Finding Relief from Anxiety - Craig Groeschel

hey a big welcome today to passion city church what an honor to be with you my name is craig rochelle and uh i am broadcasting from my home church with five amazing people in the audience appropriately social distancing and uh we send our love pastor louie and shelly you are the best of the best of the best uh you are heroes of the faith we applaud your ministry those of you that call passion city your home if i were you i would thank god every single day that i get to be under such amazing leadership and so wherever you're watching from from the atlanta locations i know that many of you aren't able to gather in most places but you can tell us where you're watching from in the chat right now online just tell us little shout out from whatever part of the community you're from and those of you in dc man i applaud your leader pastor ben stewart one of the best of the best of the best and it's such an honor to be with you if i can just say pastor louie and shelly your impact in my life personally is amazing amy and i love you as dear friends and your influence on our children it's unparalleled those who are with us today are big fans of your ministry and i just want to say congratulations to you on the new location um in cumberland and everyone who calls passion city your home i hope that you'll understand that god is doing more than you can even fathom god is doing so much more than you can see both through the local communities of passion city around the world uh your ministry has impacted me therefore impacting other people your ministry is touching more people than you could ever imagine it's a great honor today i want to bring god's word so if you wouldn't mind joining me for a moment in prayer father thank you so much for um amazing spiritual leaders shepherding the great people of passion city church god we pray for increased favor to reach even more people to launch even more locations god we pray that you would increase the influence of the these godly light bearers that they would be ambassadors showing and sharing the love of jesus and all that they do god bless us and speak to us from your word we pray in jesus name go ahead and type it in the chat and say amen and amen could i be transparent i'll make a little confession to you i love jesus i follow jesus i worship jesus and yet i still battle with anxiety i love jesus i truly do i honor him but i still battle with overwhelming feelings of anxiety some of you may be able to relate and i'll tell you just a little bit of my story um just like your pastor i lead a church that in march was unable to meet physically which is quite disorienting for a pastor i know that many of you face your own challenges that are very similar and i was looking to get a little time off in march and that didn't happen and then right when things looked like they might go back to normal we had kind of the um increased awareness of the ongoing racial tensions and injustices which um is a complicated time to lead through and lead through well and i found myself with this just overwhelming sense of heaviness what do i do how do i lead the church um how do i represent the injustice as well and speak truth in a way that brings life and healing when i feel so inadequate and unprepared and so what's happened quite honestly is um many times in the middle of the evening i would wake up just at two o'clock in the morning and i'd try to pray but i find myself with just an overwhelming shortness of breath like literally it's hard for me just to even catch my breath and i couldn't go back to sleep and i would break out into sweats and this this this unvery unusual very very real anxiety so to be clear i know jesus i love jesus i'm following jesus and yet i still battle with anxiety some of you might be able to relate many of you maybe for years and years some of you um just just this year it's kind of new for you because let's be honest 2020 is the longest year in history right in fact i just know one day that 2020 is going to be an adjective people would be like don't go 20 20 on me you know or you're actually so 20 20 right now i mean this is the craziest time and it's no wonder i mean you introduce this mysterious virus um that spreads like wildfire you shut down the world you you disrupt every normal routine that you have you add to it massive economic fears and racial tensions and political um division and you've got what some would say would be biased news and a bunch of freaked out people i don't know if there's anybody at your church doing this but at my church there's all these freak out people sharing their conspiracy theories on social media and all of a sudden you wake up it's no wonder so many people feel afraid so many people feel lonely so many feel uncertain so many of us are battling with this loss of control we feel helpless some feel hopeless and many people today maybe even you you feel overwhelming sense of anxiety here's what's interesting according to the national center for health um some researchers compared the anxiety level of people in july of last year as opposed to july of this year let me share with you what they found in july of 2019 barely a year ago 8.2 of adults showed signs of anxiety disorder 8.2 one year later from 2019 to 2020. now 36 wow of adults showed signs of anxiety disorder it's no wonder the world is so different and so many of us don't know how to cope what i want to do today is i want to bring passion city a word of hope a word of comfort and a word that i pray builds your faith and i want to talk to you about anxiety now let's acknowledge for a minute that anxiety is a very very complicated subject and i'm not trying to be an expert in fact we need to acknowledge that anxiety can be physiological it can be emotional it could be situational it can be spiritual and so if you are battling with severe anxiety you'd be wise to see experts to see a doctor who might help you with your diet or supplements or maybe prescription medicine you'd be wise to get counseling and i'm not trying to pretend like i'm prepared to speak on those levels but as a pastor what i want to do is i want to speak on a spiritual level to how do we deal with anxiety so from a spiritual level if you're a christian some people might say well if i'm a christian and i feel anxious have i failed god in other words is it a sin to feel anxious and i want to be very very clear and help you understand it's not a sin to feel anxious anxiety is a little bit like anger it's not a sin to feel angry paul said in your anger do not sin anger can lead to sin anxiety can lead to sinful behavior but feeling anxious in of itself is not necessarily a sin in fact it might surprise you and maybe even comfort some of you in the same way it comforted me to see that jesus perhaps even battled with anxiety i'm going to show it to you how jesus responds to overwhelming anxiety could give us a clue how we can respond spiritually what did jesus do when he felt overwhelmed how did jesus respond when he had so much anxiety that he said my soul is overwhelmed even to the point of death i'll show you what jesus did jesus started talking when anxiety rose up jesus talked back and i want to show you three ways you can talk yourself through anxiety like jesus did how do you find relief and anxiety the first thing we learn from jesus is this we learn number one it's often wise to talk to your friends talk to people that you love and love you talk to your friends in fact to give you context of mark's gospel we're going to be in mark 14. um this was after the last supper jesus was with his small group he was with his disciples and one of his closest friends judas slips out the side to go and betray jesus and jesus takes his disciples to the garden he takes three of his closest friends to pray with them and we read in mark 14 32 that they went to a place called gethsemane becoming means the crushing they went to this place and jesus said to his disciples he said to his friends hey you guys sit here while i pray and he took peter james and john along with him and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled you might feel a similar way deeply distressed an overwhelming sense of heaviness what's going to happen am i going to be able to keep my job what if what if someone i love get sick what if i get sick this overwhelming sense of of trouble in fact i like the way the message translates this verse the message says of jesus he plunged into a sinkhole of dreadful agony why would jesus plunge into a sinkhole of dreadful agony well jesus as the son of god he knew what was coming he knew that he would be arrested he knew he would be tortured he knew that he would die the most brutal death of crucifixion we get our word excruciating from crucifixion it means x out of crucif out of the cross the most painful way to die even worse jesus if you remember he never ever sinned and he would become sin think about it hatred and shame anger rape lying corruption greed whatever whatever sin you can imagine jesus becomes that on the cross and when he does his father in whom he's always had contact intimate fellowship his father turns away because god can't look upon sin and jesus cries out perhaps the most painful thing my god my god where are you why have you forsaken me jesus sinks into this sinkhole of dreadful agony and i want you to watch his honesty with his friends see i don't know if you've ever noticed it or not but sometimes christians lie the most you ever notice that like when you're like christian the christians like how you doing i'm fine praise the lord brother hallelujah i'm doing great hello thank you jesus i'm doing fine jesus doesn't do any of that okay when his friends are looking at him he is incredibly honest to them and here's what he says to his friends he talks to his friends and he says hey guys my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death stay here and keep watch with me in other words this weight that i'm feeling is so heavy it it may kill me that's how honest jesus was my soul my inside is so heavy i don't even know if i can survive this weight this agony this anxiety that i'm feeling and so he tells his friends essentially here's what i'm going through and i really really need you um i'm convinced that perhaps for some of you one of the biggest reasons right now that you're feeling anxious is because you're lacking community you're lacking the intimacy of the body of christ to surround you to comfort you to hold you to lift you to point you toward jesus to to be strength for you when you feel so weak in fact i'm absolutely convinced that it's going to take years of study years from now to see just how much the season of isolation and quarantines and distancing how many different ways this impacts us relationally impacts us spiritually impacts our soul by being distant from the support system that we so need jesus said i need you to pray i need you to pray in fact i like this it's kind of like the difference between just praying for and praying with like if you pray for me and i pray for you like hey i'm praying for you passion city that's really good but if we get together and i don't just pray for you from a distance but if we pray with each other there's something powerful about locking hands about calling on heaven together about binding together and loosing together and calling on the name of jesus together he says guys i need you he talks to his friends and says my soul is overwhelmed to the point of death will you pray for me what did jesus do when he felt overwhelmed what did he do whenever he felt anxious well the first thing he did is he talked to his friends in fact one of the very most common things i hear i know so many churches are unable to meet many of my friends or churches can't meet the moment someone goes back into a physical location and thank god for online thank god thank god thank god thank god but when they come back to a physical relation so often what do they do they just cry and cry and cry and say i had no idea how much i missed experiencing god with my brothers and sisters in christ oh whenever passion city is able to open up in all the places again and you know you can go in safely i know you'll be overwhelmed with the presence and the love of god through his people there's something about not just praying for not just worshiping from a distance but praying and worshipping with what do you do when you have that heaviness well first of all you talk to your friends the second thing we learn from jesus is you talk to your father you talk to your heavenly father let's unpack this a little bit i don't know about you but one thing that gives me anxiety is a little red light that comes on the dash of my car anybody know what i'm talking about you know it can be the little exclamation point it can be the check engine light whatever it is think about that red light if you see the red light we have to acknowledge the light is not the problem what is the red light it's a signal to take the car to the manufacturer what is anxiety anxiety is a signal alerting you that it's time to pray in fact it was the apostle paul who said this he said don't get anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and petition don't get anxious about a thing but in everything with prayer and petition presents your request to god and when you pray about it and when you give it to god the peace of god which goes beyond your human ability to understand will guard your hearts and your minds in christ jesus in other words passion city if it's big enough to worry about it's big enough to pray about when you feel anxiety talk to your father if you're worried about your marriage pray about your marriage if you're worried about the election pray about it the economy pray about it your job pray about it a decision you need to make what do we do are we going to homeschool we can send them back how we're going to do this school coming up and all the complications oh my gosh it's so crazy pray about it if you're worried about your loved one getting sick pray about it if you're worried about getting sick and getting that swab shoved up your nose where it tickles the back of your brain ah pray about it if it's on your mind it's on god's heart if it's big enough to worry about it's big enough to pray about what is anxiety it's a signal alerting you you need the presence of your father you talk to your friends and you talk to your father watch jesus do this he's overwhelmed his soul is aching he knows what's coming and scripture says going a little farther he fell to the ground and what did he do he prayed he talked to his heavenly father and he said if it's possible that this hour might pass from him god i know i pray god remove this cup of suffering he said abba father everything is possible for you take this cup from me what i like about this prayer is it was just honest it wasn't like a memorized prayer sometimes i think one of the worst things we can do for our kids is like just teach them to pray memorize prayers like now i lay me down to sleep if i should die before i awake i just pray the lord my soul to take anybody pray that prayer what parent thought that was a good thing to teach a four-year-old if i should die before i wake all i know is i could die tonight and somebody could take my soul okay that's just like crazy jesus is like this this very honest gut level prayer i don't really want to go through this god if there's any other way let's do it another way here's what i hope you'll understand about god is that he loves you and he understands your pain peter said this peter said to cast your cares upon god unleash them whatever's on your heart just tell them to god i am completely convinced that god would rather you shout at him question him yell at him than to walk away or just fake it god is big enough to handle your honest heartfelt prayers jesus just cries out to god i i i'm in agony i'm falling apart is there any other way you can do that same thing whatever's on whatever's on your heart i'm scared god i'm afraid i'm angry at you god why'd you let this happen god is big enough to handle the honest cries of your heart it's on your mind it's on god's heart what do you do when you're overwhelmed with anxiety well we can do what jesus did you talk to his friends i need you pray for me don't don't leave me you're so important to me he talked to his father god i'm begging you can we do it any other way the third thing that you can do when you feel anxious is you can talk to your feelings you can talk directly to your feelings question passion city be honest any of you have like jacked up whacked out crazy feelings ever okay my gosh i do sometimes people say like follow your feelings follow your heart follow your feelings don't do that don't do that okay if i followed my feelings i'd be in jail by noon tomorrow but don't don't just follow your feelings you can feel your feelings your feelings are real but your feelings are not always true in other words i have to tell myself that i am not necessarily what i'm feeling my feelings aren't necessarily true so you can talk to your feelings you don't need to let your feelings control you what what do you say to your feelings you can say feelings you're not the boss of me you know you don't get to tell me what to do because feelings don't always reflect reality i don't know how many times i felt so overwhelmed so afraid of something i just knew was going to happen and it didn't happen at all so we're going to talk to our feelings we're going to talk to them this is what jesus did watch what he did he says in verse 36 he says abba father everything god everything is possible for you god here's what i want you to do take this cup from me and you can almost see jesus talking to his own feelings i don't wanna i don't wanna suffer yet not when i will but what you will not my will god but your will be done feelings it's not what you want because i know you don't want to suffer but feelings we're going to do what our father wants what did you just feel like here's what i promised you he didn't feel like going to the cross i'm so glad jesus didn't do what he felt like doing he said not my will but what my father wants we can do is we can speak to our feelings and i have to do this all the time i may not feel like preaching i may not feel like being loving i may not feel like doing what's right but what i want to do is i want to speak to my feelings and i want to align my feelings with god's truth so if you start to feel like well god doesn't love me you say no no that's a feeling that's not truth for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son god loves me god loves not just what god does but love is who god is no god loves me this is the truth if you feel like you're alone i'm always gonna be alone i'm always gonna i'm always gonna be alone no no they say no my god will never leave me he will never ever forsake me if you feel worried about money finances you say no no the truth is my god he will provide all my needs according to his riches in glory that are in christ jesus when you start to feel like a victim everybody's down to get me i can't trust anybody i'm never going to get ahead in life everything's going no no no no i scripture says and an overcomer by the blood of the lamb and by the words of his testimony there's somebody here you need to talk to your feelings you're not the boss of me here's what scripture says i am who god says i am i'm not what others think i'm not what somebody did i'm not what i feel in this moment you just talk to your feelings i am exactly who god says i am feelings you align with god's truth even if i don't feel it i'm going to choose to believe what god says is true about me what did jesus do when he had anxiety he talked to his friends he talked to his father he talked to his feelings in passion city here's what i want you to notice it worked meaning it made a difference when he called out on his friends jesus the son of god needed people when he called out to his father and when he talked to his feelings and aligned them with god's truth it worked think about it jesus stumbled into the garden overwhelmed with soul crushing anxiety the soldiers came to arrest him he faced unjust trials and unspeakable torture excruciating pain shame and death on the cross was jesus anxious then no he was resolute strong determined unshakable he was the one who said no man takes my life i lay it down and he went to the cross and whenever the creation whenever the people mocked him hurled insults at him beat him mercilessly spit on him what did jesus do he didn't break he didn't break down he looked up to heaven he said father please forgive them but they don't even know what they're doing and then he said dad i did what you sent me to do it's finished into your hands i commit my spirit [Music] when god in the flesh a body just like you're just like mine felt anxious about what was coming he talked to his friends he talks to his father and he talked to his feelings and this is what i've been doing like this is what i've been doing i've been talking to uh to very dear friends my wife some close friends some people in in my small group a couple of pastor friends i've been talking through just very honestly yeah i'm dealing with some real anxiety and i've been talking to my heavenly father god i really need you i've had some really really honest prayers from the depths of my heart i've been talking a lot to my feelings because honestly a lot of times my feelings are really really different than god's truth and what i would say is it's a process that's working meaning i'm not completely out of the anxiety but i know where to go when the little signal goes out this is a signal alerting me it's time to depend on the people in my life it's time to call out on the one who created my life and it's time to align my feelings with the author of life it's a signal alerting me yeah you may need to go see a doctor you may need to do a lot but spiritually speaking we need god's people we need his presence and we need his truth the apostle paul said this philippians 4 6 and 7 this is amazing don't miss this passion city paul said do not be anxious about anything would that include the election probably so don't be anxious about the election you could have said don't be anxious about your future don't be anxious about your children don't be anxious about a sickness don't be anxious about marriage trials whatever but in every situation whatever is weighing on you in this moment in every situation by prayer in petition with thanksgiving you present your request to god and the peace of god which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in christ jesus i love this it's the peace of god it's the peace of god it is the peace of god it's not your peace and it's not of this world in other words the world can't give it and the world can't take it away what do you know your god is good your god is doing more than you can see what you're going through may be preparation for you to help someone else to get through their storm because there's no storm that our god won't bring you through there's no obstacle our god won't help you overcome there's no enemy that god won't defeat and there is no heartache that god won't heal so i'll tell you again i love jesus i know jesus and i faithfully try to serve jesus and yet i still battle with a little bit of anxiety if that's you jesus shows us exactly what to do you need the people of passion city you need the family of faith talk to them cry out to your father he can handle the honest cries of your heart any time your feelings don't align with truth align your feelings and say even though i feel this this is what's true and when you call out on god and we're going to do that today there is a peace from heaven that will guard your hearts and your souls in christ jesus so father we ask for the amazing faithful people of passion city for those god that are hurting those who feel anxious god i know i'm not qualified to speak into all the conditions but spiritually god we know what we can do when that little signal is going off it's alerting us we need you god we need your people and we need your truth so holy spirit i pray today that you would do a work on heavy hearts as we cast our cares on you and you can just you if you've got to care you might even want to just if it's appropriate type it in the chat i'm trusting you with my child i'm my teenager i'm trusting you with my future i'm trusting you god with my job i'm trusting you god uh with with with with with this i'm trusting you god and cast your cares upon god and as we do god may your peace that goes beyond our ability to understand right now in this moment right now guard our hearts and our souls as you keep praying today there are some of you might you might think oh my gosh i'm far from god i've done too much i've i've been too bad let me tell you about the goodness of god right now i want you to line your feelings with that which is true the truth is that god loves you that god sent his son jesus who is jesus he is the sinless son of god who became sin on the cross and died in your place so that anyone and this includes you no matter what you've done doesn't matter how dark your life feels right now doesn't matter how anxious you are sometimes god may even allow us to get to a low place so all we can do is look up and call on him and you recognize i need jesus i want his presence i need his forgiveness i need his grace when you call on the name that is above every name in the name of jesus god hears your prayers he will forgive your sin you may have tuned in and are watching for this moment you need the grace of jesus what do you do just turn from your sins turn toward him and when you do god will hear the cries of your heart he will forgive every sin and you'll become brand new those today you may just type it in the chat i'm giving my life to jesus and and as you are wherever you are i would just encourage you to pray this prayer with me from your heart just pray heavenly father please forgive my sins jesus change me and make me new fill me with your spirit so i could follow you serve you and show your love my life is not my own i give it all to you in jesus name i pray amen and amen i would encourage you today if you're praying that prayer men plug in come back to passion city church online when the church opens up in your community you go there and get plugged in and if you committed your life to jesus today would you just text the number on the screen that way one of our amazing passion city leaders can reach out and care for you pastor louis amen i love you we're honored to be with you thank god every day you get to be a part of passion city church where jesus is doing more than you can ever even imagine you

Channel: Passion City Church

Views: 15,642

Rating: 4.9426932 out of 5

Keywords: louie giglio, passion city church worship, louie giglio sermons, passion city, giglio louie, city church, passion, giglio, passion city church sermons, Atlanta, temptations, passion church, louis giglio, cumberland, craig groeschel, watching jesus, craig groeschel sermons, pastor craig groeschel, craig groeschel dangerous prayers, Finding Relief from Anxiety, Anxiety, release anxiety, passion city church online, victory in jesus, jesus, mental health, mental health anxiety

Id: 7_yhxGkpsTo

Length: 33min 16sec (1996 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 31 2020