Understanding Surpassed - Matthew 6:25-24 - Sunday Sermon

Good morning everyone.

>> I think we just say merry Christmas. I

don't know the rules, but merry

Christmas.

>> Uh if you're new here, my name is Mati

Scaring. I'm the preaching and teaching

pastor here. And if I didn't get to meet

you during our welcome time, I'd love to

meet you after church. But glad you're

here. Glad everyone's here. Hope you had

a fantastic Christmas and uh a New

Year's as well coming up. Um, so if

you're new and have never signed a

welcome card, you could go ahead and do

that. We do have a gift card for you if

you just pass your welcome card in at

the connection table afterwards. I think

it's like to Dutch Bros or something

like that. It it changes sometimes, but

um uh we also use them as prayer

requests and there are plenty of things

that uh we have prayer requests about

during the Christmas season as well. So

uh we pray for those every single week

and we don't even stop at all during the

holidays. So if you turn a prayer

request in and are comfortable putting

your name on it, we will be praying for

you. So you can use them in that way as

well. They're basically just a way for

us to connect with you and for you to

get more connected with the church. Like

if you have questions about things, uh

that's one way to start. So um normally

we are just in a book study and that

would be Galatians right now and we're

going to be restarting that uh right in

the new year as well. and then we'll

finish it in January and we'll be into

uh the next book study. The elders need

to meet and discuss. Uh we like to pray

about what book God would have us go

through next. And uh that's really our

rhythm, just verse byvere teaching uh

through book by book kind of thing. Um

but there are some Sundays where there's

a break in the action because we have

these Bible studies. we call them

disciplehip communities and they're in

homes and we're studying through

Galatians and we do that in advance of

the sermon and that will start back up

on the first Wednesday um of the new

year. Um, but we take a break during

some of the Wednesdays of the holidays.

And so that's why we take a break from

the study so as not to disrupt that

rhythm, which leaves Sundays open. And

as you know, if you've been here for a

while, I've been going through um the

basics of mentorship on those Sundays um

because we want to develop a mentorship

uh uh ministry. And I say mentorship

because it's a modern word where people

understand what you mean. It's a person

uh in in Christian terms, a person

taking some responsibility for some time

for the spiritual development of

another. That another word for that

biblically is disciplehip. But

disciplehip has many different forms. Uh

preaching is disciplehip. Uh studying

just the word of God directly and being

taught by Jesus through his spirit in

his word, that's also disciplehip. Small

group discussion of scripture, that's

disciplehip. So when it's more

one-on-one or one-on- two, uh that's

still disciplehip, but it's a more

focused type. So that's the only reason

we're calling it mentorship. Um but I

thought I'd just say that. But uh today

I I felt redirected these last um this

last week or two from doing a mentorship

sermon. That's what I was I am

interested in doing. That's what I was

planning on doing but felt directed by

redirected by the spirit and probably in

part as a result of uh events happening

in my own life. Um but also because of

things that uh people in this church and

other Christians have been talking to me

about. Uh the topic of today's sermon is

going to be anxiety and how we actually

deal with it. Uh which seems like a good

thing to be talking about going into a

new year. Um but it's it's not just

going to be a topical sermon. We're

we're going to be walking through a

passage verse by verse, a famous one uh

about what Jesus has to say in Matthew

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6 starting in verse 25 and

finishing in 34. And we'll look at up

we'll look at another couple passages

about anxiety. Um but especially for

those of you new, you might not know

that um we only just recently completed

a move. So we sold a house, moved to

another house. Most of the boxes are

either still in storage in our garage or

in a pod that will be arriving at our

house at some point. And so we're

unboxing everything and all of that

during during Christmas. It's just the

way the worked out when our house sold

and when the contingency sale went

through. And so there's all kinds of

stressors associated with that. Uh if

you've moved recently, you probably

viscerally viscerally remember the

stressors that that come from that. Um

I've I've realized through experience in

my life that something's usually not

particularly stressful stressful if you

don't care about it. Right? If you care

about it then uh then stress uh often

times especially if if something becomes

a lot more difficult that you care about

then you might experience certain

stresses. And one response to those

kinds of stressors is anxiety. So, I

want to tell you about something that I

really care about that was threatened

that I had to allow God to deal with my

anxiety about. So, you know, I really

love hunting. Um, I'm not my I grew up

to a missionary family in Germany and

hunting there just wasn't really a

thing. Um, and so it wasn't like I was

hunting from a young young age. It's

only about a four years ago that I got

into it. And now I've been able to take

some of my kids along and even my wife.

Uh she actually shot her first buck this

season. Um I I I've got some time in the

sermon. It's it's going to be a

relatively short sermon because I know

there's kids involved, but so first time

my wife shot a rifle. She thought shot

three rounds and then I looked at her

and she was in tears because it was so

scary for her. So I thought, let's just

stop. Let's just be done. Um shooting a

rifle. It's it's a 6.5 Creedmore and

it's a youth rifle. Not not even a whole

lot of kick. So, I thought it would be

safe and I kind of trained her on how to

do it. I didn't think we were in in

unsafe conditions, but it scared her.

So, I thought, let's just stop. But I

had asked her earlier in the season,

would you come with me on the last day

of hunting season to to hunt? And she

said, yes, she would. And I said, well,

now that you experienced that, do you

still want to? And she's like, well,

just don't force me to shoot. I was

like, okay. Wasn't going to anyway, but

sure. No pressure at all. I even said,

do you still want to take the rifle

along? She goes, sure, we can take it. I

can make a decision at the time. So, now

that's three shots through a rifle

lifetime. Right. We go on the last day

of hunting season. My angle's kind of

blocked. And she's, you know, whisper

screaming at me, "There's a buck.

There's a buck." And I'm like, "Do you

want to shoot?" And she says, "I'll do

it." And her fourth shot is a buck. So

every hunter I have said, I've told that

to, they're like, "You're living the

dream." Yeah. You want to see a picture?

I I don't have it up. I wasn't even

planning on telling a story, but anyway.

So then, so the my my son filled his

tag, I filled my tag, and my wife filled

my t her tag. And so we had these three

bucks. And I found all of the other

butchers were full. And uh uh I

accidentally called Clark's Meats uh in

uh I thought that they were doing custom

meats and stuff and they said, "No, uh

we don't do that, but I've got a guy for

you." And so I found a private butcher

and he's actually quite reasonably

priced. And so I I took it to him and he

did the butchering. So it costs money to

hunt. It costs money to have your your

uh meat butchered. Even if you're doing

it yourself, it costs some money because

you got to get the tools and different

things like that and good knives. So

anyway, then I bought a freezer, a

standing freezer, 20 cubic feet freezer

and uh an older one, but it seemed just

fine and was working great and put all

the meat in there after I got it back

from the butcher. And then we moved that

freezer to the new house. And then we

were having we had do a fondue dinner

for Christmas Eve. where you put little,

you know, skewers of meat in in oil and

it cooks it and it's great fun. And my

wife asked me, "Hey, will you defrost

some of the backstrap?" That's like some

of the best of the steak of the deer.

And I was like, I'd love to do that. And

um I thought, well, I'll do it like the

night before. So, uh we've been staying

up late unboxing stuff. So, around

11:30, I'm like, "Okay, it's time to go

to bed." Oh, yeah. I forgot to take the

back strap back. I go to the freezer and

everything's unthawing.

If you're a hunter and you I that's

never happened to me yet, but till now

you know how you feel about that. Okay.

So, I'm I'm like, "Oh, no. Crisis. We

got to do something." And so, uh I'm

trying to figure out, you know, did it

get unplugged? What's going on?

Troubleshooting. I still haven't figured

it out. It was only taking it to 30° and

the meat was was thawing. And so, I look

it up. It's like, if you let your meat

get above 40°, you basically have to

throw it out. So, I'm like, "Okay, it

doesn't seem like it has to. Maybe the

meat quality will decrease if you

refreeze it. I don't know. But I'm just

trying to get everything reffrozen.

Taking stuff out that we can replace and

that's not that expensive. Other

freezers. And then finally on uh I don't

even know what the day that happened,

but Friday morning, a a a good friend of

mine uh gave me a freezer. He wasn't

using a standing freezer and I was able

to I pretty sure I saved all the meat,

right? But you can imagine, especially

at 11:30, I was actually asking God

like, "Why now? I'm so tired. This is

extreme. what's going on. But I'd

already started reading and studying

this passage for the sermon and been

thinking about it. Listen to what the

very first verse says here in verse 25

of chapter 6 of Matthew. Therefore, I

tell you, do not be anxious about your

life, what you will eat or what you will

drink, nor about your body, what you

will put on. Is not life more than food

and the body more than clothing?

Right? And so I knew I mean he just

brought that scripture to mind and I

knew immediately like okay thanks for

the introduction for my sermon. This is

rough but I already know what you're

doing. God will use certain events to

expose the types of places where we need

to trust him and anxiety that comes from

us and it develops our faith for him to

do that. Um it was no accident that it

happened that way. I know God pre-plans

all things and so I knew what I need to

do. was like, "Well, here's the

interesting thing, though. Did they have

freezers back then?" They didn't have

freezers back then. And I've got a 20

cubit cubic uh feet freezer full of

meat. And then I have two more fridges

that also have freezers in them. And

now, although one's broken down, I have

a fourth freezer. Do you know what never

even crossed my mind in terms of anxiety

about the meat? Oh, no. I won't be able

to feed my family if this No, I will.

I'll I'll be fine. The only thought was

this is such a waste. I put so much

effort into this and there's money in it

as well and that would be terrible to

lose it all. That would not be fun or

exciting. Especially now that Isaiah and

and Christine like there's something if

you've never hunted before or maybe if

you fish, it's kind of fun eating your

own fish that you caught. There's like a

more special relationship to the food,

right? So, but I never thought, oh no,

we won't have food. Do you know how many

food security safety nets we have as

Americans? They didn't have freezers.

They had barns. Jesus talks about a barn

here, gathering food into barns, but

they didn't have that. So, here I am.

And it's not about anxiety about a lack

of fear. It's it's actually an issue of

abundance.

Worry about losing dramatic

overabundance.

Right? So everything Jesus says is to a

people group in a time and an age in

ancient near east where they don't have

that kind of abundance.

They are being oppressively taxed by the

Romans to the point where there there

are plenty of pe it wasn't like the the

middle class at that time just could run

to McDonald's and get food if they

didn't have any their house, you know.

So, so their worry was oftenimes

actually about what they would eat

tomorrow. We're not sure we'll have food

for each other, for our family, for

ourselves, for our kids, for our babies.

So, far greater

stressor on anxiety regarding food than

anything I'm experiencing. Actually kind

of laughed here. Am I experiencing

anxiety about food? And this is the

passage we're talking about, but it's

about an overabundance,

you know, uh, back then they might have

a tunic or garment or one and it'd be

special to have two.

Ladies, have you ever experienced

anxiety because you have too many

dresses and you don't know what you're

going to wear that day and that's like

what you're worrying about? That that

happens. I mean, you know, I actually

couldn't find pants the other day right

before coming to sermon. So, maybe there

are situations where, yeah, I I'm not

sure I have the clothes I need to wear

for this event. Uh, but still, we just

have so much more back then. And I

wanted to use that story to highlight

that because Jesus is talking to people

who have reasonable, legitimate reasons

to be concerned about the future. and

that concern, if you want to call it

anxiety or fear or worry or what

whatever it is in that category, um

Jesus has something to say to us about

that. And there's lots of kids in the

service as well. And kids will

experience fears. I don't know, some of

you may be listening to this, you're

like, I don't know what anxiety is, but

I think you probably know what being

scared about something is or or fear uh

or or worrying about something or maybe

especially on Christmas, you worried you

might not get the gift that you really

wanted and then you'd feel sad. So, you

know what it's like to worry about

stuff. If you're in school, worrying

about a test and and not doing well cuz

you want want to do well or worrying

about maybe not having friends in school

and not being accepted by your peers or

or worry about a sporting event. You

know, my boys just played uh contact

football for their time and uh football

can be scary for adults and and children

alike. And so, you can experience

anxiety, performance anxiety before the

games. you're worried that you might not

perform very well. Um, and I I thought

it was kind of interesting. We're having

a special service, so a lot of the kids,

if not all of them, are in the service.

Uh, and that's great. And um, but I

realized the sermon on the mount would

have had kids listening, too. Sermon of

the mount would have had kids listening,

too. And the way that Jesus talks about

this is not particularly difficult to

understand. You don't actually have to

be an adult to understand what's being

talked about here. There will be some

concepts we discuss that are probably

beyond what uh children easily

understand. But again um who can't

understand what Jesus says. Therefore I

tell you do not be anxious about your

life.

Do not uh or what you will eat or what

you will drink nor about the body or

what you will put on. Is not life more

than food and the body more than

clothing? And the obvious implied answer

is yes it is. Look at the birds of the

air. They neither sow nor reap nor

gather into barns

and yet your heavenly father feeds them.

Are you not of more of value than them?

Our society is quickly forgetting that

human beings are more valuable to God

than animals. Um but it's still pretty

ingrained in our society. Like when if a

sparrow falls to the ground and dies,

there's no investigation,

right? That's not true for human beings.

We still naturally know that God has

placed a far greater value in

imagebearers than in animals. That does

not mean that animals aren't valuable to

God. This is saying he cares for them.

They are. But what Jesus is saying is if

he cares for wild birds that they're not

like getting their food at Costco, you

know, then how much more is he going to

care for you?

And you know, you know the answer, a lot

more. And on top of it, Jesus says in

verse 27, "And which of you by being

anxious can add a single hour to a span

of life." So if your life if it's like

worry about life situations, I think

husbands will worry about their careers

and their jobs. Why? Because we care

about providing for your family, right?

You care. You should. So again, when you

care and then that thing that you care

about maybe gets threatened, getting

fired, getting let go, being on a job

search, watching your savings dwindle as

you're trying to find a new job, feeling

like the current job doesn't really pay

enough and hoping that your performance

will merit merit a promotion and then

you don't get a promotion and not going

to be up for promotion. all those kinds

of things for husbands, you know, or or

anybody that is is working at a job has

experienced those kind of things. Or if

you're a mother and you're staying home

and raising your kids, worrying about

the your children's behavior, worry

about how like, am I raising them right?

Am I doing enough? Worry about how

cleanly the house is, you know? And and

feeling like, am I a bad mom if I'm not

doing enough? I know. I mean, I'm

married to a young mother and so I

talked to her about these things. Um,

she's our children's director, by the

way, and I want to thank Emily and

Christine and anyone involved in the

children's ministry for putting on that

uh little children's choir. That was

that was awesome. So, thank you very

much. I know everybody enjoyed that.

Yeah, you can clap for that. [applause]

But moms are facing all kinds of anxiety

press uh stressors and and worries and

because you care.

So if you could do something to stop

yourself from caring, maybe there

wouldn't be as much temptation uh to

deal with your anxiety apart from the

Lord. But the temptation exists. The

anxiety is real. And it's not always

about some kind of crazy phantom fear.

But sometimes, you know, according to

Jesus, this anxiety is really related to

the future. But it's also related to

past in a sense that if you've had a

past negative experience, maybe in

raising your children, maybe in

marriage, maybe in your job, and then

you see some of the very same kinds of

happenings coming together that happened

before that bad experience, you might

start experiencing anxiety where you're

kind of naturally predicting what's

going to happen based on your past

experience. And so you're anxious about

that.

And Jesus has something to say about

anxiety in the future today as well. But

we all know you can't add anything to

your life if if it's just about life in

general. Sometimes either I'm not

self-aware enough and I work on growing

in self-awareness, which is painful

because usually it takes other people

telling you things you're not aware of

and they're not always fun to hear, you

know. So self-awareness growth can be

but but sometimes you're not even really

aware and maybe it's not even related to

that. It's just like it's hidden from

you why you're feeling anxious. Have you

ever felt anxious and not known why you

don't know? You're trying you're praying

about it. You think about I don't know

why I'm feeling this droning sense of

like anxiety or dread or fear or

concern. And that can be that can be

difficult. That might be anxiety that's

related to to life in general.

somehow things are not really going as

you want them to to go or you somewhere

deep in your mind and heart are thinking

things should be going differently and

they don't seem to be shaping up the

right way and so there's this nebulous

kind of anxiety we'll talk about a

little bit later in the sermon there can

be another reason for why you're not

able to identify your anxiety and its

enemy tactic and behavior by enemy I

mean the devil and so there are times

where the reason why you can't identify

it is because it's a stealth type of

attack. We'll talk about that. And why

verse 18 verse 28, why are you anxious

about clothing that that seems to maybe

hit even harder when we have an

abundance of clothing?

You know, if you're back then, you might

say, "Well, I only have one piece of

clothing and it's getting torn and we

can't afford another one."

And whether it's about worry about being

cold or just being exposed to the public

or whatever it is, uh Jesus is so why

why are you anxious about clothing?

Consider the liies of the field how they

grow. They neither toil nor spin. I

don't know what your favorite lily is or

even if you have a favorite lily, but um

my wife's favorite lily is the stargazer

lily. You ever look closely at a

stargazer lily?

They're absolutely beautiful and God c

they're intricate, too. Same with

orchids. There's these little patterns

in them. You're like, "Wow." And the the

how delicately they're fashioned and yet

still they're they're just

they're amazing. Jesus says they're

they're so amazing. He compares them to

Solomon who had a lot of glory.

Literally tons of gold. If I don't

remember the exact number, but if you um

if you calculate just how much wealth uh

Solomon had, he'd be wealthier now than

the wealthiest man alive, which I think

is Elon Musk at like I don't know

something like 500 billion. Predicted to

be at a trillion by 2028.

Solen see Solomon seems to you know if

you look at what what he had would be

worth today more than that. a lot of

glory,

a lot of artistic embellishments and

architectural designs that would have

been breathtaking.

So I tell you, even Solomon in all his

glory was not arrayed like one of these.

God knows the beauty that he's fashioned

into his creation intricately and

gloriously and wonderfully. And you look

at one of these liies and like that's

how he clothed that. And that's a lily.

But if God so clothe the grass of the

field, which today is alive, and

tomorrow is thrown into the oven,

will he not much more clothe you,

oh you of little faith?

And you know the answer, of course, if

he cares for birds and liies,

and surely we should realize liies are

not as valuable as birds, and birds are

not as valuable as human beings to God.

They all have their value, but obviously

in that comparison, the human value is

one of eternal value with an eternal

soul,

not like a lily.

And yet God closed Lily like this. How

much how much more is he going to care

for you? This it's the same thing. You

can trust him, but you're not. And so

you're experiencing all this untreated

anxiety. And Jesus clearly connects that

to a faith problem. It's a faith

problem. You see that, right? He says,

"Oh, you of little faith."

I'll tell you this partly as a

disclaimer, but I've received feedback

on sermons of of anxiety where something

that I've said has offended somebody.

And I have

no intent to offend you about anxiety.

But I do have an intent to be faithful

to what the word of God is saying. And

you can see it with your own saying,

your own eyes. The problem is a faith

problem in relationship to anxiety.

that matters.

And these anxiety disease are so

relatable. It's not like he's saying

that if it's like not about food or

drink, um what you're going to wear,

what you're going to eat, then then it's

okay. He pretty much do not be anxious

about your life includes every type of

anxiety you could experience, right? You

see that? I see you nodding your heads.

And Jesus is saying it's a it's a faith

problem that's happening here.

Well, presumably if it's a faith

problem, then the solution would also be

a faith solution, right? A trusting God

kind of solution.

So, what does Jesus say there? Do

therefore do not be anxious. I think the

offense of what I say is uh related to

misunderstandings about um medical

solutions to anxiety. So, I'll be

balanced and careful, but I do have some

views and some warnings about that. And

um

uh if you have concerns about what I'm

going to say, just come talk to me. Uh

but it's possible that why you might

being be being offended is that what

you're actually doing in relationship to

anxiety is sinful, is disobedient. If

Jesus gives a command, therefore, do not

be anxious,

but you're not willing to obey that.

Anytime we're not obeying Christ,

anytime we're not obeying God's word,

that's that's called a sin. You know,

our world would never call our society

in general in terms of secular view is

not calling anxiety a sin. But but

anything that is not of faith is so

faith allows you to deal with these

kinds of life related anxieties. And

Jesus is saying that it's like a a

diminished faith that doesn't. And he's

making a giving us a command here.

Therefore, do not be anxious,

saying, "What shall we eat or what shall

we drink or what shall we wear?" So, we

can sin in that area. I've confessed

times like, "God, I didn't really trust

you, so I didn't deal with that. I

didn't really trust you in this thing,

so I didn't deal with that stress the

right way." You know, um, and that

definitely happened during this move.

You get so stressed that your normal

faculties faculties with which you

contain your emotions or things just

worn thin. You all know the feeling,

right? Then something frustrating

happens between you and your wife or

between you and a kid and you say

something that you didn't even mean, but

you felt at the time was totally

justified. It's hurtful to them, a

cutting word, a mean word, an untoward

word, not encouraging at all.

Definitely not aligned with the way that

Christ would have you speak at that

moment. Certainly not part of the fruit

of the spirit of self-control, right?

God will definitely bring you to the end

of your own faculties and show you where

your own efforts end and where you have

to trust him in terms of entrusting your

heart and trusting the Holy Spirit and

drawing on him to exhibit self-control

when all of your own abilities have

ended. He'll do that because that's

where all the faith growth is, you know.

So you could just confess that, yeah,

I've been trusting, you know, I'm

experiencing all this anxiety that I

wouldn't have to if I was trusting and

trusting my heart to you about that.

But he he compares what he's talking

about to how Gentiles live their lives.

For Gentiles seek after all these

things, and your heavenly father knows

that you need them. So Jesus is speaking

to Jews here and he's comparing the way

that Jews ought to behave in

relationship to anxiety, entrusting

their their uh anxieties to the Lord and

having him deal with them compared to

Gentiles. In this case, he's not talking

about believing Gentiles. He's talking

about unbelieving Gentiles. We've been

spending a bunch of time in Galatians

talking about how there's neither Jew

nor Gentile. Now, it's just by faith in

Christ that you receive the Holy Spirit

and that you're justified. It's not by

your effort in the law. That's not

really what is being talked about here.

It it would be like it'd be like if he

was talking to Christians and uh and

basically all of us are Gentiles unless

you know that your ancestry is Jewish in

this case. But uh he'd be saying, well,

don't don't relate to to anxiety the way

the world does. That's what he's saying

here. So, we are to be differentiated as

God's people in the way that we deal

with our anxiety compared to the word. I

see you guys nodding. you. It's not

doesn't even take any more explanation.

You know, you're good Bible students.

You know these things. For Gentiles seek

after all these things. And your

heavenly father knows that you need them

all. He knows that you need them all.

Before we go to 33 and 34, I want to go

to a couple other passages that also

talk about anxiety. And I'm not even

getting close to um

to exhausting all the passages about it.

There are so many. I'm just going to a

couple. Like I said, the I'm keeping the

sermon short today. Kids are in it. And

um I I don't think anxiety is that

complicated of an issue. I think when we

over complicate it, uh we diminish

conviction. I'll I'll explain what I

mean by that in a moment. But let's go

to Isaiah 8 11 through 13 in our Bible

read through that we do as a church. Um

it's it's recently that we've been ina

in Isaiah. So Isaiah 8:11-13

Isaiah 8:11–13

says this, "For the Lord uh yeah, for

the Lord spoke thus to me with his

strong hand upon me and warned me not to

walk in the way of this people, saying,

Do not call conspiracy all that this

people calls conspiracy, and do not fear

what they fear, nor be in dread.

But the Lord of hosts, him shall you

honor as holy. Let him be your fear and

let him be your dread.

So, you're going to find all over God's

word. We're going to stop here and talk

about this idea of conspiracy because

one of the things that is causing

anxiety in the hearts of the ancient

Israelites that God is sending Isaiah to

go and prophesy to is what all the world

around them is calling conspiracy. wars

and rumors of wars and you know you

you'll even get crazy things like the

sky is falling you know oh the world

remember acid rain you know oh you're

going to you know it's it's ruining

everything a lot of I think climate

change alarmism is like that and I'm not

even going to go into that cuz that's

it's just a lot of our young our youth

especially is worried that the world's

going to end as a result of human

activity the Bible makes very clear that

the world ends as a result of God's

activity

That one's already settled. We know the

end. God's shown us that in scripture.

So, it's it's not that. But you there's

all kinds of conspiracies going around

that we're not supposed to say are

conspiracies just like everybody else

says conspiracy. Okay? I'm aware of

that. I think you're aware of that

reading scripture. But if you got your

head in conspiracies, um conspiracy

theory is different than conspiracy,

right? If if if a conspiracy is proven,

it's not a theory anymore.

But it's a theory when it hasn't really

been proven beyond a shadow of doubt to

the general public, so to speak. I think

that's probably the only way to

differentiate between those things. It

just has to be overwhelming evidence

that it's actually a conspiracy. And

we're nobody's saying conspiracies don't

happen. So, it's not as though looking

at potential conspiracy theories are all

just phantom fears. Some of those could

actually be conspiracy and would be

reasonable to be afraid of them if they

are.

Okay. So, so at other times you've got

your head in the future and our flash

tends to predict mostly doom and gloom

results, doesn't it? It's not like, oh,

the future is going to be so bright and

I don't need to have any worries. That's

not what happens. Am I going to be able

to make my mortgage payments? Doesn't

look like it.

Are my children going to have the life

that I've been hoping for them? It's not

looking like it. And then you have

anxiety about predicting future outcomes

God hasn't told you are going to be one

way or the other, but you know there's

plenty of future outcomes that were

negative that you experienced in the

past future. Like you're in the past

like I kind of was able to predict that

this would happen and then it would

happen it was negative. So you start

trusting your own powers of prediction

in the future and then you predict

something negative that's going to

happen and it never even happens but you

experience a bunch of anxiety up until

it didn't happen when when it didn't

happen. That's what I call being anxious

about a phantom fear. Phantom fear. God

hasn't given us the power to predict the

future.

Even when he gave his prophets like

Isaiah absolute certainty about what was

going to happen,

how would you, if you had been a friend

of Isaiah, advise him to deal with the

kinds of anxiety that would come from

knowing that God was certainly going to

send Israel off into exile in dreadful

ways.

So even when you actually know the

future for certain, the answer about

anxiety is the same. entrust it to the

Lord. Okay.

So, let's go to first Peter chapter 5

1 Peter 5 · chapter mention

and look what he says about this concept

of anxiety. Peter was an apostle, walked

directly with the Lord, knew the Lord

very closely. And it says in 1 Peter 5,

chapter uh chapter 5 verse 5, actually

starting in verse 6, 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. He heard Jesus

teaching. He knows what Jesus said.

Jesus said God cares for you, too. More

than liies, more than birds, he takes

care of them. You don't think he's going

to take care of you, he cares for you.

You can trust him with your anxiety.

Notice how the all how though in um

relationship to the solution of anxiety,

Peter brings in the word humility.

Pride

will convince you and deceive you in

your own heart. Our own pride. I can

deal with this myself.

It's really easy to think, well, I can

clear my my freezer out and I can solve

this problem myself, right? All the

while just worried sick about losing all

this stuff that's valuable to me, you

know? Or I could say, God,

honestly, first of all, let me just get

out of the way the fact that I'm

actually deeply concerned about losing

this deer. And even the worst case

scenario, if I do, we'll be fine. That's

that wasn't even a worry about me. For

me, it was just more the pain of losing

something I'd worked really hard for and

was excited about. But I just prayed and

asked him, "Please help me find a

solution to refreeze this deer." I

didn't know, by the way, the deer had to

be at a certain temperature to arrest

all bacterial growth. I thought, "It's

frozen. It's frozen." So, when I

researched like it's not cold enough at

30°, which is below freezing, to

actually arrest all bacterial growth. I

didn't even know to check my freezer to

make sure it was like at zero. I just

thought, well, it's freezing. It seems

good. I know better now. You know,

maybe that's helpful for you. If you're

considering freezing something, you

might want to check your freezer and see

if it's actually cold enough to arrest

bacterial growth. You can lose your food

if it's not. That's neither here nor

there. However, those are the kinds of

totally relatable life worries that we

all have. And if it's for kids, you

know, you you get hungry and you're

like, "Mommy, I want to eat." Right?

Hungry, angry, lonely, tired. Stressors,

hangry. Halt is what hungry, angry,

lonely, tired has the acronym for.

Mentor of mine once said that. Halt.

What does he mean halt? There's a

warning there when you're hungry. Angry,

lonely, tired. To make sure that you're

allowing God to be in control of those

emotions.

So part of the solution to anxiety is

humbling ourselves and entrusting it to

someone else who can actually deal with

it and God's the only one that can. So

yeah, pride and anxiety related. You

you're seeing it right here. It's not me

saying it's God saying it. I agree with

it though. So I know that sometimes the

reason why I'm experience anxiety that

continues rather than it's resolved is

because I'm being prideful about it. I

can do it myself.

I can do it myself. I don't need help. I

don't need I don't need his help.

Well, yeah, we do with this. It's it's a

spiritual problem that has a spiritual

solution. Let's go to one last passage

about anxiety here before um I talk to

you about my my concern about

pharmaceutical solutions to anxiety.

We'll talk about that in a moment. I

want to show you some statistics and

things to just warn you about um being

careful around those kinds of things.

However, here is Philippians chapter 4.

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

This is Paul teaching. He says in

Philippians chapter 4:5, "Let your

reasonable reasonleness be known to

everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be

anxious about anything, but in

everything by prayer and supplication

with thanksgiving, let your requests be

made known to God."

Okay, let's just review for a moment.

Jesus said it's a function of faith. Per

brings in the idea that there's a

function of humility that needs to be

present if your anxiety is going to be

deal dealt with faithfully. And here

Paul talks about prayer being involved

as well.

We might also just add that Jesus said

you got to you got to trust that God

cares. Okay, that's the faith he's

talking about. Trust that God cares,

humility, and prayer.

And and here's the result. If you have

those things present, especially prayer.

Verse seven, and the peace of God, the

exact opposite of anxiety, which

surpasses all understanding, will guard

your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Surpasses all understanding. Why?

Because you can experience supernatural

peace without the circumstances that

were causing you to be anxious having

changed. In other words, nothing's

changed, but I'm experiencing not

anxiety, but rather peace. It doesn't

really make sense. I don't understand.

It's supernatural. Okay,

I don't need an answer to this. It's

more of a rhetorical question, but in

your heart, can we agree

that God's solution to our anxiety

surpasses understanding?

It actually says it surpasses all

understanding. Okay.

So, we ought to expect

that God is going to deal with our

anxiety with his supernatural power

and that we receive that kind of thing

by faith by entrusting it to him. You're

all following. However, that's not what

the world believes. And the Bible has us

uh not wanting to behave in attitude and

act or in thought exactly like the world

does.

The world because it doesn't have faith

by definition when compared to those who

believe

does not believe that there is such a

thing as a supernatural solution to your

anxiety.

And that brings me to talk about

pharmaceuticals. It's understandable

then to realize that doctors who do not

believe don't think there are

supernatural solutions to your anxiety

either.

Some doctors might even mock that. It's

like like flying spaghetti monster

nonsense, you know? It's just it's just

fanciful thinking. It doesn't that's

that's crazy.

Maybe in a form of psychosis to think

that uh that there's this supernatural

solution. So that's not even an option

for them. However, it's the primary

option for Christians according to God.

It's the thing generally.

So you have to consider that. You have

to consider that that unless your doctor

is a mature and trustworthy Christian uh

he or she they don't even think there is

such a thing as a supernatural uh

solution to anxiety. But we definitely

ought to you just saw it with your own

words. Jesus believes that and teach

that and he is God and his apostles and

the people he chose to write scripture

teach that and since it was God telling

what to write therefore God teaches

that.

So consider those things. Consider the

fact that you're not always receiving

advice from someone who even agrees with

Jesus on the solution to anxiety. That's

important. Secondly, I want to show you

some statistics. And because I had

recently read do not call conspiracy

everything these people call conspiracy.

Um I had to be sure that what I was

sharing with you wasn't a conspiracy. So

I did uh what I believe to be some

legitimate research. And so I will cite

some of my sources here. Um let me look

and find the actual statistics that I

wanted to uh tell you about. Um just one

second here. I took about a bunch of

pictures of this. Okay. Here here we go.

All right. And so, uh, this is from the,

uh, Harvard, um,

uh, I think it was a medical journal,

but I have my resources and we'll

probably post them on the on things, but

it's Harvard research. Okay? And here's

what it says. The research used data

from 2014 to 2016. And what they were

researching was whether or not doctors

get paid by pharmaceutical companies uh

to prescribe um anti-anxiety medication.

Okay? If they get paid more for

prescribing certain ones and how much

and that kind of thing. Open payments

and Medicare Part D prescriber

databases. That's where the research was

focused on which are both administered

by the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid

Services. A university Oh, this one's

the University of Minnesota. I have one.

This other one's Harvard. A University

of Minnesota researcher found that a

brand that brandame versions of

gabapentin such as Lica, Galiss, and

Horizon were nearly twice as likely to

be prescribed when physicians receive

financial support from phaceutical

companies. So, not only do they

definitely receive financial support to

subscribe these things, uh, but they're

also way more likely to prescribe them

when they are.

It's not difficult to draw your own

conclusions regarding that kind of uh

that kind of deal. Now, gabapentin um I

happen to know quite a bit about these

because these are prescribed to deal

with nerve pain until you can figure out

what's really wrong. And because of

football injuries, I've had some spinal

nerve pain. Some of it feels almost

debilitating, like I can't stand up. And

so, uh I was actually allergic to

gabapentin. Um, and I never took the

brand names of these, not for any

reason, but just wasn't prescribed that.

Um, but I I didn't actually know at the

time that gabapentin is actually an uh

it's an off label anti-anxiety that gets

prescribed all the time for

anti-anxiety.

So, what's being said here is that

doctors get paid

more if they prescribe brandname

versions of this anti-anxiety

medication. Whether they do that for

nerve pain or anti-anxiety, that's

that's significant. They have a

financial incentive for prescribing this

more. That really ought not to be

happening. That's definitely a conflict

of interest. There's no doubt in my mind

about that. However, did you know that

almost all anti-depressants are uh

central nervous system depressants or

suppressants? Um, they're tranquilizers.

You you can look up this research

yourself, find it, and nothing I'm

saying requires like significant study

in the area of psychiatry. And I say

freely I'm not a psychiatrist and so I

don't try to dabble in areas where I'm

way outside of my expertise or

authority. But these are not that right.

You can just look at look this up. Um so

this is this is the study from uh from

Harvard. Research indicates doctors

receive industry payments are more

likely to prescribe paying company drugs

including brandame anxiety meds. Um,

also I don't know if you knew this but

the top major uh pharmaceutical

companies earned 684 billion dollars in

one year. It's more than that now.

However, that's more than the vast

majority of nation's GDP, gross domestic

product.

Lot of money involved. A lot a lot a lot

of money involved. Another statistics,

this is one actually ones that I was

trying to find from the very beginning.

Um, from 2001 to 2008, prescriptions of

anti- anxiety medications of any kind

increased by 4,000%.

Remember, the housing crisis wasn't

until like it started before this, but

like it really got bad in September of

2028. So that's actually basically

before this.

>> What did I say?

>> 28.

>> 28. Sorry. 2008. Yeah. I didn't even

hear my say say it wrong, but from 2001,

just in case I said it wrong earlier,

2001 to 2008, prescriptions of

anti-anxiety medications spiked by 400%.

And that's before the 2008, basically

they would only be gathering a couple

months of data from September to

December when it really got bad. Also,

in 2020, there was a 130% spike for for

reasons not unknown. there's this global

pandemic and initially

it was I think entirely reasonable to be

deeply concerned because we don't even

know but then after that came became

clear to me that the media was profiting

on just screaming from the rooftops how

dangerous it is and people became

absolutely terrified to the point where

they worried about toilet paper

had Jesus taught the masses and had the

parable happened during the co era

>> [laughter]

>> You know what he would have said about

toilet paper too?

Like it would have certainly made the

kids laugh.

So you have to consider what am I

saying? Never trust doctors. Be just

skeptical and and and jaded. But no, no,

I'm thankful. I So one of the um drugs

that I am prescribed and that I do take

for uh the nerve pain is called

Flexeril. You can look it up. of

cyclloensziprne. Cycllochenziprne is

also a central nervous system depressant

and you've heard me talk about it. I

only take it for a limited amount of

time because it really helps calm down

the nerve pain just to help me to

function and and I am planning on

figuring out do I have a hernated disc?

What's going on? I'm going to get an MRI

and look at the actual root cause of the

thing. Um but I've told you how I can't

take it on Saturdays before Sundays. I I

oftenimes really can't be taking it

while I'm studying for any kind of

teaching because it just fogs my mind.

Okay. Did you know that 50% of people

that are prescribed anti-anxiety

medication report a blunting of

emotions?

In this same study, uh it talked about,

and this to me was sort of obvious, but

it was still really interesting. Once it

was said, I was like, well, yeah, of

course, but it was still really

interesting. The central nervous system

depresses these tranquilizers. They

don't differentiate between your

negative emotion and your positive

emotion, do they? They just blunt them

all. Really powerful medication.

On top of it, it's important to note

they don't cure anxiety. They treat

anxiety,

which means they're not actually fixing

the problem if you go off of them.

It stands to reason, especially in the

first months or so as that your system

is clearing this narcotic, uh, that you

may end up feeling worse than you did

before you were on them. Side effects. I

I don't actually think maybe some of the

things statistically about the

pharmaceutical companies that I'm

talking about is uh is controversial,

but most of the stuff I'm saying is just

like be careful. Powerful side effects.

I have a hard time thinking my my and

and when verbally I have a pretty sharp

mind. It has its limitations and

mathematics and different things like

that. So, but verbally like I understand

things. I can sp respond articulately

and and quickly. And so, I'm used to my

mind working quick, not like a dialup

modem, you know? And my wife's asking me

normal questions and I'm like thinking

hard to answer them.

Thinking hard to answer them. Let's go

to one more passage. I didn't give it to

the team. Uh but this is Romans and some

of you know this by Romans 12 and and

what does it say? It says here I appeal

to you therefore brothers by the mercies

of God be present your bodies as a

living sacrifice holy and acceptable to

God which is your spiritual worship. Do

not be conformed to this world, but be

transformed by the renewal of your mind,

that by testing you may discern what is

the will of God, what is good and

acceptable and perfect. For by the grace

of God given to me, I say to everyone

among you, not to think of himself more

highly than he ought to think, but to

think with sober judgment according to

the measure of faith that God has

assigned. So, we know being conformed to

the world has a negative effect on our

ability to discern God's will. Whereas,

being transformed by the renewal of your

mind allows you by testing to discern

his will. And we also know we're told

right afterwards to think sobermindedly

in terms of our own degree of faith.

Okay? Be self-aware, be sober minded.

Okay? Let me ask you this. If your mind

is totally blunted in emotion both

positively and negatively and you are

experiencing some of these intense

pretty much unavoidable side effects of

of different types of tranquilizers,

I wouldn't say that it's like a lack of

sobermindness as to the degree of being

drunk. I don't feel drunk on

cyclopensziprne. That's not my point.

But it certainly blunts a bunch of my

faculties.

You ought to consider that.

If you put that together with the fact

that I mean,

how is a non-Christian doctor going to

resist the temptation to prescribe

something he doesn't see any other

supernatural solution for anyway? This

might help this person and so I'm also

going to make more money for it, which

means I can buy my kids the switches

that I probably wasn't going to be able

to pay off more of my debt. It's so much

temptation to prescribe it when the

person doesn't really need it. You can

see how you could convince yourself of

that. So, what I'm saying is no, don't

just automatically go in with a chip on

your shoulder in a medical system. Like,

I'm very thankful for nurses. My wife uh

has been a registered nurse and um and

and there's nurses in this congregation

I'm close friends with and medical

professionals. After Debbie Eisenhut,

our evangelist and surgeon from uh who

who serves in Cameroon at Mabingo

Baptist Hospital, she came and talked to

us about how thankful we ought to be for

all the surgeons we have. The average

person there will die of something they

don't even need to die of just because

they don't have the surgeons.

There is a common grace that God has

given us through the medical system. But

that doesn't mean there isn't

corruption.

Is there any way around understanding

that God looks at pharmaceutical

companies paying doctors to use their

product as anything else than a bribe?

That's what that is, right? And that

affects the outcome. Well, it's got to

be one of the variables for I think for

any reasonable person to understand why

there's these 400% spikes in

prescriptions.

A lot of people are making a lot of

money. That's not conspiracy. Just look

it up. You can find this recorded in um

in Harvard journals in Minnesota college

research journals and like I said I will

make sure the links are in the uh

YouTube video after this as well. So

commonly accepted and I actually kind of

think in the category of conspiracy

theory or conspiracy not conspiracy

theory. You got to be careful. That's

all I'm saying. Be careful. I think that

a usage of a drug of that power um from

an elers's perspective, we would just

discern each case individually. If you

feel like you need some spiritual

advice, should I do this? Should I not?

Should I transition off? We would love

to come and advise you as elders and

shepherds, not as psychiatrists. Not my

point. Okay.

My personal view, my kid that my kids

aren't getting touched by these hardcore

drugs, right? I'd rather shelter them

from whatever outside stress that's

happening, but I don't want them during

their developmental age. Let me let me

tell you a real short story. Had a

friend got uh addicted to prescription

um I think they're opioids,

painkillers, right? He got addicted when

he was about 14. 14 is still like wet

paint, wet cement kind of developmental

stage for a kid's mind emotionally,

right? Well, these blunt your emotions.

So to some degree they also limit the

kind of emotional development that would

happen

probably even for adults but especially

in that developmental phase. Now he's

29. I've gotten to know him and he's

attending a church that I'm in and he

asked me to mentor and we talked to him.

He said, "Hey, something you need to

understand even though I'm 29, I'm

sometimes barely more mature than a

14-year-old." And I laughed because it

was like I thought it was sort of like

an extreme humble thing to say. And he

goes, "No, I'm being serious." And I'm

like, "Well, what do you mean? Is is

there some kind of developmental thing?"

He goes, "Well, not like a disorder or

anything, but I got addicted to these

painkillers." And between 14 and 28,

basically, um, doctors told me I just

stopped developing emotionally because

of it.

Stopped developing emotionally because

of it.

Man, when it comes to kids, you ought to

be careful

around narcotics. even if they're

medically prescribed and and

administered like the side effects. You

got to weigh the cost. Got to weigh the

cost.

I don't I don't want to mess with that

kind of stuff. Not even for myself, you

know. I actually told the doctor this

this time around and he and he gave me a

a different drug that just didn't have

such extreme side effects. So, you can

consider that regarding nerve pain,

right? But also, it'd be hypocrisy to

say that I never take advantage of the

modern uh um pharmaceutical

technologies, you know, that's not what

I mean. But be careful. Be careful. And

again, can any of us really deny going

back to our passage that what Jesus has

to say about anxiety is that it's a

spiritual issue. So, let's put Mark

Matthew up again. I lost my spot here.

Get right back to it and let's conclude.

What does Jesus say is the answer? He

says, "The command is therefore do not

be anxious, saying, what shall we eat or

what shall we drink or what shall we

wear?" Do not do that. What should you

do instead? Verse 33, "But seek first

the kingdom of God and his

righteousness, and all these things

shall be added to you. Therefore, do not

be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow

will be anxious for itself. Sufficient

for the day is its own trouble."

Kind of bluntly stated, keep your head

out of the future. It's where all these

phantom anxieties but maybe also

reasonably predicted anxieties like it's

it your that's not what your faith is

meant to handle. I I qualify that there

are some future things where are to have

faith for and God talks about them and

trust him about. But what he's saying is

that sufficient for the day is its own

trouble and stressors that could cause

you anxieties and those at least are

limited and you can entrust them to God

at that present time. A major solution

to your anxiety is is to to take those

future thoughts captive. Get your mind

out of the future. If you've got a

strong mind, some pretty significant

computing power. You recognize patterns.

You're probably better at predicting

kinds of outcomes. And you may have

experienced that you're pretty good at

figuring out what's actually going to

happen. And more often than not, it

actually does. We've already talked

about when a prophet is told with

absolute clarity and certainty what's

going to happen. He also [cough] has to

cast anxiety on on God because he and

it's a function of humility.

So you don't say well yeah but I know

this happens. Prophet knew it better

than anybody

and still has to relinquish his anxiety.

Jesus also says that we need to put

God's agenda first and and and what does

he say and all these things will be

added to you. Why? Because he cares more

about you than he does about birds and

liies. And look at how he treats them.

But you might say, "Well, yeah, but I

know Christians starve to death.

Sometimes they get persecuted and starve

to death."

As if Jesus doesn't know that, right?

That's he's not saying there's a formula

here that no one will experience future

pain. He's saying that regardless of

what the future holds, let's go to

Jeremiah 29 because God's um words about

the future are not like our flesh words

about the future. For I know the plans I

have for you, declares the Lord, plans

for welfare and not for evil to give you

a future and a hope.

But God also sometimes has designs for

suffering where the afflictions we

experience in this earth are meant for

his glory.

And I believe that that exclusively in

your new nature, the nature that's

submitted to the Holy Spirit and

recreated, that new heart, not that

heart of stone, that heart actually

desires to glorify God no matter what

the cost.

So the solution to fearing things that

you know can actually happen even to

Christians is also still just trusting

the Lord with it.

So in conclusion here, let's go ahead

and put up the main point.

Jesus says trusting God today is the

solution for our anxiety. Pretty simple

point. I think you've seen it from

scripture.

And what if what if trusting God sooner

with your anxiety, with more amounts of

your anxiety,

uh is what God is calling you to do for

2026? What if that was part of your New

Year's resolutions? and even something

you get a jump on now by just confessing

the places where you haven't really been

trusting God with those stressors.

God's plan for your anxiety is peace

that surpasses understanding. Let me

pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for

this word. I think it's a good one for

our hearts to be prepared for whatever

may happen in 2026.

I pray Lord that you would

that you would bless our faith that

you'd strengthen our trust and that we

would experience freedom from anxiety.

It presses our hearts. I pray that we'd

experience the kind of freedom that

results in peace that surpasses

understanding which guards our hearts in

Christ Jesus.

I pray that we'd have victories in this

area. And Lord, if if right now we need

to come to your table and [music]

confess

and even repent of the places where

we've been trying to control out

ourselves, then make that clear by your

spirit.

I pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.