Anxious - Mood #3 | Ben Stuart

[Music] it's great to see you also okay alright well hey it's good to be back in Texas my name's Ben if we have a met I am the pastor of passion City Church Washington DC okay you've heard of it awesome come visit sometime but part of the bigger family of passion led by my pastor Louie Giglio and it's awesome to be a part of passion awesome to be leading a church in Washington DC a third of the people who live in DC are between the ages of 20 and 35 and so if you feel like you're just not meeting the right people in Dallas there's a lot of single people running around in your age bracket in DC you know you live your life I'm just giving you options but but I'll say this I want to jump in to what God has for us cuz I'm excited about it but I do just want to say it's it's always fun to be back here the pastor of water mark Todd Wagner has been an incredible friend to Louie into myself and come up several times to encourage me in DC which has been amazing and to see what David and his team is doing here is absolutely incredible I think you really can in Texas sometimes get used to this things like this oh yeah several thousands of single people all get together and study and try to figure out what God's doing in our lives like that's a normal thing it's extremely not and so just know that you're in the midst of something special and you're being led by some pretty remarkable people and that's a gift it's awesome and it's fun to be here with you so thrilled to be here Mike's here with me and we just love being back in Texas haven't had barbecue yet so that's kind of messed up but but it's great to see all of you so let me read to you a couple verses we're in this series about moods and we're gonna talk about one and I believe God's gonna help us navigate a real issue in our lives and I'm gonna read you a couple verses out of Philippians chapter 4 and if you got a copy your scriptures want to read along Philippians 4 if you don't just listen I'm gonna read it we'll pray and then jump in but Philippians chapter 4 beginning in verse 4 says this rejoice in the Lord always again I say rejoice let your reasonableness be known to everyone the Lord is at hand do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus finally brothers whatever is true whatever is honorable whatever is just whatever is pure whatever is lovely whatever is commendable if there's any excellence if there's anything worthy of praise think about these things and what you've learned and received and heard and seen in me practice these things and the God of peace will be with you let me pray for us well lord I want to thank you for everybody in this room whether they just loved you and knew the words of every song and and loved singing them or whether they're just really unsure if they can trust you and if this is worth their time I think a lot of us in here are God anxieties are reality and peace is distant and unattainable but if the peace of God could land in our hearts this would be a night that's truly special and if the God of peace could sit with us boy the difference that could make and so Lord rescue us from just attending a thing but I pray even now you'd speak to us through your word and I don't feel in any way powerful enough to communicate what what I think you want in the lives of your people so we're asking you to help but I just want to invite you guys if you're willing to take a moment and you talk to God and ask him if you're up for this say god please teach me tonight I mean if you would please pray for me that the Lord would use may not be helpful to you well father we love you and we trust you use this time we pray that in Jesus name Amen well over and over again in the scriptures we're told this one simple beautiful truth that you and I exist to know and enjoy God then all things are made by him and for him that it is right hand are pleasures forevermore that nearness to him is our good in this passage it says rejoice in the Lord always I say it again rejoice you and I exist to pursue our joy in God to rest and delight in his love we are meant to pursue intimacy with the Almighty that's why you're here and I would imagine many even here know that you go I want to know God that's why I'm in a place like this but if I was to ask you you would say intimacy with God enjoyment of him is something I struggle to experience in the regular day why well if we have an enemy spiritually in the Bible since we done we do I would say his goal for most of us is not to convince you that God's not real or God doesn't exist or pursuing him is not important he's not trying to convince you that he says if you want to chase after that man you go for it just make sure you look good while you're doing it and make sure you go to the right college and get the right major so you can get a good job and get the right internship so you can get on the right team and get a promotion so you can take over the world but first you got to move to the big city and cities are expensive you got to get an apartment and you need a roommate and you realize it's real expensive so you need a lot of roommates and now you got roommate drama all right one just got married and but in the middle of all that drama you realize man I gotta let people know what's going on that I look good so I get it look good on Instagram and I gotta look good on Twitter and I gotta look at on Facebook and on snap slap job and meanwhile I'm gonna be out here doing this and then I meet somebody we go on a date then we go on another date we go on another day and I meet their friends and I meet their family and they got to meet my friends and they're gonna be my family and then we're like are we doing this let's get engaged are we gonna get married and then we go honeymoon where we gonna go where are we gonna live we're gonna live in the city we can live in the suburbs and we gonna have kids how many kids public school we're gonna go to private school I was just going to work and on it on it goes on and in none of this at any point did we suddenly go hey God's dead the Scriptures don't matter but just we lost him somewhere along the way and for many of us you hear that and you go well Ben what are you trying to say like well the trick is you got to never have kids you just gotta get emanuelly it's not you're saying or you're saying what's the deal man are you saying what am I supposed to just move into the hills and we're all in in like what are you trying to say I got a job like what do you want from me well let me say this for many of us our problems are not our major problem it's our anxieties about our problems that's the problem let me say that again because it's important for many of us in here your problems are not the real problem your anxiety about your problems is your problem that's was Jesus's argument in Matthew chapter 6 he said don't be anxious about anything saying what am I gonna eat what am I gonna drink what am I gonna wear he said the nations do that those are real things but don't be anxious about them he says but seek first the kingdom of God and notice he makes those a contrast he said you're either gonna seek God or in your anxiety you're gonna seek to handle a bunch of things and Jesus presents your anxiety as one of your greatest impediments to pursuing your god-given destiny don't miss that there's more at stake here that your god-given destiny who you're meant to be is not going to be reached if you are tied down by anxiety and so one of the enemy's greatest strategies to keep you from your god-given destiny is to fill you up with anxiety and for many of us that's our reality and what scares me about that is what jesus warned us about in Luke chapter 8 as he was telling this beautiful story he was talking about the Word of God he says let me tell you what I'm here to do I want to take the words of God and I want to plan them like a seed deep into the soil of your heart and when they go in there they're not just words on a page it is the word of life and that seed is gonna burst forth into life and it's gonna become a big plant that is teeming with life and bears fruit and blesses others that's what I want to do in your life through my word but he says but there's gonna be threats to the word doing that in your life and one of the threats he says when that little plant begins to grow he said a weed is gonna come up and choke it and his disciples asked him later what's the weed he says the weed is the worries of this life that many of us if we're honest you don't experience the power of God in your life your life really doesn't look that different from any of your co-workers and the reality is you're not experiencing the power of God in your life because the word of life is being choked out by the worries of this life and anxiety is keeping you from your god-given destiny and that scares me for you because God wants much for us and this is a threat to us and we're an anxious generation something about modern life is not conducive to human flourishing we are relatively more safe than any generation that's existed and yet anxiety is killing us and that's what concerns me is it's not just missing out on what God has for us anxiety is a condition of the heart that brings forth many sinful states of mind that anxiety about grades can lead you to be dishonest there was a study at Rutgers of 32 universities that found that 74% of business students and 68% of all other students admitted to some form of cheating which I don't know why business students or so much a higher percentage I don't know if they're just more honest you know if they were like well of course I cheat so I thought I get ahead you know what anxiety about your schedule will lead you to break commitments anxiety about dating will get you to compromise anxiety about finances will lead you to make decisions anxiety about being liked will lead you to embellish stories and acts really weird at parties anxiety for many of us leads you to seek comfort and refuge in addictions and those become a whole nother set of problems in your life and then here's my fear - anxiety it will literally kill you I remember when I was in college I was taking a shower one day and suddenly I felt like there was this pain in my chest and it felt like someone was trying to like cave in my chest like I was having trouble breathing and I was like what is going on I thought I was dying there in the shower and I remember just thinking like oh my god like what is happening to me right now and then I was like is this heartburn like I've never had heartburn for and I was like was it the barbeque cuz I've been eating off the same plate of barbecue in the fridge for like a week and a half and I was like oh my god like no like what a stupid way to die and I suppose frado's I god I don't want to go like this like my roommates gonna find me in the shower and then at my funeral they're like how'd he die this is a barbecue man he just kept eating on it way past what was appropriate or safe and I was like I don't want to do that but I made it out of the shower I made it to a doctor and he ran a series of tests on my heart he was like hey man do you drink I said no said you smokes and no I said are you stressed so I don't know I'm uncertain what I'm gonna major in stress I'm not sure what I'm gonna do with my life I don't know when I'm dating a girl I'm not sure she's the one I'm scared to say with him but it's good to break up with her cuz I don't wanna be alone he's like whoa whoa whoa whoa okay yeah you're stressed he's like man you need to you need to calm down and here's what's crazy about that preoccupation with hypothetical situations was literally killing me and for many of you your stress about hypothetical situations is actually killing you and it's not meant to be like that and particularly for the people of Jesus it's not meant to be like that we are meant to be different and let me say this the world is not impressed when we sing about the Prince of Peace but live a reality of stress it's meant to look different that's what Jesus was saying in Luke chapter 12 when he told his disciples don't be anxious about anything he says the pagans do that he says that my disciples should be characterized by a lack of anxiety so in the book the cities and bishoprics of Phrygia which I know you've read but by way of review as it's talking about inscriptions in the ancient city of Phrygia there's one where there's a guy's name that worked in Phrygia and his name was too tedious murim nos and scholars all agree that our murim nas was not a normal name in that culture in that time they say that was his baptismal name that was very common in those days so when you got baptized I'm associating with Jesus I'm buried with him in the grave and when he rose I rise into a new life when you were baptized they give you a new name that was a mark of I now belong to Jesus so in the book of Acts Barnabas that wasn't his real name that's the name they gave him later son of encouragement cuz that's what he was like and they say titted eos um ER in nassau is a- like a theist is someone who doesn't believe in se us and God ah murim nos mean doesn't and Marin nos means worry about stuff so literally when he came to know Jesus they said your name is titted EOS takes no thought of the morrow I'm not worried about stuff that Jesus came not just to rescue you from sin and condemnation but from your anxiety - did you know that and there's some complexity and anxiety medically I know that so I'm not gonna cover every issue that all of us are dealing with tonight but I want to show you a path that God has given us that's gonna help us live the life that God built us to live and you got it in this text and that's why in verse 6 it says don't be anxious about anything or be anxious for nothing which I love that because there's just permission in that there is no thing you're supposed to be anxious about can that just settle on somebody tonight there is never a thing you are obligated to get stressed about and by saying that I don't mean that you don't care about stuff I'm not saying that there aren't things you're supposed to carry that are meaningful in matter you're supposed to but that shoulder tensing scalp drying just compressing anxiety that you think you're supposed to just soldier through life with God doesn't want you to carry what he gives you like that you're not meant to carry it that way the root of the word anxiety is the word to be drawn in different directions to distract that I can't focus on one thing because I'm caught up in many things and many of us live there and you're not meant to live there because that preoccupation it impedes good decision-making we're not moving forward in a healthy way because we're too caught up with anxiety about so many other things so we're not meant to be anxious about anything there's no thing we're obligated to lay up at night stressing about but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God you see they're parallel there be anxious about no thing but pray about everything so anytime there's a thing in your life you go should I worry about this no nothing goes there I need to pray about this that's what we're meant to do now before I unpack the specifics of that let me just say because I know there's people in here that you're like oh okay so I shouldn't worry at all I should just pray more like that thanks man I got real-world problems like hate frame or just doesn't really feel like that's gonna solve it for me but let me tell you something before you knock this theory let me ask you how's yours working for you before you slam on this one if we were reading your text but it's a be anxious about nothing but in everything just pound a lot of carbs for comfort right like is that it and let me tell you something I'm not knocking on you because I get it when I first moved to DC a new place new town somebody was having a conversation with my wife and I about health and they asked us what are you eating and my wife without hesitation was like our feelings and we were like yeah that sounds about right yeah I get that that's you're nervous about something you're not even thinking about it but you're realizing yeah anytime something comes up I don't take it to prayer I just take it to the pantry and that's what I do that's not solving things for you or others of you when you have a decision you're stressed about something that's uncomfortable you don't how to deal you just go for your phone and you just start flipping through social media and feed more of that insecurity and create a whole different set of problems or for some of us to just numb the pain or escape into a refuge we launch into all manner of addictions we do and but it's interesting I've read so many recent studies about how to cope with anxiety because it's the issue of our day and here's the fascinating thing so many of these scholarly academic studies are saying you know the secret to dealing with your anxiety and they're saying things like meditation and practicing gratitude that modern day scholars are stumbling upon an ancient path that's been ours for centuries if you understand it and so I want to show you the path God gave us and before I give you the specifics again let me just say this because I love the tense of the verb I know but it says but in everything by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known to God I love that not the tense that it's in a passive voice that's not an active command make your request no it's passive let your request be made known it carries the idea that they want to get out you just need to let them that for many of us if we're honest like if your soul is like a tank of water I don't know you wake up in the morning but I doubt many of us it's just a calm placid lake I mean some of you or maybe like that when you wake up in the morning you're like a chance to worship my Savior fantastic and off you go into the world for many of us there's this whole world of stress of loneliness and finances and conflict and dating somebody and not dating somebody and will I date somebody and status and all these things that are just waiting for us in our soul as soon as we wake up and for many of us they're there and you know what do I do with these and what many of us do is rather than dealing with him we go hey man I got to get to work and so what my secret is is I just stuff them down deep inside I just bury them down deep and then when I get around people and they ask me how I'm doing I'm like great man fantastic it's awesome no it's good you show up in place like this day how you doing I'm doing great man god is good all the time but not today Satan all right and that's all and meanwhile just before under the surface we're wondering if we're gonna make it if we're gonna break and what I love about this text is it's telling you it's not heroic to pretend like you don't have problems it's not heroic to pretend you're not concerned and you're certainly not meant to stuff them down deep inside what you're supposed to do is let him rise let them come up and I love that it says by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God that word prayer is to create space with God it's just a generic term for creating space for God and many of you say well then I'm too busy for that well let me tell you something if we're honest I think for many of us we're not just too busy we're inefficient I mean there's a statement in the military culture sharpshooters that slow is smooth and smooth is fast then if you're trying to rush and shooting you'll drop a clip you won't aim you'll miss your target and you'll end up being less efficient at your goal and many of us when we get up in the mornings we go oh I don't have time to pray and offer these to God so you just carry them into your day and what happens you're inefficient in the way you treat people that these things become the default mechanism by which you speak to your roommate talk to your people make decisions that it's all being driven by this because you didn't deal with it and so you're good at being busy but you're not good at being effective you're like an octopus on rollerskates a lot of movement but hopelessness is setting in because you're not moving forward and there's a better way than that we're meant to slow down make it an appointment for me first thing in the morning helps with that that I have an appointment with God and so if someone asks me to meet then I say I'm sorry I can't I have an appointment I don't tell them with the Almighty they don't need to know but I'm not gonna break it for them then I'm gonna sit with the Lord and give myself that space to be with him and it says by prayer and supplication that word supplication is more specific it's specific requests that I create space with God and then what I do is I pull out a piece of paper and I write at the top of it how do you feel and you say why do you write that because I don't often know how I feel I know that's confusing to some people in the room maybe a lot of ladies that are very in touch with your emotions like what do you mean you don't know how you feel what I mean is I don't know so I have to write it how do you feel and I'm like uh sad confused scared alone it's often a lot of negative feelings and in that moment I'll I'll do what the psalmist taught us to do why are you down cast o my soul I'll start asking that what's what what's that what's behind that and before I walk out the door and start operating out of all those insecurities I start letting them come up and go why do I feel that way well I'm insecure about this meeting why because I want that person to like me why because I want him to give me what I want why because I can get to the place I want why so that I'll feel important whoa business meetings aren't about making you feel like you're somebody that's a spiritual issue you don't need to carry that into that and so for me I've given myself the permission there was a movie I watched in high school like in social studies or something called badness and it was all about different mental disorders I remember there was one where this guy it was like way back in the day in America he was building the railroads and there was an explosion in a drove a railroad spike through the front of his head yes severed his brain but he didn't die hey but it severed his frontal lobe the part that conditions what you say or don't say and so then they're re-enacting his life of like him going to get his job back he's like I want my job back there Simon you had a spike go through your head and he's just like hey what's your name wait hold on oh my god and this guy's all over the place and that's how I pray now I've just given myself permission in that journal I'm not writing a memoir and so many people in DC do that they're like a lot of challenges today and yet I will overcome because that's what I do you like oh stop no one's gonna read it right into God as I'm scared about that I'm concerned about that I don't feel about that I'm happy about that I'm worried about that I'm angry about this I'm insecure about that just let it rise to him by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your request be made known to God and you go why we're Thanksgiving because you have the opportunity to let this stuff be made known to God that's why what's amazing about that is when he commands us to do that first Peter 5:7 says cast all your anxieties upon him that's a command if you have an anxiety cast it on him and then you're told why because he cares for you and then Psalm 55:22 says cast your tears upon the Lord why and he will sustain you he will not let the righteous fall I love it the same command but for two very different motivations cast your anxiety on to him why because he loves you cast your anxiety unto Him why cuz he'll stabilize you cast your anxiety on to him why because he's loving enough to want to hear them and strong enough to do something about it it's the best person to take him to you have permission to sit with the king you have a father who knows what you need before you ask him and it's a stabilizing thing to know that I remember when my daughter came to me one night and she it was time to go upstairs and I just picked her up to carry her upstairs and she went no I'm too heavy daddy and I was like okay one who told you that and then two you're not too heavy for daddy baby and then I did like a couple presses with her right just so she could see like you see what I'm saying alright cuz whatever somebody told her she believed that whatever she's dealing was too heavy it's not too heavy for me and some of you were carrying some stuff right now and listen let's be honest is killing you your digestion it's not working right you're socially bound up you're not thriving in life and the reality is you're trying to carry it on and there are some things you need to carry but you need to keep in mind that he wants to carry you you got a father who wants to carry you he says don't be anxious little flock I want to take care of you and Shepherd you you got you just gotta let me create the space be still sit before your God because he's loving enough to hear your problems and he's strong enough to do something about him and he's offering you come sit with your dad and when you do you get a promise in verse 7 in the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus Abraham Lincoln there was a day during the Civil War where 76,000 troops were marched into Pennsylvania and panic took hold of Washington and as these troops marched that close led by General Lee historians report Abraham Lincoln had an eerie calm about him and was able to make clear-headed decisions and so a general that he visited in the hospital that was wounded in Gettysburg asked him later how were you able to function in the middle of all that stress and here's what Abraham Lincoln said he said when everyone was panic-stricken I went to my room got down on my knees before Almighty God and I prayed soon a sweet comfort crept into my soul that God Almighty had taken the whole business into his own hands now did that free him up from having to make decisions no he's a leader but it freed him up to make good decisions do you see that some of you anxiety is just making you make really unwise choices you're supposed to cast that anxiety onto him and be liberated to make wise decisions even in the midst of the stress that's a gift he's given you my peace will come guard you it will stand guard over your heart and your mind so you can access your heart in a healthy way and think rightly you're still gonna use these things I'm just gonna protect them from the anxiety that's gonna send you run in the wrong direction that's the gift you're given if you'll create the space to sit with him Jeremiah Burroughs the old Puritan said it this way he said you don't pour wine into a shaky bottle which I just love that imagery because you can imagine that it's like would you like a glass of wine sure like he said you still the glass first and then wine gets poured in he said God has blessings he wants to pour in your life but she got to be still and some of us need to get this part right he said it's like a child when a child comes to you asking for something it may be a thing you want to give him but what are you gonna do first you wanted to calm down when they come running back and stuff goes out it stop stop and you're like hey man like you get a starve you have starved yet did I did I decide not to feed you at some point banging you got some trauma no like I'm gonna look out for you just calm down your stress about this dishonours me but you think I'm not gonna take care of you so be still ask calmly because know your father's heart delights to take care of you be still cast your anxieties onto him because he cares do you see it for me what I do in the morning is I have this little monitor I attached to my ear that measures not just your heart rate but the distance between your heartbeats it's the show they call it coherence just how calm you are and when I start in the morning it has this little reader on the phone and it always starts red which is bad and you know it's bad because of the noise it makes as it's it just goes don't just kind of inevitable like too much stress you know what you're doing like oh man and so then I just sit there and breathe let my anxieties be known to God and as I do that it's the most interesting thing it's like I'm like oh okay I got a clear mind and what's crazy about it is that's where most mindfulness practices start stop just empty your mind that's only part one of a three-part move you're not supposed to just sweep the house empty and leave it empty you're supposed to put something in and so that's why he says cast your anxieties onto him I release my anxiety to him but then there's something else I embrace that's verse eight brothers whatever is true whatever is honorable whatever is just whatever is pure whatever is lovely whatever is commendable if there's any excellence if anything worthy of praise think about those things and so I cast out of my mind my anxieties and I put into my mind holy thoughts I release my anxious thoughts and I embrace his holy thoughts that's what I do I pour out my anxieties on that page and then I open the word of God and sometimes I write it out on that page and let Ben's anxious thoughts bend around his eternal word I put something in me and what I've noticed is is I think about these things that are true what is really true let me not take God out of the equation when I'm thinking about where my career paths gonna go let me stop suddenly pretending like God's not real when I process who I should date and who I should marry let me start thinking about what is accurate about the situation on man what is an honorable way to act what is just starts thinking about those things and as I turn my mind there it liberates me to function Jeff strucker's one of my heroes Jeff's trucker was an Army Ranger in 1993 tasked and to drive the lead Humvee in the battle of mogadishu Battle of Mogadishu was famously portrayed in the movie Black Hawk Down or a small group of Special Forces were sent into the Somalian town of Mogadishu to pull out two high-value targets it was meant to be a mission that was well under an hour but in that mission two Blackhawk helicopters were downed the mission to send it into chaos and it lasted not just through the day but through the night into the next sergeant Strucker was in charge of driving the lead Humvee which was their Excel vehicle and as he was driving it they sustained their first casualty in the battle his friend who was sitting next to him but as the bullets riddled the side of his Humvee he was able to make it out of the city alive and make it back to his base and he said he got out and was just so thankful to be alive and as he was there like oh my god I can't believe I made it there were literally thousands of soldiers surrounding them shooting and I survived as he's processing that his commanding officer came to him and said hey they're still men trapped in that city I need you to get in your Humvee and drive back in there he's like you gotta be kidding me and then one of the other Special Forces men said hey before you do that you need to wash all this blood out of your truck it'll traumatize those men if they have to sit in the blood of their fallen comrade you got to clean this blood out of this truck and then drive it back in there and so he went to clean and his friends blood out of his truck and he tells the story that he just freaked out he said panic begin to struck me and I just thought how I'm gonna die I'm gonna die and he said it just kept going over and over in my head this is gonna be my blood this is gonna be my blood this is gonna be my blood he said he was completely wrapped with anxiety and then in that moment he started to pray and started to unload that under God his terror about losing his life and as he unloaded that onto God the thoughts started entering his mind of what's true God determines my story not my enemy God writes history not my enemy and so if God wants me to live today I'm gonna live if God wants me to die today I'm gonna die he said if God lets me survive today I'll get to go home and see my wife and kids if God has me die today then I will go home to me my Savior because he had faith in Jesus he said but either way I'm going home and the more he focused on that he said he calmed down he was able to function he got back in that Humvee drove into danger and rescued men and drove out and then drove back again and again and again and rescued his fallen brothers why because he was practicing I'm gonna release anxiety and I'm gonna take up what is true what is accurate about who God is what is honorable what is the best way I could act in this work environment what is just what's the thing I could do in my office that fulfills all obligations to God and men what is pure what is the thing I could say that's not duplicitous no false motives what is lovely what's a way to act that would be beautiful to people in the room what is commendable what's the kind of way I can make decisions that people would write books about saying that's the way to live life that I don't condescend to the least common denominator of my culture but I rise into the status of heroes and the way I conduct my story how can I live like that that if there's anything excellent or worthy of praise I want to think about those things that's why I read a lot of biographies because I don't want to just react to my culture I want to read the stories of men and women who lived great lives and approximate my life to them I want to dwell on beautiful commendable things because I want to be like them that I cast my anxiety onto him and I take his thoughts into me I release anxiety and I embrace the Word of God and I let it change me because every good decision is first preceded by a good thought bolstered by a courageous heart and as good thoughts are plugged in and a courageous heart season good decisions are made so what I'm talking about here is the way you live a good life a heroic life and worthy life it starts here in this lab and so I want to do this and not only do I want to read his word verse 9 says in what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me practice these things and the God of peace will be with you I love that he says I don't want you to just read about it I want you to walk in it I want you to release anxiety I want you to embrace my thoughts and then I want you to excel at the revealed things so often we want to know God's unrevealed will and he says I'm not going to tell you and then we stress about his job he's like let me do my job I've given you yours I've shown you O man what is good what the Lord requires of you love justice walk humbly with your God he's told us so I'm gonna get great at the revealed things so when I left college it was a jarring experience I know many of you have had that were education keeps you on some rails and then it's just like the rails end and your little train just goes off a cliff and free floats you like it feels bad you know and I you like where is my life going and for me I became a youth pastor I'd never had a youth pastor didn't know what one did and so I remember I showed up there and I was like what do you do if someone says we gotta go ask good youth pastor so I went and met with great youth pastors all around Texas and all had youth ministries about this size and they were saying things to me like well when you hire your seventh middle school videographer and stuff like that I'm like wait what because I had a ministry of six kids then after a few months I had worked grown to one kid and I was like man like and so they're talking about how to build an empire like this and it was overwhelming now granted I wasn't doing much but the thought of trying to take my little and make it big was too much I couldn't have it I freaked out and I quit like like a month in I felt really bad about that so I like unclick two days later but I was like I literally don't know what I'm doing with my life I don't even know what I'm doing here I don't even know if I want to be a youth pastor somebody help me and I remember a mentor telling me Ben you got to figure out why you exist why has been on the planet and I just came back to the simple truth all things are made by him and for him I made for him what's the greatest commandment to love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind love your neighbors yourself so I would put that in my calendar if my first reason Ben exists is to know and love God then I'm gonna do that every day that's the first thing that lands on my calendar and for me the screens in my life were a distraction so I got rid of my TV because I realized my my God has talked to me and I had never read most of what he had to say I'm gonna change that and I just wanted to get near him and then I wanted to make him known and what's that gonna look like well for me it was pretty easy at first was just one kid like Austin how you doing man and I talked to him and then we grew it back to five six kids and I had this little youth ministry full of punks in a technical sense you know they were like all black and like safety pins and whatnot and we would sit at Taco Bell and talk it wasn't stuff like this I didn't need a microphone it was just all right guys can you scooch all right gathering and I was like I'm gonna make God known to these six kids and I would just do that and I didn't really know how to build I just wanted to be faithful what he gave me to do and as I was faithful with the little things he taught me more things there's always faithful with those things he gave me more things you know over the course of my life I haven't known so much of what's coming but I feel like I'm living a pretty great story because I don't know a lot but I know him and I trust him and so I'm not gonna let anxiety wreck me but I'm gonna let his word dwell richly in me and then I'm gonna let my feet walk wherever he leads and I want to be excellent what is what is good and I want to be innocent of evil because when I do that not only is the peace of God with me the God of peace is with me and now great I love that parallel at the end it's not just that I want to put my peace in your heart to guard you the very God of peace steps into your story and says I'm gonna be with you I'm gonna stand with you I'm here with you in Dallas I'm here with you in that apartment know your family's not here anymore but I'm here now that person is out of your life but the maker of the Stars knows your name and he hasn't lost sight of you there's purpose in your life live into that walk with Him there's a beautiful piece there John Paton is another one of my heroes John Patton was a missionary in the 1800s sailed to the New Hebrides little island that was filled with cannibals and people warned him when he left Scotland to go there they were like cannibals John you're gonna be eaten by cannibals and his response was well sir you're advanced in age soon to be eaten by worms so whether I'm eaten by worms cannibals doesn't really matter for me I just want to be faithful it's pretty cool answer but then when he got there his new adventure and life's pretty stressful I mean you read his biography it's like an action movie they should make it a movie like he's literally people are trying to kill him like always and so he's literally out there like hey I was thinking the other day like dodging axes and people coming Adam there was one point where they had surrounded his little Hut and we're about to murder him he realized I can't escape and so he's like I don't even know what to do so he prayed and trust God opened the door and walked out and rebuked them for in hospitality he's like you know what guys frankly all this murder is rude okay not cool and he said hey look they were kind of like what and then they'd cut it got like it it messed with him they're like yeah sorry man that's weird yeah no he's right he's right dude and then they told him from now on we're gonna kill for you he's like well know that you know what okay it's a step let's start there and we just lived a crazy story by the end of his story an entire island that had he said been held captive by fear of animism was terrified of angry and capricious demons that were cruel to children and would murder women he said he got to a situation where they realized no the heavens aren't angry with you there's a God that loves you you know the gods aren't making you sacrifice your women and children to them your God gave his son for you know your God wants to do something beautiful in your life not to hold you captive by fear but to set you free to walk in the liberty of the sons and daughters of God that's why his son came to live the perfect life you can't to be the sacrifice for you that you need so you can be welcomed home not trying to earn the favor of your God but resting in the fact that you haven't it was one night on his journey when it was still very uncertain that he found out again people were coming to kill him a group of men that he didn't particularly trust told him about it and told him you had to flee and they pointed out a tree for him to climb and he wrote in his autobiography being entirely at the mercy of such doubtful and vacillating friends I though perplexed felt it best to obey I climbed into the tree and was left there alone in the bush the hours I spent there live all before me as if it were yesterday I heard the frequent discharging of muskets and the yells of the savages yet i sat there among the branches as safe as in the very arms of Jesus never and all my sorrows did my Lord draw nearer to me and speak more soothingly in my soul then when the moonlight flickered among those chestnut leaves and the night air played on my throbbing brow as I told all of my heart to Jesus alone yet not alone if it be to glorify my God I would not grudge to spend many times alone in such a tree to feel again my saviors presence to enjoy his consoling fellowship and then he asks us a question if thus thrown back upon your own soul alone all alone in the midnight in the wild in the very embrace of death do you have a friend who will not fail you then the answer is you do she said don't be anxious the world does that your father knows what you need so don't worry my little flock God delights you to give you the kingdom so you got a rescuer who's come for you you're not alone you got a God who sees you you're not alone and there's an invitation before us today to put the anxiety down and to rest and an inexhaustible an unfailing love of a God who knows you and he cares and it's strong enough to carry you if you'll let him father I want to thank you that you don't lie to us about the fact that life is hard in this world you will have trouble but we take heart because you've overcome the world and God I believe there's some people in this room then their whole life has been about I got to carry my own self pull myself up on my own bootstraps carry my own weight I got broad shoulders I can handle it I can do it my parents weren't there for me but I'm there for me nobody's looking out for me but I'm looking out for me and you've done that but how long and you know in the stillness of the night that's not how you're meant to live there's something better yes you are meant to carry great things but you are meant to be carried by the great one and as Jack said earlier that's why Jesus came to be the perfection you're not by his death to take away your guilt and shame to draw you home so you can walk in his kingdom for his glory I just believe there's some people here tonight that tonight's your night you need to put your faith in that God for the first time say if Jesus is in the business of healing I want you to heal me if the offer on the table is to know God as a father a loving father not an imperfect one like my earthly one but a perfect one that I want God to be a dad like that and if you're feeling him call you I just want you to say yes I just want you to put your faith in him you tell him yes even now while you're sitting there if that's you say yes god I want in bring me into your family by your grace and look I can't see most of you but I wonder if well every heads down and eyes closed if that's you and you're saying I want to come home I want to put my faith in Jesus would you put a hand out for me some of you I'll be able to see someone won't but it's more about you and God okay I see a lot of them alright that's man okay amazing it's incredible praise God anybody want to just tell him me God you see me and I see you and I'm coming home well that's you and you put a hand up you just tell him thank you thank you for sending your son to come get me I'll believe it and I receive it and then for those of us who know him and and even if you don't the invitations on the table tonight and here's the thing I don't want you to leave here and maybe at some point get around to casting your cares upon him we got a moment here and we're about to leave but just if you can hang in I just don't want to leave the space and and miss out on a moment right now to not say I'll cast my cares on him someday but even now you just got some space here you got some quiet and I wonder if across this room we'd be willing to just open up empty hands and say this is it for me god I know you know what it is but it's helpful for me to just say it I'm anxious about this I'm scared about that I'm uncertain about this and I don't want that anxiety to drive me so I'm trusting you I'm believing you and I'm gonna do it tonight I know I'm gonna get one thing right today if nothing else I'm gonna do what your word says and I'm gonna I'm just gonna cast this on you and believe that you're there and you care bands gonna lead us in a minute they're gonna sing and for some of us right away you're gonna want to rise up coz what they're singing is gonna be the cry of your heart you sing it out brother and you cry out this others of us you're gonna need a minute to just sit and keep pouring out your heart and you just do that when you're ready to sing you sing along but let's just have a moment here when we meet with God don't let it pass us by all across this room let us cast our cares on him and then pray by His grace that we would believe that he cares and he was big enough to carry us so much bigger and we thought he was

Channel: The Porch

Views: 14,460

Rating: 4.9363055 out of 5

Keywords: the, porch, dallas, watermark, community, church, young, adults, christian, christianity, ministry, movement, jp, todd, wagner, david, marvin, jonathan, fort, worth, faith, sermon, dating, truth, bible, advice, biblical, counsel, anxious, anxiety, worry, ben, stuart, mood, feeling, feelings, emotions, balance, life, scripture

Id: YSeDdVp6wOU

Length: 49min 22sec (2962 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 15 2019