Reversing Anxiety Consequences | Sermon by Tony Evans

on the highway of life it's not uncommon to find yourself going in the wrong direction you made a poor decision you followed some bad advice and before you know it you're off course in that moment you have a decision to make do I ignore the warning in my head and continue driving down the road or do I find a way to turn myself around and start moving toward my true destination what you need is a u-turn a place where you can get off the wrong Highway reverse course and get back on the right one the turn is coming the question is what will you do [Music] we worry about our money we worry about our health we worry about our relationships worried about our jobs they worried about our careers we worry and so in my moments with you today by the time we are finished you won't have to worry anymore I don't care what it's about I don't care what is provoking it what is irritating exacerbating frustrating we want to lift the burden based on God's Word of worry three times we are commanded in this passage not to worry verse 25 says for this reason I say to you do not worry verse 31 says do not worry then verse 34 says so do not worry three times there is a command not to worry therefore to worry is sin if something is a command and you disobey it it's called sin most people do not look as weary as sin they look it as natural look at something that is legit given the circumstances that I am facing yet the Lord in this passage gives a command and he couples the command with this statement oh ye of little faith you believe I can take you to heaven you just don't believe I can cover you on earth you believe I'm good for eternity but I'm insufficient for time do not worry the word worry anxiety means to be torn into weary is concern on steroids where is concern that's gone haywire there is a difference between concern and worry concern is I have an issue in my life that is trouble me and I am setting forth a plan as best I can to address it that is legitimate concern but worry is where the concern controls you it is where because of the concern I can't sleep because of the concern I can't control my temper because of the concern I am losing my ability to cope it is where concern has now become the controlling factor because of the issue whatever it is that you face now let me give a clarification here I am NOT talking about chemical and balance where there is a physical chemical reality that needs to be addressed because that physical is affecting that emotional and absolutely that may need medication that is not - what I am addressing what I am addressing is where the circumstance in and of itself is controlling you it is dictating who you are where you are how you function whether you function it tells you if you can get up in the morning and tells you you better go to bed right now it owns you well he says in introducing this section for this reason and then he tells you don't worry for this reason so before he tells you don't worry he says there's a reason so you can't understand not to worry unless you understand the reason so he says for this reason which means we have to back up a few verses and in verse 22 this is what he says the eye is the lamp of the body so then if your eye is clear your whole body will be full of light but if your eye is bad your whole body will be full of darkness if then the light that is in you is darkness how great the darkness no one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will do be devoted to the one and despise the other you cannot serve God and wealth because one of the big worries of life has to do with resources he says if you want to get over weary you got to get rid of one of your masters where he will track you down if you got more than one master he says if you got God over here and something else in control over there since the definition of worry is to be torn in two and you've got two different masters going in two different directions then they will keep you worried because you they will keep you torn he says the light is in the eye if the light is in the eye then the whole body knows what to grab where to walk the whole body can function because it's seeing things clearly but if the eyes are dark everything else is in trouble the hands are in trouble who doesn't know what it's grabbing the feet are in trouble it doesn't know where it's going it says everything else is in trouble if there's darkness in the eye if there is not clear sight because you have become divided with masters one of the reasons why we stay worried is we stay divided between masters he says you cannot serve two masters and when you do you will be worried because you will be divided the spiritual division creates or supports the ongoing nature of worry and a master is somebody who tells you what to do a master somebody who controls the priorities of life he says do not wear oh ye of little faith he now says he goes a little deeper he says if you are consumed by worry if worry is your middle name if you weren't worrying you wouldn't know what to do with yourself he says you don't understand God you don't understand his nature and you don't understand his Providence and you don't understand his priorities notice what he says in verse 25 he says I say to you don't worry about your life what you will eat or drink or edge to your body as to what you will put on is not life more than food and body more than raiment he says forget worried about the wrong thing you get worried about what you are gonna eat you ought to be worried about whether you're gonna get up to eat anything cuz life is more than food you worried about food but you are alive cuz if you don't have life you don't have to worry about food so if you have life you can assume food he says the body is more than raiment the body is more than clothes we worry about old clothes new clothes torn clothes sewed up clothes we worry about clothes he says you worried about the wrong thing you need to worry about whether your body's intact to put your arms through those sleeves messed up priorities he says he says the rest 26 have you ever paid attention to nature he says have you ever studied nature cuz he says in verse 26 look at the birds look at the birds pay attention when you leave church today and look at the birds because he says they don't sow nor reap or gather in the bonds and your heavenly Father feeds them I'm not their heavenly father you have a father are you not worth much more than they he says clothing he said Solomon was not arrayed like the lilies of the field with all of his billion dollars the lilies of the field they neither toil nor spin you've never seen a lily using a sewing machine calling on singer to keep my petal on you don't see that he says because God works it out in nature they don't oil they don't spend but your heavenly father supplies what they need and it's all it's assumed that all of nature operates by God's natural supply see the thing is we don't know who we dealing with and so we find ourselves under the strain hole of weary and yet he says don't do it it's a sin and when you do it you elevate the natural over the supernatural man over God and you're telling me you are your God and you live divided and torn so it shouldn't surprise us that Isaiah 26 verses 3 & 4 I will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on me it shouldn't surprise us that 2nd Thessalonians 3 verses 6 to 8 says God gets peace in every circumstance now don't get me wrong I am NOT suggesting that life does not get home I am NOT suggesting that we all know better than that Jesus said in John 16:33 in this world you will have tribulation but then he can bounce right off of that and say be of good cheer say what you just told me I'm going I can expect trouble and then you're gonna tell me cheer up and sing when we understand when God allows trouble in our lives I'm not talking about trouble we create now I'm talking about trouble that he allows that would create the insecurity that drives us from concern to worry that what he is creating in your situation is an opportunity to see that he's God okay okay so the next time you are tempted to worry beyond concern concern is where you have a real issue and you are seeking a way to resolve it where we is where it has taken over the concern and it is a controlling you the next time you are tempted to weary you must now look at that as an opportunity for God to let you see how much God he is verse 32 for the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things okay this is a little embarrassing because what he says is when you worry you have now joined the ranks of pagans the Gentiles the non-believers the pagans he says they break their necks mismanage their priorities because they got to make it happen themselves they seek they seem to control it why because they are their own gods but you got a day your heavenly father God gets insulted when we question his capacity his ability and his intentionality to cover the needs of his people now I'm not talk about everyone I'm not about every desire he's talking about he knows you need these things he's talking about the needs of life he says stop being pagans because he says I'm talking about your daddy but your daddy has also got to be your master he says no no daddy knows where you are how you got there what you need he knows how to arrange things rearrange things flip things Twix things trip things he knows how to do it so you can see is God he said stop acting like the heathen so what do I have to do verse 33 but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you the key word is first you seek you first the kingdom the kingdom it's divine rule that I'm in charge here righteousness is divine standard that you're living to please me based on the standards is revealed in my word so my rule my standard that's first then you've got my attention and one of the reasons why we're not seeing more of God is he's somewhere down the line when we get to him when I have enough time when I have enough money when I have enough patience when I have enough this but I have enough we get around to it later and worry all along the way but to be able to take a chill pill and to say after I've done all that I'm supposed to do as a bird a bird doesn't go out on a on a limb and open up its beak and wait for worms just to drop from heaven oh he goes worm hunting but he knows that worms to hunt have been supplied so it doesn't mean fulfilling your personal responsibility but with expectation of God's provision seek ye first primacy priority the rule and the standards of God as your priority and then he closes with this zinger he says in verse 34 so do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will take care of itself each day has enough trouble of its own well yeah God you can say all that you got okay we are troubled by the problems of the past we are troubled by the struggles of the present and we are troubled by the uncertainty of the future all those and sometimes we trouble about all three at the same time he says I need to teach you the Lord says how to manage time most of us are crucified between two thieves yesterday and tomorrow today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday can I know I miss somebody with that one today is the tomorrow that you worried about yesterday so yesterday you were worried about today but you're making it today even though you're worried about it yesterday which is the tomorrow that you were worried about yesterday when you were worried about today I know you got to graduate from high school to get that but you ever noticed when you worried about tomorrow when you get to tomorrow then you worried about the next tomorrow he says when it comes to living you have to learn to do it one day at a time lamentations 3 22 and 23 His mercies are new every day let me put it this way he's not going to give you tomorrow's mercy today today he's going to give you for today there are people in countries you take Syria you take Mosul in Iraq and they're just glad to make it one more day they can't be planning for the future planning for retirement God believes in planning he believes in planning for the future inheritance and all that but you got to live today and if God has been faithful today you got something to sing about even if you're unsure about tomorrow now what this means is that you got to hang out with people who gonna make the heavenly more important than earthly see well he is like hanging out whatever worriers you know because it makes them feel better about their worrying in fact worry is like to hang out with people who are more worried as than they are so that they feel better about their worried it's like the guy or the woman who took her husband to the psychiatrist and she said my husband crazy he said what's wrong he said he crazy and she said what's wrong the man thinks he's the chicken yeah uncle fixes the chicken he thinks it's the chicken well have you told him he's not a chicken no cuz I need the eggs so you need to be talking to folk who not as crazy as you are in other words you need to talk to folk who are going to Duncan come back come back you need to deal with folk who are going to take you to the spiritual you'll need folk who go just rehearse your worrying with you you know one of the worst phrases in the world is you worrying and somebody call until you tell you stop worrying well if I could do that we wouldn't even be having this conversation you need somebody who will take you higher so that you can see that when you have one master and one father and he's first that worry does not have to be the controlling element in your life now hear this when you are tempted to worry as we all are that is a very natural thing to do if you get laid off from a job they're going to they're going to raise a question it's going to raise a question in your mind and yes there will be concerned that is not what's being condemned here worrying is where that concerns now owns you so here it is whenever you are tempted to worry that is an automatic immediate invitation to pray on the spot when weary shows up you have then got a formal invitation in writing to pray if you don't believe me all you need to read is Philippians four six and seven be anxious for nothing but with prayer supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God this is not a prayer in the morning only this is a prayer whenever weary shows up its ugly head God has just said you and I need to have a conversation right now excuse yourself go to the restroom close your eyes and just have a mental conversation with God drive along and let people think you crazy why are you talking to yourself but whenever the temptation is to weary that is the invitation to pray and guess what he says and when you come to me come with Thanksgiving come with Thanksgiving I want you to give thanks in the midst of your request and then he says I'm the God of peace will meet you in that space Psalm 55:22 says cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you will meet you in that place so here's what I want you to do all of us me you us we need to change the place we put bu T bu T because here's what we normally do I trust God but but you don't know what I'm going through girl I love the Lord but I don't know imma pay these bills I know he's able but but you know I'm gonna throw in the towel I know that's wrong no let's start let's try this again I don't know how I'm gonna make it but my God said he would meet all my needs according to his riches and glory I'm sure struggling but he's able to do exceedingly abundantly more than I can ask or think I am so frustrated but I've never seen the righteous or this he begging bread you gotta put God in his rightful place not reacting to you but you reacting to him and when you start reacting to him then you'll see heaven visit earth eternity visit time you'll see God visit you and you can toss worry aside while you deal with your concern somebody oughta praise him up in here up in here [Applause] [Music] so many lives are being ravished by the problem and worry we worry about what has happened we worry about what is happening and we also worry about what could be happening tomorrow we're consumed by worry and to be honest in our humanity there are a lot of things going on in our lives and in our world that gives us reason to worry all but that's some good news here and that is that your relationship with Jesus Christ can overrule your worry as our passage says have you ever seen a weary bird a bird with ulcers do you see flowers worrying nothing no because God has built into creation a system to take away you're wearing that key to that system it's found in verse 33 of Matthew 6 see key first the kingdom of God is righteousness and all these things will be added to you and it concludes with so don't worry when God is first where we no longer is in a primary position in your life in your mind and in your word but when God has put on the back burner and his ruling standard is no longer governing how you function then where he will seep in will fill in the void and dominate the space in your life but I am declaring based on God's Word that that day is over for you for me for us why because we're gonna put God first and we will see God put us first I'm gonna see him erase wipe away and dismiss [Music] in the brand-new series u-turn reversing the consequences in your life renowned pastor and theologian dr. Tony Evans delivers practical insights and direction on how to turn things around in your life who doesn't need a dual integrity request this powerful complete series today and start heading in the direction of your destiny imagine the thrill of walking or running down the same streets listening to the sounds of joy and laughter touching the walls of an ancient city can you feel it that's the power of the place where Jesus lived died and rose again discover Israel with Tony Evans November 2018 visit Tony Evans dot org to learn more [Music] you

Channel: Tony Evans

Views: 330,779

Rating: 4.8416486 out of 5

Keywords: stop worrying, anxiety, Tony Evans, anxiety sermon, Christian anxiety, anxiety help, reversing, U-turn, reversing anxiety, full length sermons, sermon videos, spiritual, worry, Tony Evans sermons, Christian sermons, consequences, peace, anxiety teaching, Christian worry, worry sermon, motivational, motivational video, tony evans, tony evans radio, dr tony evans, tony evans sermons

Id: 0aOLVAQFYEc

Length: 28min 43sec (1723 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 25 2018