Anxiety

Well, I just had a few announcements before Ken shares today.

And um two weeks from today, it's May 6th, and I know it's been announced a couple times, is baptism day.

And um it is an awesome start, an awesome day, and I just want to invite everybody to come.

It usually starts about 10 or 15 minutes after the end of the party, and we and everybody that wants to get baptized is over here, and we usually have 50 to 75 people every time.

And so it really is a big event.

Everybody just cheers everybody on and you really just feel the Holy Spirit.

It's an awesome time.

So I really invite everybody to come, be a part of the cheering and the awesomeness.

But the really cool part about that day is that it is really 50 to 75 life-changing events, okay, for each person.

And um, if you don't know that much about baptism or wonder why you'd want to get baptized, I was gonna share a couple of verses from Romans about that.

But really, baptism is a symbol of what's going on inside, and it's a way of saying, God, I want more of you.

This is who I am, and I'm sharing it freely with everybody, and I want more of you.

So these verses from Romans 6, here's what it says This is what happens in baptism.

When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind, and when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace, a new life and a new land.

And that's what baptize baptism into the life of Jesus means.

When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus, and when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus.

And each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we're going to get into our new grace sovereign country.

And so that's what it is.

It's a symbol, just like Jesus died and was resurrected, it's our turn.

It's our turn.

And I'll tell you, a lot of times you really get a big dose of God's spirit after you get baptized.

It's awesome.

And we got um CDs out there called, I think they're called all in, and they are just give you a better understanding.

If you're interested in that, you can pick them up, they're free at the info desk.

And also just to help us out, if you want to sign up, if you want to be baptized, it helps us to figure it out.

But here's the thing if you just show up in two weeks and you decide, you know, I really want more of God and I want to do this, we have t-shirts and shorts for you, so you can just get dunked and also feel free.

We would love to baptize you, me, Steve, Justin, whoever you would like to.

But we really encourage you to ask the person, someone that you know is a believer, ask a person, a spouse, a parent, a friend that has walked with you into this new life with God to ask them to baptize you, and it makes it even more awesome and special.

So I hope you all come for that.

Okay, Stephanie's like, could you really do this next announcement enthusiastically?

So I gotta get really because I told her I would.

This Friday night, it is Friday night at blue light.

So here's the thing if you like a double non-fat, triple shot, double decor latte, okay?

If you like those things, which I happen to like, um, we've got we're gonna have that.

We're gonna have a Starbucks barista in there making coffees.

We're gonna have live music.

And so it's it's awesome.

It's really fun.

And so if you want to hang out with friends, come on.

If you want to invite other people that don't go here just to come, that'd be awesome.

Um, if you want to come make friends, that's an awesome time to do that.

So we don't do those very often, and so I hope you all come.

It'll be really a whole lot of fun.

We also have games in there.

I like board games.

I know that's boring, but I anyway.

She said, don't put board games in there.

All right.

Okay.

So the last announcement I have before we introduce Ken.

Okay.

Okay.

Anybody in here happen to be a woman?

Okay.

If you happen to be a woman, raise your hand if you like to relax.

Anybody need a little bit of that in here?

Raise your hand if you're a woman and you relax if you like to relax, and you would like to have fun with other women.

Okay.

Raise your hand if you have all those things, and you would really need some encouragement right now in your life.

Okay, and the last one, would you really like to spend a little more time with God?

And I have got the thing for you, and it is called 21.

And it is a getaway, a 21-hour getaway with God and other women.

And it is July 13th and 14th, and so I'm just giving you that right now.

There's a poster out in the lobby.

Lisa's already writing it down.

She's like, I'm getting that in there.

But it is going to be very, I'm a big believer.

Has anybody gone to a retreat type thing?

And it's like teaching beach over the head the whole time, and you're like this.

I don't want to become a beautiful butterfly.

I'm sorry.

Okay?

See, the women are laughing because they know what I'm talking about, okay?

Um, but sometimes you go to and it's just all social and talk and all this kind of stuff, and you don't really get anything out of it on the inside that's life-changing either.

So I really, as imbalanced as I seem, I really believe in balance, okay?

So I really wanted to be, and I felt like God showed me this today, really have this getaway.

It's only 21 hours, but he told me you could do a lot with 21 hours.

So it's gonna be a real balance of rest and relaxation and fun.

I like to have me some fun, and really going deeper with God, spending time alone with him, and getting encouraged from each other in a deep way.

So I'm super cute, and I'm super excited about it.

Okay, so so save the date is July uh 13th and 14th.

It's a Friday night stay at Brastown Valley Resort, and um the information is out in the lobby, and sign up start next week.

So not today, sign ups start next week.

All right, well, let's pray um and then welcome Ken out here.

Dear God, I thank you so much for what you're doing inside each one of us.

And I ask you to just keep doing more and keep stirring us up and guiding us every day.

And God, I thank you for what you're doing with all of us together as a group here in this place.

I thank you for all the encouragement and the prayers and the love that you have provided in this place.

And um I ask you to just stay in the middle of all of it, Lord, and guide us in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Well, let's all welcome Ken, who we know and love.

He's gonna share a great message today.

Stan, thank you.

Well, it is great to be back this week.

How many of you uh, because I met several that were like, man, I want to be here, but I missed like week.

How many missed last week?

How many missed?

Okay, that's a lot of hands.

Um, I would encourage you, not only last week, but the week before as well, if you get a chance, listen to those, whether it's podcast or whether it's uh grab the CD or whatever, because these kind of flow together.

It seems like God's just kind of moving this flow there.

Thank you very much, Susan.

Um, if in this morning, if you want to follow along, the key verse is gonna be in 1 Peter chapter 5.

1 Peter 5 · chapter mention

So if you want to open up there, that's where we're gonna end.

I want to ask kind of a rhetorical question, but I want to ask it in such a way that we we get honest with ourselves.

What is the first memory you have of worrying?

What is your first worry?

I I I don't really recall that, but I always remember kind of having something on my mind.

I love watching kids, and I'm a baby magnet, so if you have a child and I come over and just stare at them and play with them, forgive me because I just I love kids.

And kids are just great, all ages of kids, but I specifically love the ages that my kids go through.

And I remember this past summer watching my daughter play in the pool, and she's in the pool, and one of our friends has a little boy about the same age, and they're playing in the pool together.

And I just love the way kids play.

They don't have a worry in the world.

They don't wake up going, oh my goodness, I wonder if I'm gonna eat today, or if I'm gonna, I wonder they don't have worries, they just play.

And and I went over and I couldn't help but I mean they were having a blast.

I mean, they're splashing, moving, splash, and I couldn't help it.

I said, What are you guys playing?

And it's Kennedy, my daughter, and Jet, this little boy, and they're saying she says, I'm a mermaid, and he's a navy SEAL.

And I was just like, Wow! And that works.

I I just love that.

That they are so free.

And I do remember it being a kid, and I remember not so much what I worried about, but just about playing and having fun and going, I can't wait to get out of school so we can go play football.

Or I didn't even need to wait for that at the bus stop.

We would invent games because we were just free.

And I believe that that is the attitude in the heart that God intended for us to have that freedom.

He says, unless you come to me like a little child, you can't come.

And God longs for us to have that.

So the question I want us to really get our minds around today is to just really deal with one of the core concepts of adulthood, and that is just worry.

And as I've been working through this, I realize that you know what, I remember some of the first worries I had.

It was around, I don't know, right before I was a preteen and worried about am I gonna make the team?

And I began that was one of my first big worries because it was something I really wanted, but I didn't have control of deciding that.

And then I went from there to um realizing I don't remember the day, but I had this revelation that one day girls went from icky cooties to dang, she's cute, and I sweat when I get around them.

And and it was it was weird, but then I'm worried about what do you do with what do you do with what do we do with this?

You know, and and then I hope she likes me, then she likes me.

Oh no, what do I do once she likes me?

And then and then I got a little bit older, and then I'm worried about okay, am I gonna have a job?

Am I uh am I gonna get a job?

Do I get to make some I wish I had more money?

And then I got I remember in high school thinking, you know, I'm about to graduate.

Am I gonna go to college?

Am I smart enough?

Because I really did have a learning disorder, and and and I thought, can I make that?

And then I got to college and got in the first couple quarters, and I thought, I am in over my head.

I I'm not gonna make it.

I'm not gonna make it.

And and I be I remember that worry.

And I remember getting out of college and then thinking, wow, am I gonna have a job?

And then working through that and finally getting a job.

And then I thought, man, once I get a job, once I get a job, once I get some money, then man, life is gonna be good.

And and what they don't tell you is you get a job, you get some money, and woo! And you get money, and the money's here, and the bills are here.

And it's like, huh, and then I'm worrying, am I gonna make that work?

And then after I got done with that worry, I said, well, what I need is a wife, and how do you how do you get that?

How does that happen?

And I remember worrying about am I gonna be alone forever?

And then I'm at this wonderful girl who just for whatever reason found the hair on my forearms attractive, and that was it, and we got married, and and then I have a wife, and well, what do you do with that?

And how do I make her happy?

And now we got it just it seems like it escalates and it just gets to be more and more and more, and there's never a lack of worry.

So, what do I do with that?

And then chances are, and I don't know what yours is, but there's a time in life, and we'll get to it in a minute, where something comes across our path that just blindsides us.

And we have no control, and yet we have full reality in the midst of that no control and dealing with it.

And the natural response is worry.

The natural response is anxiety because these circumstances cause us to go, what is going on?

How do I get through this?

Or if we're honest, something will happen in every life where we realize I can't get through this.

I can't do this.

So, what I want us to do is kind of get that in our minds and kind of realize in John 16, 33, Jesus puts it this way, and and uh you don't have to turn there, but I would say if you're in 1 Peter, write it in the margins, John 16, 33, Jesus says, I have told you these things, so that in me you will have peace.

In this world, you will have trouble.

And I don't think anybody, if you're here today and you're the darkest, deepest, convicted atheist, I think this is a part of scripture you can agree with.

In this world, you will have trouble.

But take heart, I have overcome the world.

That's Jesus' promise.

And where I want us to look is that last week we talked about scripture being a history lesson in the world and where it is, and not only that, but the mystery.

The mystery of the fact that love and judgment and then the reconciliation and forgiveness and evil all came together on one day, and that day was Calvary, and that person was Jesus, and that mystery, but the the key is that personal key.

Not knowing about the history and mystery, but that personal key.

That person of God Himself coming down and saying, I want to walk with you through your world, through the world that says trouble, because what he longs to give us in the midst of that is what?

The first part is peace.

Peace in the midst of that.

In the midst of trouble, he says, Take heart, I have overcome the world.

And this personal key, we really have to, the first step, if you will, we have to take is to realize that God wants to, craves, designed it, and created us and the entire world inside and out, that we would have that connection, that personal connection with Him.

Be of good cheer.

I've overcome the world.

This morning, if you're here and you're really in one of two camps, and that is you either know God personally or you don't know God personally, that's really the foundation.

And what Susan shared about baptism is that connection, going, God, I want to be personally related to you.

Because God longs to be our personal guide, if you will, in life.

Guide us through these anxieties, through life, through trials, through troubles, that we can have peace in the midst of it.

That's his desire.

If I could put it this way, I've been on a couple advocacy trips.

I've shared about them here.

But I can say this I would not have gone if I didn't know somebody that was going with compassion, with new missions.

I knew these people down in Costa Rica.

I knew the people there.

I knew when I got there they were gonna be there.

In Haiti, a third world country, I got there and my friend Tim was there.

Tim actually flew down with me.

He had lived in Haiti for 27 years.

He knew Haiti.

If I had gotten there by myself, I would have been overwhelmed.

When I went to Ecuador, we went to some of the most desperate parts of Ecuador and Quito.

And I will not forget, at the end of the trip, I said, that was amazing.

What amazing was just how we connected with everybody, and I just I always had this peace.

And one of the guys was with me said, Well, you also had a lot of security.

And I was like, No, he didn't.

He goes, Oh, yeah, you did.

You just didn't know they were there.

And I was like, Really?

He goes, Yeah.

Everywhere you went, you had security.

And they were just blended in, but they made sure that before we got there, it was safe.

While you were there, it was safe, and while you were leaving, it was safe.

He says, the places we went were not safe.

And that is what God longs to give you an eye in this world.

He longs to say, hey, I'm going before you, I'm behind you, and I'm with you.

But you have to acknowledge that, you have to live in that.

So, how do we do that?

That's kind of that personal piece I want us to really get at this morning.

So in 1 Peter 5, 6 and 7, one of the verses, well, probably part of this verse is going to be a little bit redundant to what we looked at in January, but I know you guys all memorize that, but we're going to go over that.

But 1 Peter 5, 6, and 7, it says simply this humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may lift you up in due time.

And here's the key: cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.

He cares for you.

If we're going to have peace and fulfillment in this life, we have to get used to the point where we say, you know what?

I'm going to cast my anxieties on him.

I want you to go back for a minute.

How many of you are here when we talked about humbling ourselves, the importance of humility?

How many of you remember this simple illustration that failing to put on humility, failing to say, God, I need help, is like wearing uncomfortable underwear.

Do you remember this?

Do you remember this?

Okay.

It literally is.

We don't realize how important it is until we've got comfortable underwear.

Like, oh my goodness, this is great.

Well, that clothing ourselves with humility is the same as the second part of this casting our anxieties.

Saying, I need help, then the next step, if you will, is to cast all our anxieties on Him.

We have to come to that point of radical relationships where we say, God, you know what, it's all on you.

And it's not casting like fishing.

Unfortunately, that's the way a lot of us cast our anxieties.

Okay, get out of here.

All right, come on.

Oh, I feel anxious again.

There it is again.

You know, just it's not that kind of casting.

It's more like if you can use the word cleansing, cleansing ourselves from all anxiety.

It's it's well, let me let me set it up this way.

I I have a friend went to college with in South Georgia.

Now, I call it country wisdom.

There's a lot of country wisdom out there.

And what I mean by that is not a slide at all.

I mean it's like a hyperversion of common sense that a lot of us just simply don't have.

There is another side of that, of what I call country dumb, that you just you're not getting it.

And a buddy of mine said, one of his best friends in high school, one of his best friends in high school, his parents said, Hey, you got to come straight home from practice, football practice, because we've got to go to this very important dinner.

You know what?

I'm gonna take that back.

You don't even have time to come home.

You need to take a shower at school and change and meet us at the restaurant.

So this buddy of mine who played on the football team went in and he's getting ready, getting ready, ready, dressed for practice.

And his buddy is in the shower.

And he's like, dude, what are you doing?

He's like, Well, I gotta go to this important dinner after practice, and I know I'm not gonna have time to take a shower.

So I'm doing it now.

Kind of missed it there.

The whole reason for taking the shower.

See, because if we're putting on clean clothes over dirtiness, we miss the point.

Today, today, after this, we're gonna have lunch, we're gonna go home.

We've gotten a meeting with a lot of people.

Well, I've also got to cut my grass today.

I've got to cut my grass and do all that.

And I've made time to where after I cut the grass and weed eat, I am dirty, sweaty, gross.

But I'm not gonna just go inside and put on clean clothes and go.

Why?

Because I'm dirty.

I've got to cleanse first.

I've got to take a shower.

There is no greater feeling.

How many of you go to the beach at any point during the year?

Most of some of you?

Okay.

There is no greater feeling than after a day at the beach and sandy and grody and oily and suntany and sweaty and just everything sticky and gross, and you come in and you take a shower.

And you just it's the cleanest feeling.

We're not cleaner than before, but we just feel clean.

That is this concept of casting all our anxieties.

It's just washing it away from the inside out, saying, you know what, God, I'm gonna stop and I'm gonna cast all these anxieties upon you.

With that in mind, that's a great concept.

Does God want to be with us personally?

Yes.

How do we do that?

By casting our anxieties upon Him.

That sounds wonderful.

How?

How do we do that?

And that's what I want us to hit this morning because in Philippians 4, 6, it kind of gives us the concept of how to do this.

It says, do not be anxious about, and I love the extremes, anything.

But in everything, by a prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your request to God.

So how do I not be anxious?

Well, he gives us kind of a process here, and I want to get very, very practical with this.

I want to give us a spiritual version of what I've experienced physically.

Now I've hit different decades of life.

I want to hear this.

I just quick show of hands.

How many of you are in your 20s now?

20s?

Raise your hands real quick.

20s.

I love the 20s physically.

I love the 20s.

I could eat anything.

And just my metabolism would burn it off.

But I was very active and I loved the 20s physically, and it was just great.

It was physically.

Then I hit my 30s.

And 30s, I started noticing a little bit of a whoa, there's something there.

What is that?

But I could work through it.

I could still kind of eat whatever I wanted, but I had a few aches and pains, and but I had to work out and I had to get there.

But now I've hit how many of you are in your 40s, 40s?

Woo, yes, we made it.

See, the problem here is something else hit, and physically now it's like I gotta watch what I eat and do something about it.

But as I started doing something about it and I work out, now I've got pains that they don't just stretch out, they hang out, they're in my body, and I've worked out and I've got to the middle of a workout, and I think I don't think breathing is supposed to hurt.

And my body just aches.

And then the next day it hurts more.

And I and I and I hate this.

I'm in my mid-40s now, but I just I my joints are just not what they used to be.

And those those injuries I had in high school and college are now like setting in and they're painful.

And in a very real way, I literally, it hurts to just walk upstairs sometime.

If I sit down for too long, if I'm in a car for more than two hours, when I get out, I look like a newborn deer.

It's just like, oh, oh, oh you know what I'm talking about.

It's like, oh, oh, you know this.

And I'm I'm telling a buddy of mine about this, and he and he's a few years older than me, and he told me about it, he says, Have you ever tried glucosamine?

And I'm like, what is that?

And it's just, I don't know if it's an herb or a I don't know what it is.

But he said, try it for a couple weeks, see if that doesn't help.

He said, it really helped me.

And I'm telling you, I don't know the base of it, and I'm not here to sell it, but what I'm what I'm saying is, is that I took it for about a week and I noticed I didn't hurt.

I still have little aches and pains, but it's not constant.

And it it's like lubricant for your joints.

And I'm like, wow, this is really cool.

Well, physically, that's what I'm experiencing.

And if I forget to take it for two or three days, which is another side effect of turning 40, you forget things like your children's names and little things like that.

But I start, I start feeling those aches and pains again.

Literally, I go up the steps and it's like, oh man, I haven't taken it for a few days.

I haven't taken it for a few days.

And I get back on it, and it takes me four or five days, and then I feel the I'm trying to lubrication, I guess it is in my joints to feel better.

And I'm like, that's it.

Spiritually speaking, inside our souls are the same way with this concept of anxiety and casting our anxieties on him.

If we're not doing this, if we're not practicing this, casting our anxieties on him, then our soul and our spirit, the anxiety will raise up and we'll have the same, as I have physical pains that are just there all the time, we will have that anxiety in our heart and our soul that doesn't go away.

And what he's saying here is when he says, do not be anxious about everything, but by prayer and petition and thanksgiving, present your request to the Lord.

He's saying, Hey, I'm right here.

I've been through it, I want to be your guide.

Let me have it.

Let me have your anxieties.

Because where you have this pain, I want to give you peace.

And when we take this in, I want to give you a couple ways that I've discovered and am discovering how to experience that.

And my hope is that you will take this to heart, not as here's what you ought to do, but here's really, this is spiritual glucosamine.

It's one of those that we go, okay, how is this?

Well, the first is to humble ourselves, to admit we need it.

I had to admit I'm at the point and I'm at the pain.

I want this to stop.

The quality of my life is going down and it hurts.

I've got to admit, I want to stop worrying.

I want to stop the anxiety.

Once I do that, here's some pieces that I'm learning.

First, where he says, through prayer and petition and thanksgiving, I need to stop.

There's some real ways, yes, definitely, through prayer and petition.

Well, prayer is simply talking to God and throwing that on him.

Petition, it's not going out and getting people to go, hey, I'm worried about this.

Will you sign this?

And so I won't worry anymore.

That's that's not the petition.

It's to say, to present it to God and say, here it is.

I admit I'm anxious about this, and I am worried about it, and here it is.

And then through thanksgiving, taking the time to go, God, thank you.

Thank you that you care.

Thank you that you're willing to walk with me through this.

Thank you for who you are.

Thank you for what you have brought me through.

It's proof that you are with me.

But I want to give us three specifics that I have begun to take.

If you want to take them as three different pills for the soul, that's it.

First is the Sabbath, taking a day of rest.

If we'll take the two greatest commodities we have and we acknowledge Him in this, what it is, is it's like taking and acknowledging, God, I trust you.

I trust you in such a way that I want to cast my anxieties on you.

And it's very clear in Scripture.

If you go to the Old Testament, big ten commandments there, there it is.

Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.

Take a day off.

Jesus, although he performed miracles on the Sabbath, he said, Hey, there remains a Sabbath.

I'm the God of the Sabbath.

In other words, rest.

Rest.

I can tell you, for the last year and a half, I guess, probably almost two years, I took this conviction.

I said, God, I'm gonna rest.

This past week was one of those weeks where I just said, God, I feel the anxieties.

And it doesn't take me a week, but at least once a week, I take a day and I'm just like, and I sit down and I just take my journal.

I actually brought it up here, the one I'm currently working on, and I'll just take this and I open it up and I highlight verses and I look at different things through the weeks, but on my Sabbath, I'll just write down, here's what I'm anxious about.

Here's my anxieties right now.

And I just write them out.

I'm like, God, I give them to you.

And I would even say this I want to get very personal for a second.

I want you to practice right now.

You can write it down if you want, next to this verse if you want, or you can just think through it.

But I want you to think about what are you anxious about today?

Today.

Right now.

What are your biggest anxieties?

And get it firmly in our mind.

And here's what I do specifically on my Sabbath, my day off.

I just let them go.

I'm like, God, today, today I'm not worrying about it.

It's yours.

And and God, I want you to be in the midst of it all the time.

I don't want to worry about it ever, but specifically today, as it comes back to my mind a thousand times, I'm just gonna go, not today.

I'm taking a day off from anxiety.

Let it go.

And it hits.

You know what else I do on my day of rest?

This is radical.

I rest.

Isn't that crazy?

How many of you would love to take a nap?

Yes.

On my day off, guess what I do?

If I'm tired, I take a nap.

I just lay down.

It's unbelievable.

When I wake up, you know what's usually there?

The anxieties start to fill in, and I just go, not today.

Not today.

And because of my work, and I don't know if this is common or not, so many things in my world are topsy-turvy and going 900 miles an hour that I never get to really finish a lot of things.

I usually pick something and I think, you know what?

Today I'm gonna do something about a little something.

And it may be that the entire project is today.

I'm gonna make a list of everything I need to do to fix that.

And if I get it and I get to it, great.

If not, I'll do it another time.

This past week it was go to Home Depot.

For me, that is restful.

To walk around.

Because we have a bathtub that had some caulk that was messed up, and I just went in there and I just sat down and I just kind of chipped away at the bad caulk and just I don't even know.

I lose my watch that day.

I don't know how long I was in there, and then I took some caulking and I just got some gloves and I played with the putty and scraped and mindless.

I love mindless.

And I just mentally rested.

While I'm in there, worries keep coming.

Oh, but I need to do this and this, and I'm like, not today.

And I get in the mode of just resting mentally, physically, spiritually, and just rest.

Another thing I strongly encourage, um, whatever your favorite meal of the day is on that day, eat it slowly.

I have three children.

There is no slow in our world.

And I eat breakfast.

My I'm I'm weird.

I I like Waffle House.

It's an acquired taste, but I love Waffle House, and I just I go and I get in my little corner booth, and I I've got my Bible and maybe a book I'm reading at the time, and I just sit and I read and I piddle and I just eat it slow.

And when the worries and the rush all come in, I'm like, not today, not today.

And I love that day, and that rest is what God is saying.

That's casting your anxieties on me.

Not only is it the Sabbath, but I've seen another quality that we have, another entity, another pill, if you will, and that is not only to rest, but to give.

God orchestrated it.

He doesn't need our money, but he said, hey, give, tithe.

And if you're not sure what that concept is or you're not used to that, it's not about because this place needs money, and you know what, everything needs money to run, but that's not the motive behind it.

There are these giving stations in the back.

That's part of worship.

Because when we give, what we do is we're connecting with God on one of the most critical levels of saying, God, this is a limited resource, but I trust you.

And I'm gonna cast my anxieties about money on you.

And I'm gonna prove that, and I'm gonna connect with you by giving.

Because if there's anything we need, and if there's one area of life that we really need perspective, it's financially.

It's a limited resource for 99.999% of us.

This past week I had the opportunity to speak at a conference, and it was an entrepreneurs conference.

And this is a bit edgy, but this is what I shared because they're definitely of the world and they're just going at it.

And I said, I said, you guys, you guys are really amazing.

I had dinner with them one night, and there's 500 of them, and I said, You guys are amazing.

I said, I don't think it's a mistake that entrepreneur rhymes with manure.

Um and I said this, I said, because you guys are full of sharp ideas that fertilize one another, and that's a that's a good thing.

But these guys and gals, there were ladies as well, were amazing.

Amazing from a business standpoint.

But what really amazed me was this in this area, they had no connection.

The perspective part.

And I I'll give you two quick examples of one with and one without because it's not about the amount.

But to be in this organization, you have to have a company that's worth millions, and that's it, and incredible concepts, incredible thinkers.

But one of the greatest desires they have, they said, you know what?

We told you about forum, forum, forum, forum, forum.

We have forum, forum, forum, forum.

We love forum.

I'm like, tell me about forum.

Forum is a place where you get these presidents, CEOs, and owners together.

There's eight to ten of them.

They said, here's the greatest part.

None of us are in the same industry.

You cannot do business with each other.

The entire part of forum is so that we can have a place to be honest and open.

And he said, That is the greatest gift in the world.

And I sat there and went, Wow.

You don't have a place where you can just be honest and open.

That is exactly what God is saying here.

He says, Bring me your anxieties, bring total honesty and openness.

I know who you are, I know your failures, I know your successes, bring them to me, and I will give you peace.

I will give you peace.

Let me give you two examples in this.

I met one gentleman at dinner at a very, very nice restaurant downtown that I had never been to.

And at this very nice restaurant that I'd never been to, instead of using off the wine list, he brought four bottles of his own wine from his own personal cellar.

Now it is totally wasted on me.

I'm not a wine guy.

If you like wines, you would have loved this, but I'm not a wine guy.

And he opens this little carrying case with wines.

He goes, Oh, you're gonna love this one.

You're gonna love this one.

I didn't have the heart.

I was being polite.

I didn't have the heart to go, no, I'm not.

Um, I'm not a wine guy.

I go to Waffle House, okay?

I'm not this kind of guy.

You could go to Walmart, get a box of wine, and it would have tasted the same to me.

But he had four bottles of wine worth a thousand dollars each.

And I was just like, wow.

And he there's a whole, I don't know if you've been around this enough.

There's a whole procedure.

They pop the kirky, cork, he smells the cork, they throw that aside, they pour a little bit in a glass and he swishes it around and that's just oh yeah, you're gonna love this and pour it around.

I'm just like, wow.

And it just it was wasted on me.

It really was.

And I was just like, wow, mm-hmm.

Yeah.

That was fantastic.

Yeah.

And I this is this is horrible, but they were little half lit.

So I waited until they all looked and I poured it in the glass next to me and just got rid of it because I just I don't like it.

And it's okay if you do.

That's there's nothing wrong with that.

Jesus turned water to wine, it's not a big deal, but I just I'm not a wine guy.

And I just look took that concept that his whole world is how many houses he has.

I have a house here and in Vale and here and here, and I have thousand dollars, I have a thousand bottles, twelve hundred bottles of wine that are all worth more five a hundred dollars or more, and I've got this and this and this.

And this whole concept is there, and yet there's no freedom.

There's no freedom.

I met another lady, ultra successful, and she said, you know what, I my world fell apart a couple years ago.

Uh I was pregnant in a marriage, had a miscarriage.

And she said, I just quit.

I need perspective.

And she checked out of everything and she said, you know what, I just I went and volunteered.

Now at this point, she does not know who I am.

She doesn't know that I'm I'm a believer.

And she goes, I just I need some volunteer work.

I said, What where did you go?

She goes, Well, I went to South Africa, and then I went to, she named four or five places.

I said, What did you do?

She well, I served in an orphanage and I did this and that.

And I'm like, where's your heart?

Why did you do that?

That's fantastic.

Why did you do that?

And it came around, she says, you know what?

That's what gives me peace.

Only that gives me fulfillment.

And I kept prodding and prodding until she says, You know what?

And unless it counts for something bigger than myself, it's not worthwhile.

And here's somebody, same situation, both of them more money than I'll ever see.

And yet the perspective, and when we give, that's the perspective we get.

It's not how much, it's that we do.

And this is an incredible place to support what's going on here, it's great, but that's not the purpose.

The purpose is to connect with God in such a way to say, I'm gonna give.

Now, I'll give you one other side, I've shared it before, that I get paid once a month, so I tithe once a month, but I try to every week, even if it's just a dollar in my back pocket, I throw it there because I want to worship and say, God, today, I want this week, I want to be connected to you in this area.

I need your wisdom, I need your perspective here.

Thank you that you own it all, but I want to be connected with you.

If we want a tangible way to be connected with God and lose anxiety, that's it.

And then finally, um, not only rest and give, but pray.

Pray.

It says, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, pray in such a way that I say, God, not just my wish list, I want to quit treating God like some kind of vending machine or prostitute.

God, here's some money, here's my now, give me what I want.

That's not it.

When we talked about humility, I talked about it, it's not about being right.

It's about being reconciled and related.

In casting our anxieties, it's not about what we get, it's about being connected and being reconciled and going, God, thank you that we're in this together.

We want to lose anxiety, we have to do it.

I would recommend praying and reading in such a way that Jesus did when he was experiencing anxiety.

He experienced everything we experience.

If you look in the Gospels, you'll see where Jesus is being tempted by Satan.

And Satan's going, you should have this, you should have this, and he's dealing with his anxiety.

And what does he do?

He prays Scripture, he prays the truth.

And when you and I will begin to read, and what I've been doing for the past several weeks, and this year in June, we're gonna go through a 40 days of just in the word and what it means to be in the word and how it is and what the word says about the word.

And it's gonna be, I've done it once, and the most incredible experience, a frustration for years.

I said, God, here's my biggest frustration.

The next 40 days, I'm gonna dive into your word every day.

And what happened was I've experienced freedom in that area that for decades was a frustration, and now is well, it's it's gone.

And that's what the word does.

And when you and I get into the word, I try to get it down to where I get one verse a day, where I'll read a chapter, but I'll just say, God, let one verse speak to me, and then I pray it all day.

I just write it out, and I'm like, God, I want to memorize this.

And I have it in my car, a red light, I'll bring it out, and I'll read the verse and I try to memorize it.

And as that washes in, it crowds out anxiety.

It crowds out that which is not important.

So when I rest and when I give and when I pray, I get this perspective that I am not alone and that God really does care.

And I love this.

If you got your Bibles open to 1 Peter still, look at verse 9 and chapter 5.

It says, resist the enemy, stand firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same suffering.

And verse 10.

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong and firm and steadfast.

To him be the power forever and ever.

Our power to overcome anxiety is not from us.

It is connecting with him who said, I want to walk with you.

Be anxious for nothing.

Cast your anxiety upon me because I care for you.

And this morning, those ways of rest and give and pray are critical.

But if we'll take the time to get in his word, it'll change us forever.

Pray with me as we rap.

God, even as we sing this last song in a minute, I pray that we would just rest in this moment.

That we would take that anxiety of our life, because you said in this world we'll have trouble.

But God, let us not walk out until or unless we're connected with you.

God, for those who know about you but don't know you, let them see it is as simple as humbling ourselves and saying, God, I need you.

And I died of myself.

I believe Jesus died on a cross to pay for my sins so that I could have your forgiveness and your purpose and your plan.

Please come into my life.

I open my heart, come in.

Lord, it's not magic words, but Lord, it is just that craving of the soul.

For those of us who know you that have been walking through today issues, I pray that we would hold our anxiety firmly in our hand and that we would literally just let you cleanse it from us.

And Father, as we go through this week, I pray that we would just say, How do I connect?

God, I don't feel it.

We would realize rest.

Just rest, let it go.

That we would give and say, God, I'm not giving because I need something back.

I'm given to acknowledge that you're in control.

And Lord, as we open your word this week, that you would let it speak to our hearts and crowd out those anxieties in our minds.

And it really is only through Christ that we have the privilege of coming before you and the power of your spirit that we can pray.

Amen.

God bless you guys.

I'll see you next time.