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Okay, so I announced on
Sunday that I hoped to

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deal with panic attacks,
or anxiety attacks.

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There are definite similarities between
panic and anxiety, and depression.

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Lots of connections.

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Look, I don't know all the lingo,

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I don't stay up with all
the current [research].

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Kenny actually said
that he's got a 3-hour

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lecture that he's got to
sit through tomorrow.

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Where are you brother? What's
the actual title of the class?

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"It's Advanced Mental Health."

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And you're going to hear
three hours on what topic?

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"Mood Disorders and Anxiety."

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So he's going to go hear the
secular take on all this tomorrow.

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And so we're going to
try to give a Christian

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and a scriptural
take on it tonight;

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maybe Kenny can come back next
week and tell us how different

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the medical world and the psychiatric
world approaches these things. (P)

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Now, Anxiety, Panic.

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I can tell you right off that obviously
I am limited in experiences.

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I certainly am not a professional
in dealing with these things.

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I am not an authority.

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Obviously there is a lot
more that could be said,

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but as with everything,
my authority to teach

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doesn't come from the latest
psychiatric journals.

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The guy that's going to
lecture to Kenny tomorrow,

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where does he get what he is going to say?

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Well, he is going to get it probably
from the latest authorities.

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Basically, I'm going to go
back to the same thing that

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Christians have been going
back to for 2,000 years.

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I am under a mandate - not to preach
the latest medical journals -

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I am under a mandate to
preach the Word of God.

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Look, I think one of the
questions you have to ask

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if you are experiencing anxiety,
anxiety attacks, panic attacks;

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one of the questions that
you have to settle is this:

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"Is Scripture sufficient to help you
deal with the problem or isn't it?"

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That really has to be answered
right from the beginning. (P)

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Is Scripture sufficient to handle
panic attacks in Christians?

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And I emphasize the "in
Christians", because listen,

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I am not going to speak
(I mean, very little)

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on panic and anxiety
in unsaved people.

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That is not what I'm here to deal with.

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Undoubtedly, when Kenny sits through
his 3-hour lecture tomorrow,

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they're not even going to come at it
from any kind of Christian standpoint.

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They don't care if people
are Christians or not.

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They're just looking for
people with panic attacks.

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They're looking for anxiety.

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They want to give names and
categories to everything,

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and they want to figure
out, and they want to

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diagnose, and they want
to give it a name.

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And then they want to
medicate it by that name:

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"What's the latest medications
that go along with

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treating that certain
syndrome or that disease?"

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They want to tag everything.

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Craig was telling me right now
that pedophilia is now a disease.

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And, undoubtedly, as soon as
something is diagnosed as a disease,

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then it's treated not as
though it's your fault;

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now you're a victim, and on and on it goes.

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So, as we're getting
started, let's pray. (P)

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Father, I ask You to help us and guide us.

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I know this is a sensitive issue.
I know that it's a real issue.

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And I pray, Father, that You would allow

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that the words that would be said here
in this place tonight would be helpful.

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We want it to align with your Word,
we want it to be pleasing to You.

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I pray all this in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. (P)

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Okay, if you have your Bibles you
can open them up to Matthew 6.

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Again, I am not even trying to make
it a point to know all the lingo,

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but I'm assuming that what used to
be known as a Nervous Breakdown

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is actually what today is called an
Anxiety Attack or a Panic Attack.

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I'm just making that assumption.

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I don't hear that word used much anymore,

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but I'm assuming that it's
probably the same thing.

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When we're talking about
depression, anxiety,

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something that's
very interesting is,

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often the same drugs
medically are used if

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people have depression
or if they have anxiety.

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So, obviously, the doctors are
treating them the same way.

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Are there relationships? I think there are;

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although, obviously,
anxiety is not exactly the

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same as being depressed
or being in despair.

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They may be linked, and I think
there's lots of parallels.

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And I think dealing with them, the remedy,
is very much to be found in the same place.

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So whether it's a nervous breakdown...

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I would even bring various
mental disorders into this. (P)

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But panic attacks: what are we talking?

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How many here have experienced any thing
that you would call an anxiety attack,

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a panic attack, depression?

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[Pause].

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What happened to Kath?

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[Audience]: Sitting on the floor.

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[Tim]: Oh okay, I just didn't see the hand.

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Okay, so a fair number of people here.

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Look, there can be circumstances,
there can be reasons,

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there can be things happening in
your life that contribute to this.

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I want to come back to this again:

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listen, I want to deal
tonight with Christians.

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I'm not talking about somebody that said a
prayer and they're saying they're saved,

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and there's no real indications.

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Look, if you don't know the Lord, you've
got every reason to be depressed,

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in despair, and panicking; because
your situation is really bad,

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because hell is real, and God's wrath
is real, and your time is short.

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And so, what we're dealing
with is Christians.

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You see, that is so important, because
as soon as you're dealing with a Christian,

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you're now dealing with a category of
people, that, when the truth is known,

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they don't really
have a reason to be

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depressed, no matter what
the circumstance is.

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They don't have a reason to
be panicked or anxiety-filled

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when the truth about their
condition is known. (P)

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The truth – haven't we heard
this, don't we hear this –

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the truth shall set you free.

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Now you can examine that
and say, "Well, what's

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the context and what
does He mean there?

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Set us free, how?"

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But I can tell you this, He doesn't give
us a lot of exact particulars there.

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But it sets free. The truth sets you free.

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And what does it set you free from?

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Well, the truth sets us free from all
sorts of slaveries and bondages.

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It sets us free from all manner of things.

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And one of the things that it certainly
sets us free from is hopelessness.

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It sets us free from having
to be filled with the anxiety

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over the things that the world
is full of anxiety over.

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You see, the thing is, that as soon
as we're dealing with a Christian

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and we talk about any fears or
anxieties that that person has,

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they're unfounded. Underline that.
Unfounded.

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You see, when I talk about unfounded fears,
that's such an important connection.

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People's fears and anxieties are
very founded when they're lost.

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But if they're not lost, if a person is
saved, all their anxieties are unfounded.

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That doesn't mean that there
aren't scary things out there;

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but your fear of them is unfounded. (P)

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You think about it, somebody
can kill your body –

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I mean, think about the scariest guy
that might torture you for a long time –

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and yet doesn't Jesus say your
fear of him is unfounded,

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because after he kills your body
there's nothing more he can do.

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In fact, He says, "Don't fear him."

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You see, the reality is, the
scariest things in this world,

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your fear of it is unfounded. Why?

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"He that is with us is greater
than he that is in the world."

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Even if the devil himself is standing
outside the doorway of your bedroom;

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and even though that, in and of
itself, is kind of a scary scenario,

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He that's with you
inside the bedroom is

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greater than he that's
standing at the door.

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You see, your fears are unfounded.

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He even said, "I'll never leave you
or forsake you." Didn't He say that?

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You see, the truth sets us
free from these things. (P)

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So, unfounded.

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Panic attacks, anxiety attacks,

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or even depression, which
is a little bit different,

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they're based on unfounded
factors, unfounded fears.

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But they are fears and
anxieties nevertheless.

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The person is gripped by them.

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Even though the reasons are unfounded, they
grip the person, they affect the person.

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And how do they affect the person?

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Well, sometimes people hyperventilate,

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sometimes the heart palpitates,

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sometimes they break out
into a cold sweat –

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they're seized, they're gripped by a
fear that sometimes is paralyzing.

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I know a pastor friend that was telling me
that years ago when he was younger,

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he could barely go to the post office
and just deliver mail or whatever.

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Sometimes it's a real panic of going out
into public, being exposed to people,

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because that all the more compounds it,

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because you're in the midst of
people and it's embarrassing,

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and that tends to make
you panic all the more.

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And so, crowds often set these things off.

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But what happens is, basically, whether
we're talking about depression,

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whether we're talking about
these anxiety attacks,

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it presses the person
to the point where they

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feel like they just cannot
cope with that moment,

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like they just gotta get out of there.

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They're unable to deal
with what's happening. (P)

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And I do think it's interesting, I was
just trying to think through Scripture.

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Do we have any examples in
Scripture of people who...

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you know, sometimes you hear in
Scripture the idea of people trembling.

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But let me ask you, how often in your life
have you ever really got to the point

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where you were so affected by something
that you literally trembled?

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Or that your legs almost gave out?

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Or that your mouth got so
dry that you couldn't talk,

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you thought your legs might not hold you,

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or you began to break out and
perspire and literally tremble?

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I mean, I think that it's not real common.

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In fact, some people probably feel like...

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maybe I'm not exactly certain what that is.

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But just going through Scripture,
you don't have to turn to these,

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I want you just to sit
there in Matthew 6. (P)

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Job, in Job 3:26, he says, "I'm
not at ease, nor am I quiet;

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I have no rest, but trouble comes."

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And obviously, those troubles were real.

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The devil was bringing
real troubles in his life.

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He's a man that is just not at rest.

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He was definitely a man
that was in turmoil.

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He was a man that said, the things
that he feared they came upon him.

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Now we might look at that and say,
"Well, is that an unfounded fear?

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The things that came upon him were real."

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Well, again, I would say if
a person knows the Lord...

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and see, you know the rest of the story.

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In fact, that's one of the problems.

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One of the problems is, we don't
know the rest of the story.

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And so we become gripped
by fear over things

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because we're deathly afraid
of what might happen.

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It's nice when you know
the end of the story.

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You see, if we could just see
ourselves there before the Lord,

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and every tear wiped away,
and full of eternal joy...

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But you see, the thing is,
we can see that by faith,

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even if we can't see it
with the literal eye.

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And that's the issue.

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This battle really becomes a battle between
fear and faith, back and forth. (P)

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Eliphaz - this is one of job's
friends - he said this:

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"Amid thoughts from visions of the
night, when deep sleep falls on men,

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dread came upon me, and trembling,
which made all my bones shake."

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Now this seems like he might
have had a demonic experience.

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And you know what?

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That may be one of the
very real factors involved

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in depression or involved
in anxiety attacks.

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The devil is real.

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We're just playing around right
here at the tip of the iceberg. (P)

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Listen to this in Psalm 53:5,

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"There they are, in great terror - this is
interesting - where there is no terror."

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Scripture describes that kind of situation.

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"There they are, in great terror,
where there is no terror."

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Or you have a proverb
that's similar: "The

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wicked flee when no one
pursues." (Prov. 28:1).

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People are afraid.

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I know that's speaking specifically about
a wicked person, not about a Christian.

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But the reality is, Scripture talks about
people who are afraid when no one is there;

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people who are running
when no one is pursuing;

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people who are in great terror
when there's no terror.

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Or you have the psalmist, David

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(James touched on this several weeks back)

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in Psalm 55, "Fear and trembling come
upon me, and horror overwhelms me."

228
00:17:09,780 --> 00:17:12,098
You get this reality in Scripture.

229
00:17:12,099 --> 00:17:16,512
Are these guys just being hyperbolic?
Is this hyperbole?

230
00:17:16,512 --> 00:17:19,589
Are they just exaggerating when
they talk about trembling?

231
00:17:19,589 --> 00:17:22,846
I don't think so. And there's
no reason to believe that.

232
00:17:22,846 --> 00:17:27,421
"Fear and trembling [come upon
me], and horror overwhelms me."

233
00:17:27,421 --> 00:17:32,054
I don't think they're just exaggerating.

234
00:17:32,914 --> 00:17:41,681
Paul says, "I was with you in weakness
and in fear and much trembling."

235
00:17:41,682 --> 00:17:44,352
Think about that, the apostle Paul.

236
00:17:44,353 --> 00:17:48,221
I mean, there's a man of faith,
and yet he's in much trembling?

237
00:17:48,220 --> 00:17:51,397
I mean, he was put through
circumstances that pushed him.

238
00:17:51,397 --> 00:17:53,948
Undoubtedly, of all the people
on the face of the earth,

239
00:17:53,948 --> 00:18:01,388
you've got to know that the devil
was probably really targeting Paul.

240
00:18:01,388 --> 00:18:03,510
Trembling. (P)

241
00:18:04,563 --> 00:18:14,104
Now here's something that I
think if you just think about;

242
00:18:14,104 --> 00:18:20,191
and I've got numerous verses
here that I think touch on this;

243
00:18:20,191 --> 00:18:23,167
but think with me here.

244
00:18:23,168 --> 00:18:28,931
If you fall into depression,
or have a nervous breakdown,

245
00:18:28,930 --> 00:18:33,007
or have an anxiety attack,
whatever your condition,

246
00:18:33,006 --> 00:18:35,722
(and I recognize, everybody
may be different),

247
00:18:35,723 --> 00:18:37,557
one of the things is this:

248
00:18:37,558 --> 00:18:41,284
In the little bit of time
that we have here, we

249
00:18:41,296 --> 00:18:45,111
obviously can't deal with
every single scenario.

250
00:18:45,111 --> 00:18:51,606
The truth is, every situation
has to be taken separately,

251
00:18:51,606 --> 00:18:57,988
but there's some general things
that are true all the way around.

252
00:18:57,988 --> 00:19:01,033
Think with me here.

253
00:19:01,033 --> 00:19:08,728
When a person goes through
these kind of ordeals,

254
00:19:08,740 --> 00:19:15,214
sometimes there's
physical aspects to it.

255
00:19:15,214 --> 00:19:22,046
There's something organic,
or chemical, sometimes.

256
00:19:22,046 --> 00:19:28,731
But any time, every time,
all the time, when people

257
00:19:28,743 --> 00:19:35,569
go through situations like
this, it's spiritual. (P)

258
00:19:35,569 --> 00:19:38,205
Now follow that.

259
00:19:38,205 --> 00:19:42,307
Physical things may
play in sometimes, but

260
00:19:42,319 --> 00:19:46,721
spiritual things come
into play all the time.

261
00:19:46,722 --> 00:19:48,039
You can't get away from it.

262
00:19:48,039 --> 00:19:52,938
If you're dealing with fears, if
you're dealing with anxieties,

263
00:19:52,938 --> 00:19:56,562
you're dealing with the mind,
you're dealing with thinking,

264
00:19:56,561 --> 00:20:00,595
you're in the realm of the spiritual.

265
00:20:00,595 --> 00:20:03,560
If you're suffering depression or anxiety,

266
00:20:03,561 --> 00:20:07,550
it has to do with the soul
or with the spirit of

267
00:20:07,562 --> 00:20:11,318
man, with the mind of
man, every single time.

268
00:20:11,318 --> 00:20:15,660
You can't get away from that reality.

269
00:20:15,661 --> 00:20:17,650
Why is that important?

270
00:20:17,650 --> 00:20:23,463
Because that means that every single
time we're dealing with this,

271
00:20:23,463 --> 00:20:30,091
even if it is a thyroid gland,
or postpartum depression;

272
00:20:30,091 --> 00:20:32,771
even if it is a chemical imbalance;

273
00:20:32,771 --> 00:20:36,062
even if mental - you've
got some kind of brain

274
00:20:36,074 --> 00:20:39,096
damage and it's coming
into play in this -

275
00:20:39,096 --> 00:20:48,690
even if that's the fact, even if there
is some identifiable physical factor;

276
00:20:48,690 --> 00:20:54,440
every situation, whether it's physical
or not, is a spiritual event.

277
00:20:54,440 --> 00:21:01,008
And that means that there is a
place in every single situation

278
00:21:01,008 --> 00:21:05,991
for the Word of God to be applied
to the soul of that person.

279
00:21:05,991 --> 00:21:07,525
That's critical.

280
00:21:07,525 --> 00:21:12,368
And you know, we have to come to
this conclusion like I said before:

281
00:21:12,368 --> 00:21:19,507
either Scripture is
sufficient, or it's not.

282
00:21:19,507 --> 00:21:22,327
Because if you say, "Look,
I've gone to Scripture,

283
00:21:22,327 --> 00:21:25,927
and I've got a form of anxiety
that is not addressed there,

284
00:21:25,927 --> 00:21:28,647
and there's no answer to it there,"

285
00:21:28,647 --> 00:21:32,986
then I would say you're an unbeliever,

286
00:21:32,985 --> 00:21:38,572
because a believer is going to
find something from God's Word.

287
00:21:38,573 --> 00:21:41,174
And I have that based on the
authority of God's Word. (P)

288
00:21:41,174 --> 00:21:44,730
Just think about this.
I'm going to go back to,

289
00:21:44,742 --> 00:21:48,012
"Every situation is a
spiritual situation."

290
00:21:48,013 --> 00:21:51,191
Just think of this, Proverbs 4:23;

291
00:21:51,191 --> 00:21:56,640
these are off-handed verses, but just see
how they collectively build together:

292
00:21:56,640 --> 00:22:01,442
"Keep your heart with all vigilance,
for from it flow the springs of life."

293
00:22:01,442 --> 00:22:07,169
Everything in your life flows out
of - what does it say? - the heart.

294
00:22:07,169 --> 00:22:09,803
As soon as we are talking
about the heart or the mind,

295
00:22:09,803 --> 00:22:15,389
we're talking about spiritual issues,
issues that have to do with the spirit.

296
00:22:15,389 --> 00:22:18,540
I mean, when you talk
about cleansing yourself

297
00:22:18,552 --> 00:22:21,379
from every defilement
of body and spirit,

298
00:22:21,379 --> 00:22:25,317
well, where is that? where are
the defilements of the spirit?

299
00:22:25,318 --> 00:22:32,598
The spirit is the inanimate part
of man, right? The thinking part.

300
00:22:32,598 --> 00:22:35,503
It's not necessarily a specific
organ that you can find;

301
00:22:35,502 --> 00:22:37,061
the heart of the man.

302
00:22:37,062 --> 00:22:41,163
And we can say this: from the
heart flow the springs of life.

303
00:22:41,163 --> 00:22:44,267
Everything. Everything is
flowing out of there. (P)

304
00:22:44,267 --> 00:22:50,722
Or I just think of this: "Do all things
without grumbling or disputing."

305
00:22:50,721 --> 00:22:52,583
Now just think about that.

306
00:22:52,584 --> 00:22:58,646
Every single thing that
you do, is something

307
00:22:58,658 --> 00:23:03,382
that has a spring
or an association

308
00:23:03,382 --> 00:23:09,778
with that part of you that grumbles,
or complains, or disputes.

309
00:23:09,778 --> 00:23:15,533
1 Corinthians 2:15, "The spiritual
person judges all things."

310
00:23:15,533 --> 00:23:18,807
The spiritual person judges all things.

311
00:23:18,807 --> 00:23:22,859
And I'm just saying, everything
has a spiritual angle.

312
00:23:22,859 --> 00:23:27,187
We know that for those who love
God, all things work together.

313
00:23:27,187 --> 00:23:34,992
You see, every single aspect of the life
of the Christian is a spiritual aspect.

314
00:23:34,992 --> 00:23:39,332
It's a spiritual reality. It
has spiritual implications.

315
00:23:39,332 --> 00:23:42,248
It comes back to faith, it
comes back to thinking,

316
00:23:42,248 --> 00:23:46,261
it comes back to the mind, it
comes back to the heart of man.

317
00:23:46,261 --> 00:23:48,213
Everything. (P)

318
00:23:48,213 --> 00:23:52,246
I Corinthians 4:5, "Therefore do not
pronounce judgment before the time,

319
00:23:52,246 --> 00:23:55,723
before the Lord comes, who will bring to
light the things now hidden in darkness

320
00:23:55,723 --> 00:23:57,839
and will disclose the
purposes of the heart."

321
00:23:57,839 --> 00:24:01,103
I'm just thinking about Judgment Day.
What happens on Judgment Day?

322
00:24:01,103 --> 00:24:03,604
Every purpose of your heart is disclosed.

323
00:24:03,603 --> 00:24:06,448
Every purpose; everything that
you do; everything you think;

324
00:24:06,449 --> 00:24:08,548
everything that you apply your will to;

325
00:24:08,547 --> 00:24:12,388
everything with purpose is going to
come under the examination of God.

326
00:24:12,389 --> 00:24:14,933
What category does that put everything in?

327
00:24:14,933 --> 00:24:17,120
It puts it in the spiritual category.

328
00:24:17,120 --> 00:24:22,236
This is my point: You may
have physical aspects;

329
00:24:22,236 --> 00:24:27,250
I think when you have somebody that's
experiencing depression or panic attacks,

330
00:24:27,251 --> 00:24:29,811
should you look there? Yes.

331
00:24:29,811 --> 00:24:34,660
Is there maybe even a place
to visit a doctor? Yeah.

332
00:24:34,660 --> 00:24:39,222
There can be physical aspects undoubtedly.

333
00:24:39,222 --> 00:24:45,511
You may find that something is
physically wrong with the person.

334
00:24:45,511 --> 00:24:49,581
You may find that something is
wrong with their sleep pattern,

335
00:24:49,581 --> 00:24:51,576
something is wrong with their eating;

336
00:24:51,576 --> 00:24:54,132
something is wrong somewhere.

337
00:24:54,133 --> 00:24:57,102
That can be very real. But you know what?

338
00:24:57,102 --> 00:25:02,215
There are times when there doesn't
need to be anything physical,

339
00:25:02,215 --> 00:25:04,703
but it's still spiritual.
Everything is spiritual.

340
00:25:04,703 --> 00:25:06,432
Everything comes back to that.

341
00:25:06,432 --> 00:25:12,673
And if it comes back to that,
then we need to recognize this:

342
00:25:12,673 --> 00:25:17,242
Scripture has something to say to it. (P)

343
00:25:17,242 --> 00:25:21,058
Listen to 2 Peter: "May grace
and peace be multiplied to you

344
00:25:21,058 --> 00:25:24,453
in the knowledge of God
and of Jesus our Lord.

345
00:25:24,453 --> 00:25:33,494
His divine power has granted to us ALL
things that pertain to life and godliness,

346
00:25:33,495 --> 00:25:35,414
through the knowledge of Him."

347
00:25:35,415 --> 00:25:37,468
And where does that knowledge come from?

348
00:25:37,468 --> 00:25:39,184
There's only one place - Scripture.

349
00:25:39,185 --> 00:25:45,613
You know 2 Timothy 3, it
gives us this reality that

350
00:25:45,613 --> 00:25:48,320
"all scripture is breathed out
by God, profitable for teaching,

351
00:25:48,321 --> 00:25:50,770
reproof, correction,
training in righteousness;

352
00:25:50,770 --> 00:25:55,469
that the man of God may be complete
(or the woman of God complete)

353
00:25:55,469 --> 00:25:57,113
equipped for every good work."

354
00:25:57,113 --> 00:26:00,511
Scripture does that.
Scripture has an answer.

355
00:26:00,511 --> 00:26:05,226
"How can a young man keep his
way pure (or a young woman)?"

356
00:26:05,226 --> 00:26:09,734
Whether you have panic attacks or not,
how can you keep your way pure?

357
00:26:09,734 --> 00:26:13,512
"By guarding it according to
Your Word." (Psalm 119:9). (P)

358
00:26:13,512 --> 00:26:20,773
Or, "The law of the LORD is
perfect, reviving the soul."

359
00:26:20,773 --> 00:26:26,051
It's perfect, it's complete,
for reviving the soul.

360
00:26:26,051 --> 00:26:29,556
This is critical, because
if you get to the place

361
00:26:29,568 --> 00:26:33,085
where it's like, "Nah,
Scripture doesn't answer,"

362
00:26:33,085 --> 00:26:35,217
then you know where you're gonna go?

363
00:26:35,217 --> 00:26:39,092
You're gonna go to men's opinions.
That's where you're gonna go.

364
00:26:39,092 --> 00:26:44,993
And men are idiots without the help of God.

365
00:26:44,993 --> 00:26:48,938
Oh they can tell you how far
away certain galaxies are,

366
00:26:48,938 --> 00:26:51,402
but then they believe it
came from a Big Bang, and

367
00:26:51,414 --> 00:26:53,648
they wipe God out of the
equation altogether.

368
00:26:53,648 --> 00:26:56,283
And listen, I'm not the
one who made that up.

369
00:26:56,283 --> 00:27:01,399
God says, "Wanting to be wise,
they became fools." (Rom. 1:22).

370
00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:06,775
And if you want to listen to men, you're
gonna end up with the opinion of fools.

371
00:27:06,775 --> 00:27:08,754
The doctors are fools.

372
00:27:08,754 --> 00:27:11,833
All you have to do is look at the history.

373
00:27:11,833 --> 00:27:14,589
Look at what the doctors
were saying ten years ago:

374
00:27:14,589 --> 00:27:16,917
it's entirely different than
what they're saying now.

375
00:27:16,917 --> 00:27:19,135
They change their minds all the time.

376
00:27:19,135 --> 00:27:20,490
They don't have answers.

377
00:27:20,490 --> 00:27:24,847
They want to take things that are sin
and they want to make them diseases,

378
00:27:24,848 --> 00:27:28,947
because they're lost, and because
they're in the power of the evil one,

379
00:27:28,947 --> 00:27:32,030
and the evil one wants to destroy people.

380
00:27:32,029 --> 00:27:34,640
He is the father of lies.

381
00:27:34,641 --> 00:27:39,798
He doesn't want people to recognize that
they are guilty sinners before a holy God,

382
00:27:39,798 --> 00:27:42,885
and to repent, and to
seek salvation in Christ.

383
00:27:42,885 --> 00:27:46,599
He wants people to think that they
can figure it all out on their own,

384
00:27:46,599 --> 00:27:49,487
and they don't need God, and
they don't need His Truth,

385
00:27:49,487 --> 00:27:53,424
and they don't need His Word, and they can
figure it out, and they're wise enough;

386
00:27:53,424 --> 00:27:56,872
and they want to put their
confidence in the arm of the flesh.

387
00:27:56,872 --> 00:27:58,493
And that's just the reality. (P)

388
00:27:58,493 --> 00:28:04,262
And if you think there's no answer in
Scripture... see, I don't think that.

389
00:28:04,262 --> 00:28:08,800
What I think is, that every
single spiritual problem

390
00:28:08,812 --> 00:28:13,620
that man can ever have is
addressed in the Word of God.

391
00:28:13,620 --> 00:28:15,685
I believe that.

392
00:28:15,685 --> 00:28:22,029
And if you don't believe that,
you're gonna end up in big trouble.

393
00:28:22,029 --> 00:28:24,401
This is the only safe place.

394
00:28:24,401 --> 00:28:27,632
And you have to ask this.
Everybody has to ask this.

395
00:28:27,632 --> 00:28:35,429
Now look, I would not say that I
have experienced panic attacks.

396
00:28:35,430 --> 00:28:38,005
When I was lost, nothing like that.

397
00:28:38,005 --> 00:28:39,745
It didn't run in my family;

398
00:28:39,745 --> 00:28:42,304
I didn't know anybody that
suffered from depression;

399
00:28:42,304 --> 00:28:44,587
I didn't know anybody
that had panic attacks.

400
00:28:44,587 --> 00:28:50,539
I mean, we were just a bunch
of drunk foul-mouthed Irish.

401
00:28:50,540 --> 00:28:59,850
And then when I got saved, the first ten
years, I didn't know anything about that.

402
00:28:59,850 --> 00:29:02,670
I mean, unmoved assurance.

403
00:29:02,670 --> 00:29:09,479
Every day, Christianity
was just a total joy.

404
00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:13,152
It wasn't till I became a
pastor that I actually

405
00:29:13,164 --> 00:29:16,847
began to experience aspects
of spiritual warfare

406
00:29:16,847 --> 00:29:22,273
that kind of pushed me a lot closer
to the edge than ever before.

407
00:29:22,273 --> 00:29:30,266
There were some real battles in the soul,

408
00:29:30,266 --> 00:29:36,220
and battles to not fall into
depression, not so much anxiety.

409
00:29:36,220 --> 00:29:39,822
I mean, I just had some times when
it felt like I was in a vice.

410
00:29:39,822 --> 00:29:42,295
I mean, sometimes I remember
Whitfield talking about

411
00:29:42,307 --> 00:29:44,651
feeling like the devil was
pressing on his chest.

412
00:29:44,651 --> 00:29:47,198
I used to feel that on a regular basis.

413
00:29:47,198 --> 00:29:51,191
It felt like I was in
some all-out battle. (P)

414
00:29:51,191 --> 00:29:57,966
But I can tell you this: In all the
things that I had to go through,

415
00:29:57,966 --> 00:30:07,414
I was absolutely persuaded of this -
the answer to my struggles is in Scripture.

416
00:30:07,414 --> 00:30:10,491
I was absolutely convinced of that.

417
00:30:10,491 --> 00:30:14,488
And as Christians we
have to be absolutely

418
00:30:14,500 --> 00:30:18,976
convinced that if you
want to be made complete,

419
00:30:18,977 --> 00:30:23,129
and if you want to be made perfect,
and if you want to have your heart revived,

420
00:30:23,129 --> 00:30:27,595
and if we're gonna be granted all things
that pertain to life and godliness;

421
00:30:27,596 --> 00:30:29,257
it's going to come through
that knowledge of Him,

422
00:30:29,257 --> 00:30:33,329
it's going to come through His Word, it's
going to come through His promises. (P)

423
00:30:33,329 --> 00:30:38,416
Now here's the thing: When
you come to Scripture,

424
00:30:38,416 --> 00:30:42,798
the most saturated area
of Scripture concerning

425
00:30:42,810 --> 00:30:47,479
anxiety is to be found on
the Sermon on the Mount.

426
00:30:47,479 --> 00:30:48,718
Hands down.

427
00:30:48,718 --> 00:30:51,918
Matthew chapter 6, and
that's where I had you turn.

428
00:30:51,918 --> 00:30:53,460
And we want to look at this,

429
00:30:53,460 --> 00:31:07,362
because the term "anxious"
between Matthew 6:25 and 6:34,

430
00:31:07,362 --> 00:31:13,050
those ten verses, we
find the word "anxious".

431
00:31:13,050 --> 00:31:18,144
It shows up in verse 25.

432
00:31:18,144 --> 00:31:23,481
It shows up in verse 27, verse 28.

433
00:31:23,481 --> 00:31:31,449
It shows up in verse 31, and
it shows up twice in verse 34.

434
00:31:31,449 --> 00:31:36,163
Anxiety - here it is,
the most saturated

435
00:31:36,175 --> 00:31:41,477
portion of Scripture
dealing with this topic.

436
00:31:41,477 --> 00:31:45,183
And so, look, Jesus is the authority.

437
00:31:45,183 --> 00:31:50,299
If He's going to talk to us about
anxiety, we do really well to listen,

438
00:31:50,299 --> 00:31:55,144
because He's a master
at it, and He hits all

439
00:31:55,156 --> 00:31:59,690
sorts of aspects that
have to do with it,

440
00:31:59,690 --> 00:32:04,629
that are well worth pointing out. (P)

441
00:32:04,629 --> 00:32:07,161
So, anxious.

442
00:32:07,160 --> 00:32:19,377
The idea of the word "anxious" is the idea
of being distracted or pulled apart.

443
00:32:19,378 --> 00:32:25,345
It's being distracted by these
apprehensions about possible dangers,

444
00:32:25,346 --> 00:32:29,529
distracting cares, concerns, worries.

445
00:32:29,529 --> 00:32:34,214
Look, the truth is, it's a form of fear.

446
00:32:34,214 --> 00:32:38,913
And you see it right here in
this text, because if you look;

447
00:32:38,914 --> 00:32:48,029
well, actually, we're gonna see it
in the parallel passage in Luke.

448
00:32:48,030 --> 00:33:00,304
But it's the idea of the what-ifs.

449
00:33:00,305 --> 00:33:04,609
It's looking at tomorrow like, "Oh
no!" - foreboding all the time -

450
00:33:04,608 --> 00:33:07,197
"What's gonna happen? This is gonna happen.

451
00:33:07,197 --> 00:33:09,330
I fear this is gonna happen."

452
00:33:09,330 --> 00:33:12,735
And it's just living in
the shadow all the time.

453
00:33:12,735 --> 00:33:17,282
Or, "If I go over there,
what's gonna happen?"

454
00:33:17,283 --> 00:33:22,808
You may be being
bombarded by feelings of

455
00:33:22,820 --> 00:33:28,884
inability and the sense
of being overwhelmed.

456
00:33:28,885 --> 00:33:31,933
It's like I was talking
about this pastor friend;

457
00:33:31,933 --> 00:33:36,980
it can be like where even going to the
post office is like climbing the Himalayas.

458
00:33:36,979 --> 00:33:41,277
I mean, it's just like you've
got to go over this hurdle.

459
00:33:41,278 --> 00:33:43,522
And if you think about
it in a time when you

460
00:33:43,534 --> 00:33:45,590
don't have any of those
fears or things;

461
00:33:45,590 --> 00:33:47,391
I mean, driving to the post office;

462
00:33:47,390 --> 00:33:51,978
it's like, you could listen to the
radio or you could sing a hymn

463
00:33:51,979 --> 00:33:53,648
or you could enjoy the sunrise.

464
00:33:53,648 --> 00:33:56,576
And you can go over there
and come back, and

465
00:33:56,588 --> 00:33:59,267
it could be just an
enjoyable time away.

466
00:33:59,268 --> 00:34:04,498
But something clouds the mind,
something fills us with this fear.

467
00:34:04,498 --> 00:34:08,556
"Oh, what if this happens?
what if that happens?" (P)

468
00:34:08,556 --> 00:34:12,149
And if you look at the parallel passage,
you don't have to go over there,

469
00:34:12,149 --> 00:34:13,906
I want you just to stay here in Matthew 6.

470
00:34:13,906 --> 00:34:18,732
But over in Luke 12, He said to
His disciples in Luke 12:22,

471
00:34:18,733 --> 00:34:22,250
"I tell you, do not be anxious."

472
00:34:22,250 --> 00:34:26,310
Then He comes back in verse
29, "Do not be worried."

473
00:34:26,310 --> 00:34:31,917
And then He comes back in Luke
12:32, and He says, "Fear not."

474
00:34:31,918 --> 00:34:38,466
You see that? "Don't be anxious;
don't worry; don't fear."

475
00:34:38,466 --> 00:34:43,183
It's all kind of synonymous language,
because that's exactly what happens.

476
00:34:43,184 --> 00:34:45,748
If you talk to somebody
that's having a panic attack,

477
00:34:45,748 --> 00:34:50,603
and you say, "Are you
full of anxiety?" "Yes."

478
00:34:50,603 --> 00:34:52,174
"Are you full of worries?" "Yes."

479
00:34:52,175 --> 00:34:54,322
"Are you afraid?" "Yes."

480
00:34:54,322 --> 00:34:58,760
And those are three of the words
that He hits on right off there.

481
00:34:58,760 --> 00:35:04,859
I mean, the daily concerns of life
can turn into these overwhelming worries:

482
00:35:04,859 --> 00:35:12,741
"What if this happens? What if...?"
and there's this foreboding.

483
00:35:12,741 --> 00:35:17,936
And it paralyzes, because
instead of going on with

484
00:35:17,948 --> 00:35:22,848
life and confronting our
present circumstances,

485
00:35:22,848 --> 00:35:25,259
which is what Jesus is saying;

486
00:35:25,259 --> 00:35:32,856
He says, "Quit worrying about the future,
today has enough worries for itself."

487
00:35:32,856 --> 00:35:35,529
That's how He ends there in Matthew 6.

488
00:35:35,529 --> 00:35:39,242
Stop worrying about tomorrow;
you may not even be alive.

489
00:35:39,242 --> 00:35:42,255
None of us may be alive. (P)

490
00:35:42,255 --> 00:35:44,903
But the thing is, we come back
to this if you're a Christian.

491
00:35:44,903 --> 00:35:47,442
If you're a Christian, and
even if the devil was

492
00:35:47,454 --> 00:35:49,900
let loose on you like he
was let loose on Job,

493
00:35:49,900 --> 00:35:53,756
where's Job right now? I
mean, Job is in glory.

494
00:35:53,756 --> 00:35:56,759
Job was a righteous man.

495
00:35:56,759 --> 00:36:00,093
He's with the Lord. He's
walking with the Lord.

496
00:36:00,093 --> 00:36:03,556
Paul adequately sums it up:

497
00:36:03,556 --> 00:36:08,931
what does he call what we
have to endure right now?

498
00:36:08,931 --> 00:36:18,366
"Momentary, light" - that's what
he calls it - "afflictions."

499
00:36:18,366 --> 00:36:21,766
The worst thing that could happen;
now look, who was he talking to?

500
00:36:21,766 --> 00:36:29,018
He was talking to early
Christians twenty centuries ago.

501
00:36:29,018 --> 00:36:34,969
I mean, what if the Romans came in and they
threw your whole family out to the lions?

502
00:36:34,969 --> 00:36:36,636
Is that pretty bad?

503
00:36:36,636 --> 00:36:37,628
Even if they did that.

504
00:36:37,628 --> 00:36:39,947
What if they put you on the
rack and they tortured you?

505
00:36:39,946 --> 00:36:42,929
Some were sawn in two,
do you ever read that?

506
00:36:42,930 --> 00:36:46,178
I mean, that's kind of a bad day
when you're getting sawn in half.

507
00:36:46,178 --> 00:36:53,151
But momentary, light?

508
00:36:53,151 --> 00:36:56,080
Listen, if we really
understand what heaven is, and

509
00:36:56,092 --> 00:36:58,807
what it is Christ has
purchased for His people,

510
00:36:58,807 --> 00:37:01,977
it is such a glory that is coming.

511
00:37:01,977 --> 00:37:05,654
But you see, when the anxiety
comes you lose sight of that.

512
00:37:05,654 --> 00:37:07,633
Anxiety causes you to forget.

513
00:37:07,633 --> 00:37:11,778
It causes you to shut down as far
as remembering God's faithfulness,

514
00:37:11,778 --> 00:37:15,840
remembering God's promises,
remembering who God is.

515
00:37:15,841 --> 00:37:22,175
The remembering function is that which
has to be kicked back into high gear.

516
00:37:22,175 --> 00:37:28,124
It shuts down. And it's not
good, it's not healthy. (P)

517
00:37:28,130 --> 00:37:35,417
So, what we have to do is, we
have to take all these fears,

518
00:37:35,417 --> 00:37:38,612
all these anxieties, all these
thoughts that are going to the mind,

519
00:37:38,612 --> 00:37:42,966
and we have to submit them and
subject them to Scripture;

520
00:37:42,966 --> 00:37:48,788
and let the Scripture control,
let the truth set us free.

521
00:37:48,789 --> 00:37:51,660
We have to go back to that again.

522
00:37:51,660 --> 00:37:54,350
Thinking, thinking, thinking. The mind.

523
00:37:54,350 --> 00:37:59,450
Listen, Scripture says this,
(you need to think about this):

524
00:37:59,450 --> 00:38:06,898
concerning sin, it says, "You need
to consider yourselves dead to sin."

525
00:38:06,898 --> 00:38:09,129
Why do I hit that text?

526
00:38:09,129 --> 00:38:13,947
Because when Paul says in Romans 6:11

527
00:38:13,947 --> 00:38:21,332
that as a Christian you must consider
yourself dead to sin and alive to God,

528
00:38:21,332 --> 00:38:29,644
he is saying, "You need to consider in
your mind certain things to be true."

529
00:38:29,644 --> 00:38:34,593
When Scripture says,
"Set your mind on things

530
00:38:34,605 --> 00:38:39,782
above," do you know what
Scripture is assuming?

531
00:38:39,782 --> 00:38:49,416
Listen, one of the descriptions in Romans
8, is that a person that's a Christian,

532
00:38:49,416 --> 00:38:54,527
they have a mind set on
the things of the Spirit.

533
00:38:54,527 --> 00:38:56,344
Or James went through Philippians;

534
00:38:56,344 --> 00:39:02,372
Philippians 4: 8, what does
it say we need to think on?

535
00:39:02,372 --> 00:39:06,328
Things that are what? Just
tell me one of the words. (P)

536
00:39:06,335 --> 00:39:12,443
[Audience]: True. Excellent.
Worthy of praise. (P)

537
00:39:12,443 --> 00:39:16,397
[Tim]: Okay, what do all
those verses indicate?

538
00:39:16,397 --> 00:39:25,819
They indicate that you have the ability
to think on what you want to think on.

539
00:39:25,819 --> 00:39:32,309
Some people have this idea, "Well, I
can't control what I think about."

540
00:39:32,309 --> 00:39:36,417
The authors of Scripture
certainly think you can.

541
00:39:36,417 --> 00:39:41,375
When you're told to set your mind
on things above, what is that?

542
00:39:41,375 --> 00:39:47,282
That is telling you, that just
like I can set this cup...

543
00:39:47,282 --> 00:39:50,360
you know, if I'm sitting
here drinking this,

544
00:39:50,360 --> 00:39:57,001
and my wife yells from the bedroom over
there, "Set that cup down," I set it down.

545
00:39:57,001 --> 00:40:00,627
That cup, I've got the ability
to put that thing down there.

546
00:40:00,627 --> 00:40:03,394
Scripture is saying, just
like you can set that cup,

547
00:40:03,394 --> 00:40:10,473
it's telling you, "Set your brain on
certain things. Set your mind there."

548
00:40:10,473 --> 00:40:18,157
This is key, because I'll tell you what
happens to people who fall into depression

549
00:40:18,157 --> 00:40:22,515
and people who fall into anxiety:

550
00:40:22,515 --> 00:40:27,614
Oftentimes, the people that
are most able to help them

551
00:40:27,614 --> 00:40:31,097
are the people that help
them get their minds

552
00:40:31,109 --> 00:40:34,604
back on what they need
to get their minds on.

553
00:40:34,604 --> 00:40:38,500
That's what needs to happen.
We need to think right.

554
00:40:38,500 --> 00:40:44,857
We need to think about the things that
we need to be thinking about. (P)

555
00:40:44,858 --> 00:40:52,927
Now, let's actually look at Matthew 6.

556
00:40:52,927 --> 00:40:58,198
"Therefore I tell you, do not be
anxious about your life." (v 25).

557
00:40:58,198 --> 00:41:05,231
Now let's just start right
here: "Do not be anxious."

558
00:41:05,231 --> 00:41:11,637
If Jesus tells us not to be anxious and we
are, we're not keeping His commandments.

559
00:41:11,637 --> 00:41:14,163
I'll tell you right off.

560
00:41:14,163 --> 00:41:19,053
When Jesus says do not
be anxious, if we are

561
00:41:19,065 --> 00:41:24,511
anxious we need to recognize
this for what it is.

562
00:41:24,511 --> 00:41:29,099
You see, this is the
medical community today:

563
00:41:29,099 --> 00:41:41,768
"Anxiety is alcoholism. Now pedophilia.
It's not your fault, it's a disease."

564
00:41:41,768 --> 00:41:45,855
As soon as you say that, you are a victim -

565
00:41:45,855 --> 00:41:54,924
just like you'd be a victim if you got
cancer, or smallpox, or meningitis.

566
00:41:54,924 --> 00:41:56,720
It's not true.

567
00:41:56,720 --> 00:42:02,211
Jesus says, "Do not be anxious."

568
00:42:02,211 --> 00:42:07,949
If you are anxious, you are defying Christ.

569
00:42:07,950 --> 00:42:10,934
You're going against Him.

570
00:42:10,934 --> 00:42:15,226
It's sin. We need to
call anxiety what it is.

571
00:42:15,226 --> 00:42:21,492
It is based on fears that God
does not want us to have.

572
00:42:21,492 --> 00:42:23,148
We need to be clear on that.

573
00:42:23,148 --> 00:42:27,488
He says, "Do not be anxious."
We need to recognize that.

574
00:42:27,488 --> 00:42:31,677
Jesus says to us, "Don't be anxious." (P)

575
00:42:31,677 --> 00:42:35,672
Paul tells us to "rejoice
in the Lord always."

576
00:42:35,672 --> 00:42:41,589
Listen, if you fall into
depression, it's sin.

577
00:42:41,590 --> 00:42:46,441
To be "not rejoicing in
the Lord" is to be going

578
00:42:46,453 --> 00:42:51,118
against the specific
instruction of Scripture.

579
00:42:51,118 --> 00:43:00,063
Now look, there may be factors that
are present in a person's life

580
00:43:00,063 --> 00:43:07,012
that are applying
enormous pressure to be

581
00:43:07,024 --> 00:43:14,813
anxious, or to be fearful,
or to be depressed.

582
00:43:14,814 --> 00:43:21,816
But do you know, no matter what
circumstance any person ever faces,

583
00:43:21,816 --> 00:43:31,152
sin is never justifiable.
Never. Not once. (P)

584
00:43:31,152 --> 00:43:40,146
Worry: look at verse 25, "I tell you,
do not be anxious about your life."

585
00:43:40,146 --> 00:43:47,397
Go to verse 31, "Therefore
do not be anxious."

586
00:43:47,397 --> 00:43:54,681
Verse 34, "Therefore do not
be anxious about tomorrow,

587
00:43:54,681 --> 00:44:00,444
for tomorrow will be anxious for itself."

588
00:44:00,445 --> 00:44:04,166
Do you know what Peter tells us?

589
00:44:04,166 --> 00:44:07,551
We used to sing this; we still do:

590
00:44:07,551 --> 00:44:15,736
"Humble yourselves therefore
under the mighty hand of God,

591
00:44:15,736 --> 00:44:19,327
that He may exalt you in due time:

592
00:44:19,327 --> 00:44:26,525
casting all your cares
(or anxieties) upon Him;

593
00:44:26,526 --> 00:44:29,717
for He cares for you." (1 Pet. 5:6-7). (P)

594
00:44:29,716 --> 00:44:31,257
"Humble yourselves."

595
00:44:31,258 --> 00:44:36,158
Listen, when you don't
cast your fears and

596
00:44:36,170 --> 00:44:41,311
anxieties on the Lord,
it's a mark of pride.

597
00:44:41,312 --> 00:44:49,995
Peter says, "Humble yourselves and
unload those things on the Lord."

598
00:44:49,995 --> 00:44:51,766
What's pride?

599
00:44:51,766 --> 00:44:55,392
You see, pride is thinking too much
of self and too little of God.

600
00:44:55,392 --> 00:44:57,271
And how is that thinking too little of God?

601
00:44:57,271 --> 00:44:59,228
"Well, I'm just afraid
to commit these things

602
00:44:59,228 --> 00:45:02,067
because I don't really think
the Lord can take care of it.

603
00:45:02,067 --> 00:45:04,663
I'm scared to death something may
happen to one of my children,

604
00:45:04,663 --> 00:45:06,801
and I just don't think I
can entrust Him with this.

605
00:45:06,801 --> 00:45:09,570
I'm scared to death something may
happen to one of my relatives,

606
00:45:09,570 --> 00:45:12,237
or a person I dearly love, and
I cannot commit them to Him;

607
00:45:12,237 --> 00:45:13,703
and I'm just worried all the time;

608
00:45:13,703 --> 00:45:17,811
and I cannot trust God to
do what I want God to do,

609
00:45:17,811 --> 00:45:22,090
because I know God, I know the God
of Scripture, He may let them die."

610
00:45:22,090 --> 00:45:26,423
You know what? He might.

611
00:45:26,423 --> 00:45:29,065
But Scripture still says it's
all working out for our good,

612
00:45:29,071 --> 00:45:32,116
and He still says that He'll
not leave us or forsake us.

613
00:45:32,116 --> 00:45:36,252
And we can trust Him. We
can trust Him to do right.

614
00:45:36,252 --> 00:45:40,594
The Judge of all the earth will do
right, and we can trust Him to do it.

615
00:45:40,594 --> 00:45:43,868
And the thing is, we have to remember this:

616
00:45:43,868 --> 00:45:50,370
"For He careth for you. He careth for you."

617
00:45:50,370 --> 00:45:52,996
That's how that ends - He cares for you.

618
00:45:52,996 --> 00:45:58,068
You see, we're not dealing with a God
who is a tyrant and is angry at us.

619
00:45:58,068 --> 00:45:59,181
Not as Christians.

620
00:45:59,181 --> 00:46:02,493
If you're lost, yes He is angry with you.

621
00:46:02,493 --> 00:46:07,444
But the thing is, if we're
Christians He cares for us. (P)

622
00:46:09,015 --> 00:46:12,362
It is a manifestation of pride.

623
00:46:12,362 --> 00:46:16,907
And here's the thing: It's much
more comfortable to be a victim.

624
00:46:16,907 --> 00:46:23,869
It's much more comfortable to say, "Oh,
woe is me; I get these anxiety attacks,"

625
00:46:23,869 --> 00:46:30,800
and to come off as though, "It's
not my sin. I'm a victim."

626
00:46:30,800 --> 00:46:36,827
You know why it's more comfortable?
Because victims get pity.

627
00:46:36,828 --> 00:46:44,879
But if you fess up and
say, "It's my unbelief.

628
00:46:44,891 --> 00:46:51,410
It's my unfounded,
unwarranted fears,

629
00:46:51,410 --> 00:46:55,909
because I just see God
as being way too little.

630
00:46:55,909 --> 00:46:58,818
I dishonor God when I don't trust Him."

631
00:46:58,818 --> 00:47:04,501
You see, when you admit that,
it's not so comfortable.

632
00:47:04,501 --> 00:47:06,597
To be guilty, to be blameworthy,

633
00:47:06,598 --> 00:47:11,224
to have to admit fears, anxieties,
depressions, worries, are our fault,

634
00:47:11,223 --> 00:47:16,945
it's more difficult. (P)

635
00:47:18,392 --> 00:47:26,587
Matthew 6:25, He says, "I tell you,
do not be anxious about your life,

636
00:47:26,588 --> 00:47:29,856
what you will eat or what you will drink."

637
00:47:29,855 --> 00:47:39,659
And I recognize, in a world where lots of
people were trying to survive day to day,

638
00:47:39,659 --> 00:47:41,882
where they didn't have an abundance,

639
00:47:41,882 --> 00:47:45,024
their anxieties may have
surfaced in other areas.

640
00:47:45,024 --> 00:47:47,518
We live in a wealthy society.

641
00:47:47,518 --> 00:47:53,634
Nobody here is worrying about whether
we're going to eat tomorrow.

642
00:47:53,634 --> 00:47:56,806
Our anxieties tend to crop
up in different places.

643
00:47:56,806 --> 00:48:07,265
But nevertheless, you notice the anxieties
here are about things in this life,

644
00:48:07,265 --> 00:48:14,201
and the same principles that have to do
with our food, our drink, our body,

645
00:48:14,201 --> 00:48:17,013
it has to do with everything else.

646
00:48:17,013 --> 00:48:24,613
"Is not life more than food, and
the body more than clothing?"

647
00:48:24,613 --> 00:48:27,536
And here is what you want to get at:

648
00:48:27,536 --> 00:48:30,336
He is going to tell us about
the character of God.

649
00:48:30,336 --> 00:48:36,046
You see, this is the key.
This is always the key.

650
00:48:36,046 --> 00:48:40,192
We have to remember who God
is and what He has promised.

651
00:48:40,192 --> 00:48:42,194
He says, "Look at the
birds of the air: they

652
00:48:42,206 --> 00:48:44,175
neither sow nor reap
nor gather into barns,

653
00:48:44,175 --> 00:48:49,666
and yet - notice - 'your'."

654
00:48:49,666 --> 00:48:51,757
He's talking to Christians.

655
00:48:51,757 --> 00:48:55,579
He would never talk this
way to lost people,

656
00:48:55,591 --> 00:48:59,255
because lost people
should mourn and wail.

657
00:48:59,255 --> 00:49:02,865
Scripture says that.

658
00:49:02,865 --> 00:49:07,558
He's telling them, as
children of the Father,

659
00:49:07,570 --> 00:49:12,274
"Your heavenly Father
feeds them (the birds).

660
00:49:12,274 --> 00:49:15,530
Are you not of more value than they?"

661
00:49:15,530 --> 00:49:23,642
Of more value to who? To the Father.
Obviously.

662
00:49:23,643 --> 00:49:28,972
He's hitting the tenderness.
God is your Father.

663
00:49:28,972 --> 00:49:31,495
He's your heavenly Father. (P)

664
00:49:31,495 --> 00:49:35,407
This is like Peter saying,
"He cares for you."

665
00:49:35,407 --> 00:49:40,163
You see, a little child doesn't
have to run around being anxious

666
00:49:40,163 --> 00:49:41,827
about where their next meal is coming from.

667
00:49:41,827 --> 00:49:44,636
They don't have to run around
being anxious about anything.

668
00:49:44,636 --> 00:49:49,329
Why? Because they trust mommy and
daddy are gonna take care of it.

669
00:49:49,329 --> 00:49:51,867
Little children don't even
worry about those things.

670
00:49:51,867 --> 00:49:56,776
You don't start worrying about those
things till you get to be older.

671
00:49:56,776 --> 00:50:03,441
Why? Because the child just knows
mommy and daddy are gonna take care of it.

672
00:50:03,441 --> 00:50:10,645
And He is saying, these animals
get cared for, all the time.

673
00:50:10,645 --> 00:50:17,243
And in the sight of your Father in
heaven, you are of much greater value.

674
00:50:17,243 --> 00:50:19,914
You see, one of the things that
comes with all these fears,

675
00:50:19,914 --> 00:50:21,894
is we feel like we're alone.

676
00:50:21,894 --> 00:50:26,618
We feel like God has abdicated, He
has vacated us, He's not there.

677
00:50:26,618 --> 00:50:30,347
We feel like He really has forsaken.

678
00:50:30,348 --> 00:50:35,030
We feel like Psalm 22, "My God, my
God, why have you forsaken me?"

679
00:50:35,030 --> 00:50:36,755
There's this sense; but He hasn't.

680
00:50:36,755 --> 00:50:41,547
He's saying, He cares for
you, He loves you. (P)

681
00:50:41,547 --> 00:50:45,403
And then verse 27, "Which
of you by being anxious

682
00:50:45,415 --> 00:50:48,818
can add a single hour
to his span of life?"

683
00:50:48,819 --> 00:50:51,988
What a thing to say!

684
00:50:51,988 --> 00:50:56,159
You go into depression, you curl
up in a ball, and you lay in bed.

685
00:50:56,159 --> 00:51:01,555
What good are you going
to bring of anything?

686
00:51:01,555 --> 00:51:06,371
You're full of anxiety and
you have a panic attack;

687
00:51:06,371 --> 00:51:15,070
and so you basically go into hiding,
and you just feed all this anxiety.

688
00:51:15,070 --> 00:51:17,253
Can you change anything
by all your worrying?

689
00:51:17,253 --> 00:51:20,176
You can get an ulcer, but
by all your worrying

690
00:51:20,188 --> 00:51:22,624
can you change what's
going to happen?

691
00:51:22,624 --> 00:51:25,974
Can you change it? You can't change it.

692
00:51:25,974 --> 00:51:30,662
You can't change any of the future.

693
00:51:30,662 --> 00:51:33,626
So here's the thing about it:

694
00:51:33,626 --> 00:51:39,022
People that are going through panic
attacks, what are they accomplishing by it?

695
00:51:39,022 --> 00:51:46,499
The panic and the anxieties, the worries,
the fears, are not changing anything.

696
00:51:46,499 --> 00:51:50,491
It's kind of like jealousy.

697
00:51:50,491 --> 00:51:57,585
It hurts the person, but it
doesn't really do any good.

698
00:51:57,585 --> 00:52:04,659
It just rots the person, it decays
the person, it destroys the person,

699
00:52:04,659 --> 00:52:08,195
but it doesn't help. (P)

700
00:52:08,195 --> 00:52:09,978
"And why are you anxious about clothing?

701
00:52:09,978 --> 00:52:12,675
Consider the lilies of the
field, how they grow:

702
00:52:12,674 --> 00:52:15,019
they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you,

703
00:52:15,020 --> 00:52:21,115
even Solomon in all his glory was
not arrayed like one of these.

704
00:52:21,115 --> 00:52:23,588
If God so clothes the grass of the field,

705
00:52:23,588 --> 00:52:27,513
which today is alive and tomorrow
is thrown into the oven, -

706
00:52:27,513 --> 00:52:32,672
notice the 'much more' - will
He not much more [clothe you]?"

707
00:52:32,672 --> 00:52:37,217
You see, He's concerned,
He's watching, He knows.

708
00:52:37,217 --> 00:52:41,616
"O you of little faith." You see that?

709
00:52:41,616 --> 00:52:45,109
Faith versus fear - that's the issue.

710
00:52:45,109 --> 00:52:47,405
"You of little faith."

711
00:52:47,405 --> 00:52:50,301
Is it faith? Is it fear?

712
00:52:50,301 --> 00:52:53,011
That's what He said to them
in the parallel passage -

713
00:52:53,011 --> 00:52:55,847
"Fear not, little flock, for
it is your Father's good..."

714
00:52:55,847 --> 00:52:59,974
Are you gonna fear, are you gonna be full
of anxiety? or is there gonna be faith?

715
00:52:59,974 --> 00:53:02,821
He says, "O you of little faith."
This is a little faith issue.

716
00:53:02,821 --> 00:53:09,010
You are not trusting God when
you are full of anxieties.

717
00:53:09,010 --> 00:53:13,759
Why? What did David say? He said,
"I can go against a troop!"

718
00:53:13,759 --> 00:53:15,753
Not only can I make it to the post office,

719
00:53:15,753 --> 00:53:20,585
not only can I overcome my fears of
being in a crowd and make it to church,

720
00:53:20,585 --> 00:53:25,685
I can go against a troop
if God is with me. (P)

721
00:53:25,685 --> 00:53:29,140
"Therefore do not be anxious,
saying, 'What shall we eat?'

722
00:53:29,140 --> 00:53:31,475
or 'What shall we drink?'
or 'What shall we wear?' -

723
00:53:31,475 --> 00:53:34,405
now notice this, this is good -

724
00:53:34,406 --> 00:53:37,073
For the Gentiles..."

725
00:53:37,074 --> 00:53:43,107
What's the Gentile? The Gentile is
just a good picture of lost people.

726
00:53:43,108 --> 00:53:46,052
That's what He means when He uses it here.

727
00:53:46,052 --> 00:53:55,925
The Gentiles; in other words, they
worry about all these things.

728
00:53:55,926 --> 00:53:58,796
They're troubled.

729
00:53:58,796 --> 00:54:01,823
And He says, "Your heavenly Father
knows that you need them all."

730
00:54:01,823 --> 00:54:06,392
I mean, so much we need to
remember about who our Father is.

731
00:54:06,392 --> 00:54:10,230
But just focus in on the
'Gentiles' right there.

732
00:54:10,230 --> 00:54:16,003
I mean, you just think about that -
"the Gentiles seek after all these things."

733
00:54:16,003 --> 00:54:21,378
You know what? We can understand
why the world is stressed out.

734
00:54:21,378 --> 00:54:22,846
We can understand that.

735
00:54:22,846 --> 00:54:27,570
We can understand why they're anxious
and why they're full of worries.

736
00:54:27,570 --> 00:54:30,749
I mean, I think about it. I'm 53 years old.

737
00:54:30,749 --> 00:54:35,407
I think about what life would be like
if I was getting older and older,

738
00:54:35,408 --> 00:54:37,425
and didn't know the Lord,

739
00:54:37,424 --> 00:54:40,279
and death was coming closer and closer.

740
00:54:40,280 --> 00:54:44,109
It's like, when you're young, you feel
like you have some breathing room;

741
00:54:44,109 --> 00:54:45,846
but as you get older and older and older,

742
00:54:45,846 --> 00:54:52,876
it's like you become more and more
hedged in, and death is coming. (P)

743
00:54:52,876 --> 00:54:57,780
We can understand, the world, the
things that they want to hold on to,

744
00:54:57,780 --> 00:55:00,736
they just go through
their fingers like sand.

745
00:55:00,737 --> 00:55:02,670
They want to hold on to their money;

746
00:55:02,670 --> 00:55:06,202
they want to hold on to their
financial stability and security;

747
00:55:06,203 --> 00:55:11,608
they want to hold on to their youthfulness,
and they want to hold on to their health,

748
00:55:11,608 --> 00:55:18,006
and they want to hold on to this world.

749
00:55:18,007 --> 00:55:21,882
They're worried about
all of it, and yet the

750
00:55:21,894 --> 00:55:25,609
thing is, it's all going
to be taken away.

751
00:55:25,609 --> 00:55:27,296
Everything they are worried about:

752
00:55:27,296 --> 00:55:30,815
they're worried about their
children, it's gonna be taken away;

753
00:55:30,815 --> 00:55:33,520
they're worried about their
wealth, it's gonna be taken away;

754
00:55:33,520 --> 00:55:36,692
they're worried about their possessions,
how they get so bent out of shape -

755
00:55:36,692 --> 00:55:41,522
this little thing gets a dent, or
that thing over there gets scraped -

756
00:55:41,523 --> 00:55:43,507
it's all gonna be taken away. Everything.

757
00:55:43,506 --> 00:55:47,667
We can totally understand
why Gentiles, who are lost,

758
00:55:47,679 --> 00:55:51,621
would be in a panic about
all sorts of things. (P)

759
00:55:51,621 --> 00:55:55,546
I heard like 23 or
27 million Americans

760
00:55:55,558 --> 00:56:00,086
supposedly deal with
panic attacks right now.

761
00:56:00,086 --> 00:56:03,799
I mean, can you imagine, you're
lost, you're facing [eternity].

762
00:56:03,799 --> 00:56:06,628
The scientists are trying to
tell you there's a Big Bang,

763
00:56:06,628 --> 00:56:09,766
"What? Am I headed to nothingness?
What is this life?

764
00:56:09,778 --> 00:56:12,637
Just some random thing and
I'm facing eternity?"

765
00:56:12,637 --> 00:56:15,088
You know what the problem is?

766
00:56:15,088 --> 00:56:17,084
Scripture says eternity
is written on our hearts.

767
00:56:17,084 --> 00:56:20,043
No matter what the scientists
tell us, we've got a conscience.

768
00:56:20,043 --> 00:56:23,463
And it tells you, "Judgment Day,
Judgment Day, Judgment Day.

769
00:56:23,463 --> 00:56:26,681
You are headed towards a God that
you have to give an account to."

770
00:56:26,681 --> 00:56:29,154
And there is something
in there, no matter how

771
00:56:29,166 --> 00:56:31,545
much we try to suppress
it and block it out,

772
00:56:31,545 --> 00:56:34,668
it just keeps speaking,
accusing us, accusing us.

773
00:56:34,668 --> 00:56:40,760
And it's like, you can imagine why people,
their conscience is accusing. (P)

774
00:56:40,760 --> 00:56:42,491
I know where I'd be.

775
00:56:42,491 --> 00:56:47,959
If I wasn't dead already by drinking
myself into oblivion, that's where I'd be.

776
00:56:47,959 --> 00:56:50,031
I mean, the bottle would be to my lips;

777
00:56:50,031 --> 00:56:51,479
because you can't deal with it.

778
00:56:51,479 --> 00:56:53,498
It's like, "I don't want
to think about it."

779
00:56:53,499 --> 00:56:55,515
You're either gonna medicate it,

780
00:56:55,515 --> 00:56:57,675
you're gonna run to the
doctor and say, "I've

781
00:56:57,687 --> 00:56:59,529
got panic attacks!
Give me the drugs!"

782
00:56:59,529 --> 00:57:01,691
And have you ever seen the drugs?

783
00:57:01,691 --> 00:57:08,321
Sometimes, we go over to
Papa's house in the evenings,

784
00:57:08,321 --> 00:57:09,990
and oftentimes it's right
about when the news

785
00:57:10,002 --> 00:57:11,720
comes; and we're gonna
go out to eat with him.

786
00:57:11,721 --> 00:57:14,165
But when they're running the evening news,

787
00:57:14,166 --> 00:57:17,456
they run all those medication
commercials for old people.

788
00:57:17,456 --> 00:57:20,400
And they've got ones for
depression and for panic.

789
00:57:20,401 --> 00:57:26,932
And it's like, "Now the side-effects
here are: they may cause suicide;

790
00:57:26,932 --> 00:57:30,828
they may cause feelings of depression;
they may cause feelings of anxiety."

791
00:57:30,828 --> 00:57:35,069
And you're like, "Wait! That's
what they're supposed to treat!"

792
00:57:35,068 --> 00:57:37,422
It's like, they don't even have an answer.

793
00:57:37,423 --> 00:57:41,982
It's almost like they're saying,
"Yeah, take these medicines,

794
00:57:41,982 --> 00:57:44,092
we want to sell you billions
of dollars of these." (P)

795
00:57:44,092 --> 00:57:50,493
The truth is, we live in an
age of just rampant idolatry.

796
00:57:50,493 --> 00:57:57,651
People just wanting stuff, and
fighting, and madly reaching,

797
00:57:57,652 --> 00:58:02,932
and retirement, and saving.

798
00:58:02,932 --> 00:58:05,147
And they're just gonna lose it all.

799
00:58:05,147 --> 00:58:09,308
The problem is, we live in this age
where Jesus says, "Don't lay it up here."

800
00:58:09,308 --> 00:58:13,464
Why? "You've got moths, and you've
got thieves, and you've got rust."

801
00:58:13,464 --> 00:58:15,747
And that's the problem - we
live in an age of decay.

802
00:58:15,747 --> 00:58:17,709
Why? Because everything is cursed.

803
00:58:17,710 --> 00:58:20,322
We live in a cursed
universe where everything

804
00:58:20,334 --> 00:58:22,502
is decaying, including
our own lives.

805
00:58:22,502 --> 00:58:24,884
Everything is running out.
Everything is wearing out.

806
00:58:24,897 --> 00:58:28,527
And so we can't lay hold on
anything, we can't keep a grasp.

807
00:58:28,526 --> 00:58:31,994
And then we've got a medical
community with all of its drugs,

808
00:58:31,995 --> 00:58:34,597
wanting to drug everybody
up for everything. (P)

809
00:58:34,597 --> 00:58:37,282
Look, I'm not gonna say
that there aren't some

810
00:58:37,294 --> 00:58:39,762
things that can
legitimately be medicated.

811
00:58:39,762 --> 00:58:43,802
But you know as well as I do, that
our medical community has run wild,

812
00:58:43,802 --> 00:58:48,545
and they are prescribing
drugs for things that

813
00:58:48,557 --> 00:58:52,908
are biblically defined
as nothing but sin.

814
00:58:52,908 --> 00:58:56,750
And people don't need
drugs, they need to repent.

815
00:58:56,750 --> 00:59:00,228
That's the real issue in
so much of this stuff.

816
00:59:00,228 --> 00:59:04,029
And the psychiatric people, they're gonna
try to convince our brother Kenny tomorrow,

817
00:59:04,029 --> 00:59:10,127
that it's all syndromes and diseases.

818
00:59:11,629 --> 00:59:18,167
But when you go down through this,
you know what's interesting?

819
00:59:18,168 --> 00:59:30,076
He says, "Your heavenly Father knows
that you have need of them all." (P)

820
00:59:30,076 --> 00:59:35,557
There was a time I was really
wrestling, really struggling.

821
00:59:35,557 --> 00:59:41,312
I mean, I just felt like I was under
a massive barrage and attack,

822
00:59:41,312 --> 00:59:44,180
it was driving me crazy.

823
00:59:44,180 --> 00:59:53,224
And it drove me to pray;
I was much in prayer.

824
00:59:53,224 --> 00:59:55,764
And you know what? No
matter how much I prayed,

825
00:59:55,764 --> 01:00:03,595
I just felt like God had given the devil
license to put me under a barrage.

826
01:00:03,595 --> 01:00:07,366
And in the midst of it, I knew this:

827
01:00:07,366 --> 01:00:13,428
I could come to this solid conclusion:

828
01:00:13,428 --> 01:00:24,099
"Father, I'm praying to You, and I know You
hear me, and I know You're in control.

829
01:00:24,099 --> 01:00:27,300
And so, if I've prayed that
this thing be taken away

830
01:00:27,312 --> 01:00:30,586
and it's not being taken
away, and You're in control,

831
01:00:30,586 --> 01:00:32,263
I trust You.

832
01:00:32,263 --> 01:00:38,631
You want this to be happening, and You're
wanting to accomplish something through it.

833
01:00:38,632 --> 01:00:42,349
I just need You to show me,"
which I believe He did.

834
01:00:42,349 --> 01:00:44,998
But we need to have that
rock-solid [conclusion].

835
01:00:44,998 --> 01:00:46,835
This is what Jesus is driving at:

836
01:00:46,835 --> 01:00:50,958
You need to know who your Father is
in the midst of all these anxieties.

837
01:00:50,958 --> 01:00:55,359
He is a Father who cares for you.
He's your Father.

838
01:00:55,359 --> 01:01:00,020
Look, if He cares for all the birds
and all the flowers around you,

839
01:01:00,020 --> 01:01:06,880
and He values you so much more, don't you
think He's going to take care of you?

840
01:01:06,880 --> 01:01:11,124
And the thing is, He knows what
you need before you ask. (P)

841
01:01:11,124 --> 01:01:14,272
And when you look over at the
parallel passages in Luke,

842
01:01:14,272 --> 01:01:20,950
you have this glorious reality:
"Fear not, little flock,

843
01:01:20,950 --> 01:01:25,692
for it is your Father's good
pleasure to give you the kingdom."

844
01:01:25,692 --> 01:01:31,342
In other words, when it comes to the
stuff here that you're anxious about,

845
01:01:31,342 --> 01:01:33,371
He's got you covered and
He knows your needs.

846
01:01:33,371 --> 01:01:36,400
And if you seek first the
kingdom of heaven, all

847
01:01:36,412 --> 01:01:39,204
these things are going
to be added unto you.

848
01:01:39,204 --> 01:01:41,516
And what about beyond?

849
01:01:41,515 --> 01:01:45,013
"Fear not, little flock. Don't
have anxieties about that either,

850
01:01:45,014 --> 01:01:48,103
because the kingdom is reserved for you."

851
01:01:48,103 --> 01:01:51,408
You don't have to be all uptight. You
don't have to be up in arms. (P)

852
01:01:51,408 --> 01:01:56,497
Listen, we are the only people
on the face of the earth

853
01:01:56,503 --> 01:02:00,434
that really have a right to walk around
with no anxieties and with no fears.

854
01:02:00,434 --> 01:02:02,513
Oh, a healthy fear of God, yes;

855
01:02:02,513 --> 01:02:07,746
but not these kinds of fears that
are based on all these anxieties.

856
01:02:07,746 --> 01:02:15,862
Because, listen, think about
it, you work backwards;

857
01:02:15,862 --> 01:02:18,701
this is typically the way that
you want to work through it.

858
01:02:18,701 --> 01:02:19,936
What does Jesus do?

859
01:02:19,936 --> 01:02:24,238
Jesus identifies the anxiety,
and then He works back from it.

860
01:02:24,238 --> 01:02:28,953
"You're gonna be anxious about this thing?
Well, don't be anxious about that thing,"

861
01:02:28,953 --> 01:02:32,162
and then He works back and He
hits the character of God,

862
01:02:32,169 --> 01:02:37,239
"Here's why you don't want to be anxious
about that, because God is like this."

863
01:02:37,239 --> 01:02:46,629
And if we work back on all of our anxieties
and all of our fears, what are they?

864
01:02:46,629 --> 01:02:49,122
What is it we're really afraid of?

865
01:02:49,122 --> 01:02:54,690
You know what you'll be able to put
your finger on every single time?

866
01:02:54,690 --> 01:02:58,206
That you're failing to
believe God, and you're

867
01:02:58,218 --> 01:03:01,371
failing to see God as
the God that He is.

868
01:03:01,371 --> 01:03:06,361
You're failing to take God for
who He says He is in Scripture,

869
01:03:06,361 --> 01:03:10,677
and you're failing to lay hold
on the promises that He gives.

870
01:03:10,677 --> 01:03:17,312
Listen, that is behind every
true Christian's depression,

871
01:03:17,312 --> 01:03:22,389
behind their panics, behind their
anxieties, behind their fears.

872
01:03:22,389 --> 01:03:28,112
What's happening? They are
forgetting who God is.

873
01:03:28,112 --> 01:03:30,766
And it's never excusable,
no matter if you're

874
01:03:30,778 --> 01:03:33,386
under the most vicious
attacks of Satan. (P)

875
01:03:33,387 --> 01:03:37,848
Listen, let me tell you,
I think it was Pergamum.

876
01:03:37,848 --> 01:03:42,988
To the church at Pergamum, Jesus says,

877
01:03:42,988 --> 01:03:48,463
"I know where you are; you
are where Satan dwells.

878
01:03:48,463 --> 01:03:52,349
Yet I have these things against you."

879
01:03:52,350 --> 01:03:56,485
Now just think about that.
What does that say?

880
01:03:56,485 --> 01:04:04,510
It doesn't matter if you're in the hottest
climate when it comes to spiritual warfare.

881
01:04:04,510 --> 01:04:06,552
Jesus still had those things against them,

882
01:04:06,552 --> 01:04:10,725
and did not dismiss their wrongs
because of the intensity of the battle.

883
01:04:10,725 --> 01:04:14,062
He still said, "I have this against you."

884
01:04:14,062 --> 01:04:16,617
Or think with me here - Asa.

885
01:04:16,617 --> 01:04:19,554
Asa was diseased in his feet,

886
01:04:19,554 --> 01:04:22,616
and yet he was faulted because
he did not go to God,

887
01:04:22,616 --> 01:04:23,820
he went to the doctors.

888
01:04:23,820 --> 01:04:26,886
You say, "Well, come on,
the man was in pain,

889
01:04:26,887 --> 01:04:30,241
the man was in turmoil. Why in
the world would you fault him?"

890
01:04:30,241 --> 01:04:33,309
No! Even though it's true
his feet were diseased,

891
01:04:33,321 --> 01:04:36,401
and undoubtedly he was in
immense amount of pain,

892
01:04:36,401 --> 01:04:38,367
he was faulted for that.

893
01:04:38,367 --> 01:04:40,566
Why? Because, again, it's forgetting.

894
01:04:40,567 --> 01:04:44,407
"Is there no God in Israel that you
go running off over there first?"

895
01:04:44,407 --> 01:04:46,429
You have to remember who God is.

896
01:04:46,429 --> 01:04:49,487
No matter what the situation,
no matter if there's disease,

897
01:04:49,487 --> 01:04:56,655
no matter if there's some kind of
physical issue, sin is not excused.

898
01:04:56,655 --> 01:05:01,776
You find this throughout Scripture
that this is the reality. (P)

899
01:05:01,776 --> 01:05:12,950
I think I had some other example.

900
01:05:18,947 --> 01:05:22,126
Well, I would just say this,
one that I mentioned already,

901
01:05:22,126 --> 01:05:29,782
"Do not fear those who kill the
body but cannot kill the soul."

902
01:05:29,783 --> 01:05:33,367
I mean, hear what's being said:
"Don't fear those who kill the body."

903
01:05:33,367 --> 01:05:40,045
If we have fear of man, it's idolatry.

904
01:05:40,045 --> 01:05:46,496
It's idolatry in the fact that we're
fearing man more than we're fearing God,

905
01:05:46,496 --> 01:05:51,637
but then it's idolatry
in the sense that we're

906
01:05:51,649 --> 01:05:56,254
creating a small god
out of the true God.

907
01:05:56,254 --> 01:06:00,410
Look, there's something in the character
of God to answer every single fear,

908
01:06:00,410 --> 01:06:05,080
every anxiety, and every depression,
that the true Christian goes through.

909
01:06:05,080 --> 01:06:07,932
There's an answer in the person of God.

910
01:06:07,932 --> 01:06:09,974
And that's where Jesus takes us.

911
01:06:09,974 --> 01:06:18,779
He says, "Look, your anxieties, they
don't do anything for you anyway;

912
01:06:18,779 --> 01:06:21,663
but you need to remember who God is."

913
01:06:21,663 --> 01:06:28,475
"O you of little faith" - you suffer from
anxieties like this, it's a small faith.

914
01:06:28,475 --> 01:06:31,675
And remember, faith always has an object.

915
01:06:31,675 --> 01:06:40,824
What He is saying is, "You're of little
faith in who your Father in heaven is.

916
01:06:40,824 --> 01:06:46,079
He is in control, He is
powerful, and He cares for you;

917
01:06:46,079 --> 01:06:48,185
and He's your heavenly Father. (P)

918
01:06:48,186 --> 01:06:51,795
I mean, have you heard the promises?

919
01:06:51,796 --> 01:06:56,231
I was just telling one of the ladies
at the Grace House this last week,

920
01:06:56,230 --> 01:06:59,754
that oftentimes when we're in
the midst of these things,

921
01:06:59,755 --> 01:07:02,250
if we can just lay hold on one promise--

922
01:07:02,250 --> 01:07:05,177
believers don't need to
believe every promise

923
01:07:05,189 --> 01:07:07,553
that God has ever
given all at once.

924
01:07:07,553 --> 01:07:11,485
The fighting the good fight
of faith, in the midst

925
01:07:11,497 --> 01:07:15,286
of the battle, is often
clinging to one promise.

926
01:07:15,285 --> 01:07:18,565
If you can just cling to
one that you know is true,

927
01:07:18,566 --> 01:07:23,303
and you sink your teeth into
and you will not let go of it.

928
01:07:23,303 --> 01:07:25,214
God promises.

929
01:07:25,214 --> 01:07:28,778
I mean, there's that wonderful
promise there in Isaiah 43:

930
01:07:28,778 --> 01:07:32,225
"When you pass through the
waters, I will be with you;

931
01:07:32,231 --> 01:07:34,837
and through the rivers, they
shall not overwhelm you;

932
01:07:34,837 --> 01:07:37,379
when you walk through the fire,
you shall not be burned,

933
01:07:37,380 --> 01:07:40,931
and the flame shall not consume you."

934
01:07:40,931 --> 01:07:43,984
Remember the promises of God. (P)

935
01:07:43,984 --> 01:07:48,028
In Pilgrim's Progress, what happened?

936
01:07:48,028 --> 01:07:57,463
Pilgrim and his friend ended up in
Doubting Castle. Giant Despair.

937
01:07:57,463 --> 01:08:02,130
Here's depression, here's
despair; full of doubts.

938
01:08:02,130 --> 01:08:09,117
And, in the end, what was it that
Pilgrim found in his pocket?

939
01:08:09,117 --> 01:08:10,506
He found a key.

940
01:08:10,506 --> 01:08:15,687
Remember what the key was? Promise.

941
01:08:15,687 --> 01:08:19,867
You see, he saw, that in
the Christian battle,

942
01:08:19,879 --> 01:08:23,268
it was just latching
on to a promise.

943
01:08:23,268 --> 01:08:30,371
And I would say that to anybody,
any Christian, that is fighting,

944
01:08:30,372 --> 01:08:36,490
because the reality is,
look, we have an enemy.

945
01:08:36,490 --> 01:08:39,991
And he will try to trip
us up; and he will lie.

946
01:08:39,991 --> 01:08:43,831
And we heard about it on Sunday,
what is he trying to do?

947
01:08:43,831 --> 01:08:48,050
He tries to slander God to us.

948
01:08:48,051 --> 01:08:50,687
And he will make us think
that God doesn't like us;

949
01:08:50,687 --> 01:08:55,885
he'll make us think that
God has abandoned us;

950
01:08:55,886 --> 01:08:59,531
he'll come at us with all manner of lies.

951
01:08:59,531 --> 01:09:04,755
And that's where the battle often is.

952
01:09:04,756 --> 01:09:10,005
And when we're under this attack,
and those attacks may be real,

953
01:09:10,006 --> 01:09:13,760
you know, Paul faced a thorn in the flesh.

954
01:09:13,761 --> 01:09:16,193
Sometimes people think
that that was physical,

955
01:09:16,194 --> 01:09:20,715
but there's really nothing from the
passage there in 2 Corinthians 12

956
01:09:20,716 --> 01:09:26,761
that indicates the thorn
in the flesh was physical.

957
01:09:33,413 --> 01:09:39,263
Anybody recall what that thorn
in the flesh was called?

958
01:09:39,263 --> 01:09:42,255
The messenger of Satan.

959
01:09:42,256 --> 01:09:49,904
And it seems like it probably
was more like a demonic attack.

960
01:09:49,904 --> 01:09:54,210
There's really nothing from
the passage that seems

961
01:09:54,222 --> 01:09:58,116
to indicate that it was
physical necessarily.

962
01:09:58,116 --> 01:09:59,685
These things are real.

963
01:09:59,685 --> 01:10:03,255
I mean, I've experienced these
things being in the ministry. (P)

964
01:10:03,255 --> 01:10:07,572
Is it true that people can have
chemical imbalances? Is it true?

965
01:10:07,572 --> 01:10:13,515
Yes, all those things are true,
but they never justify sin.

966
01:10:13,516 --> 01:10:19,134
A panic attack does not justify sin any
more than a heart attack justifies sin.

967
01:10:19,134 --> 01:10:23,546
There's never a time when it
is right to rebel against God.

968
01:10:23,546 --> 01:10:25,886
You remember what happened to Jesus?

969
01:10:25,886 --> 01:10:31,886
Jesus, it says in Hebrews
5, "He learned obedience."

970
01:10:31,887 --> 01:10:36,415
What does that mean? It certainly
doesn't mean that He ever disobeyed.

971
01:10:36,415 --> 01:10:40,352
But it says He learned obedience
through what He suffered.

972
01:10:40,352 --> 01:10:48,503
In other words, the greater His
suffering got, the more He was taught,

973
01:10:48,503 --> 01:10:55,558
the more He learned to obey in the fire.

974
01:10:55,558 --> 01:10:57,623
And that's where we're at.

975
01:10:57,623 --> 01:11:01,330
We're not justified because
we're under attack or

976
01:11:01,342 --> 01:11:04,837
because there is even:
"I got a thyroid issue,

977
01:11:04,838 --> 01:11:07,661
or I got a chemical
imbalance, that makes me

978
01:11:07,673 --> 01:11:10,698
feel cranky or somehow
fills me full of fears."

979
01:11:10,699 --> 01:11:15,429
You know, it's often said that
people that are getting dementia,

980
01:11:15,429 --> 01:11:18,687
and certain kinds of fears grip people.

981
01:11:18,687 --> 01:11:28,593
I mean, there's never a time in Scripture
that we are told that a sin is justifiable.

982
01:11:28,593 --> 01:11:29,306
At all.

983
01:11:29,306 --> 01:11:33,034
And anxiety is being of little faith.

984
01:11:33,034 --> 01:11:37,702
It's fearing, and it's not
regarding God for who He is.

985
01:11:37,702 --> 01:11:39,503
It's doubting Him.

986
01:11:39,503 --> 01:11:44,253
That's really what's behind
these things: doubting

987
01:11:44,265 --> 01:11:48,374
Him and not taking Him
at his promises. (P)

988
01:11:48,375 --> 01:11:51,857
Listen, the battle can be fierce.

989
01:11:51,857 --> 01:11:55,718
But this is what we're called to
do: fight the good fight of faith.

990
01:11:55,718 --> 01:11:57,607
Fighting the good fight of faith.

991
01:11:57,607 --> 01:12:04,490
Our faith is never tested when life
is easy; it's tested when it's hard.

992
01:12:04,490 --> 01:12:08,018
It's tested when the storm
clouds are overhead.

993
01:12:08,018 --> 01:12:12,688
It's tested when you're in the furnace,

994
01:12:12,688 --> 01:12:18,304
and you're crying out for God, and
you're wondering where He is.

995
01:12:18,304 --> 01:12:24,559
It's tested when you're praying and
He's not answering immediately.

996
01:12:24,559 --> 01:12:31,872
It's tested when His providence in your
life seems like a "frowning providence,"

997
01:12:31,872 --> 01:12:35,723
like in the song we sing.

998
01:12:35,723 --> 01:12:40,006
But those things ripen fast,

999
01:12:40,006 --> 01:12:46,042
and it bursts forth on our head
with all manner of good things.

1000
01:12:46,042 --> 01:12:47,995
But we have to trust Him.

1001
01:12:47,995 --> 01:12:52,561
And I know, that's where I've come back to
when I personally have been in the fire

1002
01:12:52,561 --> 01:12:54,712
and been in the midst of these battles.

1003
01:12:54,712 --> 01:13:00,592
It's really coming to set
the mind squarely on,

1004
01:13:00,604 --> 01:13:06,496
"Who is God? Who is He?
What has He promised?",

1005
01:13:06,496 --> 01:13:15,537
and stay there, and cling to that reality
that I know my God is in control.

1006
01:13:15,537 --> 01:13:22,632
And in light of that, we live.

1007
01:13:22,632 --> 01:13:26,754
I mean, that's faith - when
I'm not walking by sight.

1008
01:13:26,754 --> 01:13:30,402
I'm walking by this God who has
revealed Himself in the Word,

1009
01:13:30,402 --> 01:13:35,306
and by the truths that He has given,
and that the truth will set me free.

1010
01:13:35,306 --> 01:13:38,678
But who is He? And I know
this, He's in control.

1011
01:13:38,678 --> 01:13:46,010
And I know this: if I am experiencing
unearthly levels of anxiety,

1012
01:13:46,010 --> 01:13:47,797
He has allowed this to happen.

1013
01:13:47,797 --> 01:13:51,500
He is putting me through the
fire; He is testing me.

1014
01:13:51,500 --> 01:13:57,575
And whenever we're tested,
you know this, He

1015
01:13:57,587 --> 01:14:03,404
always gives a way out
(I Corinthians 10).

1016
01:14:03,404 --> 01:14:08,932
There is always a way of
escape without sinning. (P)

1017
01:14:08,932 --> 01:14:13,026
If we let these fears, if
we let these anxieties,

1018
01:14:13,026 --> 01:14:16,754
if we let these depressions
grip us and take us down,

1019
01:14:16,754 --> 01:14:20,548
you know what happens?
We will not be fruitful;

1020
01:14:20,548 --> 01:14:24,306
we will not be involved in the lives
of others the way we should be;

1021
01:14:24,306 --> 01:14:28,787
we will not be involved in
relationships the way we ought to be.

1022
01:14:28,787 --> 01:14:32,555
And the thing is, there are
many things that God would

1023
01:14:32,567 --> 01:14:36,003
have us to do with our
lives that we will not do.

1024
01:14:36,003 --> 01:14:40,714
Why? because we shut down.
You become paralyzed.

1025
01:14:40,713 --> 01:14:43,961
I mean, if you can't leave the house,

1026
01:14:43,962 --> 01:14:48,328
how is Jesus gonna say to you, "I
was in prison and you visited Me"?

1027
01:14:48,328 --> 01:14:53,735
Well, it's not gonna happen,
because you basically shut down.

1028
01:14:53,735 --> 01:14:59,262
And all these ways that we're supposed
to be involved in the lives of others,

1029
01:14:59,262 --> 01:15:04,264
and use our spiritual gifts to
profit others, we will fail to do.

1030
01:15:04,264 --> 01:15:11,075
We will fail to love others as we ought,
because you just become crippled.

1031
01:15:11,075 --> 01:15:13,263
But remembering what the Lord has said.

1032
01:15:13,263 --> 01:15:17,846
And I mean, there is so much to be
said for going to the Word of God,

1033
01:15:17,846 --> 01:15:21,935
and in whatever condition you find
yourself, you go to Scripture;

1034
01:15:21,936 --> 01:15:27,231
and it's just pleading with the Lord,
"Lord, just give me one promise.

1035
01:15:27,231 --> 01:15:30,543
Just let me find one promise."

1036
01:15:30,543 --> 01:15:41,014
Many of these Christians of old,
I think of Bunyan actually,

1037
01:15:41,014 --> 01:15:43,814
who wrote about Doubting Castle.

1038
01:15:43,814 --> 01:15:47,770
I mean, he talks about many of the
trials that he faced early on,

1039
01:15:47,771 --> 01:15:56,266
just horrible attacks, and full of all
sorts of potential anxieties and despair.

1040
01:15:56,266 --> 01:16:01,954
And he would often search Scripture,
sometimes for months on end,

1041
01:16:01,954 --> 01:16:08,962
simply to find one promise
that he could just hold on to,

1042
01:16:08,962 --> 01:16:11,016
that would carry him through.

1043
01:16:11,016 --> 01:16:14,600
That's what you got to do. That's
fighting this good fight of faith.

1044
01:16:14,599 --> 01:16:16,901
It's going to the truth of God's Word.

1045
01:16:16,902 --> 01:16:23,301
It's planting yourself on God's
promises, and then striving.

1046
01:16:23,301 --> 01:16:27,035
It's learning obedience in
the midst of the suffering -

1047
01:16:27,035 --> 01:16:32,077
that's following the path of Jesus. (P)

1048
01:16:32,077 --> 01:16:34,522
James, I know you were
looking at the topic too.

1049
01:16:34,522 --> 01:16:38,262
What do you have to add to that? (P)

1050
01:16:38,263 --> 01:16:41,167
[James] I guess 1 Corinthians
10, you referenced that.

1051
01:16:41,168 --> 01:16:43,022
You pointed this out years ago:

1052
01:16:43,022 --> 01:16:48,415
Paul says there, it's not just the way
of escape, but that you may endure it.

1053
01:16:48,415 --> 01:16:52,494
And you kind of emphasized
that word "endure", because

1054
01:16:52,506 --> 01:16:55,928
it's not a promise to
be instantly delivered,

1055
01:16:55,928 --> 01:17:00,942
it's a promise that in the midst of the
fire, the Lord will help you endure it.

1056
01:17:00,942 --> 01:17:05,854
And sometimes, yeah, these things
don't go away in the blink of an eye,

1057
01:17:05,854 --> 01:17:10,120
but you've got to keep trusting
the Lord and endure it. (P)

1058
01:17:10,120 --> 01:17:15,596
[Tim] Yeah, the way out is not
necessarily the way out of the trial.

1059
01:17:15,596 --> 01:17:19,009
The way out is the way
out of "not sinning".

1060
01:17:19,009 --> 01:17:21,623
That is where there's always a way out.

1061
01:17:21,623 --> 01:17:27,158
Yeah, the trial actually may
last the rest of your life.

1062
01:17:27,158 --> 01:17:28,691
Look, I can't guarantee that.

1063
01:17:28,691 --> 01:17:30,228
Now, that's not always the case -

1064
01:17:30,229 --> 01:17:37,316
there's many trials we entered
into, and the Lord cuts it short.

1065
01:17:40,993 --> 01:17:45,904
We're not given promises that we won't die.

1066
01:17:45,904 --> 01:17:48,719
We're not given promises
that we won't get a disease

1067
01:17:48,719 --> 01:17:50,653
that will be with us for
the rest of our days.

1068
01:17:50,653 --> 01:17:52,245
None of those things are promised.

1069
01:17:52,245 --> 01:17:58,760
In fact, what we are promised
is "through much tribulation."

1070
01:17:58,760 --> 01:18:05,337
And so, finding Christians
that get lambasted

1071
01:18:05,349 --> 01:18:10,649
by temptations to
distrust, or fear,

1072
01:18:10,649 --> 01:18:18,046
or be full of anxiety, or to be in
despair, or to fall into depression,

1073
01:18:18,046 --> 01:18:21,301
that ought not to surprise us.

1074
01:18:21,301 --> 01:18:25,050
The issue is, what's the remedy?

1075
01:18:25,050 --> 01:18:30,025
And Jesus gives us the remedy:
Remember who your God is,

1076
01:18:30,025 --> 01:18:33,405
and remember what He has promised.

1077
01:18:33,406 --> 01:18:35,508
And you've got to set your mind.

1078
01:18:35,508 --> 01:18:49,335
Listen, the thing to do is what we always
are called to do when we are in sin.

1079
01:18:49,335 --> 01:18:51,617
You are called to repent.

1080
01:18:51,617 --> 01:18:59,673
Listen, the worst way forward is to
say, "I'm having a panic attack.

1081
01:18:59,673 --> 01:19:02,411
It's not my fault. I got an excuse.

1082
01:19:02,411 --> 01:19:06,256
Other people just don't know, they
don't know what I'm going through.

1083
01:19:06,256 --> 01:19:10,558
If they knew, then they would excuse my sin
or they would excuse my conduct."

1084
01:19:10,558 --> 01:19:12,027
That's not the way out. (P)

1085
01:19:12,027 --> 01:19:16,605
The thing to do is to look, and if
we recognize, "Lord, it's true.

1086
01:19:16,605 --> 01:19:19,519
I have not trusted You.

1087
01:19:19,519 --> 01:19:24,403
I have thought of You as being way too
small and my problems way too big.

1088
01:19:24,403 --> 01:19:25,548
I haven't trusted You.

1089
01:19:25,548 --> 01:19:31,744
I haven't been able to cast my cares
upon You and leave them there."

1090
01:19:31,744 --> 01:19:33,712
The best place is to admit it.

1091
01:19:33,712 --> 01:19:39,606
The best place is to confess it
and plead to the Lord for help,

1092
01:19:39,606 --> 01:19:45,213
and seek to lay your faith into
the promises; being honest.

1093
01:19:45,214 --> 01:19:49,574
Being honest is by far
the best way forward.

1094
01:19:49,574 --> 01:19:52,796
Being dishonest, trying
to ignore it or not take

1095
01:19:52,808 --> 01:19:55,976
responsibility for it [is
not the way forward],

1096
01:19:55,976 --> 01:20:08,254
because anxiety and fears, worries,
despair, depression, they are our fault.

1097
01:20:08,254 --> 01:20:15,447
When Scripture is clearly calling us
to not be that way, it's our fault.

1098
01:20:15,447 --> 01:20:19,218
And the best thing to do is not
to try to see the right doctor,

1099
01:20:19,219 --> 01:20:21,984
who is going to convince us we're victims.

1100
01:20:21,984 --> 01:20:24,558
The best thing to do is go
to Scripture and recognize,

1101
01:20:24,558 --> 01:20:28,027
Scripture is telling us very
specifically [it's our fault]. (P)

1102
01:20:28,027 --> 01:20:31,316
You get people who have
panic attacks or something,

1103
01:20:31,316 --> 01:20:35,906
and I recognize some well-meaning
Christians could be very insensitive,

1104
01:20:35,906 --> 01:20:40,566
and they come up to somebody and they
have no idea what these attacks are like,

1105
01:20:40,566 --> 01:20:44,279
or even maybe they doubt the
legitimacy of them or whatever;

1106
01:20:44,279 --> 01:20:47,393
and they're just saying, "It's just
sin, you just need to repent."

1107
01:20:47,393 --> 01:20:50,207
Well, okay, you could say it like that,

1108
01:20:50,207 --> 01:20:57,902
and the person feels like, "That
person didn't really help me."

1109
01:20:57,902 --> 01:21:08,556
But the truth is that some people will feel
like, if you tell them it's their sin,

1110
01:21:08,557 --> 01:21:12,759
they'll tell you, "Well,
that's not helpful."

1111
01:21:12,759 --> 01:21:16,712
Well, that person may not
feel that it's helpful

1112
01:21:16,724 --> 01:21:20,447
because they may not
want to admit the truth.

1113
01:21:20,447 --> 01:21:24,167
But really, there's no wiggle room here.

1114
01:21:24,167 --> 01:21:31,303
Scripture is pretty clear that
anxiety and worries like this

1115
01:21:31,303 --> 01:21:38,429
are just an indication of an ungodly fear,

1116
01:21:38,430 --> 01:21:42,721
and they're an indication
of being of little faith.

1117
01:21:42,721 --> 01:21:48,894
And the remedy, O the remedy
is to see how big God is,

1118
01:21:48,894 --> 01:21:54,094
to see how faithful He is, to see how
kind He is, how much He loves us.

1119
01:21:54,094 --> 01:21:57,662
Listen, if you see God for who He is,

1120
01:21:57,662 --> 01:22:04,790
you're not gonna be traumatized by
worry and anxiety all the time,

1121
01:22:04,790 --> 01:22:07,149
because He's good.

1122
01:22:07,150 --> 01:22:10,381
He's good, and He's gonna do good.

1123
01:22:10,382 --> 01:22:18,069
And the truth is, even if He
takes your children, He's good.

1124
01:22:18,070 --> 01:22:21,138
And you don't want to live
in light of the what-ifs,

1125
01:22:21,138 --> 01:22:25,921
because the truth is, the thing that most
people worry about don't come to pass.

1126
01:22:25,921 --> 01:22:30,964
And the thing is, if you worry that much
about it, it's probably an idol to you.

1127
01:22:30,964 --> 01:22:34,842
And God may decide to come
take it away from you

1128
01:22:34,842 --> 01:22:41,075
because He actually has promised to
cleanse us from all of our idols.

1129
01:22:41,076 --> 01:22:45,691
Look, when you worry about something so
much and you can't commit it to the Lord,

1130
01:22:45,691 --> 01:22:53,392
you can believe that there's some serious
idolatry happening there, as well as pride;

1131
01:22:53,392 --> 01:22:56,745
and it's unhealthy. (P)

1132
01:22:56,745 --> 01:23:00,437
Panic attacks are real.

1133
01:23:00,437 --> 01:23:02,749
Depression is real.

1134
01:23:02,750 --> 01:23:05,956
Some people genetically
are more given to it.

1135
01:23:05,956 --> 01:23:11,495
And I would say this because sometimes
you see it in whole family lines.

1136
01:23:11,495 --> 01:23:13,501
I think of Brainerd.

1137
01:23:13,502 --> 01:23:19,181
I think his brother, his
father, it was there.

1138
01:23:19,181 --> 01:23:21,874
People, for whatever
reasons, can genetically

1139
01:23:21,886 --> 01:23:23,944
be more inclined
to certain things.

1140
01:23:23,944 --> 01:23:26,348
That's a reality.

1141
01:23:26,348 --> 01:23:30,296
There can be different factors.
We don't downplay any of those.

1142
01:23:30,296 --> 01:23:32,575
And until you've been in
somebody else's place,

1143
01:23:32,575 --> 01:23:36,157
you don't want to downplay the
trial that they're facing,

1144
01:23:36,158 --> 01:23:38,371
and you don't want to
try to tell them that

1145
01:23:38,383 --> 01:23:40,811
these things are figments
of their imagination.

1146
01:23:40,811 --> 01:23:43,544
I guarantee you, they are not.

1147
01:23:43,544 --> 01:23:46,242
But what you can tell them
and encourage them is:

1148
01:23:46,243 --> 01:23:49,370
no matter how difficult the suffering is,

1149
01:23:49,370 --> 01:23:54,458
no matter how intense the onslaught may be,

1150
01:23:54,458 --> 01:23:56,507
no matter how demonic it may be,

1151
01:23:56,507 --> 01:24:00,246
or whatever organic chemical
realities may be happening

1152
01:24:00,258 --> 01:24:03,340
with your body that are
contributing to this,

1153
01:24:03,340 --> 01:24:09,227
still sin is not a viable option.

1154
01:24:09,228 --> 01:24:11,033
But trust in the Lord.

1155
01:24:11,033 --> 01:24:15,848
No matter how intense the
trial gets, trust the Lord.

1156
01:24:15,848 --> 01:24:19,326
He always is going to give you a way out.

1157
01:24:19,326 --> 01:24:22,358
Always, He is going to.

1158
01:24:22,358 --> 01:24:27,411
Sin is never a 'must' option.

1159
01:24:27,411 --> 01:24:41,421
And no matter the trial, we have to press
people on in the path of righteousness.

1160
01:24:41,421 --> 01:24:43,688
And God says, "I won't leave you."

1161
01:24:43,688 --> 01:24:49,000
And even when Paul said, "Oh
Lord, please take this away."

1162
01:24:49,000 --> 01:24:50,019
"No, Paul."

1163
01:24:50,019 --> 01:24:50,774
"Please."

1164
01:24:50,774 --> 01:24:51,507
"No."

1165
01:24:51,507 --> 01:24:52,778
"Please."

1166
01:24:52,778 --> 01:24:55,374
"My grace is sufficient."

1167
01:24:55,374 --> 01:25:00,448
That, we have to rest on. His
grace is sufficient. (P)

1168
01:25:00,448 --> 01:25:03,736
You see, the thing I was involved
with, and some of you know this,

1169
01:25:03,736 --> 01:25:06,318
but there was a time (you
may think this is crazy,

1170
01:25:06,318 --> 01:25:09,890
but I'll tell you this, when you're
in the midst of it, it is not crazy).

1171
01:25:09,890 --> 01:25:13,327
I had the biggest tree in my
yard right out here in front.

1172
01:25:13,327 --> 01:25:21,826
And I was sitting in my office one day,
and it came like a bolt of lightning:

1173
01:25:21,826 --> 01:25:26,467
"You need to cut that tree
down, it's an idol to you."

1174
01:25:26,467 --> 01:25:37,498
And, I mean, it might seem foolish
but it was all-out hellish war.

1175
01:25:37,498 --> 01:25:45,563
And I pleaded with the Lord; and
in the end I was not at rest.

1176
01:25:45,564 --> 01:25:47,391
I could not pray, I could not go into...

1177
01:25:47,391 --> 01:25:50,568
I mean, it was turning me into a mess.

1178
01:25:50,568 --> 01:25:52,416
And you might think, "Over that?"

1179
01:25:52,416 --> 01:25:55,166
Well, I went out and I
chopped that tree down.

1180
01:25:55,166 --> 01:25:58,511
And I hoisted it up,
and I said, "Lord, no

1181
01:25:58,523 --> 01:26:02,036
tree is gonna stand
between You and me." (P)

1182
01:26:02,036 --> 01:26:09,063
Somebody at the Men's Retreat said,
"Was that God or was that the devil?"

1183
01:26:09,063 --> 01:26:14,357
And Charles answered for me,
and he said "Yes" to both.

1184
01:26:14,357 --> 01:26:16,388
And I think that's right.

1185
01:26:16,388 --> 01:26:23,558
It's much like Job, where
God is in control,

1186
01:26:23,559 --> 01:26:27,083
but He allows the devil to do things.

1187
01:26:27,083 --> 01:26:28,172
And He's in control.

1188
01:26:28,172 --> 01:26:32,319
And I had to come to that: "Lord,
I'm asking You to take this away -

1189
01:26:32,319 --> 01:26:35,353
this battle, this fierce thing
that's happening in my brain -

1190
01:26:35,353 --> 01:26:37,808
I mean, I was in turmoil."

1191
01:26:37,808 --> 01:26:39,035
He wouldn't take it away.

1192
01:26:39,035 --> 01:26:42,998
And so I just had to conclude,
God's not taking it away,

1193
01:26:42,998 --> 01:26:48,114
so He wants me to give in to this.

1194
01:26:49,606 --> 01:26:53,961
I don't know. But I'll tell
you what, it was real.

1195
01:26:53,962 --> 01:26:57,457
And there's been other
seasons, not with trees,

1196
01:26:57,469 --> 01:27:00,757
but there's been other
seasons very similar.

1197
01:27:00,757 --> 01:27:06,355
Total battles. These things are very real.

1198
01:27:06,355 --> 01:27:10,247
And it's not been since I've been a
pastor that I've actually had seasons

1199
01:27:10,247 --> 01:27:14,697
where clouds, and it's like
the temptation to depression.

1200
01:27:14,697 --> 01:27:24,825
I mean, one of the elders up in Kirksville,
he was telling me about traveling overseas.

1201
01:27:24,825 --> 01:27:27,724
And he was traveling with a preacher.

1202
01:27:27,724 --> 01:27:32,909
And they said they found
that preacher curled up in

1203
01:27:32,921 --> 01:27:37,918
a fetal position in the
corner of his hotel room.

1204
01:27:37,919 --> 01:27:41,238
These kind of battles are very real.

1205
01:27:41,238 --> 01:27:52,789
Spurgeon would sit out back of his
house there, and he'd just weep.

1206
01:27:52,789 --> 01:27:55,602
These battles are very real. (P)

1207
01:27:55,602 --> 01:27:59,100
Many of you know the
story of William Cowper.

1208
01:27:59,101 --> 01:28:03,360
I almost wouldn't recommend to people that
are having problems that they listen to it,

1209
01:28:03,360 --> 01:28:08,465
because I'm afraid it'd throw you
even deeper into your problems.

1210
01:28:08,465 --> 01:28:12,007
I've never found great
amounts of encouragement,

1211
01:28:12,008 --> 01:28:17,653
although he's written some
glorious songs that we sing.

1212
01:28:17,653 --> 01:28:20,585
These battles are very real and
we don't want to minimize them,

1213
01:28:20,585 --> 01:28:23,518
we don't want to tell people
they're not experiencing them.

1214
01:28:23,518 --> 01:28:27,628
But we do want to insist
that the Bible has answers.

1215
01:28:27,628 --> 01:28:31,311
And in the Scripture what we find
is a knowledge of the true God.

1216
01:28:31,311 --> 01:28:38,504
And it's Him and His promises that we've
got to seek to get people to latch on to.

1217
01:28:38,504 --> 01:28:41,952
And like I say, Scripture just doesn't
give us a wiggle room on this.

1218
01:28:41,952 --> 01:28:46,274
You will not find the passage
that says anxiety...

1219
01:28:46,274 --> 01:28:54,186
Listen, if it's concern, like Paul talks
about the anxiety for the churches,

1220
01:28:54,186 --> 01:29:00,601
where it's loving concern,
that's another thing.

1221
01:29:00,601 --> 01:29:04,744
I mean, where somebody is actually
thinking and praying all the time

1222
01:29:04,744 --> 01:29:12,182
about their children or about churches,
and they are concerned for the purity.

1223
01:29:12,182 --> 01:29:21,531
When the term 'anxiety' is used that way,
where a loving concern is involved,

1224
01:29:21,531 --> 01:29:23,559
that is obviously a good thing.

1225
01:29:23,559 --> 01:29:30,171
Or where fear is used, like a genuine,
good, healthy, godly fear of God,

1226
01:29:30,171 --> 01:29:32,598
that's a good thing.

1227
01:29:32,598 --> 01:29:40,102
When we're talking about the
anxieties where we are fretting -

1228
01:29:40,102 --> 01:29:42,176
the kind of fretting that
doesn't do any good,

1229
01:29:42,176 --> 01:29:50,760
the kind of fretting that is calling into
question the very character of God -

1230
01:29:50,760 --> 01:29:54,534
it's very unhealthy. (P)

1231
01:29:56,094 --> 01:30:02,259
Well, any other comments on this? (P)

1232
01:30:09,031 --> 01:30:20,808
[Sister] When does a concern turn into
an anxiety, and how do you test that? (P)

1233
01:30:20,808 --> 01:30:32,215
Well, I would say this, it would be
when you're paralyzed or crippled

1234
01:30:32,215 --> 01:30:37,861
from doing the things that you
know God wants you to do.

1235
01:30:37,861 --> 01:30:49,614
It would be when you're not able
to commit those cares to God.

1236
01:30:49,614 --> 01:31:01,031
It would be when you so fret over those
things and are not trusting the Lord,

1237
01:31:01,032 --> 01:31:03,105
because you're not taking Him at His word,

1238
01:31:03,105 --> 01:31:08,304
or you're seeing Him as too
small, or incompetent,

1239
01:31:08,304 --> 01:31:15,614
or not trustworthy to take these concerns.

1240
01:31:15,614 --> 01:31:23,147
I mean, if you have the kind of care or
concern that Paul had for the churches,

1241
01:31:23,147 --> 01:31:30,212
and it made you think about
those churches all the time

1242
01:31:30,213 --> 01:31:32,509
and pray about them all the time,

1243
01:31:32,509 --> 01:31:37,676
but you were able in your prayers
to commit them to the Lord,

1244
01:31:37,676 --> 01:31:48,441
and then to come out of praying and be
able to sing and rejoice in the Lord,

1245
01:31:48,441 --> 01:31:53,151
I think that's probably a good indication.

1246
01:31:53,151 --> 01:31:58,050
When you can couple a loving
concern for others with

1247
01:31:58,062 --> 01:32:02,695
an ability to rejoice in
the Lord and praise Him,

1248
01:32:02,695 --> 01:32:08,679
and see Him as big and
sovereign and trustworthy,

1249
01:32:08,691 --> 01:32:13,367
you know you've got
a healthy concern.

1250
01:32:13,367 --> 01:32:17,146
Because, typically, when
a concern is sinful,

1251
01:32:17,158 --> 01:32:20,536
and it's anxiety, and
it's full of fear,

1252
01:32:20,536 --> 01:32:25,673
it's gonna zap your joy, it's gonna
zap your rejoicing in the Lord

1253
01:32:25,673 --> 01:32:29,427
(you won't be able to sing, you
won't be feeling full of praise)

1254
01:32:29,427 --> 01:32:32,711
because you won't be seeing
God big and trustworthy,

1255
01:32:32,711 --> 01:32:39,679
you're gonna see your problems
big and worry-worthy.

1256
01:32:39,680 --> 01:32:43,754
I think that's a good test. (P)

1257
01:32:44,610 --> 01:32:46,442
[Sister] So someone who
is trusting in the Lord,

1258
01:32:46,454 --> 01:32:48,035
like you said, trusting
in His character,

1259
01:32:48,035 --> 01:32:52,832
is not gonna look like somebody
curled up into a little ball.

1260
01:32:52,833 --> 01:32:54,320
Does that make sense?

1261
01:32:54,321 --> 01:33:00,674
Like, somebody who is going through a
big trial, practically speaking... (P)

1262
01:33:00,675 --> 01:33:04,583
[Tim] Well, if you're curled up in a fetal
position and not wanting to get out of bed,

1263
01:33:04,583 --> 01:33:11,193
I mean, you're basically feeling
like, "I can't do this."

1264
01:33:11,193 --> 01:33:15,938
And the Lord is saying
to us that: "I can do

1265
01:33:15,950 --> 01:33:20,919
all things through Christ
who strengthens me."

1266
01:33:20,919 --> 01:33:23,617
And even though that's
speaking money-wise there,

1267
01:33:23,618 --> 01:33:30,981
I think that's a reality obviously
that applies to all of them.

1268
01:33:30,982 --> 01:33:35,486
"Without Christ I can't do anything;
and with Him I can do anything."

1269
01:33:35,486 --> 01:33:39,337
And it's not trusting Him.

1270
01:33:39,338 --> 01:33:42,204
Basically, why are you curled
up that way and staying in bed?

1271
01:33:42,204 --> 01:33:44,627
Well, it's because you feel overwhelmed

1272
01:33:44,627 --> 01:33:52,302
by whatever problems or by whatever
situation that you're up against.

1273
01:33:52,303 --> 01:33:57,960
I mean, you're basically being
crippled and not rising up out of bed,

1274
01:33:57,960 --> 01:34:02,810
and going forth with your life to do
the things that God calls you to do,

1275
01:34:02,810 --> 01:34:06,977
because you're just feeling overwhelmed,
you're feeling like, "I can't do this."

1276
01:34:06,977 --> 01:34:12,630
And whenever a Christian gets to the place
where they just say, "I can't do it,"

1277
01:34:12,630 --> 01:34:21,113
that really is making a statement about
God, who says, "With My help you can." (P)

1278
01:34:22,677 --> 01:34:28,165
So, I mean, we have to be very careful.

1279
01:34:28,165 --> 01:34:31,095
When we say, "I can't do it,"

1280
01:34:31,095 --> 01:34:35,505
and God is saying, "I am the
God of the impossible."

1281
01:34:35,505 --> 01:34:38,126
When God is saying He is
able to do exceedingly

1282
01:34:38,138 --> 01:34:40,333
abundantly beyond
what we ask or think;

1283
01:34:40,333 --> 01:34:48,446
when God is presenting
Himself as Big, and Able,

1284
01:34:48,447 --> 01:34:53,916
and with us, and not going to forsake us...

1285
01:34:53,917 --> 01:34:57,770
You see, here's the thing:
When we live like the world,

1286
01:34:57,770 --> 01:35:01,275
you see, this is what the Gentiles do:

1287
01:35:01,275 --> 01:35:05,253
When we basically live our life
no different than the Gentiles,

1288
01:35:05,253 --> 01:35:09,118
basically what we're saying is,
"Our God is no different from their god."

1289
01:35:09,118 --> 01:35:10,191
That's really what we're saying.

1290
01:35:10,191 --> 01:35:13,771
If we're gonna say we're Christians and
we've got the true and living God with us;

1291
01:35:13,771 --> 01:35:18,007
you see, this is the problem: When
Israel would act like the other nations,

1292
01:35:18,007 --> 01:35:22,209
sometimes the prophets would come to them
and say, "Is there no God in Israel?"

1293
01:35:22,209 --> 01:35:25,007
I mean, you're doing this, you're
doing this, you're doing this -

1294
01:35:25,007 --> 01:35:29,016
you're hiring out foreign militias;

1295
01:35:29,016 --> 01:35:35,933
you're seeking other gods, or you're
seeking witches, or you're seeking...

1296
01:35:35,933 --> 01:35:39,142
I mean, these guys would
do different things, and

1297
01:35:39,154 --> 01:35:42,247
it's like they're acting
just like the nations.

1298
01:35:42,247 --> 01:35:46,668
That's what we don't want to do.

1299
01:35:46,669 --> 01:35:51,067
I mean, Jesus is like, "Okay, all
your worrying doesn't do any good.

1300
01:35:51,067 --> 01:35:53,736
And when you act like that, when
you fret over those things,

1301
01:35:53,736 --> 01:35:56,027
you're acting just like
the Gentiles do." (P)

1302
01:35:56,027 --> 01:35:58,699
Well, again, I don't have
any problem with a lost

1303
01:35:58,711 --> 01:36:01,663
person curling up in a little
ball and staying in bed,

1304
01:36:01,663 --> 01:36:04,889
because I recognize they are
up against overwhelming

1305
01:36:04,901 --> 01:36:07,406
realities and they
have nobody for them.

1306
01:36:07,405 --> 01:36:10,318
God isn't for them, God isn't with
them, God isn't helping them.

1307
01:36:10,319 --> 01:36:13,479
God has made no promise to
them other than destruction,

1308
01:36:13,479 --> 01:36:16,173
because they're in
rebellion against His Son.

1309
01:36:16,173 --> 01:36:18,768
And so I recognize, yes, curl up.

1310
01:36:18,768 --> 01:36:22,064
I mean, isn't this what Paul says,
"Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."

1311
01:36:22,064 --> 01:36:25,182
Or, "Roll up and stay in your
bed, for tomorrow we die."

1312
01:36:25,182 --> 01:36:26,744
I mean, it's no different.

1313
01:36:26,745 --> 01:36:30,365
What's the difference? Do one
or the other, you're gonna die.

1314
01:36:30,365 --> 01:36:34,119
But when we've got God as our God
and we curl up in a little ball...

1315
01:36:34,120 --> 01:36:40,657
look, I'm not gonna say Satan can't
throw some fierce fiery darts at us

1316
01:36:40,657 --> 01:36:42,934
that can knock us to the
ground and put a guy over

1317
01:36:42,946 --> 01:36:45,100
there in the corner curled
up in a little ball.

1318
01:36:45,100 --> 01:36:47,260
I suspect that that
very man, by the very

1319
01:36:47,272 --> 01:36:49,651
next day, was not curled
up in a little ball.

1320
01:36:49,651 --> 01:36:51,406
He was probably standing in a pulpit,

1321
01:36:51,406 --> 01:36:55,370
and people were being wonderfully
converted under his preaching.

1322
01:36:55,370 --> 01:37:00,959
It just happened to be he was under an
attack like that right at the moment. (P)

1323
01:37:00,959 --> 01:37:02,979
I mean, there was another
time he was walking

1324
01:37:02,991 --> 01:37:04,713
up some stairs, and
he just collapsed.

1325
01:37:04,713 --> 01:37:08,626
And some of the spiritual battles
and warfare that come upon us...

1326
01:37:08,626 --> 01:37:11,344
and look, I'm not saying
that any of us are even

1327
01:37:11,356 --> 01:37:13,975
gonna weather these kind
of attacks perfectly.

1328
01:37:13,974 --> 01:37:15,536
We're still in transition.

1329
01:37:15,536 --> 01:37:17,337
We're still works-in-progress.

1330
01:37:17,338 --> 01:37:19,755
We're still being sanctified.

1331
01:37:19,755 --> 01:37:22,883
We see the example of
Jesus, who, through all

1332
01:37:22,895 --> 01:37:26,035
of His sufferings, He
was learning obedience;

1333
01:37:26,035 --> 01:37:27,634
and he did that perfect.

1334
01:37:27,634 --> 01:37:29,803
Well, we're supposed to be imitating that,

1335
01:37:29,803 --> 01:37:33,919
but of course, there's still
imperfections hanging on to us.

1336
01:37:33,919 --> 01:37:35,417
I recognize that.

1337
01:37:35,417 --> 01:37:39,619
We're gonna have our times of failure
and we're gonna have our times of falling,

1338
01:37:39,619 --> 01:37:41,245
but we have to come back.

1339
01:37:41,245 --> 01:37:47,425
The way you fight through these
things is setting the mind.

1340
01:37:47,425 --> 01:37:53,080
It can become so much a matter of,
you've got to start with that confidence

1341
01:37:53,080 --> 01:37:55,444
that the answers are in here (the Bible).

1342
01:37:55,444 --> 01:37:57,773
And Lord, I'm gonna go in your Word.

1343
01:37:57,773 --> 01:37:58,828
I've been there before.

1344
01:37:58,829 --> 01:38:02,351
In some of the battles that I
faced in the Christian life,

1345
01:38:02,351 --> 01:38:05,904
it's been, "Lord, I just need a word.

1346
01:38:05,904 --> 01:38:08,672
I don't need a lot of words,
I don't need ten words.

1347
01:38:08,672 --> 01:38:12,232
I need one promise. I need
you to give me something."

1348
01:38:12,232 --> 01:38:15,971
And He has. He's been faithful. (P)

1349
01:38:15,971 --> 01:38:18,536
It's just something you can,
whatever you're being faced with,

1350
01:38:18,542 --> 01:38:23,477
something you can just lay hold of, that
gives you some solidity to your situation.

1351
01:38:23,477 --> 01:38:25,537
It puts some foundation under you.

1352
01:38:25,537 --> 01:38:27,114
Something that gets you through.

1353
01:38:27,114 --> 01:38:32,414
Something that, no matter how quick
those fiery darts are coming,

1354
01:38:32,414 --> 01:38:34,543
what do you raise up? The shield of faith -

1355
01:38:34,543 --> 01:38:37,364
faith in that word, faith
in those promises,

1356
01:38:37,364 --> 01:38:41,842
faith in the character of God, faith
in His faithfulness - you raise up.

1357
01:38:41,842 --> 01:38:44,089
That's how we defend ourselves.

1358
01:38:44,089 --> 01:38:50,144
And those darts can come in hailstorms,
and sometimes the mind is just totally...

1359
01:38:50,144 --> 01:38:52,105
I mean, you can't hardly think straight.

1360
01:38:52,105 --> 01:38:55,360
There's just a barrage,
and there's confusion.

1361
01:38:55,360 --> 01:38:59,863
But if, in that confusion and darkness,
you can see that one bit of light

1362
01:38:59,863 --> 01:39:02,932
where you can reach out and
lay hold of that one promise,

1363
01:39:02,933 --> 01:39:07,806
and hang on to it like Jacob hung on
to that angel (tried to buck him off);

1364
01:39:07,805 --> 01:39:15,299
and you're just gonna hang on to that truth
no matter what storms come against you.

1365
01:39:15,299 --> 01:39:17,996
I mean, this is fighting
the good fight of faith.

1366
01:39:17,995 --> 01:39:19,573
And it's a fight.

1367
01:39:19,574 --> 01:39:23,220
Listen, God would not have called it
that unless it was truly a fight.

1368
01:39:23,220 --> 01:39:26,370
Hanging on to Christ, and
hanging on to His promises,

1369
01:39:26,370 --> 01:39:28,334
and hanging on to the Word of God.

1370
01:39:28,334 --> 01:39:34,157
Satan... it's almost like, could God
have taken Satan out at the beginning?

1371
01:39:34,157 --> 01:39:37,315
He could have. Why is he here?

1372
01:39:37,316 --> 01:39:42,737
The devil is God's devil, and he is
here to accomplish God's purposes.

1373
01:39:42,737 --> 01:39:47,945
And I have to believe that one of the
primary purposes that the devil has,

1374
01:39:47,945 --> 01:39:59,458
is that God is using the devil to make
us stronger and to test our faith. (P)

1375
01:39:59,459 --> 01:40:01,572
I mean, you think about Paul.

1376
01:40:01,572 --> 01:40:06,080
This messenger of Satan,
what did it do for Paul?

1377
01:40:06,080 --> 01:40:09,452
It destroyed his pride.

1378
01:40:09,452 --> 01:40:12,717
When you come against
onslaughts that want to

1379
01:40:12,729 --> 01:40:15,863
send you into anxiety
attacks and whatever,

1380
01:40:15,863 --> 01:40:19,887
if anything, you're made
very aware of your weakness.

1381
01:40:19,887 --> 01:40:29,968
And Paul said, "I'll boast in this,
because when I'm weak He's strong."

1382
01:40:29,968 --> 01:40:33,149
See, there was the confidence.

1383
01:40:33,149 --> 01:40:38,144
He can be tore apart in these
things and he can be a weakling;

1384
01:40:38,144 --> 01:40:41,014
and he can plead and pray,
and God didn't take it away;

1385
01:40:41,014 --> 01:40:42,641
and yet he could still boast in it,

1386
01:40:42,647 --> 01:40:47,037
because he could still see the strength
of Christ working through his life.

1387
01:40:47,037 --> 01:40:51,729
That's really where we want to get
in the midst of these things.

1388
01:40:51,729 --> 01:40:54,367
And you can pray, "Lord,
please take this away,

1389
01:40:54,379 --> 01:40:56,973
take this depression away,
take these factors.

1390
01:40:56,973 --> 01:41:00,991
Lord, I'm trying to cling to promises, I'm
looking at your character. I believe..."

1391
01:41:00,991 --> 01:41:05,621
But you're feeling this barrage.

1392
01:41:05,621 --> 01:41:12,216
And look, undoubtedly, some people,
that may be where the battle is.

1393
01:41:12,216 --> 01:41:16,318
Every day they get out of bed, they have
to fight that battle all over again. (P)

1394
01:41:16,318 --> 01:41:18,861
I mean, I heard John Piper say one time,

1395
01:41:18,861 --> 01:41:22,016
he basically has to get saved
every day all over again.

1396
01:41:22,016 --> 01:41:25,176
You have to understand
what he means by that.

1397
01:41:25,176 --> 01:41:28,947
Basically, he said, every
morning when he rose up,

1398
01:41:28,947 --> 01:41:34,006
he needed to lock on to gospel
promises all over again. Every day.

1399
01:41:34,006 --> 01:41:37,072
Because the battle was gonna be
real, it was gonna be intense,

1400
01:41:37,072 --> 01:41:39,313
and his faith was being tested.

1401
01:41:39,313 --> 01:41:42,156
And so, he just felt like every
day he had to be saved all over,

1402
01:41:42,156 --> 01:41:45,989
just latching back on to the
promises of the gospel.

1403
01:41:45,989 --> 01:41:48,261
If you're given to anxieties,

1404
01:41:48,261 --> 01:41:50,668
I mean, look, there may
be some seasons where

1405
01:41:50,680 --> 01:41:52,731
God gives you a little
bit of respite,

1406
01:41:52,731 --> 01:41:57,099
because He's merciful that way.
He'll give us some seasons.

1407
01:41:57,099 --> 01:41:59,874
But often, we start
having little seasons of

1408
01:41:59,886 --> 01:42:03,106
vacation from the things
that we were dealing with,

1409
01:42:03,106 --> 01:42:05,900
and we're feeling like, "Oh, well
maybe they're gone for good."

1410
01:42:05,900 --> 01:42:10,117
Well, it just was a little
vacation the Lord gave us to rest,

1411
01:42:10,117 --> 01:42:12,092
but here it comes again.

1412
01:42:12,092 --> 01:42:15,019
And, oftentimes, the things
that we're susceptible to,

1413
01:42:15,031 --> 01:42:17,810
we're susceptible to, our
whole Christian life. (P)

1414
01:42:17,811 --> 01:42:20,834
Sometimes there's seasons where
we go through certain things,

1415
01:42:20,834 --> 01:42:23,150
and we come out, and we never
go through that again.

1416
01:42:23,150 --> 01:42:27,139
But, oftentimes, the places
we're most vulnerable,

1417
01:42:27,139 --> 01:42:31,687
and where Satan seeks to attack
- he feels our weaknesses out.

1418
01:42:31,700 --> 01:42:34,463
And if you have an
inclination towards anxiety,

1419
01:42:34,463 --> 01:42:39,959
don't be surprised if he attacks you
right there the whole rest of your life.

1420
01:42:39,959 --> 01:42:42,677
If you have a disposition
towards depression,

1421
01:42:42,677 --> 01:42:47,549
don't be surprised if he doesn't attack you
right there for the rest of your life.

1422
01:42:47,549 --> 01:42:50,816
Look, through much tribulation.

1423
01:42:50,817 --> 01:42:54,171
Every one of us are
fighting some battles

1424
01:42:54,183 --> 01:42:57,949
sometimes, many times,
many ways, many places,

1425
01:42:57,949 --> 01:43:02,558
as we're striving to reach the
end here and endure to the end.

1426
01:43:02,558 --> 01:43:06,935
And some people, it's in this category.

1427
01:43:06,935 --> 01:43:11,201
And some, not so much, but
it's other things. (P)

1428
01:43:11,202 --> 01:43:14,350
[Brother] You said that
pastor, they went over

1429
01:43:14,362 --> 01:43:17,521
there curled up in a fetal
position, you know,

1430
01:43:17,522 --> 01:43:19,303
and then he went the next day in a pulpit.

1431
01:43:19,310 --> 01:43:21,830
I'm sure he preached a good sermon. (P)

1432
01:43:21,831 --> 01:43:25,760
[Tim] Well, this guy was a missionary,
and he was out on the front lines. (P)

1433
01:43:25,760 --> 01:43:27,862
[James] It wasn't anxiety
he had then... (P)

1434
01:43:27,862 --> 01:43:35,324
[Tim] No, I would not say
that was necessarily anxiety.

1435
01:43:35,324 --> 01:43:39,833
I mean, it may have to
do with some kind of

1436
01:43:39,845 --> 01:43:44,879
feeling deep darkness or
depression on the soul.

1437
01:43:44,879 --> 01:43:49,494
I would just say this, that
as far as dealing with it,

1438
01:43:49,494 --> 01:43:53,709
you basically want to find out,
What are people afraid of?

1439
01:43:53,709 --> 01:43:55,085
I mean, that would be the first place.

1440
01:43:55,085 --> 01:43:57,881
You want to work backwards
through the situation.

1441
01:43:57,881 --> 01:43:59,708
Talk to people.

1442
01:43:59,709 --> 01:44:02,765
The way to deal with it, and
everybody's gonna be different;

1443
01:44:02,765 --> 01:44:05,418
so when you find somebody
that's struggling,

1444
01:44:05,430 --> 01:44:08,035
you want to find out,
What is it they fear?

1445
01:44:08,035 --> 01:44:10,178
What is creating the anxiety?

1446
01:44:10,178 --> 01:44:17,632
And then try to work back from that,
in the sense of trying to pinpoint

1447
01:44:17,632 --> 01:44:21,766
what is it that that anxiety or that fear,

1448
01:44:21,766 --> 01:44:26,230
where is it that they're not trusting
God or seeing God for who He is?

1449
01:44:26,230 --> 01:44:30,259
And try to really pinpoint that. (P)

1450
01:44:30,260 --> 01:44:34,577
Well, let's pray.

1451
01:44:37,757 --> 01:44:51,765
Father, I know that we all think too
smally, too little, too small of thought.

1452
01:44:51,765 --> 01:45:02,093
None of us have rightly estimated Your
power, Your glory, Your love for us.

1453
01:45:02,093 --> 01:45:05,127
Scripture says You care for us.

1454
01:45:05,127 --> 01:45:16,805
Lord, I know we have not rightly
estimated the care that You have for us.

1455
01:45:16,805 --> 01:45:22,340
Lord, we have not rightly estimated
just how much unbelief we have,

1456
01:45:22,340 --> 01:45:26,961
how much little faith.

1457
01:45:26,961 --> 01:45:31,771
But we get a little bit of a feel, maybe
a lot of feel, from our Lord's words,

1458
01:45:31,771 --> 01:45:34,501
that You are to be trusted.

1459
01:45:34,501 --> 01:45:38,477
And if You do what You do for the flowers,
and You do what You do for the birds,

1460
01:45:38,477 --> 01:45:42,885
and if we're of much more
value to You than they are,

1461
01:45:42,885 --> 01:45:45,491
how much more will You take care of us.

1462
01:45:45,492 --> 01:45:47,601
And You know our needs
before we ask for them.

1463
01:45:47,602 --> 01:45:49,481
We don't want to be like the Gentiles.

1464
01:45:49,481 --> 01:45:56,319
Help us to not be like them, who fret and
worry, and are concerned and paralyzed,

1465
01:45:56,319 --> 01:45:58,145
who are without hope.

1466
01:45:58,145 --> 01:46:01,539
We don't want to live
like those without hope.

1467
01:46:01,539 --> 01:46:05,762
We don't want to live like
those who are perishing,

1468
01:46:05,762 --> 01:46:08,836
but like those who have a Savior,
those who have a future,

1469
01:46:08,836 --> 01:46:13,654
those who have the true and
the living God as our God.

1470
01:46:13,654 --> 01:46:16,319
You are our God.

1471
01:46:16,319 --> 01:46:19,106
Lord, help us, increase our faith.

1472
01:46:19,106 --> 01:46:20,972
We don't want to be of little faith.

1473
01:46:20,972 --> 01:46:23,454
We don't want to be full of anxieties.

1474
01:46:23,454 --> 01:46:28,786
Lord, give us grace to cast
all our cares upon You.

1475
01:46:28,786 --> 01:46:33,450
We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.