Max Lucado – Anxious For Nothing

thank you very much thank you very much hello from San Antonio Texas just down the street what about that extra hour of sleep why can't we do that every Saturday night is there some some reason we can't I love it because now my clocks are right for six months it's really a treat to be with you and it's really a special treat I have my daughters with me one daughter and one sister-in-law and my wife Deena 'ln have come along for the trip and so that's really a fun blessing for me to have them here also have a granddaughter here somewhere we all traveled a little bit together you know when a fella finds the right wife that's something special some people say my wife is my better half I say my wife is my better 99% looked for a wife when I was in college and found a girl that I thought was the perfect one and I took her home and mom didn't like her so I took her back I found another one I thought was the one and so I took her home mom didn't like her so I took her back I went through a dormitory full of girls until I found just the right one and I thought she was the right one ELISA I thought because she looked like my mom and she talked like my mom she walked like the mom that mom Shirley would like I took her home and then dad couldn't stand her so I just we live not far our church I mean it's just off the interstate there at Interstate 10 so funny things happened there was a car that got pulled over on interstate 10 some time back and for going too slow going too slow I mean they were going dangerously slow so the highway patrolman stopped the car and walked up to the side of the car notices an elderly gentleman and and the gentleman's wife and he said sir you're just going so slow you're a hazard on the highway and the gentleman said well I'm just going the speed limit and and he pointed at the sign that said interstate 10 and the officer corrected him he said sir that's not the speed limit sign that's the highway sign and then the officer noticed that the gentleman's wife was just the face of Terror her eyes were wide open her hair was blown back she was holding on to the dashboard he said sir what's wrong with your wife he said I'm not sure we just got off a Farm to Market Road 177 so if you've ever known the fear of of going too fast you're not alone and I think that's the topic of our discussion today will help address that we're talking about a life in which were anxious for nothing and how God has a plan to help us deal with anxiety Heavenly Father please help us now as we soften our hearts to receive your word we pray blessings on this church upon pastor Robert and the amazing people here that you would continue to bless them keep them free from anxiety and and centered in you please forgive our speaker today his sins are many help us to see Christ just Christ through Christ we pray and all the church said it's 2:30 in the morning and you cannot sleep you roll from one side to the other you pound your pillow nothing helps everyone else sleeps your spouse has entered the world of dreamland your your dog is curled up in a lump at the foot of your bed everyone else sleeps but not you it's 2:30 in the morning in 6 hours you begin a new job new chapter new season new era of life you'll be the rookie on the sales team and you're wondering if you made the right decision after all the hours are going to be long the competition is severe the economy's is threatening to decline besides you're 23 years old right out of college 33 years old with two kids to feed in a family to care for 43 years old the latest victim of layoffs and downsizing 53 years old not the perfect time to begin a new career 63 years old what happened to retirement and time with the grandkids regardless of the age anxiety can come like a tornado through a Texas Prairie sucking every final vestige of oak out into the sky and so it's 2:30 in the morning it becomes 3:30 and you still haven't slept the only light in the room is the green light that comes from the clock the only light in your life indeed all of a sudden a new strain of worry enters your mind you feel a twitch in the back of your neck oh no it's a tumor just like great-grandpa I knew I was next in line I knew my time was coming well the insurance kick in soon enough to cover chemotherapy who's going to take care of the kids and anxiety begins to have its way with you another hour passes you cover your head with the pillow you feel like crying what a mess what is all this anxiety mean all this insecurity all this trepidation all this worry all this restlessness what does it mean well it means simply this you are a human being you're not stupid you're not emotionally underdeveloped you're not immature your parents didn't fail you it doesn't mean you failed them and this is important it does not mean you're not a Christian Christian's battle anxiety Jesus did for heaven's sake in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before his crucifixion he prayed for the cup of suffering to be taken away from him and he prayed with such ferocity then that the capillaries burst and rivets of crimson rolled down his face Jesus battled anxiety he faced fierce but he fought through his fears and surrendered them to God and fulfilled his mission and anxiety did not win and such as God's plan for you anxiety comes with life but it doesn't have to dominate your life God's plan for you is not a life that is drenched in anxiety it is his will that you and I learned to live a life that is characterized by calm and not chaos by peace and not panic there's a pathway out of the valley of fret and God has used the Apostle Paul to sketch the map in this passage from Philippians chapter 4 verses 4 through 8 rejoice in the Lord always again I will say rejoice let your gentleness be made known to all men the Lord is at hand be anxious for nothing 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 minds to Christ Jesus finally brethren whatever things are true whatever things are noble whatever things are just whatever things are pure whatever things are lovely whatever things are of good report if there is any virtue if there's anything praiseworthy meditate on these things person will be hard-pressed to find a passage more practical and applicable to our day and age wouldn't you agree the land of Stars and Stripes has become the land of stress and strife we are now officially the most anxious nation on the planet and this is the most anxious nation since anxiety has been measured how could this be our cars are safer than ever we have more technological tools well more than our great-grandparents or grandparents could have ever even dreamed of and yet citizens of third world countries score healthier on the anxiety meter than we do in fact when people from third world countries move to the United States their anxiety spikes it is as if anxiety is contagious one of the calmest nations since the world is the one that we assume is one of the most stress field and that is Mexico and yet across the border we who pride ourselves in not having what Mexico sometimes has or the nation that battles with anxiety enough to make me want to move to Acapulco how do we explain it what's more our college kids are feeling it as well a recent study of 200,000 incoming freshmen stated students reported all-time lows and overall mental health and emotional stability one psychologist said the average child today exhibits the same level of anxiety as the average psychiatric patient of the 1950s kids have more toys more opportunities more clothing than ever but by the time they go to college they're wrapped tighter than Egyptian mummies we're tense a doctor received a patient the patient said doc I have a problem last night I dreamed I was a pup tent night before I dreamed I was a teepee what's wrong with me the doctor said oh that's easy you're too tense you are one rough crowd I'll tell you that we are tense and we pay a price for it one doctor friend told me to see the consequences of anxiety just read half the ailments in a medical textbook the psalmist said do not fret it only causes harm harm where will harm to our necks to our jaws to our backs to our bowels anxiety can twist us into emotional pretzels it can make our eyes twitch our blood pressure rise our heads ache and our armpits sweat anxiety ain't fun so what can we do can I be clear I do not want to leave the impression that anxiety can be waved away with one sermon one book or one season for some of you anxiety is the challenge of life and it has been and part of God's healing for you might very well include professional help therapy a counselor a physician some medication and if that is the case you are not a second-class citizen God has healing and sometimes that comes through professional help all of us however could benefit from a general I'm sorry from a healthy dose of Philippians chapter four verses four through eight and right in the center of this passage the Apostle says now be anxious for nothing I would have been happy had he said just be anxious on Thursdays or be anxious on occasion or be anxious only on tough days how can some can somebody really live a life in which they're anxious for nothing on occasion is helpful for us to remember that that sometimes the Bible uses tense Greek tense language that helps us understand what the apostle meant in this case the phrase is written in the present active tense which implies an ongoing state which could lead us to translate the passage do not let yourself be caught in a state of perpetual anxiety that's what he's saying it's impossible to lead a life free of anxiety but we can discover a life that is void of Perpetual anxiety anxiety comes with life but it does not have to dominate our lives but how do we do it how do we find this well I think this passage can help us Paul lists here four helpful ideas for winning the war on worry I think they make a nice acrostic that spells out the word C ALM and if you want to move from chaos into calm consider what Paul says first celebrate celebrate God's goodness rejoice in the Lord always he says again I will say rejoice Paul ever the preacher knows to repeat what he wants to say rejoice in the Lord always you weren't listening Lucado again I say rejoice and then he sticks an exclamation point on the end of it as if to say come on rejoice in the Lord always the Apostle writes with chains dangling from that Roman jail cell rejoice in the Lord always he writes with no penny in his pocket and perhaps the sound of the footsteps of the executioner in the hallway rejoice in the Lord always he writes beneath the shadow of Nero and the threat to the church he says not just rejoice in the Lord always his point is don't meditate on the mess the more you stare at the problem the bigger it gets the more you stare at the problem the bigger it gets so when you have a problem lift up your eyes and rejoice in the Lord the minute the anxiety comes rather than giving in to the anxiety you lift up your eyes and you rejoice in the Lord this was the counsel of the psalmist he said I will lift up my eyes to the hills from whence comes my help my help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth do you see the intentionality in those words I will lift up my eyes this was a decision that the psalmist made the Apostle Peter is a testimony to this you remember how when the storm struck the Sea of Galilee he knew what ten foot waves could do to a fishing boat maybe that's why he volunteered to walk on the water when he saw Jesus walking on the water when Peter cried out Lord if it's really you then command me to come to you on the water and Jesus said come and Peter left the boat and walked on the water to Jesus but when Peter saw the wind and the waves he became afraid and he began to what sink as long as he kept his eyes on Christ he was able to do the impossible but when he saw the wind and the waves when he turned his gaze away from Christ he began to sink if today you feel like you're sinking or the next time you feel like you're sinking lift up your eyes set your gaze on Christ rejoice in the Lord rejoice in his sovereignty is God greater than your problem has God ever faced this problem before does God have solutions you've not thought of has God got you through these types of things before does God have a good track record he's got strong it's God's sovereign it's God's still on the throne is he overall see how you lift that up your rejoicing in the Lord your lifting your mind away from the problems and your setting your mind on the one who can solve it do not meditate on the mess I have a childhood memory I'm fond of when my dad had everybody in the house in bed I was probably eight or nine or ten years of age I had an older brother he had us inbred in bed his his wife was in bed he'd make the rounds in the house and he'd stop in the kitchen and drink a glass of buttermilk and crumble up some cornbread in it can you guess I was raised in a small West Texas town and then also he was always always I just remember he's always wearing his t-shirt and his boxer shorts and then he would make the rounds and he'd make sure all the doors were locked which took about two minutes because there were three doors front door back door and door to the garage so click click click click click click and then as if he were a commander of a great vessel he would bellow out loud enough probably for the neighbors to hear everything is locked up you can go to sleep down it's safe and you know I believed him you might say I rejoiced in my father's strength because he spoke I calmed down and I could go to sleep I have no inclination to think that God loves buttermilk and cornbread but everything in my spirit says he wants you to hear what my father would say to us and that is I'm in charge of this house you're not and I've checked the entrances in the exits and I determine who enters and who leaves you can rest now so you rejoice that's what it means to rejoice in the Lord oh I've got a great God I've got a wonderful father I rejoice in the Lord and then the Apostle says having done that you'll be ready to ask God for help you've calmed yourself down now you ask God for help let your requests be made known to God you see fear triggers either despair or prayer fear triggers either despair or prayer so choose wisely God said call on me in the day of trouble jesus said ask and it will be given to you seek and you will find knock and the door will be opened to you the path to peace is always paved with prayer that's why the devil doesn't want you to pray the path to peace is always paved with prayer the Old Testament prophet Isaiah said put the Lord in remembrance of his promises keep not silence God told Isaiah put me in remembrance let us contend together that is to say go ahead and remind the Lord of what he said he will do not that he needs the reminder but we need the reminder we are agreeing with God which stands in defiance of the devil and any demons who might be lurking away you're standing not on the pain and life are the problems of life but you're standing on the promise of life Lord you said you'd walk me through the valley Lord you said you would never leave me or forsake me Lord you said that you had walked me through the waters so you find a promise that fits your problem and then you make a prayer out of it you find the promise that fits your problem and then you just make a prayer out of it and these prayers touch the heart of God and activate the angels in heaven your prayer might not be answered overnight but it will come with an answer to prayer and you will overcome and having done so you can then do this leave your concerns with God you celebrate God's goodness you ask God for help then you leave your concerns with God please raise your hand if you have ever taken anything to an appliance store how about a computer to be fixed have you ever done that if you ever taken a car in to be fixed so you know what it's like when you take something to be repaired when you take something to be repaired you take a sleeping bag with you do you not and you roll it out on the floor and you tell the repairman I'm just gonna lie here until you get it fixed in case sorry in case you need my help that's not how it works is it you take it to the repairman and you leave it with him when you offer a request to God do you tell God now god I'm just gonna stay around till you get it fixed if you need my advice I'm gonna be putting you on the clock I'm gonna check in with you no you leave your concern with your Heavenly Father please raise your hand and repeat after me I hereby resign as ruler of the universe there doesn't that feel better it was never your job anyway let your requests be made known to God and the word for request there is a word that could be translated itemized requests these are specific concerns that you have the more specific you can get the better so you wake up in the morning and you think oh I've got that interview with that person at 2:30 this afternoon I always get tied up into knots thinking about how difficult that's gonna be but today instead of giving in to the anxiety I'm going to offer a specific prayer based on a specific promise and so Heavenly Father please at 2:30 this afternoon go ahead of me go into the room be preparing it clean it out change the atmosphere be softening his heart or be giving me wisdom grant that I can know exactly what to say before I get there and then get specific with it give us this day our daily bread Jesus taught us to pray give us today what we need and then between early in the morning and 2:30 when you feel that anxiety coming you can say oh no I left that at the repair shop I'll lift that with the Heavenly Father he's working on that he has gone ahead of me I trust him instead of giving in to the anxiety then you can rejoice you say oh good I'm gonna rejoice in the Lord because I know he's gonna keep that promise because he's a faithful father I'm gonna leave that with him and instead of giving in to that tailspin that's that that quicksand of anxiety you lift up your eyes and you rejoice in the Lord and by the time it's time to go into the meeting you're a better person you're a better person you're going in armed with faith and consequently where that anxiety has gone you can now place gratitude gratitude look what the Apostle says he says in everything by prayer and supplication with what thanksgiving thanksgiving anxiety and gratitude cannot share the same heart test me on this anxiety and gratitude cannot share the same heart if someone comes to see me as a pastor about anxiety I say let's just make a list of 10 good things in your life sometimes I have to talk them into it because they've gotten hooked on their anxiety it can be addicting but if we can get them out of that mindset and say no let's just think about 10 good things in your life as they begin making the list you actually begin to see light returning to their face test me on that try it sometime the next time you're anxious begin to make a list of things for which you're grateful because anxiety and gratitude refused to share the same heart I have a friend named Jerry who's a retired dentist he's 78 years old and he regularly beats me on the golf course he often shoots his age if I do the same I'll need to live to be a hundred and he's the most joyful happy man you'd never know that his life has been marred by crisis over the last 18 years his wife has battled Parkinson's disease and what they thought would be a wonderful season of retirement and travel has been populated by multiple trips to the hospital and managing medication it's not what they had hoped it would be day I asked him I said Jerry how do you stay so peaceful so happy he said well every morning when ginger and I wake up she says can we sing a hymn and I say what do you want to sing and she always says can we sing count your many blessings name them one by one and so we do and they have learned the importance of dealing with anxiety through the power of gratitude so you'll leave your concerns with him you fill your heart with gratitude and then lastly meditate on good things meditate on good things and the Apostle gives us a long list here he says finally brethren whatever things are true whatever things are noble whatever things are just whatever things are pure whatever things are lovely whatever things you have good rapport if there's any virtue if there's anything praiseworthy meditate on these things don't let anxious negative thoughts take over your mind you cannot control your circumstances but you can control how you think about them one of the most difficult days of my life found me in Dalton Georgia I was 19 years old I had spent the night before in a Salvation Army inebriated fellow and the bunk above mine had rolled over in the middle of the night and puked if loneliness was water I was soaked to the bone on the promise of fast cash and new sights I had signed on to sell books door-to-door and got shipped out to Georgia from Texas my two good friends who signed up with me they quit the first day so I was all by myself I learned something I learned that people don't like door-to-door salesmen even a nice one like me Alva duck on the first door hello I'm max slam hello I'm max slam hello I'm max slam the next day wasn't any better noon on the second day I pulled into a diner nursed my bruised ego and ate a hamburger as I was paying for the burger next to the cash register there was a display of magnetized rubberized truisms little quotes slogans but you could purchase and maybe a fix to a refrigerator or something well one of them was shaped like a lemon and in it were the words you know what I'm gonna say if life gives you a lemon make it was folksy it was homespun it was overused it was corny but I'd never heard it before and it was exactly what I needed and so I purchased that little rubberized magnetized truism yellow and shaped like a lemon if life gives you lemons make lemonade and I affixed it to the metal strip on the dash of my 1973 duster I can't tell you how many times over the summer I would rub my thumb over that little quote I made it through the summer people still slam doors and life gave me a lemon but I discovered the idea of trying to make lemonade out of the lemons of life now that's 40 years ago well not quite heading toward it and you know what I've learned life still gives lemons and the lemons that I was facing that day back in Georgia are nothing compared to the lemons some of you are facing spoke to a lady this week a single mom she's genuinely wonders as she'll ever have a good night's sleep again spoke with the fellow on Friday ran into him seventy years old and is going through a divorce of all things at age 70 spoke to a lady whose husband battles dementia he was a pilot for the Air Force but now he can no longer drive a car and she was gonna have to go and take his keys away from me last hill gets limits life gives lemons to young people to old people to rich people to poor people to good people to bad people life comes with limits but you don't have to suck on them anxiety happens as we suck on limits the apostle says meditate on good things some years ago I wrote this in a journal I read it quite often today I will live today yesterday has passed tomorrow is not yet I'm left with today so today I will live today relive yesterday no I will learn from it I will seek mercy for it I will take joy in it but I won't live in it The Sun has set on yesterday the Sun has yet to rise on tomorrow worry about the future - what gain it deserves a glance and nothing more I can't change tomorrow until tomorrow today I will live today I will face today with I'm sorry I will face today's challenges with today's strength I will dance today's waltz with today's music I will celebrate today's opportunities with today's hope today may I laugh listen learn and love and if tomorrow comes may I do it again the next time that anxiety awakens you at 2:30 in the morning would you believe what I'm suggesting to you and that is it is not God's will that you lead a life of Perpetual anxiety that your heavenly father will help you he will help you pull out the roots of your anxiety it will help you deal with the fears that face you he loves you and what my father would say to us in our small West Texas home your Heavenly Father says to you everything is safe now you can rest Heavenly Father have mercy upon us now I have a sense in my heart that there are those who truly needed to hear this message directly from you not from me but from you and you're promising them a new chapter you're ready to turn the page and begin a new season the Sun has come up the skies are gonna be blue again and this season is gonna pass you're with them father you're with them and you have allowed this time of testing to develop the skill the muscle of faith help them not to see the presence of the problem as the absence of God but just the opposite to see the presence of the problem as an opportunity for God for you to do your work may you do soon in Jesus name and all the church said

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Views: 683,619

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Keywords: gatewaypeople, Gateway, Pastor Robert, sermon, Dallas, Texas, Southlake, relationship, Jesus, God, Honor, love, Max Lucado

Id: j8TCYIZ7gbo

Length: 34min 42sec (2082 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 11 2017