"Anxious for Nothing", Part 2 | Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley

anxiety blinds you to it working out for your good anxiety convinces you that the weapon formed will prosper although anxiety is real although we are not immune to it although it's a human response living under its damaging power is not god's will for your life here's what brother paul says in order to fight the anxiety and dwell in the peace of god which you may not be able to understand he says first thing you've got to do is pray it is impossible to overestimate the necessity and the power of prayer in the life of a believer prayer is foundational to all that we do [Music] beloved grace and peace be unto you from god who loves us as a father and a mother and jesus christ alone is our resurrected our risen our reigning and our returning redeemer before we get into the word today let me thank all of you who whispered my name in prayer at some point over these past few days as you all know unfortunately i suffered a fall and dislocated and fractured my shoulder but the prayer of the righteous is powerful well you know that every day i'm getting better actually please keep me in prayer i will need some surgery in a few months from now but until then we're going to press on in the word of god let's bow and be in prayer as our hearts become fertile soil for the seed of god's word thy word o lord is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path in moments when life is confusing and more than we can handle and bear we thank you for your written word in the bible we thank you for the incarnate word in jesus christ we thank you for the proclaimed word in this preaching moment and most importantly we thank you for the fruit of your word as we conform our lives to what you speak we know that we shall be blessed in due season speak now lord as your servants are listening in the name of christ our savior we do pray amen i'm really grateful to god for the opportunity to get back into a series that we began a few weekends ago and had to pause last weekend and that series entitled anxious for nothing and since that first part of the sermon so many people have reached out on instagram and through text messaging and emails to share their own personal battles and struggle with anxiety reminding me of how very real and relevant and necessary a series of sermonic study like this is for the life of believers and i'm going to ask for your prayers as we journey on now into part two in an area that sadly has been taboo in black church for too long mental health and well-being let's get into part two of anxious for nothing i'm gonna ask you to turn maybe in your bibles or even better in your memory to what paul writes to us in philippians chapter four in some well-known verses of six and 7 we remind ourselves of these words of the apostle paul be anxious for nothing but in all things with prayer and supplication and thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto the lord and the peace of god which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and mind be anxious for nothing you probably recall from part one of this series that since coved and the pandemic has touched our world medication for anxiety has seen a 31 increase in prescriptions than before covid more medicine for anxiety is being prescribed and distributed now than ever before and it's simply a reminder to us of the very real predominance of anxiety in our world and i would dare argue that even before covet became a reality for us that all of us know what it's like to have some moments of anxiety doesn't really matter how big your bible is and how many scriptures you've memorized how many hymns you sing how many ministries you're engaged in none of us are immune from the reality of anxiety we all know what it's like to wonder and worry to be fearful to be stressed out to be concerned about an unknown outcome we know what it's like to have knotted up stomachs to feel that cold sweat to literally shake as we wonder how things are going to work out for our good or for our detriment none of us are immune to anxiety and although i'm not a mental health care professional i posited for you a a a layman's understanding of anxiety and we define anxiety as a present stress that is caused by the fear of an unrealized future a present stress caused by the fear of an unrealized future and from that definition we few we lift up a few dynamics about anxiety number one that anxiety is usually triggered by something that causes you to look into your future and begin to wonder and worry about how something is going to go down anxiety by definition is not really a concern about the here and now as much as it is a wonder and a worry about what has yet to come the second dynamic of anxiety is that while you're wondering and worrying about the future you begin to become fixated and focused on the worst case scenario and even though that may be the least probable anxiety convinces you it's the only possible so what anxiety does is that it causes you to look in the future become fixated on the worst case scenario and tell yourself that's the only possible outcome that leads to the third damaging dynamic of anxiety that when you're anxious you are blinded to the other possibilities of what god could be doing in the circumstance and situation anxiety blinds you to it working out for your good anxiety convinces you that the weapon formed will prosper anxiety blinds you to the fact that god can go exceedingly and abundantly above what you think is possible anxiety makes you believe that god is somehow abandoned and forsaken the plans he has for you to prosper you and not to harm you to bring your future and the good anxiety blinds you to other possibilities and the final dynamic is that anxiety then causes you in your present to believe that what is unrealized in your future is happening to you right now you begin to feel on monday what hasn't even happened on friday because your mind is now telling your body that it's real it's happening it's real time even though you know it has yet to go down anxiety is real anxiety is relevant there's a broad spectrum of anxiety it can be momentary or it can be persistent but it is human and i suggest to you in part one of this sermon that we even see jesus wrestling with and overcoming anxiety in the garden of gethsemane when he's worried about calvary that when the bible says he prays until drops of sweat fell down like blood then maybe that's a cold sweat because jesus is anxious and he's worried and he's asking god please don't let this happen but yet in christ we see one who overcomes anxiety because even though it's real even though it's relevant even though it's human living under the damaging destructive power of anxiety is not god's will for your life let me say that again although anxiety is real although we are not immune to it although it's a human response living under its damaging power is not god's will for your life remember that anxiety is not just a spirit anxiety can become a demon and remember spirits influence you demons want to possess you and if you're not careful if you don't learn to fight it anxiety will not just be something you experience in moments it'll be something you experience every day that's where i found myself and even in my walk with the lord a place where even though the bible says be anxious for nothing i was anxious about everything let me tell you how demonic anxiety was in my own life my anxiety could be triggered by four little words we need to talk and whenever someone would say to me we need to talk anxiety began to take over my life as i worried about what could possibly happen and the worst thing that could go down anxiety can become demonic anxiety opens the door for sinful coping mechanisms in an attempt to deal with anxiety the enemy always presents you with sinful coping mechanisms that now worsen the problem because now not only are you anxious now you're becoming addicted to sin and you'll recall that most addictions in life begin with either an attempt to deal with pain or to deal with anxiety drug addiction alcoholism ungodly sexual practices typically begin with an attempt to deal with anxiety anxiety threatens the abundant life that christ died for us to have in john chapter 10 verse 10 christ says i come that you might have life and have it more abundantly john tells us in first john that i want you to prosper and be in good health even as your soul prospers and yet the stressful damage that anxiety does to your body can literally kill you although anxiety is a psychological event it has a psychosomatic consequence in that what starts in your mind eventually will stress your body out and finally and important as we get into part two anxiety works against the peace of god listen to our brother paul as he acknowledges the reality of anxiety he says be anxious for nothing because you don't have to live with anxiety you can live in the peace of god which seeks to guard you hear me beloved god desires to guard you from the damaging sinful impact of anxiety with his peace paul says that the peace of god literally guards you it protects you it keeps you from what anxiety wants to do you've got to make a decision because anxiety and the peace of god are mutually exclusive they do not exist in the same person at the same place at the same time and i choose the peace of god over anxiety now i know who needs to hear this but god has me on assignment to tell you today that god wants to guard you from anxiety someone you need to remind yourself god is a keeper god is a protector god is a shield god is a shelter god is a refuge is there anyone here who believes that whoever dwells in the shelter of the most high will abide under the shadow of the almighty that i will say of the lord he is my refuge and my rock the lord is my light and my salvation and that in the time of trouble he shall hide me god wants to shield you with his peace to guard you from anxiety and brother paul gives us a formula for accessing the peace which we will not be able to understand i love how paul writes this he says listen the peace of god may not be something you understand that god can shield you in ways that your mind will never comprehend you can live in a peace that doesn't make sense to you but here's how you access it prayer supplication and thanksgiving let's break those three things down and i'll get out of your way prayer supplication and thanksgiving here's what brother paul says in order to fight the anxiety and dwell in the peace of god which you may not be able to understand he says the first thing you've got to do is pray pray now somebody if you've been in church for more than a day you should have seen that one coming you should know that prayer is going to be on the list you've been around long enough to know that that we we commend prayer and everything pray pray pray pray pray and someone is saying pastor all you ever do is say we ought to pray and let me just remind you that it is absolutely impossible to overestimate the necessity and the power of prayer in the life of a believer i want to say that again it is absolutely impossible to overestimate the necessity and the power of prayer it felt so good to me i'm gonna say it the third time it is impossible to overestimate the necessity and the power of prayer in the life of a believer prayer is foundational to all that we do that's why bobby i have trouble when i see saints of god in the midst of circumstances and this is what they say they'll say well i guess all i can do is pray all i can do is pray you're talking about prayer like it's some unproven drug you're talking about prayer like it's some untested vaccine you're talking about prayer like you don't know what prayer can do baby girl brother man i came by to tell you that if all you can do is pray you are in a good position if all you know how to do is get down on your knees and call on the name of the lord things are going to happen in your life because i am a living witness that god hears and answers prayer the bible tells us in first john chapter 5 verse 14 we have this assurance that when we pray god hears us and i want somebody to be reminded today that when you pray god will answer when you pray things will change when you pray the lord will turn things around when you put it in god's hands god will give it back to you better than the way you gave it to him is there anybody who's connected to this sermon today who's a living witness that you found yourself in a situation where all you could do was give it to god and when you gave it to god didn't god answer that prayer didn't god turn it around didn't god move in your life didn't god go exceedingly and abundantly above all you could think and ask didn't god show himself strong in your situation prayer will always change things now i know i know i know somebody you're saying well well hold on how does prayer help me in my anxiety because someone you're on today and and if you've liked me you've been in a place where you prayed and after the amen it felt like nothing changed listen i appreciate everyone because some of y'all can't be honest and real but is there anyone who can declare that there have been some moments when you got up off your knees and you wondered did the lord hear me have you ever been in a place where you gave it to god and it felt like nothing changed have you ever prayed and wanted to tap and say is this thing on god are you listening have you ever prayed and you still felt anxious how is it that sometimes we pray and the anxiety is still there someone you need to see this because you're a believer you've confessed in christ you pray and you still deal with the anxiety and the enemy has convinced you that your prayer ain't right the enemies convince you that your faith isn't right the enemies convince you that god has given up on you and that is not at all what's happening i want a believer to understand why you can pray and still be anxious can i drop it on you it's right here in what paul writes paul says be anxious for nothing but in all things with prayer and supplication now i need to let you know that that as a child growing up reading this i kind of felt like paul was being redundant he says pray and supplicate when you look up the word supplicate comes from the latin word supplicare which means to ask to make a request so if supplication is to make a request aren't prayer and supplication the same thing i mean paul it sounds like you're saying the same thing praying and supplicating are synonymous or could it be that paul is trying to suggest that prayer and supplication are subtly different oh god pastor teach the bible word supplicate that paul uses in greek is this word deuces and and it literally means to ask but the word for prayer is prohibited and pro-shuhei means more than simply asking don't miss this paul is trying to press on the believer that your prayer has got to be more than simply asking god to do something watch this pro shuhei proshuhy to pray it it literally elliot it means to enter the space of prayer what paul is referencing and i got to give you some jewish context is reality the jews like to pray on sacred ground but they could not always get to the temple in jerusalem so scattered throughout israel were synagogues synagogues were places of prayer where the jew would go to pro-shuhei would go into the place of prayer now the amazing thing about synagogues is that synagogues are typically built next to streams of water go and teach that bible pastor wesley prosuhy entering synagogue was near a stream of water and the reason synagogues where you were prosuhy were built next to streams of water was because you before you could enter the synagogue in the place of prayer you had to wash your hands because the jews understood that we can't pray with dirty hands watch this they understood that there's something wrong with deuces when your hands are dirty there's something wrong with asking when your hands are dirty there there's something wrong with asking god to do and you haven't dealt with the dirt that's in your own hands and so when paul says pray he's saying listen you've got to do more than ask god for things you've got to learn to deal with the dirt in your hands beloved i came by to suggest to you that maybe just maybe the reason you can pray and still feel anxious is because you've become too proficient at asking with dirty hands you know how to request without repenting you know how to demand without dealing with your dirt and paul says that part of the prayer life of a believer is not just kneeling down and saying god do this and god fix that and god move this and god do this for me but it's kneeling down and realizing that when i kneel before god there's some dirt i've got to deal with there's some repentance i need to lay on the altar there's some confession i need to make known unto god that i've got some dirt i need to deal with before i ask god to do anything in my life are you dealing with your dirt i come by to suggest to you beloved that if you do not repent anxiety will remain in your life because without repentance there's always the fear of full consequence my god i hope they put that on the screen without repentance there's always the fear of full consequence i'ma say it again if you don't repent your mind will always be afraid of the full consequence of your sin because you know that god is not mocked and therefore if you are living in sin at some point you're gonna have to face the consequence of it oh but if you kneel down and confess your sin the bible says in first john chapter 1 verse 9 that god is faithful and just and if we confess our sins he will cleanse us of all unrighteousness so if i kneel and deal with my dirt mercy kicks in and now i don't have to worry about the full consequence of my sin because god and i have dealt with my dirt and there's a witness in this sermon today who know that there have been some moments when you shown up did wrong come on just be honest and weaken amen you know you let god down you know you disobeyed the word of god but yet you knelt down and you asked god for forgiveness and didn't god show up and didn't god forgive you i need someone who knows you have never reaped everything you've sown you did not pay the full price for your sin because jesus paid it all and when you deal with your dirt god will deal with your anxiety when we pray mercy kicks in so paul says listen you've got to pray don't just supplicate deal with your dirt but but but but but i understand now angie another reason why prayer sometimes seemingly doesn't work not only because i felt to deal with my dirt but watch what paul says watch the language he says be anxious for nothing but in all things pray just went over your head be anxious to nothing but in all things pray every circumstance pray every situation pray i like the new living translation the new living translation says this don't worry about anything but pray about everything and i finally figured out why sometimes my prayers seemingly don't work because i have trouble with all things i can pray about one thing i pray about a couple things i can pray about a few things and we have become proficient not only of asking with dirty hands but we become proficient in praying over a few things it's easy to take god what you can't handle it's easy to pray about the stuff you need the lord to show up in it's easy only to give god the leftover after you've already put your hands on it and too many times our prayers do not cover all things they only cover the broken things that we need god to touch and god says i am not a fire extinguisher i am not to be used only in time of emergency don't pray to me simply when you need me to do something but reach the place where you learn to lay your whole life out in front of god beloved could it be our problem is that we don't pray over everything and i've come by to ask you a disturbing question please don't kill the messenger but i've got to ask you this what are you so good at that you don't have to pray over it anymore what do you do so well you don't need god's help with anymore what are you so proficient at that you don't need to pray about it anymore and could it be that's why the prayer doesn't guard you because you're not laying everything before the lord so i like that hymn from brother joseph scrivens that was pinned in 1855 it was a poem written to his mother that then became one of the great hymns of the church you know it it goes like this what a friend we have in jesus all our sins and grieves to bear what a privilege it is to carry everything to god in prayer oh what peace we often forfeit and oh what needless pains we bear all because we do not carry come on come on baptist everything to god in prayer so paul says listen i want you to pray deal with your dirt and pray about everything and then he says and with supplication let your request be made known to god y'all this is so simple it's scary here's what paul says you ain't got to be anxious just tell god what you need ask of the lord what you stand in need of put it in god's hands and let the lord have his way beloved there is something powerful about making your request to the lord that there's something about asking god for what you need that triggers god to send you his peace there's something about asking god for the miraculous asking god for the unprecedented asking god for what no one thought could happen there's something god loves about hearing a believer say god do the miraculous in my life there's something about making that request made known to god um a little while ago picked up my youngest son from school on a friday and when he got in the car he said to me dad we need to go to target i said son why we need to go to target he said well because evan his best friend was having a birthday party the next day and that's what cooper said to me said and evan asked me to get him a gift of an xbox game that i like and we need to go to target to get it well make sure you get this evan's having a birthday party and evan asked cooper to get an xbox game so cooper tells me we got to go to target so he can get the gift for his friend i'm saying cooper that's cool but here's the problem i don't know about evan's birthday party i've not seen the invitation are you sure you're invited because you can't just show up at a birthday party uninvited i know you want to get the gift but you're not invited and that's what cooper said to me y'all and i'ma drop it on you he said dad that don't make no sense he said he would not ask me if he was not also inviting me don't you misses he wouldn't ask me for the xbox game if he didn't expect me to show up and bring it that in the midst of the request is also the invitation beloved i came by to preach right there because when i make my request known to god i'm not just asking god for a miracle i'm inviting god into the middle of my circumstance when i ask god to turn it around i'm inviting him in it when i ask god to make a way out of no way i'm inviting him in and when i ask god to go exceedingly and abundantly i'm inviting god into the middle of it and could it be that the reason god brings god's peace is because god brings his presence when i make my request known i'm also inviting his presence and maybe the power of the prayer is not in what i ask for but how i invite god into the midst of it the part of the reason i'm anxious is because i don't sense that god is in it because if god is in it i can ask god to do whatever god is capable of so i came by to ask you a deep question please don't kill the messenger but here's a question i want you to wrestle with what can't god do okay i'm sorry let me let me let me let me put it ebonically what can't god do what have you convinced yourself god can't do and if god is in the midst of it i can ask god to do whatever i believe god is capable of doing anxiety only sees one answer faith sees a god who can do all things and i choose to make a request based on my faith rather than to live in fear from my anxiety okay somebody's a little slow you ain't feeling me uh i'm traveling with the boys we're on a road trip a few years back we got hungry and you know when you're traveling on the road you kind of want to go to a restaurant that's right off the highway so you can get right back on and while we're traveling we get off the highway i notice that there are only a few restaurants right there there's a cracker barrel sign and that's fine with me i love me some cracker barrel i know the boys like cracker barrel cooper loves to eat breakfast all day long so we're going to go to cracker barrel but on our way to cracker barrel i saw a sign for another restaurant and and i know some of y'all gonna judge me but that's all right i've been judged by worse people than you um on the way to cracker barrel uh we saw a sign for waffle house now now now i don't know how you feel about walford house but walford house is good to pass to wesley i love i i was raised on waffle house my college years are on walford house if you know about college you know about that after party that pre-dawn at four o'clock in the morning ain't nothing like waffle house i love me some waffle house as a matter of fact if you like waffle house like i do you can say it like me that all-star breakfast is good all the time and all the time that all-star breakfast is good i love me some waffle house so i'm pulling in the waffle house and the boys get an attitude they want to go to cracker barrel but i feel that i need to train them in the way that they should go so we got to go to waffle house because you all have to learn how beautiful the waffle house is as we're getting out my oldest son gets mad he says dad but i don't want a waffle and i realized that part of the reason he was adverse to waffle house was that he thought waffles were all they served he thought the only outcome of walking in this store was that i was going to get a waffle and i had to remind him son the beauty of waffle house is that they serve more than waffles they can do just about anything you want all you have to do is ask the reason you don't want to go is because you think the only outcome is a waffle but if you learn the beauty you can ask for anything because they can make it happen somebody you ain't caught it yet the reason you're anxious about that interview the reason you're anxious about the surgery the reason you're anxious about the divorce the reason you're anxious about the interview is because you've convinced yourself that waffles are the only outcome that the only thing that can happen is the worst case scenario but if you know that god is in the midst of it you can ask god for whatever you know god can fix and i came by to tell you god can fix more than one outcome god can work it for your good god can go exceedingly and abundantly above all you ask a thing god can take your enemies and make them your footstool god can take this sickness and use it to make you better god can open up a door you didn't even know what's in the room is there anybody here who's convinced god can do anything and so when i make my request i'm inviting him in and opening up my outcome to everything god can do listen y'all are sick of me i'm sorry prayer about everything supplication and make your request known and then finally brother paul says and give thanks thanksgiving he says i want you to give thanks to god now paul i gotta be honest with you i i have some trouble here because there are moments in my life when i'm so anxious and worried that giving thanks doesn't seem appropriate listen i know you're born again baptized born and bred and when you die you're gonna be baptist dead but is there anybody watching today who can be honest with there's some moments when giving thanks was not on your gender there are some moments in life when praise doesn't really seem to fit the situation have you ever had a moment when shouting and saying a man just wasn't how you felt can we be honest have you been in church long enough to know that there are moments when it seems like the appeal to give thanks is just religious cliche have you ever felt manipulated by a praise and worship leader have you ever felt like that person leading the song was trying to demand you do what you didn't feel like doing everybody stand up and put your hands together and praise the lord right now right now what's wrong with you have you ever felt like a preacher telling you to shout with just his being lazy because he hadn't done homework to give you anything else so he ended every sermon but if it had not been for the lord on my side ended every sermon with if you praise god right now the blessings will come god told me to tell you that if you shout he'll open up doors as if god is holding back blessings waiting on your praise have you ever felt like thanksgiving was a manipulative tool by religious folk that's what it feels like but that's not what this is paul says when you're anxious pray about everything when you're anxious let god know what you need and when you're anxious give thanks this is not paul being lazy this is not some religious manipulation this is not trying to force you to do what doesn't seem right paul is trying to fight the anxiety because watch this anxiety imagines what hasn't happened but thanksgiving remembers what does don't miss this anxiety is imagining what tomorrow will be but thanksgiving is rooted in remembering what yesterday was that when i'm in anxiety when i'm anxious i'm worried about what hasn't gone down but when i switch to thanksgiving i'm remembering what already has i'm anxious because i don't know what god will do but i give thanks when i remember what he's already done and what paul is suggesting is that in order to fight the anxiety you've got to tell yourself that i can't just keep wondering about tomorrow when i remember everything about yesterday i am focused on one possible outcome but i remember the multitude and the magnitude of what god has already done for me paul says it's about shifting your perspective yes you're looking into the future but don't forget to remember the past remember how the lord has already brought you through remember how the lord handled something like this before remember how the lord shielded you from the worst remember this ain't the first time god has showed up in your life every now and then give thanks and look behind you at what god has already done so so i'm teaching my oldest son how to drive he's getting ready to get his driver's license and while he's going through driver's ed in the car with me one of the things i've had to teach him to do to drive safely especially on the highway is to always be aware of where other cars are around you in case of an emergency in case you've got a swerve in case you've got to make a jerk reaction you need to know where the safe zones are which means you need to know where the other cars are around you he said dad how do i do that when i'm driving that's what i said son every now and then even though we're driving this way you've got to look in your mirrors look in your rear view look in your side view so you can see where the other cars are watch this that even though we're going forward every now and then we've got a glance at something that makes us look backwards every now and then you need a glance in your rear view and your side view to remind yourself of what the lord has already done in your life you may be moving to friday but you gotta remember monday you may be moving into next year and you gotta remember last year every now and then the child of god needs to look in the rear view and side view and see what god has already done behind him so he's driving and looking in his rear view and his side view he looks in the driver's side view and he says dad i see something in the mirror i said what son he said there's some writing in that side view mirror i'm looking behind me but i see some writing on the mirror i said son what does the mirror say he said daddy says this objects in mirror are closer than they appear i'm driving forward and i'm glancing backwards and the mirror is telling me that what's back there is closer than what it looks i came by to help somebody walk in the peace of god today yes you're moving into an unknown future but as you take a glimpse at what the lord has done let me be that mirror and remind you that what god has done is closer than what it appears his deliverance is closer than what it appears his way-making is closer than what it appears his handling your enemy is closer than what it appears his healing of your body is closer than it appears goodbye saints be anxious for nothing but in all things with prayer deal with your dirt pray about all things and supplication let your requests be made known unto god and thanksgiving look at what the lord has already done and the peace of god which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds be anxious for nothing

Channel: Alfred Street Baptist Church

Views: 2,743

Rating: 4.9661016 out of 5

Keywords: Anxious for Nothing, 2021, Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley

Id: BAwAxweTqlM

Length: 43min 50sec (2630 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 21 2021