God’s Care: Freedom From Anxiety | 1 Peter 5:6-7 | Pastor Andrew Coleman | 03/15/2026

this little letter of First Peter. We

began studying it last summer and so

this is message 30 um in our series even

though it's only five chapters and we

just have a couple of messages left.

What I thought we would do this morning

is go back to the very first sermon and

uh your first page that is on here is

the is the page from our first sermon in

First Peter. We looked at an overview of

where we were going and I want you to

see that this morning and this is

especially helpful for those of you who

are new to us. Um maybe some of you are

here for the very first time and uh this

will help you know where we've been. So

when we dive into the actual passage

we're going to study in just a few

minutes it'll all make a little bit more

sense. So this morning we want to look

at this main theme of Peter. We said

this 30 sermons ago. Look what it says.

Take heart. Take heart. Because of the

suffering, death, and resurrection of

Jesus Christ, those who persevere in him

can have what?

>> True hope. That's what First Peter is

about. It's about true hope amidst their

own suffering. So Christ suffered, we

suffer. so they can have true hope

amidst their own suffering and

hardships, knowing that God's saving

promises

will be delivered both now and forever.

So God has made promises to us in the

midst of our hardships, in the midst of

our struggles. Peter is writing to

churches spread all across the

Mediterranean world, mainly to people

who were formerly Jewish um in their

Orthodox faith, but now had become

believers. They had become believers in

Jesus as the Messiah. And so this was

their encouragement. Many of them were

being persecuted. Many of them were

suffering in hardship of either famine

or economic trouble. um many of them

were being persecuted from two different

ways. One, the Roman Empire, but also

their Jewish ancestry had been coming

against them and so they needed

encouragement. There's people in this

room that have been persecuted for their

faith. There's people in this room that

when they go home today, they will be uh

scorned, laughed at. There will be

different issues that go on. We have a

couple of folks in the life of our

church that live with families that are

extremely hostile to their faith. We

have some high school students whose

family is hostile to their faith. And

here they are worshiping, knowing the

Lord. So I just want to encourage you.

This goes in a very broad sense both um

right now in 2026 going all the way back

to the first century. Remember with me,

First Peter has shown us powerful life

lessons. powerful life lessons. Let's

quickly review them. Life lesson one,

chosen exile. Exiles, our identity in

Christ. So, they're they're called

exiles. They don't they don't belong in

the sinful world. They're on their way

to heaven, but they have been chosen by

God. The world may reject them, but they

have been chosen by God. And this is a

beautiful picture of his divine election

in their lives, calling them out of the

darkness into the kingdom of his beloved

son. And in this beautiful, beautiful

salvation, they have a new identity.

Life lesson number two, he's telling

them, be holy. Be holy in your conduct,

in your character as God's people. So,

we are called to not live like the

world. We're called to live even in our

hardship for Christ. No. Life lesson

number three. It's all about submission.

It's submission for the Lord's sake. And

we looked at these areas that Peter

deals with. Submission to the

government, submission at work,

submission within the family, submission

to the body of Christ. We are called to

live under submission to Christ. And so

this is this is what we see in the life

of the Lord Jesus. He lived in

submission to the will of the father. We

too are to live under submission, men

and women. Notice the next one. Life

lesson number four. Suffering with

Christ. And this brings a life of

blessing. Suffering with Christ. So it's

not that we have been saved out of the

suffering, but we are being saved

through the suffering. We looked at that

in depth. Lesson number five, the fiery

trials in the future glory. Yes, in this

present life we have fiery trials.

Sometimes they are very intense, but

it's all for the fact that it's

culminating in a future glory that God

has promised. This is one of the things

that I love about true Christianity,

about biblical truth. The Bible does not

shy away from the hardships of life, the

problem of evil. The Bible does not

ignore that. In fact, there are major

sections of scripture that deal with the

problem of evil. That's really what the

book of Job is all about. And what we

see in this is that God is leading us to

the light through through the darkness

to the light as we see his word and the

fact that he is working in the midst of

this all for future glory. This is his

plan. That's why Jesus came. Jesus was

not immune of the suffering either.

Jesus came and he suffered, bled, and

died so that the will of the father

could be accomplished for the glory that

was set before him. So notice the last

one, lesson, life lesson number six,

humble shepherds and firm faith. Humble

shepherds and firm faith. Now, this is

God's plan. In fact, if you have your

Bible open and you're looking at First

Peter with me, I want you to notice

these last few verses. We're coming up

on it very, very, very quickly. Um, in

just in the next little bit, if you're

looking at this, we're going to be

looking in just a moment at in 1 Peter

1 Peter 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5. Uh, Pastor Jason preached one

through five last Sunday and this

morning we're going to be looking at

just two verses. Now, I was tempted to

do more than that, but these two verses,

I just got to say, are some of my

favorite verses in the Bible. These are

some of the verses that God greatly

helped me in my early Christian faith.

So when I when I finally came up for air

and started to realize that God had a

plan um has a plan for everyone's life

including mine and he was calling me to

live for him. These verses were some of

the anchors that helped me um to hold on

in the midst of uh the chaos of being a

young man in South Florida, of being a

young man at Florida State University

when I started to walk with the Lord.

So, I wanted to give these verses the

attention that they deserve even though

it's just two verses this morning that

we'll be looking at. Um, so this is all

about in all of these verses as we come

here to the end are are really looking

at um

final instructions as we're going to see

um a wrap up of this letter um as we as

we go.

Now,

a lot of this has to do with the

troubles of life.

And we live in a world, as we mentioned

a few minutes ago,

that's on fire.

I mean, I believe that these images have

been on our minds, right?

these concerns and the news cycle

of course wants to inflame it and

intensify it. But friends, I think it's

pretty real.

There's a lot of concerns.

And if you're in Iran this morning, rest

assured there's a lot of concerns. Did

you know that there's over a million

believers in Jesus Christ in Iran? Yes,

>> there's over a million believers of

Jesus Christ in Iran.

80% of the Iranians

don't want what is happening. 80% of the

Iranians are not in support of the

regime. 80% of the Iranians have no

interest in this last 50 years

of insanity.

only 20% are okay with that. But we see

a great nation under great trial and

tribulation. And that of course in its

radical Islam uh spills over into

America. Um we've seen all of these

events um carried out by Muslims. Um,

whoever tells you that Islam is a

religion of peace clearly has not read

the Quran and clearly does not

understand what Islam is really about.

Now listen, I dedicated 10 years of my

life to reaching Muslims u for Christ

and I lived in North Africa. I love

Muslims. I truly do. I have some Muslim

friends that are closer to me than many

of my Christian friends. I have Muslim

friends that I've worked with. I have

Muslim friends that we have had great

great friendship and relationship with.

And I can tell you that while they um

are not very good Muslims um in that

they are nominal Muslims, I can tell you

that Islam is a is a religion of

conquering.

Um, and so that's an impop thing to say

in this present day and time, but it's

important that you realize that.

And so we see these dastardly events

that often occur where there's all kinds

of anxiety and alarm. We this morning

have a society that is dealing with

anxiety in a very powerful way.

uh a secular psychologist Jonathan hate

has written extensively about this in

recent days. You've heard us mention

this book, Anxious Generation. And part

of the reason is is because as we have

progressed in our technology, as we have

progressed with all of our media and

with all of the exposure of the things

of the world, our peace has not

increased,

but our anxiety

has increased. and especially among the

younger people who are coming along in

the midst of this technological and

media revolution. I want you to notice a

couple of graphs here. Um Jonathan hate

points out that among undergraduates

um in the United States so college

students and below undergraduate there's

134%

increase in anxiety just since 2010. So

here's 2010 and it goes up over 134%

increase. Depression um 106%.

So we have become more and more of an

anxious society. I want you to notice

this next one. This is across the entire

population of the United States. Um look

at this. 18 to 25 year olds 139%. 26 to

34 year olds 100% increase in the last

10 years. Ages 35 to 49 52%. So it's

increased by half. 35 to 49 year olds.

Look at these folks

out of there. You go folks. Very proud

of you that are over 50.

Who's more connected

media wise?

The younger generations.

A huge part of this is the fact that

they are less connected.

Our brains were not made to keep up with

all this. We have powerful brains, but

they are not made to keep up with all

this. All of the ideas, all the

scrolling, all of the concepts, all of

the entertainment, all of the

comparison, all of the want that comes

from marketing, all of the ideas that

come from secular society.

I'm going to I'm going to show you a

couple more things here and one of them

you're going to find incredibly

incredibly encouraging and I I I hope

you you are excited about this. But we

see anxiety has increased

dramatically

just in the last 10 years. And why? What

is it? It has everything to do with our

devices being with us everywhere all the

time. Notice the dates that are here.

When did smartphones become prevalent?

Right there.

Now, the older you are, you were your

brain was not under development during

these years. And so when you it came

along to you, you were like, "Huh,

that's interesting. and able to go on.

But to the developing mind that would be

overwhelmed with that, we have a real

problem.

So anxiety is a big issue. In fact, in

Australia, a major study showed um that

hospitalizations due to mental health is

up 81%

since 2010 among girls and 51% among

boys. But girls are more adversely

affected by all of the media than boys.

It's not to say that boys are not

adversely affected. They are. But girls

are more adversely affected. Now, this

last one I am really

Look at this.

Are you studying that?

>> This morning,

our message is going to see why this can

be the case.

I'm very excited about that research

that came from the same place all this

other research came from.

This is the truth of God's plan and the

gospel. We can be encouraged by what we

see here. And young people, if you don't

want to go down the road that the

culture is going, you know, KL Coleman,

my dad, used to always say, find out

where everybody's going and go the other

direction. Just just on any issue, what

do most people think? You immediately,

son, need to question that. What

whatever most people are going with, you

probably need to turn around and run the

other way.

Um, and here we see um that when we get

down to who we are, I pray that this is

who we are. Now, we don't usually like

the word religion a whole lot. We we

contrast that with relationship, but in

this case, it's pointing to people of

faith that are looking beyond

themselves. So, this morning, I want to

ask the question, how can I be free from

anxiety? How can I be free from anxiety?

And I believe that you and I are going

to be encouraged by this. Let's turn the

page and let's look at our passage this

morning that we want to look at. First

Peter chapter chapter 5 vers 6 and 7.

Look what it says in verse 6. He says,

"Humble yourselves therefore under the

mighty hand of God so that at the proper

time he may exalt you, casting all your

anxieties on him

because he cares for you." I remember

being a freshman at Florida State. I

remember going through all of those

pressures of adjustment to life away

from home. I remember going up there.

Now, I had already decided to walk with

Christ at that point in my life. That

was my senior year in high school. And

so, even though I was at a big party

school, I was seeking to honor Christ

while I was there. I was I was walking

with God. I was I was seeking out

friends that loved God. And um there in

the midst of all of that, there were

still pressures, lots of pressures. In

fact, I went through a period of time

where I really didn't have any friends

because I had said, "Lord, I don't want

to just make friends with anybody. I

want to make friends with people that

will help me love you and walk with you.

And so I was very careful about whom I

made friends with. And I would say that

to all of the middle school and high

school kids, um especially college kids

as you're going off to school. Here's

what you need to understand. You make

your friends and then your friends make

you. Your friends are going to affect

who you become. And so it's it's very

very important. I I just remember

spending more time in prayer. I remember

spending more time kind of alone saying,

"God, I want to wait on you to bring the

right friends into my life." Well, in

the midst of that time, I remember going

through a fair amount of anxiety. I

remember going through some difficulty.

I remember calling my dad one night and

saying, "Dad,

do you I I said, "Dad, I I think I'm

going crazy. I think I'm losing my mind.

Do you ever feel like you're losing your

mind?" My dad said, "Yeah, all the

time."

He was a pastor at this church. He was

an engineer from Georgia Tech. He was a

very smart man. He was a student of the

Bible. But I said, "Dad, do you do do

you really do you feel like you're

losing?" And he goes, "Oh, yeah, son. On

a regular basis, but that's why I run

back to the Lord.

>> I run back to the Lord and I find my

sanity in the Lord. I find the way to

deal with life in the Lord." And um he

he started to walk me through in a way

that I was ready to hear it. These

verses, these verses became an anchor to

me. Dad started to look at me and say in

verse six, he says, "Humble yourself,

Andrew. Therefore, under the mighty hand

of God, so that the right time he may

exalt you and cast all of your anxieties

on him."

Why? Because he cares for you. The first

thing I want you to notice as we look at

not just verse six and seven but

actually all the way to the end of the

book um because there's going to next

Sunday we're going to look at another

instruction that is given here. Um

notice number one here notice these are

part of the closing thoughts of Peter's

letter. So this is the wrap-up. This is

all part of the conclusion.

These ideas are narrowing down to the

very important big picture items on how

to persevere. Fill that in. How to

persevere well in a broken world. It's

recognizing the brokenness of the world

that we have. Next Sunday, we'll be

looking at recognizing the adversary,

our devil, who seeks to throw us off

track and devour us. And so the Apostle

Peter is not glossing over the problems

and the realities of life. The the

Apostle Peter is dealing with them.

God's word is dealing with them for you

and for me. If we will take the time to

dive into God's word, he will deal with

the realities of our life. So notice

this that there are some instructions

here. Fill that in. And there are some

promises here in these final verses. In

fact, these are extremely practical

concerns for your daily life. It is

concerning that there's anxiety around

us. There was 2,000 years ago and there

is now and increasingly now as the world

um runs headlong away from God. Of

course, that there is an increasing

anxiety. Notice that these are

foundational to experiencing these these

practical concerns that Peter is going

to give us. These are foundational to

experiencing God's fill it in God's

victorious power in your daily life. The

world is running in weakness. The world

is running in the weakness of the flesh.

God has designed it so that we would run

in the power of his spirit which

overcomes all weakness of the flesh. So

on the ground realities and this is this

is good especially if you're new to

studying the Bible. This to help you

understand the whole Bible right here

and everything about our spiritual

lives. These next two major sections

here on the ground realities. Number

one, God made all things good.

Everything was good. Genesis 1 and two,

go read it. It was good. It was good. It

was good. It says that over and over.

Why? Because God was the creator and God

is good. And so what he created was

good. But when sin entered the equation,

that's in Genesis 3. Sin cursed and

complicated the physical and the

spiritual universe. So this is where

weeds comes from. This is where

splinters comes from. This is where all

of the adverse

adverse uh things of our physical world

come from. But it's also where all of

the spiritual um adversity comes from

against our lives. Number three, very

important. Pride grows out of sin and it

poisons relationships

with God and with others. So pride comes

out of sin. And that's what we're going

to see in just a minute. In verse six,

he says, "This is how you come and you

give your your anxiety to God." He's

going to deal with that issue of pride.

Notice number four. Our sin sick

brokenness

produces

much anxiety.

Our anxiety comes from a broken world

and our own broken flesh in it. So

notice this parenthetical statement

underneath number four. Sin and all of

its consequences gives you something to

worry about. That is the truth. Sin

produces anxiety and worry. So number

five, trouble is a pervasive reality for

everyone in the world. That's because we

live in a fallen, broken world. Now

that's the realities on the ground.

That's the realities of every person in

the universe. That's every person here

in this world. But look at what's next.

Heaven's reset. God has a reset for us.

Number one, God God for those who are

being saved, the scripture says, is

sustaining and restoring his goodness.

That's what he's doing. He's sustaining

and he's restoring his goodness. Number

two, Jesus Christ is the one antidote to

the brokenness and curse of sin. He is

the only way for this to be remedied.

Jesus is number three. Christ's death

and resurrection makes the reverse of

the curse possible. The reverse of the

curse. Can you guys say that together

out loud with me? The reverse of the

curse. So the world is cursed in sin.

This is the This is what God said. The

moment you eat of this fruit, you shall

surely die. It is cursed. This is where

weeds and thistles come from. This is

where hardship and brokenness comes

from. But here, Jesus came to reverse

the curse. And so number four, true

Christians live in Christ's great reset

by faith and obedience. So the great

reset that Jesus gives to us on the

death of on his death through his death

on the cross and his resurrection from

the tomb is what we accept by faith and

then we start to obey him and this is

what God does in resetting it. So in

verse six we see this and this is where

we're going to dive into the scripture.

Number two, the reset starts with your

humility before God. So if you want the

reset that Christ offers out of the

anxiety of a broken world, it starts

with humbling ourselves before God. In

fact, look at verse six with me and

let's just read that line that's under

number two there. Verse six, it starts

with humble. Let's read that out loud.

Are you ready? Let's read it. Humble

yourselves, therefore, under the mighty

hand of God. You see, this is an

instruction. and fill that in. This is

an instruction. It's a command. It's not

a suggestion.

And so Peter is saying as he wraps

everything up in light of everything

I've said, humble yourself before God.

You see, there's some who refuse to

humble themselves. There's kids who grow

up in the life of the church. They

somehow never get the message. They're

never fully convinced, and they go in

life never humbling themselves before

God.

And then there's some people that have

been out running around in South Florida

or running around the globe and they

have been living all of this pursuit and

then they hear the gospel and they

realize that's the truth and they

quickly come and humble themselves

before God. So you can grow up under the

gospel, never humble yourself, or you

can live the wild life and hear it and

immediately respond. It's very

interesting how this works. Growing up

in the life of the church does not mean

that you automatically are humble before

God.

>> Amen.

>> You can be here every single Sunday as a

young person. You can be here every

single Sunday all the way up through our

legacy adults and not humble yourself

before God.

But this is what God calls us to is to

humble ourselves. You see true

Christians fill this in. Humble

themselves in faith in obedience.

That's what we do. That's what he calls

us to. That's what Peter is calling us

to. You see, part of the idea here is

that everyone everyone will eventually

bow.

Christians just do it now.

Everyone's going to bow. It's just a

matter of when. And it's a whole lot

better to do it now before it is

everlastingly too late.

And so here is the picture. Notice this.

Philippians 2 10-11. So that at the name

of Jesus, every knee will bow of those

who are in heaven and on earth and under

the earth. You see that? That's all that

are that are on the earth. That's all

that that are um already in heaven.

That's all of those that are in death

that are that are awaiting the judgment.

Everyone is going to eventually see that

Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the

father. Everyone will acknowledge this.

You see that every tongue will confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory

of God the Father. So Christians are

called to humble themselves. And that's

not just a religious thing. That's not

just a cultural Christianity thing. That

is a true spiritual thing that has to

happen down deep in the life of each

individual as they come to this. I

notice this last point that is here.

This God is worthy of your humility

because he has the ultimate mighty hand.

And notice that that's what it says up

in verse six. Humble yourselves

therefore under the what does it say

there? Under the mighty hand of God. And

there's a couple of things to get out of

that. Um, please do not turn over the

paper because this is really important.

Mary,

the mother of Jesus,

as a teenager,

found herself in an extremely difficult

circumstance.

She found herself standing before an

angel and the angel was saying to her,

"Mary,

God has found favor with you

and you are going to conceive of the

Holy Spirit. You're going to be with

child

and this child is going to be

exceedingly special for he is going to

save his people from their sin." And

Mary is sitting there thinking, "I'm a

teenager. I've never been with a man.

How can this be possible? What do you

mean I'm going to have to? And then

she's starting to think, what is

everybody going to think? I mean, she's

in an exceedingly difficult position in

her young life.

And do you know what she ultimately

does? Her response of all of this is,

"No, Lord, you got the wrong girl. I'm

not the right one for you. you got to

find somebody else who will do this task

because that that's not at all what Mary

does. Instead, we read in Luke chapter 1

Luke 1 · chapter mention

her response to that message. And part

of her response, I would love to have

time to read the whole thing. We don't

have that. Look at verse 49. For he who

is mighty

has done great things for me and holy is

his name and his mercy is for those who

fear him from generation to generation.

He has shown strength with his arm. He

has scattered the proud in the thoughts

of their hearts. See, she breaks out in

song. She is quoting from Old Testament.

She is quoting from the scriptures that

reside inside of her. And what she is

remembering is is is this is that this

God who calls me to trust him is the God

who has unlimited

power. And if this is what he has

decided, I can rejoice in it.

You see, she's trusting

in humility. And that's exactly what God

calls us to first and foremost is to

humble ourselves before God. Turn the

page. Go on to number three with me. Up

there in the top in that box, it says,

"Humble yourselves." Verse six, "Humble

yourselves therefore under the mighty

hand of God." And why? So that at the

proper time he may exalt you. You see,

number three is this. Notice the

automatic promise of reward. God is

saying, 'If you will humble yourself, I

will reward you. And that's what it is.

In fact, the words so that are right

there at the beginning of this

statement. He's saying, "Humble yourself

so at the proper time I may exalt you."

This is amazing. Here's the idea. Fill

this in. Humility now, exaltation to

come. Humility now, exaltation to come.

Now, that's not what most people want.

Most people want exaltation now and

humility if we get around to it. Lord,

give me the life I want now. Lord, make

me happy. Be the genie I want you to be.

Give me the degree. Give me the career.

Give me the salary. Give me the house.

Give me the travel. Give me the status.

Give me the restaurants. Give me the

clothes. Give me the the experiences

that I want now.

and eventually, you know, maybe when I'm

too old, then I'll honor you.

There's a lot of people who think that

that's the way it can go, but then they

caught they get caught with that because

sin will always take you further than

you want to go. It will keep you longer

than you want to stay and it will cost

you more than you want to pay. It's not

worth it. But that's what humility does.

Humility is what God calls us to now and

exaltation will come later. You see a

reoccurring theme throughout God's holy

word. And these are just a few. I could

have done three pages of this, but this

is really important. Look at James 4:10.

James 4:10

Humble yourselves before the Lord. And

what?

>> Okay, that was very weak. Let's look at

it. James 4:10. I'll read the first

James 4:10

part, you read the last part. All right.

Humble yourselves before the Lord. will

exalt

>> much better. Look at Luke 14:11. Look

Luke 14:11

what it says. For everyone who exalts

himself will be humbled. You read the

next part. And

>> he humbles himself.

>> So those are the words of Jesus. And

then we go back to Psalm 147. Look what

it says. The Lord lifts up the humble.

Finish it.

>> And so here is the contrast. The Lord

lifts up, it says, the humble, but the

wicked he casts to the ground. Look at

Proverbs 22:4.

Proverbs 22:4

The reward uh the reward for humility

and fear is of the Lord is riches and

honor and life. That's beautiful. Riches

and honor and life. Now, that's not the

riches of this eternal of this this

temporal world that is passing away.

He's talking about the riches, the real

things of value that are to come. Honor,

and then look at that life, eternal

life, abundant life. Jesus said, "I

might I came that you might have life

and that you might have it abundantly."

Look at Isaiah 66 and verse two. But

this is the one to whom I will look. So

you're wondering who God looks to. He

who is humble and contrite in spirit.

And what? Read it out loud. and

trembles.

>> Okay, so humble heart and loves the

truth, loves my word. Look at Psalm

Psalms 34:18

34:18. The Lord is near to the

brokenhearted and he saves the crushed

in spirit. Psalm 51:17, the sacrifices

Psalms 51:17

of God are a broken spirit, a broken and

a contrite heart heart. Oh God, you will

not despise. And so what we see in these

these verses that we're studying, humble

yourselves therefore under the mighty

hand of God so that at the proper time

he may exalt you. This is a God who

loves to do that. You see, notice this

little box that I have here. There's a

human posture and then there's God's

response. And you see on the left side

the pride and the self self-exaltation.

So the first two are negative. But look

at the the last four having humility,

brokenness and obedience and seeking

him. So human posture. You can either be

prideful and self-exalting

or you can be humble, broken, obedient

and seeking him. And look at God's

response to pride. God opposes that. He

is opposed to the proud to the

self-exalted. What does God do? God

humbles the self-exalted.

For the humility, for those who are

humble, God does what? He gives grace to

the humble. That's what he does. For

brokenness, what does he do? God draws

near to them. For obedience, what does

he do? God lifts them up. For seeking

him, what does he do? He rewards.

Hebrews 11. I love this. Hebrews 11:6,

Hebrews 11:6

for the Lord is a rewarder of those who

seek him. That's what he does. I

remember when I discovered that little

phrase. So if you if you miss some of

those, look at that. Humility, he gives

grace. Brokenness, he draws near.

Obedience, he lifts up. Seeking him, he

rewards. This is the heart of God. So if

you're wondering what that really looks

like, exaltation by God usually does not

involve riches, fame, or earthly power.

So these aren't the temporal things that

the world is after. If you're really

after the heart of God, you're going to

be after the things that are eternal.

You see, notice the next one here.

Exaltation by God almost always involves

peace,

vindication,

and lasting honor. That's what God does

when it says that God is going to exalt

you. He's going to do this. He's going

to give you peace. He's going to give

you peace in the midst of the storm. In

fact, put out there to the side

Philippians 4. Philippians 4 4-8 because

it says, "Rejoice in the Lord always."

And again, I say rejoice. Let your

before bearing spirit be made known to

all men. The Lord is near. And it says,

"Be anxious for nothing, but in

everything by prayer and supplication

with thanksgiving, let your requests be

made known to God. And the peace of God

which surpasses all human comprehension

will guard your hearts and your minds in

Christ Jesus." This is the heart of God.

This is a lasting peace and vindication

and lasting honor. Look at the last one

that is there. Exaltation by God

ultimately points to eternal rewards in

heaven with him. It's not only eternal

rewards. This isn't just an

esqueological hope that is in this verse

that that he may exalt you. No, it is a

hope for now, but it's also certainly a

hope for heaven. Number four, notice the

real privilege of real relief from

anxiety. And so here we get to that

point where it's talking about our

anxiety. So look up there at the box in

the top of the page. Humble yourselves

therefore under the mighty hand of God

so that he may exalt you at the proper

time. Let's read verse seven out loud

together. How how do we humble

ourselves? Verse 7 it says, "Casting all

your anxieties on him because he cares

for you." Casting all your anxieties

upon him.

This is where dad took some moments and

helped me.

Dad said,"Andrew, you got to take the

things that you're super worried about

and you have to." And he said, 'I want

you to imagine that you are down before

the Lord. You're standing at his feet.

His nail scarred feet are in front of

you

proving his love for you.

And you're going to take your anxieties

and you're going to give them over to

his feet.

You're going to say, "Lord, I can't bear

this pressure. I can't bear this

problem. I can't bear this sorrow. I

can't bear this unknown. I can't bear

this pain. I cannot bear this anxiety.

Lord, I'm going by faith to give this to

you.

This has got to be yours."

Now, there's many many Christians that

no one has ever walked them through the

fact that they need to do that.

They everybody just walks around church

and they go, "Well, you know, just got

to trust the Lord. Just got to trust the

Lord. You know, yeah, I've got this, but

yeah, I'm going through a divorce or I'm

going through this or I'm going through

that or my kid is I have this camp, you

know, whatever it is. I'm going through

this." Well, are you trusting in the

Lord? Trust in the Lord. You know, you

can be very glib about that stuff and do

more harm than good.

God calls us to be real concerning our

pain and our trouble and our sorrow. And

he calls us to help one another to give

these things to God and to know what

that means and to begin to say, "Lord,

you're the only one that can solve this

>> in my heart.

I want you to notice a few points about

this.

God invites us

to have this very real relief by

transferring our burdens to him.

We transfer them over to him. Now, the

word casting is used here. The word

casting implies actively throwing

something off of yourself

and casting it upon him. Imagine a very

heavy rucks sack on your back and you

lean over, you peel it off one arm and

then it's there and you take that huge

burden and you cast it down and say, "I

cannot bear that anymore."

You see, God does not merely sympathize

with our burdens. He invites invites us

to place them on him. That's what he

invites us to do. He doesn't just say,

"Oh, I'm feel feel bad for you and I see

you in your pain and I I feel that." No,

he says, "I'm here to enter in with

that."

Look at Isaiah or or Psalm 55 and verse

two. Cast your burden on the Lord. And

what does it say? What does it say? and

he will sustain you

>> and he will sustain you. Let's read that

whole verse out loud together. Psalm 55

and verse 22. Read it strong. Cast your

burden on the Lord and he will sustain

you. You know the reason a lot of you do

not experience his sustaining you is

because you never gave him your burden.

And that sometimes is a process. I mean

that's sometimes you you got to work

through that a little bit. You you got

to work through what does this mean to

give this sorrow to the Lord?

He wants you to learn to work through

that. He Okay, you're taking a hard a

hard course at the university, a really

hard course, and you're kind of scared

of it and you're not sure how this is

going to work out. And you know, you've

got some exams that are coming up,

paper, and a project that's got to be

done. And this is very ominous, and you

know, it's a weed out course for you.

And part of the reason I'm mentioning

this is because we have young people in

the room. But second of all, I was one

of those young people and I had a couple

of courses that I knew were pretty hard

and I had to face those challenges

trusting in the Lord and saying, "Lord,

I'm going to do my part, but Lord, I

cannot bear the the burden of this.

I certainly can't bear the fear of it.

You have to help me with this. You have

to bear this with me.

You see, notice this at the bottom of

the page. God never intended for his

children to carry alone what he has

invited them to in faith place on him.

He's never He's never intended for you

to carry these burdens alone.

He is inviting you and he's calling you

to learn to trust him with them. Flip

the page as we go to the last.

As part of this transferring the burden,

look at letter B. God invites us to

bring every anxiety, every anxiety

without exception to him. Look what it

says in verse 7.

Casting what does it say? Casting all

your anxieties on him.

All of them.

You You don't need to select some and

deselect others. You see, it's not just

spiritual concerns and it's not just

respectable concerns, but it's every

concern.

Every worry, every fear, every pressure.

Look at this. every disappointment.

You know, the young folks don't have so

many disappointments yet. Usually middle

folks and older folks, sometimes there's

disappointments in life. This didn't

quite turn out the way I thought.

Or maybe the uncertainties. All of us

can have uncertainties.

He's called us with every single one of

these to give them to him. I've already

quoted Philippians 4:6. Look what it

Philippians 4:6

says. Let's read it out loud together.

Let's read Philippians 4:6 out loud. Do

Philippians 4:6

not be anxious about anything, but in

everything by prayer and supplication

with thanksgiving, let your requests be

made known to God. Those are verses

worth memorizing. Philippians 4 4-8 were

very key in my life. One of the anchors

in my life. See from this what we see is

there's nothing too small for God's

attention and there's nothing too large

for his ability.

He he is willing to pay attention to

your smallest concern. And listen, he is

able to take care of your greatest

challenge, your greatest problem.

This is the God who can handle it all.

Letter C. God himself

is the place where our anxieties belong.

Peter does not say cast them away. He

doesn't say just cast them away as if

they're gone. He says put them on him.

And so you're learning to trust him with

the very real issues in your life. The

Christian life is not anxiety

suppression. For many people, it is

anxiety suppression. You just want to

suppress the anxiety. You're just trying

to somehow manage it.

Instead, it's anxiety relocation.

You relocate that anxiety into the hands

of God,

>> onto the feet of Jesus.

You see, the gospel does not teach us to

deny our burdens, but to redirect them.

To redirect them to God. You're

wondering how you're going to make your

mortgage payment.

You're wondering how you're going to

deal with your child's illness. You're

wondering how you're going to deal with

this issue or that issue in your life.

God is calling you

to direct that to him.

And finally, notice the last part of

verse 7. Look at the last part of verse

7. Verse seven says, "Casting all your

anxieties on him." And why?

>> Because he cares for you. Isn't that

glorious?

>> Why? Because he cares for you. He

actually cares. That's why. This is

amazing.

Notice this.

Notice the heart of God toward your

burdened state. That should be burdened

ed at the end of burden. Burdened state.

So we live in a burdened state. There's

no doubt about it. So God God cares

about your burden state. He cares about

the concern that is on your mind and

your heart. And I remember this as a

father of young children. I remember

when Cheryl or Andrea were upset about

something. I remember they would they

would be troubled and they're worried

about it and I would see them and I

would say, "Sweetheart, what's wrong?

What are you what are you upset about?"

Well, I'm just I'm worried about And she

would voice some fear that she had and

what did I what did I do as a father? I

I would get down and I would say, "Now,

wait a minute. Wait a minute. Let's

think about this. Let me let me I hear

you're you're you're afraid of this. I I

understand, but can we walk through

this? Can we talk through this a little

bit? You don't just look at them and

say, "That's so stupid. You shouldn't be

afraid." You don't do that with your

children, parents.

What you do is you come down on their

level and you help them walk through

that. You know, that's what God does

with your fears and with your burdens.

That's his heart. He He's concerned

about the fact that you're concerned.

This is amazing.

Notice this with me.

Anxiety grows when we doubt God's care.

Anxiety grows when we think God doesn't

care.

And that, by the way, is what?

>> Satan's lie.

He will lie to you. He will He will

convince you. God doesn't care about

that. Look at what you did over here.

God, you don't have the right to ask.

Here's one thing. You always have the

right to ask God for wisdom. He He says,

I if you will ask for wisdom, I will

give it to you without finding fault. So

if you do run down a road of rebellion,

you do find yourself in a big mess, you

find yourself in jail, you find yourself

in whatever the mess that you've made,

you do have by God's grace, his great

wisdom and grace, you have the right to

ask him for wisdom because wisdom, his

wisdom is the only way out of our sin.

So

you can never

doubt that God will hear you and that he

will h if you will ask for wisdom, if

you will ask for his grace in this, he

will help you find the way back to the

path. This is what he does. Otherwise,

there would be no hope for us. But

there's always hope in Jesus.

So anxiety grows when we doubt God's

care. Peace grows when we rest in his

care.

>> And resting has to do with faith.

It has to do with the fact that you're

sitting down in him. You're resting in

him. Now, I just want to ask you right

now, all of you are sitting here in

these pews. How many of you are sitting

there with your muscles tight and tense

just waiting for the pew to break? Now,

I know they're old pews, but how many of

you are freaking out? Just you're you're

scared that the pew's going to break

underneath you. You haven't even thought

about that

until you know why? Because you're

resting in that pew. You're trusting in

that. You know what? You have faith in

that pew.

God calls you to have that kind of faith

in him. He wants you to sit down and

rest in him.

Bring your anxiety to him

and he will deal with your anxiety. Look

with this with me. The antidote to

anxiety is not control.

It is confidence or faith in the care of

God.

That is the antidote. It's not for you

to control something. It's that you

would have faith in the fact that God

cares about you.

Matthew 11 chapter 11 28 Jesus is

speaking and I love these verses too. In

fact, for a while I was I wasn't sure

these were true. I questioned these

verses as being true um as a young

foolish man when I didn't really

understand the ways of God um because it

just seemed it just seemed like they

weren't true. And then fast forward 45

years later, I really believe them. Look

at verse 28. Come to me all who labor

and are what?

>> Heavy laden.

>> Heavy laden. And what does he say? I'll

do

>> I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon

you and learn from me, for I am gentle

and lowly in heart, and you will find

rest for your souls. And here's what I

doubted for a while. For my yoke is easy

and my burden is light.

You see, I used to think that being a

Christian, man, that's a heavy that's a

heavy load.

Saying no to all these all these things

that I want to do and saying yes to all

these things sometimes that I don't want

to do. I mean, discipline and worship

and giving and sacrifice and choosing

him over choosing the things that are

right here in front of me. I just

thought all that was hard. But you know

what I've learned over the years is no.

Actually, choosing him is much easier.

All that other stuff that looks like

lowhanging fruit is poisonous.

>> It'll ruin your life.

I mean, a lot of trouble will come from

all that stuff that just looks like fun.

But when we when we choose him

>> in his plan, when we choose his way,

what we start to see is this is actually

a lot easier than a life that is chasing

the wind.

And so this is why Jesus says, "I am

gentle and lowly in heart and you will

find rest for your souls." So

application to my life. How do we apply

these two verses? Humble yourselves

under the mighty hand of God that he may

exalt you at the proper time. Casting

all your care upon him, all your your

anxieties on him because he cares for

you. How do we apply that? The vast

majority of anxiety in your life can be

dealt with biblically. It can be dealt

with biblically with biblical truth

rather than medically or

therapeutically.

We live in an age of throw a pill at it.

We live in an age of you got to go have

therapist.

I am not against pills and I am not

against therapists but they are not to

be the first line of action.

The word of God is to be the first line

of action. Part of the reason we run to

all of these other things first is

because we don't know the word of God.

We're not listening to God. We're not

submitted to God. We've not humbled

ourselves before God. Let's start with

that first.

Let's start there first. And some of you

say, "Well, nobody ever told me that.

That's why I've been so stressed. That's

why I've been so messed up. That's why

I'm down all these other roads." Well,

listen. Just start to hear the message

now and receive the idea that God's word

is better

than anything else. There are certain

times when medication is necessary.

There's no doubt about that. But

friends, it is not the first line of

defense.

Good parenting,

hard work, good nutrition,

sleep,

discipline,

saying no to screen time, saying no to

certain substances and other things.

Those are the those are the way to peace

as you look to God. This is living a

holy life

as opposed to rambling down the track of

life, bouncing from pillar to post and

wondering why you're upset and you can't

sleep.

Peter is dealing with that. These are

the eternal words of God. The grass

withers, the flower fades, the word of

God stands forever. Listen to the word

of God. The word of God is saying,

"Humble yourself under the mighty hand

of God. Stop thinking you're God. Stop

thinking you can do what you want to do.

Humble yourself before him. Cast your

care upon him knowing that he cares for

you. He's not trying to kill your joy.

He cares for you.

So the vast majority of anxiety in your

life can be dealt with biblically.

You see, letting God speak and inform us

through his word. That's what I've just

been saying. Be in his word. Let his

word be

your help. Letting God minister to us

through his spirit.

God is a very real God who has a Holy

Spirit who wants to deal with your

heart.

It's not just about sound doctrine. It

sound doctrine is the basis. But it's a

it's doctrine applied. listening to God,

walking with God in a relationship with

him, which is what he wants with you in

his spirit will help you.

Letting his instructions change your

behavior, yes, your actions

and your understanding because his

instructions and his word change your

behavior and your understanding, peace

will come.

And then finally, notice this. Letting

his care and promise secure your minds.

>> And put out there to the side 1 Timothy

1 Timothy 1:7

1:7. You know what 1 Timothy 1:7 says?

1 Timothy 1:7

Listen to this as we close. For God has

not given us a spirit of fear, but of

power and love. And you know what it

says? And a sound mind.

So, do you sometimes feel like you're

going crazy? Yeah. Well, join the club.

Run to God in his word.

Finally, we often say in the life of

this church this little phrase,

truth in the mind brings hope to the

heart.

>> Truth in the mind brings hope to the

heart. This is what God does as we rest

in him. Amen.

>> Would you stand with me for prayer?

>> Let's pray.

>> Father, I thank you this morning that

your word deals with our lives. It deals

with calculus class. It deals with

strained friendships. It deals with

financial pressure.

It deals with repetitive sin problems.

Deals with anger.

It deals with

abuse.

Your word

deals with everything that a sinful

world can throw at us.

I pray, Father, this morning that we

would see the healing medicine

of your word in your ways.

I pray that we would see that you're the

God who says, "I care about you.

Let me care for you.

Doesn't do any good to have a great

doctor

and stay away from him.

If we want the healing, we have to come

to the doctor and let him help.

Lord, I pray that under the sound of my

voice, every mind and heart that's in

this room right now would evaluate.

Have I trusted in the great physician?

Am I casting my burdens upon him? Am I

humbling myself before him

as the God of a mighty hand?

Or am I holding out?

Holding out, protecting my pet sins

or maybe my pet anxieties.

Lord, I pray that this morning that you

would help us to surrender them to you.

Maybe you would take just a moment this

morning and and evaluate maybe the top

three stresses of your life.

And you would say, "Lord,

would you help me this week

to surrender these to you?

Name them to him.

call them out to him just as a as a

starting plane,

starting point that you would you would

name to him

the things that maybe it would be that

Lord, I'm far from you. I know I'm not

right with you.

That would be a great one to start with.

Lord, would you help me get right with

you?

Would

you help my hard heart?

Or maybe it's this gripping fear

over this thing in my life or this

sorrow that I've not been able to let go

of,

this disappointment.

Just ask him for help this morning.

Lord, I pray that when we come back in

this room a week from now, that you will

have done some mighty things.

I pray that you will have taken our

burdens,

that we will have laid them at your

feet, and that there'd be a new freedom,

a new joy, a new power

that we've never had.

Lord, how I pray for that this morning

in Jesus name. Amen.