Gratitude Over Anxiety

Good morning.

All right.

We gotta do something about that.

Good morning.

Are y'all doing good?

Y'all have a good Thanksgiving?

Y'all are still still asleep from all the turkey and um dressing, all the things.

Um we hope you had a great Thanksgiving.

Um, thank y'all for uh being here this morning, especially if you're a first-time guest.

Thank you for joining us on this cold, rainy post-Thanksgiving um morning.

We're excited that you're here, excited about what the Lord has um in store.

So to start out, uh I want to ask you this morning if you've if you've ever just kind of been in a season of life or or a situation in life that has caused you to look back and think about all the times throughout throughout your time on this earth that you thought uh your world was just coming to an end.

Um it'll make sense in just a second, but in preparation for this sermon, I spent a lot of time just kind of looking back over my life and different seasons where it felt like the world was just crashing down around me in that moment, different seasons of life where it felt like I was paralyzed by worry.

And we'll see.

Some of these are a little bit more serious than others, but what matters is in that moment, it feels like everything is just crashing down.

So the first memory that came to my mind as I kind of looked back over my life was uh came in in first grade.

And it was the first time that I got in trouble at school.

So we had these things in first grade.

Um, I think it was clothespins, and the clothespins was either on a green, yellow, or red plate card thing, and then based on your behavior, you know, you kind of got moved around.

And I remember the first day that my my clothespin got moved from green all the way up to red.

It skipped yellow all the way up to red.

Um, and I remember the worry that came along with that, not because of my teacher, not because of thinking I was gonna get called to the principal's office, but what in the world was gonna happen when I got home and my parents found out, specifically my mom found out that I got in trouble with school.

And I knew because the teacher, you know, we had those paper agendas back then, and the teacher wrote in it and explained what happened.

Um, I knew my mom was gonna see it at some point, and I remember the worry that came along with that.

And I will never forget hearing her yell across the house after she read my agenda and found out what happened, and yell my name from across the house.

That was a moment I will never um forget, but I remember the worry that came along with that of what in the world is gonna happen when I get home.

Similar to get in trouble, um, I remember the first time I made a B in school, and I was even more worried than getting in trouble.

I made a B in sixth grade in a study skills class of all classes.

It was probably one of the easiest classes I've ever taken.

Um, but I remember the worry that came along with that of again, what in the world is my parents, specifically my mom, gonna say when she finds out that I made a B in class.

And because of that, I never stopped worrying about making a B ever again in school.

Forever.

I was worried about making a B all through high school, all through college.

Um I remember the worry that kind of came along with that, the worry that I experienced throughout years in school.

I remember uh when we moved uh to Loganville from Dalton when I was in seventh grade, and I remember the worry and the anxiety that I felt over that summer thinking, how in the world am I gonna make friends?

Am I gonna have any friends?

Um all the people that I knew and loved were were two hours away, and here I am, 12, 13 years old.

I don't know how old you are in seventh grade.

I think that's right.

Um I was worried about what in the world is life gonna look like in this place, this little town called Loganville.

I remember um just kind of some of the worries from high school in general, all the way from freshman year, of that the worry of the first week thinking I was gonna get stuffed in a locker as a freshman, and um everyone had been telling me about this freshman Friday thing and that every all the freshmen get picked on and stuffed in lockers.

I remember the worry that came from that, and now looking back, it's really silly.

I remember the worry that came along with um, you know, different relationships and friendships in high school, where again, in that moment, it feels like your entire world is kind of wrapped up into this one relationship or friendship that you have and some of the worries that come along when things don't go well.

I remember in high school kind of the worry of what other people thought about me kind of just really started to creep into the picture for the first time.

It kind of was this transition from just being, you know, a kid who didn't care what people thought about me to now in high school just constantly worried about what so-and-so thought about me or if they thought I was cool or athletic, all these different things.

I remember throughout college, the decision of what I wanted to do with my life was always looming over my head.

And I remember getting to college, you know, freshman year, I was one of the kids that went in with an undecided major, had no idea what I was gonna do, was gonna go the engineering route, took one physics class and said, no way.

Um so that's when I chose business management.

But all through college, it felt like all my friends knew exactly what they were gonna do, that they had a plan for their life and they knew what was gonna happen when they graduated.

I never felt like that until kind of the last few months of college, really, but just that worry of what in the world am I gonna do with my life.

I remember the worry that was kind of always in the back of my mind before um proposing to my wife and just thinking to myself, oh my gosh.

If she says no, what am I gonna do?

I am toast.

This is the, you know, I kind of felt like I had I had one shot at this to get a woman to to commit to to marrying me, and the whole time it was like Jonah, just don't mess it up.

Don't mess it up.

You got a few more months, don't mess it up.

Um, and then I remember even kind of throughout just the um we've been married for three and a half years now, and just just obviously the worries that come along with life.

Um, I remember shortly after, or right before we were supposed to get married, um, a couple months, this place that we had found to live um fell through, just literally out of the blue.

And it was just one of those kind of wake-up calls and worries, um, feeling like we were homeless before we ever even kind of got going.

Uh and just the the worries of life.

That was kind of a wake-up call that life just got a lot more serious.

Um, and throughout, you know, kind of our years of marriage, it's just this constant um battle I face, the spiraling into worry of how in the world we're gonna continue just to live.

How are we gonna live off one full-time income with that one income being a student pastor's income?

Just that that constant worry that I've kind of that me and my wife both have just kind of walked through together over the years.

But what's funny about this is, again, preparing for this sermon is I look back through all these times throughout my life where it felt like my world was crashing down.

And all I can say now looking back is why was I so worried?

Why was I so worried?

Why did I allow these things to affect my attitude, um my joy, all these different things?

Why was I so worried?

And I can look back over all these things and see the Lord's provision and faithfulness time and time again.

Over the 26 years of my life, with the most conviction and assurance and clear conscience as possible, I can say that the Lord has never failed a single time.

It's never failed a single time.

But what happens the next time a bump in the road comes up, right?

I start to worry again.

I start to worry again.

Throughout this series under pressure, we've been talking about these different pressures of life that we may experience.

Um, the pressures of um, again, just having bills to pay and just that constant um worry and pressure.

We've talked about uh marriage and just the pressure of maintaining and protecting a marriage in the world we live in.

We've talked about parenting and raising up children.

We've talked about having all these um different things to juggle on our calendars, trying to be all things to all people.

But what this morning is about is that under all these pressures that we face in life, it feels like there is this constant just hum of anxiety and worry that just seems to be there all the time.

It seems to be just whispering in our ear all the time.

And all this to say is that worry is normal.

Worry is normal.

You will always have things that could cause you to worry.

And a lot of times those things are pretty good reasons to worry.

I would say the the worry of paying the bills is a pretty valid reason to worry.

Maybe it's a health issue.

Those are pretty valid reasons to worry.

You will experience seasons of life where it feels like the world is crashing down on you because the world we live in is difficult, is broken, is full of sin, and because of this, worry is normal.

There will always be reasons to worry.

But here's what um I want to encourage you with this morning.

This is our big idea for this morning that every reason to worry is an opportunity to experience the peace of God.

Every reason that we could ever have to worry is an opportunity to experience, maybe in a new and fresh way, the peace of God that God offers and promises to give to us when we walk in obedience.

Worry is normal, but God doesn't leave us in our worry.

Worry is normal, but God doesn't want us to live in our worry.

Worry is normal, but God has a better way for us.

We believe that Jesus will turn pressure into perseverance, chaos into peace, worry into worship.

And the constant thread throughout the series is that Jesus doesn't always remove pressure from us.

He doesn't always remove pressure from us.

He doesn't tell us to follow him because it makes our life easier or more simple or less stressful.

Instead, Jesus pressure-proofs us by his Spirit so that when the pressures and worries of life do come up, we walk in peace rather than panic.

So again, every reason to worry is an opportunity to experience the peace of God.

So with this in mind, I'm gonna pray for us and then we're gonna open God's word.

Um, Father, we're grateful for the gospel.

We're grateful for the good news of Jesus, um, the good news of salvation.

And while there is so many reasons to worry, um, we have so many more reasons to be thankful.

Um, we have so many more reasons just to um to walk and live in the peace that you provide.

And I just pray that as we open your word, you would open your mouth, you would speak to us, give us ears to listen, um, hearts that are ready to receive your word, um, that would go on to bear and produce much fruit.

So we love you.

We pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

All right.

So this morning we're gonna be spending most of our time Philippians 4, 4 through 9.

Philippians 4, 4 through 9.

So if you want to go ahead and turn there in your Bible, that would be great.

It'll be on the screen.

But in this passage, Paul lays out this practical way that we can turn every reason to worry into an opportunity to actually experience and live in the peace that God provides.

So here is the framework that Paul gives us, and we're gonna kind of go through these step by step.

First, he tells us to rejoice, then he tells us to pray, then he tells us to give thanks, and then he says, dwell on what is true.

So that's the framework that we're gonna kind of be following this morning.

Rejoice, pray, give thanks, and dwell on what is true.

So first rejoice.

This is how Paul starts this passage, Philippians 4, verses 4 and 5.

Philippians 4:4

He says, Rejoice in the Lord always.

I will say it again.

Rejoice.

Let your graciousness be known to everyone.

The Lord is near.

So in Philippians 4, in this passage, what it is, um some of your Bibles might even say it, but it's it's basically Paul's kind of final just conclusion and advice.

Often he kind of does this in his letters.

He just kind of at one last attempt just kind of throws a bunch of just really practical counsel into these letters.

And this is kind of what this passage is serving in Philippians 4, but um, Paul starts by commanding them to rejoice in the Lord always.

Always, rejoice in the Lord always.

And then just to make sure that they heard that right and that they got it, he says, I will say it again, rejoice.

So what we can see from this, and kind of where we're going to start this morning, is that joy in the Lord is the cure to an anxious heart.

Joy in the Lord is the cure to an anxious heart.

If you know the story of Paul at all, and some of the things that he endured for the sake of Christ, then joy might be one of the last words that you would think of as a word to characterize the life of Paul.

Joy might be one of the last words that you would choose.

Paul spent most of his life as an apostle of Jesus being persecuted, um, being chased down.

Um, he spent most of his life uh traveling around the world proclaiming the good news of Jesus, but he typically had an angry mob right behind them chasing him down.

Paul had every reason to worry about the safety of his life day after day.

He wrote many of these letters that we now get to enjoy from in Scripture from the depths of a jail cell.

But despite the circumstances of Paul's life, joy is all over his letters.

It's all throughout his letters.

Throughout his letters, there are 48 times that Paul mentions the joy he has or this idea of living in the joy, rejoicing in the Lord.

But here's the thing about Paul's joy.

Paul's joy wasn't just this um sunny optimism.

It wasn't this positive mental attitude, it wasn't a half glass full kind of attitude, it wasn't putting on a face as if nothing was wrong, but instead, Paul's joy, it was a deep confidence that God is always good and he's always in control, that he's always good, he's always faithful, and he is in control of every situation we may ever find ourselves in in our life.

And as you come across stories of Paul in Scripture where you expect to see a worried and anxious person, what you see is a man that's confident and joyful in the God he serves.

And I believe Paul and so many other saints throughout history are living proof that joy in the Lord in a lot of ways is a cure to an anxious heart.

That if we just start there, if we if we are just people that are joyful in the Lord, then it will cure a lot of the anxiousness and worries that we experience in this life.

This is what um Charles Spurgeon says.

He says um about people who rejoice in the Lord always.

He says their minds are so sweetly occupied with higher things that they are not easily distracted by the little troubles which naturally arise among such imperfect creatures as we are.

Joy in the Lord is the cure for all discord.

So when our minds are occupied with the glory and the goodness of God, the things of this world suddenly become little troubles that really aren't so worrisome and distracting anymore.

Worry is normal, but when we live our lives actively rejoicing in the Lord always, then the things we are worrying about don't seem so worrisome anymore.

And on top of this, when we remind ourselves, like Paul says in verse 5, that the Lord is near, the Lord is near, then our worries are really kind of put into perspective, meaning that when we live with this awareness that Jesus is coming back soon, it makes it all the more easy to again put worries into perspective, to rejoice in the Lord, knowing that he's coming back, to show gentleness to all men.

And rather than being people who are worried and anxious, we are confident and joyful in the God that we serve.

So Paul tells us to rejoice, that's the first step.

Then he tells us to pray and give thanks.

Um, this is Philippians 4, 6, 6, and verses 6 and 7.

It says, Don't worry about anything, but in everything through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your request to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

So in this passage so far, we have seen two commands.

The first command is to rejoice always.

The second command is do not worry but pray.

Don't worry about anything, but in everything, go to the Lord in prayer.

And I do think there's some importance in us seeing that do not worry about anything.

This is a command in Scripture.

It's not a suggestion.

It's not just the Lord saying, hey, try this out.

This is a command for us as children of God to not worry about anything.

Again, worry is normal.

Reasons to worry are going to pop up and always be present in your life, but this does not mean that we should worry.

And it certainly doesn't mean that it's okay to live in this constant attitude and state of mind and state of soul where we are worried and anxious.

Because when we live in worry, what we're doing is really living according to our flesh rather than living according to the Spirit of God.

Because a lot of times when we live in worry, it's because we're taking control.

So because we're assuming the role of God in our lives.

And if we're taking control and we're assuming the role of God in our lives, one, we can't possibly be obedient to Him.

But two, we are never going to experience peace.

We're never going to experience peace because we're not in control of anything.

We don't have control over anything.

So this is why the only way to experience the peace or experience peace in a world full of worry is prayer.

Prayer is our way of surrendering control to the Father.

And this is where peace really starts to enter into the picture.

When we respond to worry with prayer and petition, everything changes.

When we take our requests to God, rather than trying to handle everything ourselves, everything changes.

This is when the peace of God that surpasses all understanding begins to guard our hearts and minds from the worries of this world.

One of the examples that kind of came to my mind is just kind of different times over my life where I've experienced the peace that comes with just asking for help.

Specifically for my parents.

My parents are awesome.

I know they love me.

I know they care for me.

I know they want the best for me.

And I know that they will do everything they can to provide and bring safety, comfort, whatever it may be.

And I remember so many times throughout my life where there's so much peace that just comes with saying, Mom and Dad, I need help with this, or I'm worried about this.

And just knowing that they know what's worrying me, knowing that they know what I need, just brings a, there's a level of peace that comes with that.

And one, that they're they're awesome, but two, we we have that peace in a much greater way in the heavenly Father that we serve.

This is what Jesus says in Matthew 7.

He says, Who among you, if his son ask ask him for bread, will give him a stone, or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake.

If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more?

How much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him?

We can have peace, a peace that surpasses all understanding, knowing that the God of creation has heard our prayers, that he knows what we need really before we even ask it, but especially when we bring our requests to him, he knows what we need.

He knows what's worrying us, he knows what's burdening us.

And there is a level of peace that comes just from that part alone, knowing that our God knows what we need and that he gives good gifts to those who ask him.

When we surrender control to the Father, he gives us his peace in return.

This is the power, this is the peace that's made available through the simple act of prayer.

But there's a really important component to our prayers that if we're being honest, we we really do neglect far too often, and it's giving thanks.

So we're gonna read that same passage again.

Paul says, Don't worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with what?

With thanksgiving.

With thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

In the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving, going to the Lord in prayer boldly, bringing our requests to him, but doing it with a thankful heart.

That's what guards us from being, for a lack of better words, whiny and complaining children to a father.

When we come to the Lord with thanksgiving, it's not so much whiny as it is humble and hopeful and faithful.

Thanksgiving is what gives us a humble heart before God rather than us approaching God worried and whiny and entitled, and similar to the joy in the Lord, there is a lot of power in just gratitude and being thankful.

Gratitude is power, is a powerful weapon to fight against worry and anxiousness.

And similar to our big idea, for every reason to worry, there are hundreds, thousands, millions, billions.

You put whatever word you want to in there.

For every reason to worry, there are hundreds of reasons to be thankful.

Every reason to worry, there are hundreds of reasons to be thankful.

One of the things that the worries of this world, Jesus talks about in a parable, um, the parable of the sower, but one of the things that the worries of this world does is it just chokes everything out of us.

Chokes everything out of us.

It chokes the truth of God out of us.

It chokes his faithfulness and blinds us to his faithfulness in our lives.

The worries that we experience in the moment blind us to all that God has done in the past and is even doing in the moment.

And the only way to combat that is gratitude.

Again, similar to rejoicing in the Lord, when we just take time to give thanks in all circumstances, our worries slowly turn into a piece that surpasses all understanding.

And I was um really, I mean, from the beginning of preparing the sermon and um just spending time in this passage, there's a family in our church that just kept kept coming to mind.

Um, and it's Steve and Crystal Williams, if y'all know them.

If you don't know um Crystal, she was diagnosed with brain cancer um months ago and has just has just been through, I mean, she has been through a brutal, brutal battle with brain cancer in their family, whether it's um Steve even kind of going through some some medical issues on his own while his wife is recovering from brain surgery.

These different things, they have been through the ringer, through the ringer.

But their family kept coming to my mind because they lived this passage out.

And the the specific thing that came to my mind is a couple weeks ago we had a prayer and healing service, and for us just the spirit just kind of led Russ to kick off that night, just praying over Steve and Crystal and their family.

So we just kind of had a time where our elders and leaders in the church got to lay hands on them.

The um everyone else kind of just partnered and engaged in prayer with them.

And um towards the end, Steve just kind of prayed over his wife.

And um it was such a beautiful picture because one, he was like he was bold.

He was bold in his prayer.

He wasn't shy.

He was bringing his request to God.

God, please heal my wife, heal her, get rid of this cancer, bring healing through these surgeries, all these different things, but and just saturated in this prayer is thanksgiving.

Constantly, as he's boldly going to the Lord, he is constantly giving thanks for his faithfulness so far, for how he's been good so far, and trust that he's going to continue to be faithful in the future.

Prayer, asking, pleading for healing, but it was saturated with thanksgiving for all that God had done already.

And this is an example of how for every reason to worry, there are hundreds of reasons to be thankful.

There are hundreds of reasons to be thankful.

We cannot allow worry and anxiousness to take over our lives because this is not God's will for our lives.

Paul says it this way in 1 Thessalonians.

He says, Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks and everything.

That sounds really similar, right?

Which means it's probably really important to Paul and his ministry.

But then he says, For this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

And can I just say what a gracious God we serve?

How awesome is it that the God we serve, that his will for our life is not to be worried and anxious all the time.

Thank God that his will for our life is to be joyful and thankful.

He's a good God, is he not?

How could we ever get upset at this that God would command us not to worry, don't be anxious, don't be troubled, but instead rejoice always.

Pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances.

Charles Virgin says this.

He says, What a gracious God we serve, who makes delight to be a duty, who makes delight to be a duty, and who commands us to rejoice.

Should we not at once be obedient to such a command as this, it is intended.

It is God's design for our life, his will for our life, that we should be happy, that we should be people who are joyful, that rejoice in the Lord.

God's will for your life is not to live in worry, but joy and gratitude.

And I know, I know, I know, I know that this is one of those sermons that is so much easier to be up here than to be sitting in the seat, listen to it, and then actually go and live it out.

This is one of those sermons that's so much easier to prepare and preach.

It's joyful to teach about the faithfulness of God.

But it is really difficult to live this out.

So I know this is so much easier said than done.

I know that a lot of times it's so much easier to worry than to be thankful.

So often it takes a lot more effort to find a reason to be joyful and thankful than finding a reason to be worried.

But this is when we have to think and dwell on what is true, which is kind of the last piece of this framework that Paul gives us.

In verse 8, he says, Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy, dwell on these things.

Dwell on these things.

If we're being honest, worry and anxiety, it comes into the picture when our thoughts begin to spiral, right?

Worry and anxiety comes into the picture when we start thinking about all the what ifs.

What if this happens?

What if this happens?

A lot of times the attitude of our heart is the fruit of what we dwell and meditate on.

The Bible tells us that much of the Christian life comes down to our minds, and what we choose to meditate on and dwell on and think about constantly really, really matters.

So what we can learn from this is that when we dwell on what is true, it leaves little room for worry and what-ifs.

When we dwell, we fill our minds with what is true.

It leaves little room for worry and what-ifs.

When we think on what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, morally excellent, and things that are praiseworthy, we don't have much room to think about all the other things that could cause us to be worried and anxious.

Once again, this is one of those things so much easier said than done.

It's a lot easier to think about the what ifs rather than to ground our heart, our soul, our minds in the truth of God's word.

So much easier to think about the what-ifs than to dwell on the truth of God's word.

It's a lot easier to think about all the things that are hateful in this world we live in rather than the things that are lovely.

It's a lot easier to think about the bad things in life rather than things that are praiseworthy.

So if you're in a season of life where it's just difficult, it's difficult to find a reason to rejoice and be thankful and dwell on what is true.

One, you're not alone.

You're not alone.

There's so many people have walked through seasons of life that like that, but just a practical place to start.

It starts with Jesus.

It starts with Jesus.

Dwell and set your mind, your heart, your soul on the person of Jesus.

Jesus is true, Jesus is honorable, Jesus is just, Jesus is pure, Jesus is lovely, Jesus is commendable, Jesus isn't just morally excellent, he is righteous.

He's righteous and he offers that to us.

Jesus is praiseworthy.

If you feel like everything else in your life is crashing down, don't you forget that Jesus is praiseworthy, that the good news of the gospel is praiseworthy.

And most importantly, Jesus isn't just inviting us to think and dwell on these things.

That's a start, but he's actually inviting us to share in these things.

The passage we've come back to time and time again throughout this series is Matthew 11, 28 through 30, where Jesus says, Come to me, come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Feeling worried is normal.

Feeling weary is normal, feeling burdened is normal, but this is not God's will for your life.

It's not God's will for your life.

It's not why he created you, and that's not how he wants you to live.

Jesus is inviting you to share in his rest and his peace.

Every reason to worry is an opportunity to experience the peace of God.

Jesus is inviting you to experience the peace of God that surpasses all understanding.

It doesn't make sense.

The peace that is so clearly seen and heard in the family of Stephen Crystal Williams does not make sense.

It's not logical.

It's not logical for a family like that to still be rejoicing in God, to still be thankful.

It is a peace that surpasses all understanding.

It's supernatural.

It's not logical.

But this is what Jesus is inviting us in to experience.

And I don't know what worries you're walking in with this morning.

If I'm being honest, there's probably worries in this room where I wouldn't even know where to start and how to really comfort you and walk through that with you.

I I wouldn't.

But can I tell you something that Jesus does?

Jesus does.

Jesus does.

He knows how to comfort you.

He knows what you're already walking through.

He knows what you're you're dealing with, what's worrying you, and he cares about you.

He cares about you.

Hebrews 4 tells us that Jesus is a great high priest.

He's our mediator, he's our connection with God, he's our intercessor.

All these things, but it says he's a great high priest because he's able to sympathize with our weaknesses.

He knows he's walked through all of it.

He's been tempted in every way possible.

But Hebrews 4 says he's gone through it yet without sin.

And because of this, because of the person of Jesus, it says we can approach the throne of grace with boldness.

With boldness, knowing that we will receive grace and mercy and help in time of need.

So rather than letting worry and anxiety rule our lives, we got to be a people who run to Jesus, who rejoice, pray, give thanks, dwell in what is true, and rest in the peace of God that surpasses all understanding.

So I want to end this morning with that last verse from our passage in Philippians 4, and it's verse 9.

And this is what Paul says to close it all out.

He says, Do what you've heard or learned and received and heard from me and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

We can sit here and we can talk about the peace of God all we want.

I could stand up here and preach until I'm blue in the face.

But until we do what Scripture tells us to do, we're not going to experience it.

Until we step out in faith and we walk in obedience to what God tells us to do in his word, we will never experience it.

So before we leave this morning, I want to give you a couple minutes to do.

To do this, to do what we've learned from the Lord through his word this morning.

We're going to rejoice, we're going to pray, we're going to give thanks, and we're going to dwell on what is true, believing that God will give us peace in exchange for our worry.

Believing that for every reason we have to worry, it's an opportunity to experience the peace of God.

So our band's going to come up and lead us in a song in just a minute, but I want you to take time before they start singing and before they come up to write out the biggest worry that you have at the moment.

The thing that's keeping you up at night, the things that makes you have an anxious heart, the thing that seems to be choking out God's goodness and faithfulness and the truth of his word.

Whatever that biggest worry is you have right now, I want you to write it out.

If you got notes, that's great.

If you need to pull out your phone and go to the notes app, that's good too.

But I want you to physically, tangibly do something and write this out.

And then I want you to follow the framework that Paul gives us.

As you bring this worry to the Lord, I want you to rejoice.

I want you to pray.

I want you to give thanks, and then I want you to end by just dwelling and meditating on what is true.

Maybe start with the gospel.

I want you to rejoice in the Lord.

Before you ask anything of him, praise him for his goodness and give him the glory he deserves.

And then pray.

Bring your worries and your requests to God.

Ask boldly, boldly, trusting that your Father in heaven gives good things to those who ask him.

But pray with a thankful heart for every reason we have to worry.

We have hundreds of reasons to be thankful.

Spend time thanking God for his faithfulness and then dwell on what is true.

Don't let your worries lead to spiraling thoughts, but instead set your mind on the person of Jesus and then rest in the peace that God provides.

So I'm going to step off the stage.

We're going to give you five minutes or so before our band leads us in worship.

Just to spend time with the Lord.

Ride out your worries, go to the Lord in prayer, and then rest in the peace of God that surpasses all understanding.