody else in here can kind of relate to where they are.

To look at what he says.

First thing that Jesus says that I want us to notice

is he gives a command.

Jesus begins by giving a command.

Look at verse 25, very first part.

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life.

That's a command from God to us.

Do not be anxious.

Now some of you may have heard that and nodded in the greed.

Some of you may have heard that

and what registered in your spirit

was easier said than done.

Two disclaimers I want to give in this.

Number one, I wish, I wish that this message

for those of you who struggle with anxiety in this,

I wish that I could somehow package up

and give you like a five step lesson

for how to remove that from your life.

I wish I could.

If I could, I would.

And if I could, I'd be rich.

But I can't, I can't.

This is not an easy process.

This is not an easy, do these five simple things

and all of this will be gone and you'll worry no more.

Second thing that I want to say to you

is I say this as a guy, as a man

who in the past has struggled with anxiety

and who still currently in the present aspects of my life

can see anxiety's ugly head

begin to raise itself up in my life.

I've shared this story before.

I'll give you guys the Cliff Notes version of it

about 15 years ago.

I was a campus pastor at a church.

We were a church that did the video stream

of the message from a different campus.

My job was to go up at the end after the message was given

and give the altar call to share the gospel and to do that.

My other job was before the service,

as the service was getting started,

was to do the welcome, very similar to what Dave does.

And so when I got up there to do the welcome

during that, something happened,

not important what took place,

something happened in the congregation in that moment

and what it sent me mentally was in a downward spiral.

I stumbled through the welcome.

You know, we pastors, we wear these complicated,

aggravating mic packs.

On my way of walking off the stage,

I'm yanking this thing off as fast as I can.

I toss it to our youth pastor.

I said, "You got the rest of this, I'm out."

Walked out of the auditorium,

went back into a classroom with our kids' ministry.

Said to one of our security team members,

"Get my wife."

Went into the room and cried like a baby.

Spent weeks, weeks and months walking through with my wife,

with doctors and with counselors

as to what brought me to that place

where I found myself that day.

So I get it, I get it.

But I also have to get that Jesus says,

"Do not be anxious, do not be anxious."

It's a command and Jesus does not give us commands

to ignore but he gives us commands to obey.

Second thing I want us to see,

in this teaching, Jesus asks questions.

This is the what, this is the how.

Jesus could have given a lot of statements.

He could have said, "Here's this truth, this truth,

"this truth, this truth, this truth."

When I was meeting with those five students

and talking to them about putting a lesson together

that we're gonna lead, I said, "I want you to do this,

"I want you to think through,

"you can tell them what to think

"or you can ask them questions that will get them to think

"in the way that you want them to think."

That's more powerful than just telling them.

And what Jesus does here is he asked the audience questions

to get their mind thinking in the way

that Jesus wanted their mind to think.

Here's a snapshot of just some of them.

Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

Look at the birds of the air.

Are you not more value than they?

Which of you, by being anxious,

can add one single hour to his span of life?

And why are you anxious about clothing?

What shall we eat?

What shall we drink?

What shall we wear?

When we take all of those questions and we isolate them,

what we begin to see is that what we are worrying about,

Jesus is pointing us to the conditions

of what's in our heart, of what we're struggling with,

of what the puzzle that he's putting together for us

of what's there.

Jesus is asking them questions.

And I wanna ask you this, just for you,

just to think through.

Why do you worry?

Why do you worry?

What causes that anxiety?

What builds that up in your life?

What begins to consume you in those thoughts,

in those moments when that dark place

begins to take you in?

And I've been at the bottom of it.

I've been there.

I know, I get it.

What takes you there?

Now move past surface answers.

It's not your job.

It's more.

It's not that person.

It's more.

It's not your money.

It's more.

What's taking you there?

I'm gonna speak for me.

I'm not gonna speak for you.

What got me there

was a three-letter word called sin.

What brought me there

was the unrepentant sin in my life

that I needed to surrender and turn over to God.

That's what got me to that pit.

That's what gracious professionals helped me walk through.

That's what my wife loved me through.

And that's what a holy God forgave me through.

Maybe it's control.

Maybe it's comfort.

Maybe it's a response to laziness.

Maybe it's a desire to know all.

I don't know.

I don't know for you what it is.

But what is it?

The next thing that Jesus does

is Jesus draws comparisons.

Jesus draws comparisons.

One of the things that I love

about going up to Black Mountain

is I love being in nature.

I love being in nature.

I'm still upset, right?

I think everyone there has seen a bear

except for me, right?

It's like, did you see the bear today?

Like, no, I didn't, all right?

Well, how did you not see it?

Everybody else saw it.

'Cause I was fixing your eggs, all right?

That's why I didn't see it.

I love nature.

I love when we go whitewater rafting.

I love being out there.

I love the way that it smells.

Aaron and I went up there early.

We went and sat on the porch that first night

before the chaos got there the next day.

And we just looked over and we watched

a rainstorm come in.

We watched the mountains literally disappear

due to the rain.

It was gorgeous.

It was beautiful.

I love nature.

And Jesus takes two comparisons from nature.

He talks about birds and he talks about lilies.

And with the birds, he says,

"Look at the birds of the air.

"They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns,

"and yet your heavenly Father feeds them."

And then he says this,

"Are you not of more value than they?"

He talks about the lilies.

He says, "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.

"They neither toil nor spin,

"yet I tell you, even Solomon in all of his glory

"was not arrayed like one of these.

"But if God so clothes the grass of the field,

"which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven,

"will he not much more clothe you?

"Oh, you of little faith."

As much as you and I love nature, God loves it more.

As much as you and I go out and appreciate

all of the things that are there, God does.

God created it.

God created the flowers.

God created the birds.

God's sovereign over all of it.

But here's the thing.

Here's the thing, as beautiful as the birds can be,

as beautiful as the flowers can bloom,

as beautiful as the landscape

of what we can find at the beach, at the mountains,

and even, you know, some people say

Lexington's not that pretty.

But I'll say this.

Man, those sunsets that we get,

and I can't believe I'm gonna say this,

but even in all of it's orange and purple,

is gorgeous.

It's gorgeous, right?

It's gorgeous.

But not one of those things,

not one is made in his image.

And you are, and so am I.

And not one of those things did God send his son to die for,

but he sent it for you, and he sent it for me.

God created them all, but God loves you and I more,

extravagantly more.

I find that when we walk and live

in the patterns of worry and anxiety,

what we are devaluing is who we are

in the presence of our creator.

And we devalue of who we are,

and instead of walking in his confidence,

we walk in our worry.

Next thing that Jesus does,

is Jesus draws a line.

Jesus draws a line very quickly at the end, verse 32.

He says, "For the Gentiles seek after these things,

"and your heavenly Father knows that you need them."

One of the things that I want us to get within this,

of who we are as believers.

We are going into,

buddy of mine posted on social media yesterday,

all the crazy starting to happen.

And here's the truth.

Here's truth from the Bible.

It's not that all the crazy's starting to happen,

it's all the crazy's been happening.

And all the crazy's gonna continue to happen.

And it's been happening since the fall in Genesis.

And today is not new.

What we are experiencing, what we live in,

is not uncommon to the history of mankind.

But we're called to be different.

We're called to not be like the depravity

of the world.

That you and I are called to be like Christ,

and growing to be more like Christ.

You see, 'cause in creation there's this beautiful aspect

that's the commonality of humanity.

That whether you're male or female,

you know what it's like to bleed.

Whether you're a Christian or not a Christian,

you know what it's like to hurt.

Whether you're a heterosexual or a homosexual,

you know what it's like to experience loss.

But there's a beauty within a commonality of humanity

that draws us together in these unique aspects

where we all have needs, we all have feelings,

we all have wants, we all have cares.

But when we're saved, when it's Christ who redeems us,

when it's the Holy Spirit who lives in us, we're different.

Jesus says, "These are the things

"the Gentiles consume them with."

But you're supposed to be different.

In John chapter three,

there's a story of this man Nicodemus,

and he comes to Jesus.

And Jesus tells him, "It's not about just being born,

"but it's about being born again."

And now when you and I are born again in Christ,

the Bible tells us the old is gone, the new has come.

We're a new creation in who we are.

We are to be born again, we are to be different.

And a relationship with Jesus

calls us to see things different.

So suffering becomes perseverance.

Love becomes unconditional.

Hope becomes not circumstantial.

Forgiveness becomes unending in Christ.

And that's who we're called to be.

And the list goes on and on and on.

So here's where it comes to worry and anxiety.

The world says, "Figure this out.

"Fix it.

"Solve it.

"Get over it."

Jesus says, "Surrender it."

Whatever it is, surrender it.

It's your sin, surrender it.

It's your control, surrender it.

It's your loss, surrender it.

It's your expectations, surrender.

Whatever it is, surrender it.

Well, but I surrendered it yesterday.

Well, surrender it again today.

And then surrender it this afternoon

and surrender it tonight

and surrender it again in a minute or two.

And surrender it over and over and over

and over and over again.

I don't know about you, but I don't just confess my sins

the day that Jesus saved me.

I don't just tell my wife I love her at our wedding.

And there are things that we do over and over

and over and over and over,

so we surrender it over and over and over.

And so finally, and this is what we'll close with,

Jesus gives a challenge.

Jesus gives a challenge.

I think the heart of this passage of Scripture

is found in verse 33, and I'll read verse 33 and 34 to you.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,

and all these things will be added to you.

Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow,

for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.

Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

What does that mean?

Seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness.

I told you, I don't have the five simple steps

to never worry again.

If I ever come up with that, doubt me, okay?

But I do think some things that God taught me this week

reminded me and taught me what it meant

to seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness.

And that's the challenge that Jesus gives us.

So number one is this.

Number one is this.

Keep your eyes on Jesus.

Keep your eyes on Jesus.

Matthew 14 is the story of Jesus walking on the water.

Peter, God love him, wants to get out there

and get on it with him, right?

He does.

Man, can you imagine that feeling?

What that was like?

But the storm was going on.

Storm was happening all around.

And Jesus calls Peter out of the boat

and Peter steps out of the boat

and Peter's standing there on the water

and Jesus is standing on the water,

kind of there in that moment in the storm.

It's happening and Peter begins to sink.

Do you know why Peter began to sink?

Peter began to sink not because the storm was too strong.

The storm did not cause him to sink.

Peter started to sink because he took his eyes off of Jesus

and he placed it on the storm.

Here's what I wanna tell you right now.

Right now you have a storm.

You have a storm.

Maybe right now you're dealing with one of those

like little April showers that's going on, right?

I heard we got some really big thunderstorms

here this past week.

Maybe you're in that.

Or maybe you are right in the middle of

this will take some generations that are not

on the trip with me this past week to get this reference.

But maybe it's like Hurricane Hugo, right?

In your life right now, right?

Whatever your storm is that you are facing,

your storm is not bigger than your savior.

You see, what we want God to do is eliminate the storm.

But oftentimes what God wants to do

is walk with us through the storm

and to build us and to strengthen us.

And I'm gonna tell you the only way that you get

through that storm is to keep your eyes on Jesus.

Number two, trust in God's plan and God's promises.

John chapter four, Jesus heals a noble man's son.

The noble man's son is sick, is going to die.

He comes and he asks Jesus, the noble man comes

and asks Jesus to come back to his house

that is some distance away so that he can heal him

and save his boy.

The desperation in that.

And Jesus, instead of going, speaks healing

and the boy is healed.

Now here's the thing.

When the boy was healed, the Bible later tells us

in that passage of scripture that in the moment

that Jesus spoke it, that's when he was healed.

Jesus didn't get a text message.

He didn't get a phone call or the noble man

didn't get a text message, didn't get a phone call,

didn't get a courier, didn't get Morse code.

I don't know how far else back we can go, right?

But he left not knowing but believing.

That's trust.

What we want God to do is say I trust you

if you'll show me.

God, show me the bottle of water and I'll believe

that the bottle of water is there.

And what God says is no, no, no, no, no,

there's a bottle of water, you gotta go get it.

I'm telling you it's there.

You gotta trust me and you gotta believe me.

That's trust.

That's trust.

Keep your eyes on Jesus.

Trust in God's plan and promises.

Number three, this is gonna cause you

to get your eyes off of yourself.

Live on mission to share with others.

John chapter four, Jesus and the woman at the well,

the Samaritan woman.

We see Jesus have this conversation with this lady

that for multiple, multiple reasons,

culturally speaking, Jesus should not be having

not only with her because of her gender,

her ethnic race, but also because of her sin patterns

in her life.

But Jesus does.

And he talks to her.

And this beautiful transformation in her life happens.

He tells her to go from there and sin no more.

She goes back out into her town,

the woman who's been ostracized,

and shares the gospel.

Tells them who Jesus is.

And the Bible says that others believed

because of her testimony.

Get your eyes off of you.

Focus on the mission.

And then lastly,

live every day,

every day,

personally impacted by the gospel.

You know, the gospel isn't just something

that we hear and saves us in the moment.

But the gospel is something that we need to teach

and preach to ourselves every single day.

And every day, be impacted by the glorious truth

that you and I at our core are sinners at war,

objects of wrath with God,

but God in his kindness and his mercy

sent Jesus who died on the cross for us,

who forgives us of our sins,

who pays the price, and died on that cross,

and then rose again.

And as he too rose and walked in new life,

that you and I will walk in new life one day as well.

The promise of the hope of that,

and to let that impact every single moment of who we are.

Let that be the spark of the change that's in us.

And in Luke 19, it's the story of Jesus with Zacchaeus.

You know the story of little tax collector Zacchaeus.

Comes climbing up a tree.

I'm not gonna sing the song.

But he was a wee little man, right?

I'm sorry.

(congregation laughing)

He climbs up that tree,

and Jesus calls him down,

a dirty, stinking crook of a man,

calls him down,

and then Jesus invites himself into his home,

just as Jesus invited himself into your heart.

But for Zacchaeus, it wasn't enough

that Jesus was coming to his home.

And for you, and for me,

it shouldn't be enough that he comes into our heart.

Zacchaeus says, "Everyone that I've wronged,

"everyone that I've wronged,

"not only I'm gonna pay it back,

"but I'm gonna pay it back fourfold."

Right?

The change, the personal impact of what the gospel has.

You see, for Zacchaeus, it wasn't just enough to be saved,

to have Jesus, it was to live for him.

That pits dark.

If you're there, there is zero judgment,

there is zero condemnation on for me,

and brother and sister, I know where you are,

and I'm praying with you, and I am praying for you.

But Jesus says, "But seek first the kingdom of God,

"and his righteousness, and all these things

"will be added to you."

Students,

thank you.

Thank you for reminding me about Jesus' conversation

with Nicodemus.

We must be reborn.

Thank you for reminding me of the story of Jesus and Peter

walking on the water to keep our eyes focused on him.

Thank you for the beautiful teaching of Jesus

and the noble man and the noble man's son.

And I don't have to know, but I can walk and trust

in the promises of God.

Thank you for reminding me of Jesus

and the woman at the well, and the opportunities

that we have to share the gospel

and to live on mission for him.

And thank you for teaching me about a story

that I've heard thousands of times

about that little man named Zacchaeus.

Who came in contact with a great savior,

the great savior, the only savior in Christ.

And what it means when we welcome him into our home.

Would you pray with me?

God, I thank you for this morning.

Lord, I thank you for this opportunity

that we had to gather in here.

Lord, I thank you that I forgot the Bible passage

that I was supposed to preach this week.

I thank you that what I heard continually

from the mouths of teenagers was the truth of your word.

Lord, I thank you in the power of your spirit

how you took that and you wove it together

into a reminder for all of us

of what it means to seek first the kingdom of God.

God, I do pray, I pray for everyone in here.

Lord, and they're consumed with anxiety and worry.

Lord, some days they're doing good to get out of bed.

Lord, they feel like they're in a pit

that they can't climb out of.

They feel that where they are, no one understands.

Or they feel that where they are,

no one has the appropriate level of compassion for them.

God, and in some degree, they're correct.

We don't fully understand, we can't fully know.

We can't be in someone's mind.

We can't be in someone's heart.

We can't know the deep places

of darkness of which they can wander to.

But God, remind them that you do.

You do know.

You know every thought.

You know every need.

You know every struggle that we have,

regardless if we know it or not.

And God, you love them.

You understand them.

You, God, you sent your son to die for them.

And God, I just, I pray.

Let it, God, I pray that maybe we could just

have that reminder

that Peter got from you, Lord.

Like, get your eyes off the water and get it on you.

And I don't know how long that storm's gonna rage,

but God, we just gotta keep our eyes on you.

And you're gonna be faithful

because you've always been faithful.

You'll never not be faithful.

You are faithfulness.

We break promises, you don't.

We tell lies, you don't.

We give false hope, you don't.

We are imperfect, you're perfect.

God, I do pray that some of us in here,

through only the power of your spirit,

whatever it is that we're carrying,

whatever it is that we're holding on to,

they will just lay it down.

Just lay it down.

And God, we might have to lay it down

10 or 10,000 more times,

but we'll lay it down.

We'll lay it down.

- Thanks again for listening.

And be sure to check back next week for another episode.

In the meantime, you can visit us at willowridgechurch.org

or by searching for Willow Ridge Church

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