Kingdom Expansion: Continued Lessons on Freedom from Anxiety - Part 2

Let's read together 1 Peter 5. We're talking

about kicking the devil in the teeth in the area

of anxiety, fear, and worry. So 1 Peter 5. I

would really encourage you to read the entire

chapter sometime this week or multiple times

this week, but for the sake of time, I'm just

going to focus here on verses 5. through 8. Okay?

1 Peter 5, verse 5. Young men, in the same way

1 Peter 5:5

be submissive to those who are older. And all

of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward

one another because God opposes the proud, but

gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves

therefore under God's mighty hand that He may

lift you up in due time. And cast all your anxiety

on Him because He cares for you. And be self

-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls

around like a roaring lion looking for someone

to devour. Let's just go on to 9 because it's

so good. Resist Him, standing firm in the faith

because you know that you're... Brothers throughout

the world are undergoing the same kind of suffering.

I can't stop. Let's go to 11. And the God of

all grace who called you to His eternal what?

Glory in Christ. After you have suffered a little

while, will Himself restore you and make you

strong, firm, and steadfast. To Him be the power

forever and ever. Amen. Amen. So Father, as we...

briefly take a look at these truths. We ask for

supernatural power by Your Holy Spirit that these

words would forever change our lives. We do not

want to be the same. We ask it and believe and

receive. In Jesus' name, Amen. Alright, so if

you're just joining us today, you're on the tail

end of four weeks of really... You know, like

we said, kicking the devil in the teeth in the

area of anxiety, fear, worry, being troubled

by the cares of the world. So I would encourage

you to go back and catch up on that. We are in

a season here as a church where we have committed

to expand the kingdom of heaven on the earth,

not just all around the world, but here in our

homes and our own spheres of influence and our

jobs and our sports teams. So if we're talking

about expanding the kingdom, why are we talking

about anxiety? Why is that important? And for

those of you who have been here, this is just

a brief review. The most well -known passage

about the kingdom of heaven comes in Matthew

6 .33. Seek first the kingdom of God and His

righteousness and everything else will be added

to you. That verse is nestled in the midst of

one of Jesus' most... powerful and lengthy teachings

on what? Worry. Worry. The whole context of that

passage is being surrounded on worry and anxiety.

In Jesus' teaching about the kingdom, did you

know that the parable of the sower is about the

kingdom? If you read the meaning of the parable,

it says, and the seed is the message of the kingdom.

The kingdom parable. And when Jesus explained

the parable, He says, and the seed, the message

of the kingdom that was sown into those places

where the soil was rocky, it said the kingdom

message was sown. But what? It was choked out

by what? The cares of the world and the deceitfulness

of wealth. Anxiety. has for long, way too long,

has been the devil's way to subtly sneak into

the church and make the church ineffective in

the kingdom. Because it's almost acceptable in

the culture. It's acceptable for parents to worry

about their kids. It's acceptable for business

owners to worry about their business. For students

to worry about their grades. It's just anxiety

and fear and worry has been something that's

just been subtly sewn into our lives. And what

I'm saying is, you and I are going to be effective

in the kingdom of heaven on the earth, and we

will not settle for a life of anxiety, fear,

and worry. Yes? And so, on the backpacking trip,

we were up in Colorado, and we were making a

lot of fires, and you just take those dead sticks

and just, bam! And burn them. And that's what

I want to see us do with the weapon of fear and

anxiety. Just take that spear, that arrow, and

just snap it and throw it in the fire. And we're

done. We're not going to be a people neutralized

by anxiety, fear, and worry. And so let's put

the nail in the coffin. We talked about 1 Peter

5 two weeks ago. Last week we had testimonies.

We didn't get to it. But I'm going to do just

a brief review in the first two points. Point

one, we said this. This was two weeks ago. These

are truths from this passage. Refuse to water

down the Holy Word of God. All means all. 1 Peter

5, 7 says cast what? Cast all your anxiety. Okay?

The word all in English is the Greek word pos.

And it means each, every, any, all, the whole,

everyone, all things, everything, always. Pretty

clear. Alright? When God says cast all your anxieties

on Him, He means all. So don't water down the

Word of God and think you're special and you

get to coddle certain anxieties in your life

because they've become part of your identity.

Repent. There is no anxiety that's supposed to

be part of your identity. Cast all your anxiety

on God. We must refuse to compromise any lifestyle

that caters to carrying anxiety. We just took

this backpacking trip, and like I told you, you

know, you think, well, one more pound on my backpacking

chair is not that big a deal. Two more pounds

on my tent is not that big a deal. Well, you

stack all those things on top of you, and all

of a sudden, you can't accomplish the mission

because of all the weights that have slowly been

added. And that's the way a lot of Christians

live. They have a desire to please God. They

have a desire to be serious about the kingdom.

But they've so allowed the small cares of this

world to choke out the kingdom in their life.

All those little things add up. So just be in

unity with God. And if He says, cast all my anxieties,

that's what I'm going to do. Amen? Alright. Number

two, anxiety must be seen for what it is. A snare

and weapon used by Satan to steal, kill, and

destroy. Do not entertain it. or flirt with it,

it must be continually cast away. Does that make

sense? See it for what it is and quit flirting

with it. I think that we as Christians, we're

far too accustomed to that, right? And so we

entertain these things that we know God has caused

us to cast away. The word cast in Greek, It's

a compound verb here. Epi and ripto. The word

ripto means to throw or place. Epi means upon

something. And we talked about this. This promise,

if you missed the first two weeks of Philippians

4, you need to go back there, hear the teaching,

read the words, study the passage. But God gives

us this promise of exchanging. If we will come

to Him with every care, every anxiety, every

worry, and we exchange it through prayer and

supplication with thanksgiving, then He has promised

to give us the peace that passes all human understanding,

that will guard our heart and mind as a lifestyle

in Christ Jesus. So we have this great promise.

But this promise is conditional. It only exists

for those who come and make the exchange. It's

not automatic. It's not by osmosis. You don't

worry long enough and all of a sudden it exchanges

into peace. You have to be faithful to cast your

anxieties on God. And it means to cast or to

place upon something. This is important because

it's not enough to try to cast our anxiety on

our friends or our social media. or on alcohol,

or tobacco, or sugar, or illegal drugs, or shopping.

All these things that we want to comfort ourselves

with in moments of anxiety. Those things will

never bring an exchange of peace. They may bring

a temporary relief, right? But it's only temporary.

And those things never leave us. We have to cast

them upon something. And that something is a

man. And his name is Jesus. You have to go to

Jesus with your anxiety. And everything in the

world in your flesh will call your name to cast

your care upon them because the devil knows if

he can just get you to cast your cares upon the

TV, the alcohol, the whatever it may be, he knows

he has you ensnared and you're ineffective for

the kingdom. But if you say, no, I understand

the promise and I choose to cast my care, upon

Him. We also said this, the word cast is literally

translated casting. Some of your versions say

casting and that's the correct translation for

this verb tense in the Greek and it means a continual

action. You don't cast all your cares on God

one time. And don't make it generic. God, I just

give you all my anxieties. Don't be a pansy,

right? If you want to be free, you're going to

have to do a little bit of warfare. Get in with

it and name the anxiety for what it is and exchange

it with prayer and supplication with thanksgiving

for the peace of God. It's like, God, I give

you all my cares. No. No. Name it. Bring it before

God. I encourage you to get on your knees and

actually go through a physical exchange process.

That's what I do. It's very helpful. And receive

the peace of God in exchange for those things.

And don't just do it once. Every time the devil

tempts you with anxiety, care, or fear, or worry

in those areas, continue in the process of casting.

Keep casting, and what you'll find is that you'll

begin to have to do that less and less and less,

and you're developing a lifestyle that has complete

victory over anxiety. Okay? Is that good? Alright,

so those were one and two in review, and we're

going to just spend a couple minutes on number

three and four. Number three, if you're writing

this down, God loves you deeply and wants to

express His care for you by carrying the weight

of your anxiety. Let Him care for you. I mean,

you read this passage. How glorious is this?

Cast all your anxiety on Him. Why? Because He

cares for you. This is crazy. God's not interested

in your victory. Over anxiety so that you can

be better. So that you can be the winner. So

that you can be the victory. So that you can

be the bad dude. No, He cares for you. He knows

these things hurt. He knows these things wound.

He knows these things weight you down and make

you ineffective for the kingdom. And He literally

cares for you. It's so interesting. The word

care here in the Greek. I don't know if we have

this up there. It literally means these two definitions.

To be concerned about or take care. I mean, if

you go to Strong's Concordance of Greek words,

it literally says to be concerned about, take

care. The way He cares for you is to take your

cares. It's what He longs to do. Listen, when

He was in the garden of Gethsemane, He was sweating

drops of blood under the weight of your cares.

He was caring for you. And He said, Father, if

there's any other way, let this cup pass from

Me. But not My will, but Yours be done. And those

beautiful, strong shoulders carried the cross

of Calvary and the weight of all our anxiety

and fears. So do not cheapen the blood and the

sacrifice of Jesus Christ by denying His care

for you. It is God's will for you to live the

Christian life free of anxiety, worry, and fear.

To be debilitated by these things. is an illegal

trespass against the cross and the resurrection.

And we must see it that way. He cares for us.

We can cast our cares upon Jesus because He can

handle our cares. His literal shoulders were

created to bear the weight of our cares, and

He willingly takes them upon Himself and gives

us His peace in return. I wrote this down. Don't

be stubborn or ignorant. by refusing to let the

cross be enough for your anxiety. Accept the

care of God and walk in freedom and kingdom productivity.

Have you ever known, and some of this may get

really close to home, have you ever known or

been the person that always has to take care

of somebody else but never will receive care?

Don't be that person. Don't be that person. You

know what your children need to see, dads? They

need to see a dad who's willing to admit the

weakness of being overwhelmed by their cares

and getting on their face before Jesus and letting

Him be kind to you and exchange cares. I know

the world's saying, hey, what the boys need to

see is their bad dads just carry all the weight

and they do all the things. Well, unfortunately,

that's unrealistic. No, what they need to see

are when we get weighted down, we let Jesus care

for us. And it's hard. It's hard for some of

us to be cared for. We're bent to care for other

people. We're bent to always serve other people.

And it makes us uncomfortable to receive care.

Okay, get over yourself. You're going to tell

Jesus, I don't need your care? I got this? Seriously?

You're not that strong. You're not that strong.

And the Bible says the glorious things is we

can celebrate. We can rejoice in our weakness.

Because in our weakness, He has made strong.

It wasn't just, I don't know, maybe four or five

months ago, I called one of the elders in this

room in absolute tears on my back porch. Just

saying, hey, I don't think I can do this anymore.

Here are all the things I'm so concerned about.

I feel so weighted down. I don't think I can

do this job anymore. I mean, just blubbering

like a little baby. And in his wisdom, you know

what he did? He pointed me right to Jesus. And

I'll be forever thankful for that. Such a good

friend. But what I'm trying to model for you

is that we all get to places where the cares

begin to overtake us. And it's irrational in

the moment, right? It's in those moments. Yes,

call me. But all I'm going to do is direct you

to Jesus. You don't need to call an elder. You

don't need to call a pastor. Because hopefully

all they're going to do is direct you to Jesus.

But if you're that weak, call me. Call me. Text

me. I'll come. I'll hug you. I'll hold your tears

and we'll go to Jesus together. Because that's

what the body of Christ does. Right? But we have

to let Him care for us. Last week I was weed

eating. It's my favorite thing in the world to

do. Weed eating the weeds that grow back the

next week. So I used the same three hours of

my life weed eating them again so that the people

who never even see my yard can say, what a nice

weed -eated yard you have. It's my favorite.

I have learned to at least listen to podcasts

and give God glory while I'm weed eating. So

I'm growing. But I was weed eating this last

week and a red hornet stung me right in the back

of the head. Like right there. And I mean, got

me good. And I threw the weed eater down. I was

stomping around. I come into the house. Just

like, what happened? This wasp stung me right

in the back of the head. In that moment of just

like, well, you know. Danny knows really well.

I'll tell you a story about the backpacking trip

some other time. Got me. Got stung. But the point

was that I had to have Jill doctor me. Because

it's in the back of my head, and I'm a sissy,

and it was really hurting. And that we have to...

We have to be able in those moments of overwhelming

anxiety. And how many of you know that anxiety

attacks are real? I fully believe they're demonic

in nature, but that doesn't make them any less

real. These moments of irrational where the whole

world creeps on you. And the King of Kings is

saying, let me care for you, son, daughter. In

those moments, I will care for you. Who's more

caring than him? Where else are you going to

go? It's more caring than him. So, could we just

take a brief moment and let's just repent for

being arrogant or ignorant or just choosing other

things. Let's repent and say, tell Jesus, I'm

sorry for not letting you care for me. And in

the future, I want to commit to come to You first

for care. Can we do that for a moment? Good job.

Can we close with this, number four? Number four

truth about... This lifestyle of being free from

anxiety. This is not a generic religious philosophy

created for someone else. This is a personal

promise from God to you. Make it personal for

you. Let me read it again. Cast all your anxiety

on Him because He cares for you. Are you getting

it? It's personal. Don't be thinking about your

spouse's anxiety right now. Don't be thinking

about your kids. It's just you and God. You and

Jesus through the Spirit. It's your anxiety and

you can cast it on Him because He actually cares

for you. Are you with me? This is what's so amazing

about Jesus. At any moment in time, Jesus sitting

at the right hand of the Father on His throne

can be receiving the anxiety of six billion people

on the earth. And it's like you and Him are the

only one in the universe. That's how good He

is. Because He has the ability, though the universe

is groaning, He has the ability to make all the

universe stop in time at any moment when you

have the slightest anxiety about your toenail

fungus. Seriously, some of you have so much anxiety

about going to the pool because of your toenails.

I'm talking from that to a terminal illness and

everything in between. Because I thought it said

cast all your anxieties on Him. Why? Because

He cares for not your neighbor, not your spouse,

you. There is no one God has ever created like

you. You are perfectly unique. You are holy and

wonderful in every way. And He knows every intricate

part of your body, your life, and your existence.

And He deeply cares about it. He cares for you.

This is personal. Yes, Jesus cares for everyone,

but you are someone. And He cares about every

minute detail of your unique life and circumstance.

Here's what I want us to do. I want us to say,

He cares about me. Alright, let's say it together.

You ready? Every person. No one's exempt from

this. It's a good practice because the devil

and religion and everything else wants to come

against our ability to say, Jesus cares about

me. This is nobody else. You ready? On the count

of three. One, two, three. He cares about me.

Let's say it again. He cares about me. Two weeks

ago, on a Sunday morning, Jill and I were having

coffee on the couch. We were just talking about

some things going on in our life right now. And

this is really rare for us. But we found ourselves

holding each other on the couch, ugly crying.

I mean like the heaving, the shaking. With some

things going on in our world. And I can't speak

for Jill, but I felt the care of Jesus. Because

even the things that we weep about in comparison

to a lot of things, it's nothing. But it's something

to us. And in that moment, you just feel, when

you're honest and open and you go to Jesus, you

feel the care of the King of glory. And don't

you know the world is just dying for that kind

of care? And we cannot give, we cannot radiate,

like Gary was saying, that kind of power and

presence. If we're not walking in it personally.

And so it's important to let Him care for us.

I brought my backpack. My backpack is over there.

I was going to get either Ron or Jeremy some

of the biggest shoulders. Ron Yaple or Jeremy.

Just some of the biggest shoulders that I know

in this building. You know, they're kind of scary.

Let them carry the backpack around. But what

I wanted you to see in them carrying that backpack

is, you know, this backpacking trip, it's one

thing to get there, you've got a backpack, and

it's, you know, 50 pounds, 30 pounds, whatever

it may be to get there. But once you get there

and you take that off, that's when you get to

start living. You get to make camp. You get to

go fishing. You get to filter water and make

some ramen that you'll never eat again all year

because you're so tired of dehydrated food on

the backpacking trip. All the things. And the

reality is you don't get to do the things that

are really living when you're carrying the weight.

So let the one that's got those beautifully big

shoulders Carry that weight so that you can do

the fishing. I'll make you fishers of men. So

that you can do the water purification. I'll

make you rivers of living water. These things

that are life -giving to other people. You get

it, right? Jesus is worthy of us living anxiety

-free lives so that we can give the kingdom of

glory everywhere we go. He's worthy of that.

And He's so much better at carrying these weights

than we are. So, Brad, if you don't mind coming,

and I'm going to again ask our house church pastors

and ministers come forward. And this is how we're

going to close today. I'm going to officially

close in just a moment. And these ministers are

going to be up here and available. to pray for

you, to help you with any kind of anxiety or

care that you have. They'll help you come to

Jesus for that exchange. But why don't we just,

if you don't mind, can we stand up to close?

I'm going to release you with prayer. Ministers,

if you'll just come forward. Brad, if you'll

just begin to play. If you need to leave now,

would you do so quietly and respectfully? And

let's just let the Spirit of the Lord minister

to people who need to receive ministry. And if

you're saying, Jesse, I don't have an anxiety

or care, but I really need some prayer in this

or whatever. Of course. Anything you need, we

want to pray for. Alright? So Father, we thank

you for the beauty of your Word. And we thank

you for this invitation to us. Cast all your

cares upon Him because He cares for you. Jesus,

we want to be free of those weights to do all

the things that give life to everyone You've

given us in our sphere of influence. So I pray

right now, Holy Spirit, would You come in a powerful

way, begin to weave through the individuals in

our hearts. And if there's anything left, that

instill anxiety, fear, worry, or care of this

world. I just ask that You'd release grace and

mercy to be able to deal with that rightly in

this moment. God, let freedom come to the ones

that are always giving care and never receiving

it. Let freedom come for them to be able to receive

what You want to give them. And Father, for those

that are leaving, I just bless my friends. I

bless them in the name of Jesus that they would

be filled with hunger and have wonderful encounters

with you throughout the week. And may we not

miss a single opportunity to release your kingdom

to those who are hurting around us. In Jesus'

name I pray, amen. Would you come? If you need

any kind of prayer of ministry, come. His friends

are waiting for you.