I Changed My Mind About Worry and Anxiety | Jimmy Evans

now Southlake to those of us from Amarillo to drive to Dallas South Lake was a Dairy Queen and so when pastor Robert you know told me he was planning in South Lake I thought god bless him he wants to be a little country preacher and you know because South Lake back then I had to drive you know many miles to get to hotel when the church began what a fantastic church what a fantastic pastor that you have in Robert and there Debbie Morris there my dear friends let me tell you pastor Robert is respected around the world is one of the best Bible teachers in the world one of the best pastors in the world and it's hard to describe the demand that is on his life I have a similar you know kind of a calling on my life and I know the demand and there is a physical aspect to that and I told pastor Robert I said the most difficult thing in the world is to carry a divine calling in an earthly body you know and it just really is the truth and so pastor Robert has done a stellar job of fulfilling his call to this church but also to the body of Christ at large and put him in your prayer list every single day just for physical grace that's something I ask people to pray for me about because there is a true before I became a preacher I didn't understand the demands and the stress that comes through that even you know even trusting in God to doing everything right but I'm just so proud of pastor Robert and Debbie so proud of this church and so proud to be a part of it now now next week I actually won't be here Pastor Tom will be bringing a part of this series next week it'll actually be using my notes to bring a message from this series I'll be in Amarillo next Saturday I'm not trying to one-up you Pastor Robert but next Saturday we celebrate 40 years of marriage can I do so I'm not trying to one-up and next we also are celebrating this is my thirtieth year as the senior pastor of Trinity fellowship and amarilla and this is the 20th anniversary of marriage today and so it's a very special time so next weekend will be an Emeril and they're giving us a special reception there but this series is called I changed my mind and it's talking about transforming the way that we live through the power of truth the power of God's Word in this message is called I changed my mind about worry and anxiety at the end of this message I believe that you will not see worry and anxiety the same nor will you experience it the same that's my prayer in Romans chapter 12 this will be the theme Scripture now of this series Paul says I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is your reasonable service and do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God he says don't be conformed to this world that word the word conformed is where we get our word schematic it means identical in the way that they think Paul is saying if you're gonna live your life for God and present your body as a sacrifice to God you can't think the way the world thinks you have to learn a new way of thinking and it says let your mind be transformed or your life be transformed by the renewing of your mind the word transform there is the Greek word Metamorpho where we get our word metamorphosis that's why the graphic of this series is a butterfly that a cocoon that turns into a butterfly a total transformation once we're saved that is important related to our eternal address but you can be on your way to heaven living a very earthly life and living the way that everybody else lives and experiencing the same defeat that everybody else does but the victory comes by the renewing of our mind and the renewing of our thoughts so I want to talk in this message in fact the the next my next three messages this one is on worrying anxiety the next one is on insecurity okay you probably have never felt insecure but those crazy friends of yours do and you need to help them out someone to talk to you about that and then the last message is on fear so we're going to talk about worrying insecurity or worry and anxiety insecurity and fear and what the Bible has to say about that and the way that that changes the way that we think in the way that we live so this message of course is on wearing anxiety but I want to worry anxiety and fear are really the same thing emotionally they're dis experienced on different levels worry anxiety and fear there's Stairsteps so fear is in even fear is experienced in different intensities and I say Poodle to Pitbull fear you know when you're experiencing fear I delivered appliances in college for my uncle and I was delivering a washer one day with a friend of mine and we were delivering it and I was pulling the Google washer through the house on a set of dollies and he was on the other side of the washer and had this horrible look on his face and so we put installed the washer and they had this little poodle in the house and so when we got back in the truck I said what was that look on your face he said that poodle bit me from the time we walked in the time we walked out and I said it hurt he said he didn't have any teeth it just worried me you know so there's poodle type of fear but then there's pitbull fear okay fear isn't a negative emotion caused by a real or perceived threat to our well-being a negative there's a threat to our well-being so we feel this emotion anxiety again is experienced in different intensities and I have cowboy game - company layoffs how many of you get nervous during cowboy games I'm the biggest cowboy fan in the world I'll always be a cowboy fan I can't root for any other team because I hate all of them I've been trained since birth date every team but the cowboys they are my team but I just I'm always amen thank you for that but and in my congregation Amarillo they torment me because anyone that is anything other than a Cowboy fan wears their jerseys and jackets and hats and all that kinds just to torment me and so we have an ultra call for them to get saved every service but you know the anxiety is to be uneasy and nervous about an event person or problem I can't control I'm anxious because I can't control it I wish I could control it but I can't so I feel anxious about that worry and I have whether to wedding kind of worry and worry is to mentally dwell on difficulty or trouble it just means a chronic concern and against this is the the least level I'm worried but worry can become anxiety and fear and fear fear can subside to anxiety and worry so it's really the same emotion is just experienced on different levels but we're commanded as scripture not to do all three we are commanded in Scripture not to fear not to be anxious enough worried now listen listen what I'm about to say that God would never command us not to do something if we didn't have the ability not to do it right exactly right am i right you say man if you agree okay you agree so God has commanded all of us not to fear okay the the by the way the commandment do not fear or fear not is the most common commandment the Bible God created us to live in peace not in fear let me let me make this statement and I'll make this statement probably again in my last message as much as you know the presence of God by peace you know the presence of the devil by fear God never created us to live in fear and that's why constantly through the Bible we are commanded do not fear God does not want us to live that way and then in Philippians 4:6 the scripture I'll read in just a little bit the Apostle thought Paul says be anxious for nothing be anxious for nothing and I'll read the entire scripture in just a minute and we'll talk about it anxiety the Bible says be anxious for not one thing we have the ability to live without being anxious about one thing you say stress anxiety stress on whatever level it is the number one reason for sickness and disease in America today the number one reason for prescribed medications is stress and anxiety the number one reason for doctor's office visits is stress and anxiety it is a killer on every level it literally causes us to live not as long is to have a shorter lifespan and then worry Jesus said in Matthew 6:25 therefore I say to you do not worry about your life what you will eat or what you will drink nor about your body what you will put on and Jesus also told us by the way that we were not to worry about tomorrow because tomorrow he said has enough problems of its own so don't worry about tomorrow he would never say that if we didn't have the ability now not to do that so I grew up worrying I grew up with fear anxiety and worry I just remember as a kid I was always worried and I had you know different fears and I didn't I didn't act like I was worried I you know I kind of carried myself in a way that I didn't I didn't seem to be fearful about other people but I was I had a lot of fear and anxiety in my life it caused physical problems especially skin problems when I was a kid eczema and different kind of problems that I had one time I went to the doctor with a skin problem I was probably about 20 or 21 years old and when I said doctor I've got this skin problem right here and the doctor said okay great and left the room and the nurse came in and I just wanted the prescription you know I just wanted him to give me a prescription I'll go get my prescription filled go home happy I got my medicine and the nurse came in with a cassette tape player for those of you remember cassette tapes and she put it on the counter and said the doctor wants you to listen to this and she pushed the play button walked out and it was on worried and I and I was so mad I was just over I didn't come here to get preached to you know I just want my medicine but the problem that I had was not a physical problem it was an emotional problem that became a physical problem and that was the problem I had relationship prob so I had problems with people pleasing and problems with control all at the same time I had all kinds of problems and so I got saved and when I got saved it helped obviously it helped the baptism the Holy Spirit helped a lot and then I came into the ministry I came from the appliance business my father's appliance business I had never been to seminary a year earlier I had been in business I'd come on as a marriage counselor in pre marriage counselor Trinity fellowship in Emerald we were members of the church ten months later in June of 1983 I became the senior pastor a year earlier I'd been the appliance business never done a funeral never done a wedding never let his staff only prepared for a couple of sermons I didn't know it the first time I did a funeral I had to ask the guy at the funeral home what to do it was pretty bad and so I just I and I had so when I came to ministry fear of man fear of failure fear of rejection fear of financial failure anxiety about everything in that church was wrong the church was doing well but I lived in constant anxiety and fear which put Karen and I into position relational problems emotional problems I was a distracted father on and on and on all because of fear anxiety and worry in my life at that point in the root of all fear anxiety and worry is the same it's an orphan spirit let me tell you something about God he absolutely loves to be a daddy and the context of Jesus statement of not worrying was the context of God being our father and the reason that I grew up with so much fear anxiety and worry is because I didn't know that I had a father I didn't know somebody was taking care of me and I did not even though I prayed as a pastor a young pastor and even though I had a relationship with God I just didn't understand how much he loves being a father and I only say this the I have two children four grandchildren I absolutely loved being a father and I apps and I loved being a grandfather even more I love being a father I'm Pappy his blip bought my grandkids called me I love em Pappy and my grandchildren are never a bother to me and what would hurt me the most is if they didn't let me Pappy him when my children or my grandchildren asked me to do something it is one of the greatest joys in my life God and I'm evil compared to him he adores you he knows every hair on your head he knows everything that you're facing and what he loves the most is to daddy us through every circumstance in our lives the root issue of all fear worry and anxiety chronic fear worry and anxiety is an orphan spirit and not understanding how much God loves well I want to tell you about a dream that I had I don't have spiritual dreams let me just say that right up front I don't have spiritual dreams I have two categories of Dreams dumb dreams that I don't remember and dumb dreams that I do remember I'm praying to God my dreams don't mean anything I have the dumbest dream so I but I had a spiritual dream on January 17th of this year and it was a spiritual dream and I'll tell you about it now Karen and I you know Karen I watch shows together TV shows together we record shows American Idol so I would watch them and I always know Karen's trying to get rid of me because she turns her shows on you know garden channel of Cooking Channel hallmark movies I always fall asleep when I say that excuse me and hallmark movies so we were watching TV one night she turned on a hallmark movie which meant leave the room right now and so I went in my office at home and I watched one of my Chinese war movies I love Chinese war movies and I'm talking about actual made in China with these subtitles they're fantastic and so I went I went to my office and I turned on War of the arrows it's a fabulous movie now let me say that you you don't probably want your kids to watch it lots of folks get killed by arrows you know war war of the arrows so I watched War of the arrows and war of the arrows the theme of war of the arrows is fear and there's a father who lives in China but it's a corrupt China and his father has withstood the Chinese government and and stood against them and they're attacking him then beginning of the movie they're attacking him and so they're attacking his home and he has a little ten-year-old boy the little boy is terrified and the father is about to get killed his whole family is getting killed and the father is about to die he grabs his ten year old son and said go get your sister and run to your uncle's house and the boys crying and screaming and he grabs the boy and say you face your fears you get your sister and you get out of here and you go to your uncle's house right now so the little boys crying he gets his sister his father gets killed he runs to his uncle's house and the rest of the movie now is this boy growing up into being a warrior in facing his fears the entire movie is that so I go to sleep so after watching war of the arrow that's the right time to go to sleep yes so I would just really in the right mood so I go to sleep and all night long I have this dream vivid I'm color blind so any time I dream in color it's of God so I go to bed and I'm having this 3d full color dream and in my dream there are three hundred three or four or five hundred people just all my favorite people Church people my family Karin's their kids and grandkids are there my mom and dad were both there at 35 years old my mom's 84 yesterday she turned 84 my dad passed away four years ago but my mom and dad were both in the dream at 35 years old healthy happy and it's just everybody was having a great time everybody was partying and having a great time and so I look over and Osama bin Laden is sitting at a table in in this big church group okay and we have it we kept he's hey he's handcuffed he's very docile they're whole green vivid vivid Osama bin Laden is sitting right there okay and so he's handcuffed and what we all know is we captured him and we're going to execute it okay we all it's just a common thing that we all know so we're just having a great time everybody's visited in having a good time except me and Osama bin Laden Osama bin Laden is not in a great mood we're about to kill it so and but I'm worried all night long I'm sitting here and so I'm looking around and everybody's having a great time everybody's partying visiting and the more they do the more it bothers me and so I'm sitting there and I'm thinking you know if we've got a song with bin Laden here we're probably being surrounded by al-qaeda right now and so I look over our security people and we have fabulous security people like you do and I look over in our head security guys named Larry and Larry and all of our security guys are just happy talking visiting and so I looked over and I said Larry Larry and I'm worried to death about Osama bin Laden is sitting right there and so I said Larry and Larry's just talk and visitant I said Larry and he just visited I said Larry and he turn around yeah pastor Jimmy and I said do we have a gun and he said just like this just happy-go-lucky I don't know I'll look into that and he turned around and I thought we just captured bin Laden we're probably surrounded by every bad person on earth right now we don't so I start going through the place looking for a gun and finally after searching from hours I find a 38 special and I think well thank God we have one gun and I put the gun in my belt came back everybody's just having the biggest time in the world and I am just completely frustrated and bothered and so finally it's the end of the night it's time to kill bin Laden and so we I said to the security guys let's take him in the shed back here we're gonna kill him and so we go in the shed back there I'm the only one with the gun so we're in this shed and I picked the gun up and all the security guys around me bin Laden law I've never caused any trouble he was just there so I pulled put the gun up against his head and when I put up the gun up against his head I turned all the people in the room and said don't tell anybody who pulled this trigger I don't want them to come after me and I woke up and when I woke up I thought oh my gosh I've been dreaming that for hours that's all night long and the Lord said I want to talk to you about this when you get up and so I said okay so about three or four in the morning so when I woke up to have my quiet time I was sitting there and the Lord said this to me son you've overcome fear in your life and I have overcome fear that's one thing that I had overcome and here's what he said to me I'll never forget it he said you never thought about me and your dream and I thought not one time never in my dream one time did the thought about God come up here's the second thing that Lord said to me why did you wait till the end of the night to execute him it was in your power to do at the beginning of the night and here's the third thing Lord said to me because he sat in your midst you could not enjoy your family and friends I can't tell you how many times in my life that the joy of my life is in robbed by worry and anxiety and in the midst of my family and in the midst of the people that I enjoy the most I couldn't enjoy it and the Lord said here's how you're gonna overcome worry and anxiety focus on me consider worry and anxiety is enemies of your life that you're gonna deal with every day at the beginning of the day and enjoy the people in your life and stop worrying I've changed my mind about worry and anxiety and I want you to listen what I'm saying they are not normal and inevitable they're common but they're not normal Jesus is normal everything else isn't normal see the reason that worry exists so often is because we just think it's normal it's not normal it's common but it's not normal it doesn't have to be in our life in this way it's robbing us of God it's robbing us of our family and then it distracts me from God in people it robs me of my joy and it exists because I allow it to exist listen to what I'm saying worry exists and anxiety exists because we allow we are in complete control of our lives God would never command us to do something that we don't have the ability to do so when God says do not fear do not worry do not be anxious we have the power of doing it so let me tell you how to overcome worrying anxiety and I'm done number one consider them as agents of the enemy to destroy your life and to rob you of your joy consider worry and anxiety as enemies what's the significance of bin Laden in my dream the enemy was present but he wasn't active he wasn't killing us he wasn't hurting us he was just sitting there he was just sitting right in the middle worry and anxiety means the devil has implanted something in your life that's just sitting there intimidating you and because of that you can't focus on God and the people that you love and that's the greatest problem with worrying anxiety it robs you of your ability to worship to love the people that you love and all of that at the end of that night I had not visited with one person in my dream everyone was loving each other everyone was enjoying each other but I can't remember a conversation in that dream except yelling at Larry my whole dream was worried about the outcome of bin Laden so it's an enemy every morning I wake up number two turn every anxious and worried some thought into a prayer until victory every worried semanas just thought I'm gonna pray until I get victory this is Philippians Ford that I referred to earlier be anxious for nothing not one thing but in everything in prayer supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and the peace which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ be anxious for not one thing so limit let's don't be religious about this listen and not only be spiritual about it okay when you wake up in the morning don't have a prayer list don't have a prayer list have a list that says this this is what's bothering me today that have you ever tried to pray in your mind wanders you know what your mind is wondering to what you really ought to be praying about and you're sitting there trying to pray but you're thinking about the guy that you hate and you have to have a meeting with him today and your mind is wandering at this anxious thought about money or something you're trying to be religious and pray these nice prayers you'll either worry you'll either pray or you're worried and your old worry list is your new prayer list attack bin Laden every morning don't let bin Laden sit in your life all day robbing you of God in the people that you love and every morning that you wake up he's there there's a financial bin Laden there's a relational bin Laden there's a health bin Laden there's a bin lot there's an enemy and planted there and they're not necessarily attacking you they're just there and you know that they're there and all day long rather than being able to enjoy your life and the people in your life you're just focused on the potential liability the potential harm that's going to come from this situation today or sometime in the future so you just can't ever enjoy your life you can't ever enjoy God and that's the problem so let me go back through this scripture be anxious for nothing but in everything with prayer and supplication supplication means anything that helps you pray more effectively fasting reading the word worship anything that helps you in your prayers with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God what does that mean listen to me you say with Thanksgiving I'm gonna let my requests made unto God that's that means God thank you for all the things that you've done for me that's not what that means with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God means as I'm praying I'm thanking him that he loves me he's hearing me and he's gonna answer my prayer god I think Jesus said father I thank you that you hear my prayers I thank you for I'm coming to you because you're my loving daddy you know everything going on in my life and you care about it and I'm thanking you right now that you're hearing this prayer and you're gonna answer me from heaven and you walk through the all day long not worrying about whether God's gonna do it you're thanking God because you know he's the best daddy in the universe listen well father children are fearless children the root of all fear worry and anxiety is an orphan spirit because orphans are on their own and they have to take care of their own problems and the devil wants you to feel as though that you're on your own and you have to solve your own problems you have the best father in the universe stop grieving over the father you didn't have and start rejoicing that you have the best father in the universe he is your daddy he loves being your daddy and he loves helping you process anything in your life nothing is too small nothing is too large he just enjoys the ride he just enjoys the relationship and as we're sitting here obsessing about something what it means is we're wasting the relationship I'm gonna say something to you and I'm telling you the truth if Bill Gates was your daddy you'd never worry about money again right well your daddy can buy bill gates a million times over and not exhaust his pocket change huh if I'm preaching good you say Amen thank you well so with Thanksgiving let your request be made known to God and the peace that passes comprehension it's called dumb peace peace that you're either done or you have the peace of God you know the peace and everybody's looking at you saying what are you on peace listen you know you've prayed enough when you get peace the Saints of old called it praying through and they say I'm gonna pray through this issue and what they meant was I'm gonna pray until I get that peace and it says it will guard your heart in your mind your thoughts and your feelings the word guard there is the Greek word of Pirolo and it means to guard against the military invasion don't be anxious for anything but in everything with prayer and more prayer let your requests go to God in prayer with Thanksgiving thank him that he's listening he's going to do it and the peace of God that passes you you won't even understand why you have so much peace it will set a military guard around your mind and heart so the devil cannot penetrate it with fear worry and anxiety somebody say Amen it's the best news in the world don't make it religious don't make it spiritual make it practical what's eating at you what are you worried about what's coming against you hold hands with daddy and attack it put your eyes on God kill bin Laden the first thing don't let him sit in your midst all day long don't let him ruin your life and ruin your party and your ruin your relationships attack him every morning attack him before he sits there all day long and enjoy your life by faith knowing that your daddy is in control and you're not an orphan you're the most well fathered person in the world all we've got to do is believe that and the last thing is by faith believe and confess that God is our loving dad and he cares for us and for some people that might be a stretch maybe because the way we were raised or circumstances in our life but Jesus said Matthew six therefore do not worry saying what shall we eat why should we drink what should we wear for after all these things the Gentiles seek for your heavenly Father knows that you need all things don't worry don't be anxious don't fear you've got the best daddy in the universe and he wants to attend you and father you through your life he's the answer to every problem and he's your loving father by your heads if you would or we make a decision right now that we're not going to normalise worry and anxiety it's not going to sit at our table in the midst of our lives and rob our joy and peace and destroy our relationship with you and others in the name of Jesus we make a decision right now we are not going to be anxious for one thing but in everything with prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving we're gonna let our requests be made known to you and we're believing you for that peace I'm believing it right now for everyone here who's having physical emotional mental relational problems because of hearing anxiety in the name of Jesus I pray the peace that passes understanding will be upon every man woman and child hearing at every campus and your Holy Name we pray amen god bless you guys I was 19 years old when I gave my life to the Lord and everything changed I didn't have any desire to go back to that old life I wanted to walk with the Lord and learn more about him and some people helped me to learn the Bible and to learn how to pray and to learn about my new life in Christ and that's what we want to do for you I am so excited that you've given your life to the Lord he's forgiven all of your sins and you're on your way to heaven but we need to learn some things now about the Bible about prayer about some basics of the Christian life so that you can be victorious and live for the Lord like I know you want to so we've designed the class called fresh start and I want to encourage you to sign up for this class because we want to help you grow in your walk with the Lord now I love you and I'm so proud of you

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Keywords: Gateway Church, gatewaypeople, Robert Morris, Pastor Robert, Face to Face, DFW, Southlake, Texas, New Sermon, Jesus, God, Jimmy Evans, Marriage Today, Anxiety, Fear, Worry, Trinity Fellowship Church, Love, Father, Fatherhood, I Changed My Mind, Pastor Jimmy, Pastor Evans, Pastor Jimmy Evans

Id: 2r1LZ85Tgvk

Length: 31min 0sec (1860 seconds)

Published: Wed May 08 2013