Navigating Life's Challenges

First Peter.

First Peter, chapter five.

And appreciate the music today, tonight, again, this is a

fleeting time.

I'm looking forward to the promised land, aren't you?

And again, as we are here, remembering that he cares for us.

And that's tonight, the message.

God cares for us.

God cares for you.

I'm glad the Sorsby family and the Mooney family got right with

God, moved back to Texas.

I'm just gonna start the rumor I'm just gonna start the rumor now.

And so now it's good to see y'.

All.

And of course, Ms. Ratledge is trying to get.

Trying to get back to Texas because she's got more important

things here than they're up there.

Yeah, yeah, no doubt.

Yeah.

And so it's Good to see Ms. Jennifer.

What a blessing to have such a good and wonderful church, family

and friends from other places.

God's been so good to us.

First Peter, chapter five.

I'm actually going to read 11 verses, so let's start in verse one.

The elders which are among you, I exhort, who am also an elder

and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a

partaker of the glory that shall be revealed, feed the flock

of God which is among you.

This is talking to pastors here.

Taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly,

not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, neither as being lords

over God's heritage, but being an example to the flock.

And again, pastor ought to lead the flock.

He take the oversight, lead the flock again, not because he has

to, but because he wants to.

And then not for money, but always be ready again.

And not being Lord overall, not being again a king, but again

being a leader.

And we hope, as a pastor, we do that, and certainly with the help

of the Lord to do that.

Look at verse four.

And when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a

crown of glory that fadeth not away.

By the way, there is rewards coming.

There is a day coming when we will give an account, but there will

be rewards given.

Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder, yea, all

of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility.

For God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that

he may exalt you in due time.

And verse seven is tucked in here, casting all your care upon

him, for he careth for you.

Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring

lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour, whom resists

steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions

are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

But the God of all grace, aren't you glad for that who hath

called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that

ye have suffered a while, make you perfect or complete, establish,

strengthen and settle you to him be glory and dominion forever

and ever.

Amen.

God cares for you, casting all your care upon him, for he careth

for you.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you Lord, for your love for us and your

care for us.

And I just pray tonight that that would be increasingly believed.

And Lord, that we would trust you as we ought to in difficult times

and in good times.

Thank you.

In Jesus name, Amen.

I would say that we all would admit and understand that we live

in a stressful world, as we have pointed out many times through

the themes of our church and other things, that we're all stretched

in many different directions.

And if we're not careful, our priorities will get out of whack

and our focus will get out of whack.

And we need to stay focused.

We need to have a focus and our priorities need to be again,

the Lord Jesus.

Our priorities are God.

God cares for his children.

Aren't you glad of that?

I care for my kids.

I care for my granddaughter.

I care for them.

I care for my dad.

I care for them.

God cares for you.

We are his children.

That's one of the ways in which God in His word has written

in a way that we can relate.

He's helping us relate to him, that he is our Heavenly Father.

We are his children, by the way.

Jesus Christ is our brother and we're joint heirs with Him.

But God cares for you.

He knows what you're going through.

Again, God didn't just make the world and create all things and

then wind it up like a clock and throw it into space to not ever

again visit and be here.

No, no, he's here.

He's right beside you.

He's promised to never leave you nor forsake you.

And he cares for you.

And he relates to us in many different ways.

One of those ways in which he relates to us and helps us to understand

his position is the shepherd.

The Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not want.

Amen.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.

He leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul.

And yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me, Thy rod and thy staff

they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

Thou anointest my head with oil.

Not oil, because you guys trying to pronounce it right.

My cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my

life.

And what?

I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

This time is fleeting.

One day we will be and stand there at the gates of heaven.

And one day we will be with him forever and ever.

God cares for you.

He's our shepherd.

He's providing for us.

He feeds us.

He protects us.

Even the shadow of death, he is there with us.

We all face difficulties and we all face different difficulties.

Whether it's health problems or financial or relational, all of

us experience the cares of this world.

That's what it is.

The cares of this world.

The cure for worry and stress.

We always want a cure.

Here's the medicine.

Here, take this pill, right?

And when the Bible says, here, cast all your care upon him.

That care means anxiety.

It's the same.

It's a synonym, anxiety.

Cast your anxiety upon him.

Cast the cares of this world upon him.

Why?

Because he cares for you.

So it really is the cares of this world versus the care that God

gives the cares of this world.

And the anxiety of this world versus the care that God gives.

That word care.

There again, specifically talking about us individually.

God cares for you as if you were the only one that he was caring

for.

I know with us as human beings, when we care for people,

there's a limit to that, right?

I can only do so much for my kids.

Or I can only do so much for my loved ones.

I can only do so much for my neighbors.

I'm limited in my supply.

I don't have enough to go around to everybody.

Aren't you glad God's not that way?

He's all powerful.

His supply never runs out.

You can cast every care upon him.

Every care because he cares for you.

Cast them all upon him.

How do we do this?

And this is what I liked about I came across this.

It's just really stuff you already know.

But just again, a practical outline.

Just practically, how do you cast your care upon him?

The first one is to surrender, to yield to Him.

To yield to him.

Romans 6:13 talks about yielding yourselves unto God as instruments

Romans 6:13

of righteousness, yielding your body to him, yielding yourselves

not as unto sin, as an instrument of sin, but an instrument

of righteousness.

That we ought to yield ourselves to Him.

We ought to give our members to him.

No holding back, giving everything to him, every room of

the house.

He ought to have access to every room of the house.

There shouldn't be a closed door anywhere.

So many times we yield, but we don't yield it all the way.

We say, lord, I'll do this, this and this, but I will not do

that.

I've said this many times and I do it in jest.

I say, you know what?

I would never go to Michigan and pastor a church picking on some

of these people from the north.

We may be outnumbered tonight.

I'm not going to have you raise your hand if you're from the

north of the south.

But I said, I will never go up north.

I don't know why anybody would live in Wisconsin.

I don't get it.

I don't understand.

Why would you live there on purpose?

Why would you live in Canada on purpose?

I don't know why.

There's lots of other places to live.

Why would you go there and live there on purpose?

I don't understand it.

It's too cold.

And it's cold for like half of your life.

You realize you're spending half your life in the cold.

Then some of them would say, I don't know why you live in Texas.

It's 125 and I love it.

But I say it.

I say it pretty often.

I don't.

And then what I say is, I'll clarify is I'll say, well, you know,

if a hundred foot Jesus come down, he tells me verbally that I

need to take a church in Michigan or Wisconsin or one of those,

I would do it, but otherwise I'm not going.

Now, if he wants to call me to, I got other places anyway.

No, but we ought to be willing to do whatever.

Yes, if God calls one of your kids the ministry, they ought to

be willing to do whatever God asks.

Whatever God asks of you, you should be able to yield yourselves

to yield your body.

A living sacrifice wholly acceptable unto God.

Which is what?

Your reasonable service.

It's just reasonable.

Why?

Because of the mercy of God.

Because he did not give you what you deserved?

He didn't give me what I deserved, which was hell.

And because he sent his son Jesus to die for us, shed his blood

for us, be buried for three days and rise again from the dead.

It's just reasonable that we would yield our lives to him, surrender

our lives to him.

And if we're going to overcome the anxiety and stress in our life,

the very first thing we must do is just surrender it all to him,

surrender our relationships to him, surrender our Jobs to Him, surrender

our families to him, surrender our bodies to him, our lives to him,

our stuff to Him.

We don't have no stuff.

We're just managers of God's stuff.

We're just surrendering it and yielding it all to Him.

It's reasonable to yield our will to His.

It's reasonable to yield our way to his and our words and our

work and to walk with Him.

Number two, this is pretty close to the same thing.

But again, trust Him.

How are we to overcome and cast our care upon the Lord and overcome

anxiety in our life?

You got to trust him.

This theme seems to have come up a lot lately in the messages I've

preached, and rightly so.

I know, I know.

This is some areas in which people struggle of trusting God in

everything.

They got to trust God in some things, but not in everything.

Psalm 37, verse 40 says, the Lord shall help thee because they

Psalms 37:40

trust in Him.

You want the help of God, you're going to have to trust him.

You're going to have to trust him.

You're going to have to put your confidence in Him.

I was forced to go to the doctor here lately.

I think I told you all.

I did tell you all about that.

I went to the doctor, gave me a clean bill of health, said I was

excellent shape, just like check the boxes.

It was awesome.

I went to my childhood doctor, actually up in the Kona.

Anyway, we just kind of talked and fist bumped and I left.

And that was.

I'm just kidding.

But as I go to the doctor's office and he says this, this and

this, and he.

It's amazing to me how many times I go to the doctor or you go

to the doctor and they use these words.

I have no idea what they're talking about.

I say, can you explain that in English, right?

I mean, but why do we put up with it?

Because we trust them.

The doctor I went to, he's known me since I was 14 or 15 years

old.

I trust him.

I trust him implicitly.

If he told me that's wrong with this, is wrong with you.

Take this medicine that I can't pronounce either, but I trust

him.

I'm going to take it because he said that's what's best for me,

right?

We trust him.

Listen, if we could trust a doctor, we could trust our physician.

Surely we could trust the great physician because he's always

working on us.

He's always, if you're a Christian, he's always working on

this.

He's always conforming us into the Image of his son.

He is using the trials as tests in our life.

He is using these things in our life to mold us, to shape us

again.

He's the potter, I'm the clay.

And we have to yield to him and then trust him.

Trust him that he always, always, always.

I know I'm a broken record.

He always has our best interest in mind.

Do you not have your kids best interest in mind?

Do you not have your children's best interest in mind

when you set rules and are you do this for them or that for them?

Yes, you do.

God has your best interest in mind in whatever is going on in your

life.

We trust him.

We must trust the Lord.

By the way, he's all powerful.

As I've already said, he'll never fail you.

Trust in the Lord, what with all thine heart and lean not unto

thine own understanding.

I don't know how many times I've got myself in a mess because

I just leaned on my own wisdom and my own understanding.

Lean not on those in all thy ways.

Wide acknowledge him.

Give him the credit I love.

Again, as we preached this morning, we used Elijah there on

top of Mount Carmel as he was facing the prophets of baal.

If you went back and you read his prayer, his prayer to God was

absolutely number one on the list, giving God the credit.

And if you acknowledge God and give God the credit, he will direct

your paths.

He will guide you.

He will be that tender shepherd that leads you.

But you have to trust him.

I know I've used this illustration before, but I like it

because my middle son says I never talk about him.

But it is amazing how little kids trust their dads or trust their

moms.

I love it when they're that age, you know, five, six, seven,

even eight.

At some point they start getting wise.

But before that you could take a two or three year old and I have,

and I've taken and just wait two seconds, catch them behind your

back.

It's amazing.

Throw them up in the air, do all sorts of stuff to them.

I like taking their, you know, swinging them around, trying to see

if I can get their joints out of socket until you're dizzy.

And they're dizzy.

And it's so much fun, isn't it?

They just trust you.

It's like, it's crazy.

Jump to Daddy.

Jump to daddy.

You know, 30ft high.

Okay, Daddy.

Boom.

I've used this illustration before.

I was throwing Joshua up in the air inside the house.

Just throwing him up in the air, threw him a little too high.

One Time he hit the ceiling fan, trust was done.

Now it was.

Every time I threw him up, he duck, flinch.

We trust the Lord.

We trust our heavenly Father and that type of faith.

The.

The Bible speaks of a childlike faith, having that faith

in him to overcome anxiety and stress in life, we need to have that

kind of trust.

And then we've preached this before too.

Number three would be rejoice that.

Rejoicing in thanksgiving.

It's hard to do, to thank him for all things and in all situations.

It is one of those very hard things to do.

Philippians chapter four, Rejoice in the Lord sometimes.

And again I say rejoice.

It's not what it says, right?

Most of you know the verse Philippians chapter 4, verse 4 through

Philippians 4:4–6

6.

There Paul says, rejoice in the Lord always.

And again I say, rejoice.

It's hard to do so many times when you're in the thick of it, when

you seem to be drowning, hard to rejoice in the Lord.

But I tell you what, you can't rejoice and have anxiety at the same

time.

You really can.

I'm telling you.

Just some kind of switch in your brain that being thankful to

God, it just switches the brain.

Be thankful to him and praise him in every situation.

And there in Philippians chapter four, it says, be careful

for nothing.

That means don't worry about anything.

God's got it.

He's got it handled.

When you're overwhelmed by pressure, by the way, sometimes the

holes that we dig ourselves, in fact, I would say most of the

time that's the case.

When you're overwhelmed by the test that God is sending you through.

God is doing those things to sharpen you, by the way.

I have to remind myself of that many times.

I don't like it, do you?

But I know God again loves me, cares for me, that he's guiding my

steps because I have trusted in him.

Psalm 119 says, Seven times a day do I praise thee.

I'll never forget there.

The Bible speaks about Paul and Silas being thrown into prison,

being beaten.

And what happened?

They began to sing.

Beaten and then yet started to sing.

Can you imagine what the other people in the jail were going like?

What in the world?

This guy crazy singing in the jail.

And then the jailhouse rocked, right?

First time there was jailhouse Rock.

No, God was there again.

God again.

You may be in the heat of the battle, but God always has us hand

on the thermostat.

Always has his hand on the thermostat.

I got to Where I really enjoy coffee.

I really do.

I'm now addicted to it, I totally, totally admit.

But you're not going to get good coffee without some hot water,

without it brewing through the filter and all those.

Again, the good stuff happens with tea or with coffee after it's

gone through the brewing process, brings out the good stuff.

And that's what God's doing in our lives.

He's going to bring out the good stuff.

We have to go through some things.

I was.

We were with our preachers in training upstairs while ago.

That's when I was a little late and just talking about what

is it like to enter the ministry.

How much training should you have?

How much time should you have before you go pastor?

And just talking about various things and, you know, it's hard to

tell.

But I can tell you this.

I'm so thankful for the training that I had and the time

that I spent with my pastor and the time I spent with the other

two pastors as well, learning God's so good.

Rejoice in the Lord.

And then number four is patience.

Ooh, we hate this one.

This is the one.

In fact, if I was to look at all of these, this may be the most

difficult one for me.

Patience.

Hebrews 6:15 says, and so after he had patiently endured, he

Hebrews 6:15

obtained the promise.

Who's it talking about?

Abraham.

So Hebrews Paul says that Abraham patiently endured until he

received the promise.

Abraham knew.

The Bible makes it very clear.

Abraham knew that God was going to use him.

Through him, the Messiah would come.

But they had to wait for Isaac.

They had to wait for Isaac.

They tried to manipulate some things on their own, and that didn't

work out well at all.

In fact, it's still not working out because they're still

fighting over there in the Middle east with Ishmael's descendants.

Patiently endured, waiting for the promise.

You understand and know that God has promised again to the child

of God again that he would never leave us nor forsake us.

There are so many great and precious promises the Bible talks

about, but so many times we don't have the patience to wait.

Those that wait upon the Lord.

That word wait there means trust those that trust the Lord,

he shall renew thy strength.

See, it's not about our timing, his timing.

And that's where we have such a difficult time, no pun intended.

We do.

We have a difficult time with that.

God is never early.

He's never late.

God is always on time.

And then whatever difficulty and whatever thing it may be causing

anxiety in your life, understand and know that God is there

and he cares and we have to trust him and be patient.

I've told you this many times.

I have a couple of things.

I don't eat them as much anymore.

My wife and I eat out too much.

But used to the little Sam's.

Go to Sam's.

You buy the frozen stuff, right?

And they have the little hamburgers.

And hamburgers only took take.

It's a minute and 20 seconds in a microwave, brother Tony.

A minute and 20 seconds and I can be eating a hamburger.

It's a miracle.

And they're pretty good.

They are.

They're pretty good.

And so what I would do is whatever takes longer than that,

which is usually the other stuff, like whether it's a burrito

or whatever else.

Because I want to cook those in the oven, because I want them

to be crispy and not microwaved, soggy.

I want them to be crispy.

So I put those in the oven, let them cook, and then while I eat

the hamburger that only took a minute and 20 seconds to heat up

because I'm not patient enough to wait for the burritos to come

out of the oven.

Now, this is.

I'm talking about lunch when you're trying to, you know, get on

with the thing and get back to work or whatever.

Yeah, a minute and 20 seconds.

Patience is hard.

It really is.

But it is about his timing and not ours.

Number five is self discipline.

This is a difficult one, too.

First Corinthians 9:27.

1 Corinthians 9:27

I memorized this early on in the ministry when I was attending

seminary because my schedule was really, really full.

And so I was trying to burn the candle at both ends.

And so I actually, at one point, and my wife will remember

this, I actually pinned it to the ceiling in my.

In my bedroom so that when I woke up, I'd see it.

And there Paul says in First Corinthians 9:27, But I keep under

1 Corinthians 9:27

my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means

when I have preached to others, taught to others that I myself

should be a castaway, that bring our bodies into subjection,

and though we want to be careful again when it comes to self

discipline, that we are not haughty in that, that we're not prideful

in that, that, oh, I can be.

I can do this, this, this and this, and I'll be spiritual.

And that's not true.

You can't just check the book, the boxes off of everything that

you think you're required to do to be spiritual and think that

you're going to be spiritual.

That's not the way it works.

But we as Christians ought to be disciplined enough to put ourself

in a position where God can make us spiritual, where God can

walk with us, where God can use us as a vessel, meet for the

Master's use.

Amen.

And this is an area too where a lot have a problem.

Being disciplined enough to get up and read your Bible before

you go to work, being disciplined enough to take time to

pray and communicate with God in the morning or in the evening.

Being disciplined to give as you ought to give, and being disciplined

to be at church.

And I'm preaching to the choir tonight.

Cause you're here.

But being disciplined, having that self control, it's what most

of us don't have when it comes to our appetite physically.

I have a hard time with that one.

But self control does bring healing of anxiety.

Putting our appetites into subjection.

And maybe for you, social media, whatever appetite that's out

of control in your life and bringing that into subjection.

Maybe that's the TV or maybe it's McDonald's bringing those appetites

and subjection.

Second Corinthians, chapter 12, verse 9, says, My strength is

2 Corinthians 12:9

made perfect.

What in weakness?

In weakness.

When I am weak, then am I strong.

Realizing and humbling ourselves before God and saying,

lord, I have this sin in my life or I have this issue in my life,

this weight that does beset me.

Maybe it's not a sin, maybe it's just a hobby that's out of control

or something else that's out of control.

And to humble ourselves before God and say, lord, I need to get

this appetite under control.

And Lord, would you strengthen me and give me the grace I need to

bring it into subjection, to bring my body in subjection.

Lord, help me to get up 10 or 15 minutes earlier so that I can

spend some time with you.

Lord, strengthen me and give me the grace I need to do so.

And then follow through.

Get up.

And lastly, service.

I believe this is what Philippians is teaching us, the book

of Philippians, and that is doing for others will bring joy into

your life.

Serving God and serving others will bring peace into your life.

You talk about doing away with anxiety and worry in your life.

Do something for somebody else.

Do something for your neighbor.

Give a cup of cool water in his name.

The Lord's going to reward you for that and bless you for that.

Do something for a co worker.

Again, get involved in the church.

And most of you had a lot of you had signed up to do something

here at the church or maybe with Meals on Wheels or whatever

it is.

Get involved, serve others, do for others.

By the way, Jesus served others.

He was the servant of servants.

I still don't the washing feet thing.

Whoo.

Washed his disciples feet.

What an example he set for us.

To follow in his steps.

To follow in the steps of Jesus as he healed the lame, as he

healed the blind.

And he provided nourishment, food and all the things he did for

others and put himself aside.

Well, preacher, if I all I'm doing is taking care of everybody

else, who's going to take care of me?

But my God shall supply all my needs according to his riches in

glory by Christ Jesus.

Yeah, the popular thing today is self care.

And you know words like that and you know self esteem and you

need to take care of yourself first.

No, no, no, no, no.

That's the opposite of the Bible.

I don't need to take care of myself first.

I take care of my wife first.

I take care of my kids first.

I take care of my grandkids first.

I take care of my friends first.

I take care of my neighbors first.

I take care of them first.

I take care of everyone around me.

I serve them, I do for them.

And guess what?

God will take care of me.

Self care.

I know what they mean by that.

Sometimes and there is times you need to be careful.

If it's a physical issue, make sure you get that taken care of.

But if you're just talking about looking out for yourself, it's

number one.

That is totally, totally contrary to the scriptures.

And you want to stay under the burden of stress and anxiety, go

ahead and treat yourself as number one because you'll stay right

there.

You'll be so disappointed.

God loves you and he cares for you.

One of the greatest ways to overcome anxiety in your life and

stress in your life is to do for somebody else.

Years ago somebody had done something to me and, and I'll never

forget it was Brother J.D.

wheato.

Some of y' all remember Brother Guido, a friend who pastors

in Arkansas.

We won't hold that against him.

He's preached some of our early missions conferences when we

were in the storefront.

And he's been a real blessing.

In fact, I think we got him lined up again here in a couple of

years.

But I never forget him preaching and saying, hey, somebody

wronged you.

Has somebody wronged you?

And you can't seem to get past it.

You can't get over it.

You're having a hard time forgiving that person.

He said the best way to get over that, the best way to forgive

that person is to do something for them.

And that's biblical.

That is a biblical principle.

And man, I did something for this person.

It really did help.

That's amazing.

The Bible actually works.

That's amazing even for the preacher.

Do something for somebody else.

Serve again.

Follow in the footsteps of Jesus.

Serve others.

Serve in your church.

Serve your family.

God will take care of you.

Ephesians 6, 7 says, with good will, doing service as unto the Lord

and not unto men.

Do you realize again, a cup of cool water in his name when you are

serving others, and you do, and your motivation is right, that

you are serving God.

When you do serve that neighbor, and you do so, and your

motivation's right and your heart is right, and God's going to

bless you and reward you for that.

You ought to do that service as unto God and not unto man.

When you're teaching the Sunday school class, just remember

that.

When you're helping in master clubs and you're dealing with little

babies in the nursery, remember that we're serving as unto

God and not unto men.

God will reward you for that.

And one of the ways in which he rewards you is that he, because

he cares for you, you can overcome through him that anxiety

and that care that has weighed you down.

Cast those cares upon him.

Cast the care upon him because he cares for you.

Cast that care upon him by yielding yourself to him and trusting

Him.

There's no greater one to trust.

You put your trust in your friends, they'll let you down.

You put your trust in your family.

At some point they'll let you down.

But God will never let you down.

Be thankful.

Thinking people are a thanking people.

Thankful people.

Be thankful.

Praise Him.

Don't forget to give him credit for what he's done in your

life and the things that has come your way.

Praise Him.

Be patient.

Remember, it's not your timing, it's his timing.

If you're having a hard time with self discipline, remember that

God said He would give you grace to help in your time of need.

Go to him.

Humble yourself to him here at the altar and just say, lord, I need

help in this area of my life.

I need help with this weight or I need help with this sin in my

life.

Lord, help me.

Give me self control and then serve others.

Serving is the way to have joy.

I know it's a small thing and we use the same illustration all

the time, but it is amazing how you feel when you do something

for somebody else.

It's amazing how you feel, but can I tell you that it's doing more

than just.

It's doing more than just giving you a feeling.

It's doing more than that.

You maybe don't know it, but it's doing more than that.

It's helping cast that care upon the Lord.

It's helping that stress and that anxiety in your life.

It's helping.

It is the cure.

God is so good.

Amen.

Let's all stand.

We have a verse invitation tonight I have decided to follow

Jesus.

After we pray.

Heavenly Father again Lord, what a blessing it is to know that

your Bible, your word gives us a prescription, Lord to overcome.

You've made us more than conquerors and Lord may we follow

that prescription.

May we yield our lives to you.

May we trust you as we ought to.

May we praise you and rejoice and Lord practice self discipline

and Lord and serve others.

God, may you through your grace and your holy Spirit enable

us to do so and we'll thank you in Jesus name, amen.