Services | No Anxiety, No Exceptions

Bulletin

Hymn # 260 “Saved, Saved”

SCRIPTURE READING – Romans 10:8 - 13
Giving of Selves and Our Offerings
OFFERTORY PRAYER
OFFERTORY MUSIC – Take It All Back

Praise and Worship
“Grave Robber”
“The Stand”
“10,000 Reasons”

Proclamation of the Word
Message by Pastor Joe
“No Anxiety, No Exceptions”

“How Great Is Your Love”
“Lord’s Prayer (It’s Yours)”

Sermon Notes
Philippians 4:6 – 8 Don’t be anxious and how to avoid it
Matthew 6:24 – 34 Don’t worry, it does not help

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Scritpures

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Transcript of Service

There seems to be today a overburden of anxiety. People are anxious for personal things like finance or health or family situations. Other people are anxious because of climate change or overpopulation or whatever the worldwide problem might be. There seems to be a lot of self-help books on how to deal with anxiety, but they don't seem to help. I encourage you as we take a look today at what the Bible says about being anxious and how to deal with it.

What I'm trying to do is pull out what are small verses, easily memorized verses, small verses that speak big truth.

Truth that ought to change our hearts and our minds and our lives.

The past three messages have been more in the area of, I want to say, doctrine.

It's this first one was that the righteous shall live by faith, and that's what we're to do, not live by do's and don'ts, but by our faith in the Lord.

That there is no condemnation through those who are in Christ Jesus, that we don't have to worry about facing condemnation or judgment.

And the last time we took a look at that, we can know, not suspect, not kind of think that we can know that we have eternal life.

Today we're going to take a look at a small verse that is much more going to meddle in our lives because it's not necessarily doctrine, it's application.

And it's the type of thing that we can daily have to wrestle with.

So if you have your Bibles, and you should, turn to Philippians chapter four, and we're going to start with verse four, I believe.

Maybe six, I don't recall.

And it simply says this.

Well, let me stop. Well, let me read it. Be anxious for nothing.

Be anxious for nothing.

As I entitled the message, it's no anxiety, no exceptions.

We're not to be anxious for no reason at all. Now, why am I doing this? Because the world is filled with anxiety, especially since COVID. As a matter of fact, what I thought was kind of interesting yesterday when I was going on the internet to check something on my bank account, you get this stuff first about throwing up a bunch of stuff that they want you to read. And one was how to deal with anxiety. So I thought that was interesting. And they gave three things how to deal with anxiety, and none of them gave the same answer that the Bible gives. I'm thinking, well, perhaps it's not very valuable because the world seems to be all the more anxious.

About the only valuable thing it said, which was not to help you with anxiety, but to help your body deal with it, was to breathe deeply.

So one of the three things was breathe deeply. So that's great. But the world is filled with anxiety. There is anxiety because of our own lives, maybe bad choices or things that just happen. Maybe our finances or so, and we're anxious because we're not sure how to pay the bills. Or anxious because we may be getting a diagnosis from the doctor that's going to say that we have some illness and that we have to do. And there's all kinds of opportunity to be anxious about things that are going to happen

shortly or happening. And we get anxious. And then the world on top of that anxiety, things like global warming, overpopulation,

all kinds of other things that it just seems to be anxious about. And so there's all this anxiety and no one seems to seem how to deal with it because all I ever hear more and more is how more and more anxious we are. So the Bible confronts it by simply saying, you're not to be anxious, no exceptions. But there's no good reason to say I'm going to be anxious.

So the first thing we need to understand is when we're anxious, that's not an exception to not being anxious.

A lot of times they say, well, it's good for you. You don't be anxious, but you don't understand my life. It's falling apart. And therefore, I have a right to be anxious. The Scripture says, no, you don't be anxious for not a thing.

So again, it's easy to say, well, yeah, I live by faith until we see verses like this that says, then that face says, then be anxious for nothing.

But that's a little harder. I can believe that you've saved me and I can believe that you've saved me for eternity.

Isn't it interesting that the most important thing that we need to trust God is eternity.

And yet we're willing to trust Him for eternity, but not for today.

And again, I want you to understand as I point the one finger at you, three fingers, three fingers of pointing back at me, because I am subject to the same things that you all are.

But again, the Scripture is very, it doesn't say be anxious for nothing except Pastor Joe's problems.

It says be anxious for nothing, but it doesn't leave us there.

And praise the Lord, the Lord never just, He doesn't say, okay, do this or don't do this. But then He gives us a way of escape because He understands that we all tend to be anxious. We all tend to worry about the next half hour or the next tomorrow or whatever. So He says, but, so this is a good but, usually it's, I think you're a wonderful person, but.

Then you go, okay, with the wonderful person, just fell away because you're going to tell me what you really think. So the Scripture is going to give us a good but. Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be mind known to God. So it tells us a remedy for the anxiety that we suffer. So the thing is, it says in everything, not the big things, not the little things, not the things that you don't think even God cares about, in everything by prayer, which means communication with God and supplication. Well what is supplication? Supplication is the humble request.

So we come to God not with a demanding prayer, but with one that is humble in request, with thanksgiving. So we're to pray, we're to make the request humbly and we're to do it with thanksgiving. Now if you've been a parent, you know that you've tried to teach your children to be thankful.

So what do we do?

Somebody will, I'll pick because it's close.

It's your child's birthday and a family member or a friend or somebody gives your child a present.

So what do we always do as parents? Tell them thank you.

Because we're trying to teach them, if you will, courtesy.

We're not necessarily teaching them thanksfulness.

We're wanting them to say the right thing.

We want them to say thank you, but that's not what Paul's writing here. He's not saying be courteous to God, he's saying be thankful in thanksgiving. So it's giving thanks. It's not saying, "Oh, well God did this, so I ought to do the courteous thing." No, no, my attitude is one of gratefulness, one of thanking God for what He... Now notice it's thanksgiving not after we're no longer anxious, not after the situation resolved itself. We are, during the period of time when we are praying as a supplication, we are to do so with thanksgiving to say, "God, you can handle this." Whether it's you take this circumstance away or not, I am grateful for who you are and what you will do. Maybe it's a financial problem and you're praying that God delivers you from this financial situation. And there are times when God does and He gives us a job or sometimes you've heard people say, "All of a sudden I got money that I never expected," or, "I found money and clothes that I didn't." And all of a sudden you're grateful to God because He answered the prayer. This is not what it's saying here. It's saying we are to be thankful before God ever answers.

Because those people are thankful. They're giving thanks. And not being curious.

Let your request be made known to God. Now He already knows, but there is a situation where we are to communicate with God.

It's interesting, we're willing to tell all kinds of people all kinds of problems, except to God, who already knows, can take care of it, and loves us.

So it's saying we are to do these things, so talk to them. That's the type of thing that we do. And then what will be the result?

And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. I want you to notice this. It's not the peace of the world.

It's not your peace.

It's not even the resolution of the problem.

It's the peace of God.

And God's peace is perfect, complete, full.

And He gives us that peace, which surpasses all comprehension.

That's why when Christians, believers, face difficult circumstances, we should and ought to be doing so in a way that the world goes, "I don't get it.

I don't understand. If that happened to me, I'd fall apart."

Now, unfortunately, it seems to happen to a lot of believers as well.

I have seen in the past other pastors face what I have faced in facing, and they take a sabbatical, and they take some time off.

I can't do that.

Because if I tell you to trust God, then I ought to trust God, even when I hurt Him, because He is worthy of it.

And He will give me the peace of His, which surpasses all understanding, which will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Not only is He going to give you peace, but He's going to set a legion, if you will, to protect you so that your mind doesn't wander and do all kinds of crazy things to go back and be anxious.

He is going to guard your heart, who you are, and your mind, not in the world, but in Christ Jesus.

So God tells us, "No anxiety, no exceptions." How do we deal with it? By praying to God, humbly, with thanksgiving. And He will respond by giving us His peace, and He will guard our hearts and our minds.

But that's not all the Scriptures tell us about anxiety and worry. Jesus Himself will talk about it. And so I wanted to follow up that.

Oh, I'm sorry. He continues on and says this.

"Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things." Now I want you to notice this is not the power of positive thinking.

There are books that people write about the power of positive thinking, and if you think positively then positive things will happen.

My answer to that is like the story where the little boy is convinced his team is going to lose.

And his parents try to know, "Well, you need to be positive." And he goes, "I'm positive my team is going to lose." So there is a sense of the power of positive thinking, but that is not what the Scriptures teach. The Scriptures teach, notice, whatever is true, that's what we're supposed to be thinking about. That which is true, one of the things which is true is the Lord who is the truth, His Word which is truth spoken. So we ought to be considering truth. Whatever is honorable.

We live in a world that is not honorable.

We used to live in a world, and it wasn't that much better, but we used to live in a world where a handshake was as good as whatever. Now a handshake is only there to keep one hand so they can stab you in the back with the other. There is, seems, they're not even honor among thieves. It's just we are, Paul is saying, "Let us think on what is honorable."

Whatever is right. Again, now what is positive, what is right, what is pure.

Whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, well on these things. Notice He didn't say to be, again, I keep hitting, it's not about positivity, it's about what you're feeling your mind with.

It's not what you're doing, it's what you're consuming.

Meditate on the things that are true and honorable and right and pure and lovely and of good repute and excellence and worthy of praise. Those things we ought to be consuming, and when we consume those things, it makes it all that much easier to have no anxiety with no exceptions.

But Jesus also tells us about worry, about anxiety and its value.

And even though we tell ourselves this, we don't seem to pay attention.

Jesus starts out and says, "No one can serve two masters, for either we'll hate one and love the other, or we'll be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and well."

Now what does that have to do with anxiety?

Well Jesus is going to start His statement on this by basically saying, "Don't be double-minded.

Serve God or serve your desire to become wealthy or powerful or whatever it is." You can't do both. Pick one.

The one who picks God does this. "For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life as to what you will eat or what you will drink, nor for your body as to what you will put on, is not life more than food and the body more than clothing."

So let's take a look at it.

There are times when one, "How am I going to buy that new outfit? How am I going to do this thing and that?"

And we're all that concerned about it until we're on our deathbed.

It doesn't matter that you have a Gucci purse or a Isola-Ron suit.

What matters is life.

And He's saying, "Life is not food and clothing."

Then He's going to give us, "Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them."

Used to be, can't do it so much because so many people go through the McDonald's drive-through.

But you go almost to any place where there's food and you will see birds eating.

They didn't have to go through the drive-through. They didn't have to pay anything.

They just eat what the people either drop or throw away or whatever. God provides for them and He goes, "Are you not worth much more than they?"

So when we worry, when we are anxious, we are saying that God doesn't care about us.

They may care about the birds, but He doesn't care about us.

And who of you being worried can add a single hour to his life?

This is excellent advice.

Who can, by worrying, now all the medical journals, all of a sudden, in essence, you can't add to your life. They say it takes away from your life. That as you worry, it causes heartburn and acid and all kinds of other stuff. And stress, and stress will kill you, they say.

And let's face it.

Think about the last time you were worried.

Did you being worried fix the problem?

Let's say you had to pay that MasterCard that was coming due in a day or two, and you weren't sure where you were going to get the money from. So as you're laying in bed worrying, did that get you the money to pay the bill? And the answer is no.

Worrying never accomplishes anything.

Maybe you want to get out of bed and get a second job or do whatever, but worrying does not fix the problem. And Jesus not only does worry, doesn't fix it. It won't even add one single hour to your life.

And why are you worried about your clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow. They do not toil, nor do they spin. Yet I say to you that not even Solomon, in all his glory, clothes himself like one of these.

But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will he not much more clothe you?

And again, we are saying that God cares more about temporary things like grass or plants like lilies.

Think about it.

Does God care more for nature or for you?

And then he does a little stinger, you of little faith.

We tend to worry because we are lacking faith.

I told you we're going to be upsetting some applecocks here.

Because none of, you know, little faith.

But that's how a righteous is supposed to live, by faith.

Do not worry then saying what we will eat or what we will drink or what we will wear for clothing.

For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

So Jesus says, it's not taking God by surprise that you may need food and clothing and all that stuff. But God cares for you more than his creation. Therefore we need to have faith. He understands that everyone, it's the Gentiles, but we need to be different than the unbeliever.

The unbeliever doesn't respond in faith. We are to respond in faith and to say that God cares. And maybe even if I miss that MasterCard payment, maybe God's trying to teach me, maybe I shouldn't have bought all that stuff on the credit card to begin with.

Because I'm more worried about the stuff than what Jesus is going to say next.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you.

But you see that's where we fail even our children.

A child will grow up in a "Christian home."

And what does that child do? Well, I need to get an education, so I need to go to college.

So I need to go and spend 90,000 a year for college and rack up 400,000 dollars worth of debt.

And we say, "Well, I need to get a job, so once I get a job, I'll worry about going to church later." And they get a job, well, their job doesn't pay enough money, so you get a second job or overtime, and well, Lord, you'll understand when I get all these problems taken care of, then I'll come and be in your house and worship you. "Oh, well now I have kids, well they have soccer on Sundays and I can't come to church because I've got to be a part of my children's lives, etc., etc." And we find all of these excuses for not serving the Lord because we've decided to seek something other first and not him and his kingdom.

And he's saying, "Seek first the kingdom of God." Your education, your advancement in society, all that will be added to you. But seek first the kingdom of God.

So do not, he's plain, he's not saying, "Well, I understand when you have a really big problem, then it's okay to worry." And I say, "So do not worry about tomorrow, or tomorrow will care for itself."

We live in the present.

Now, what we do in the present may affect our tomorrows.

And maybe we should have thought about the present affecting tomorrows before we got into circumstances that we're worrying about today.

Tomorrow will care for itself.

Each day has enough trouble of its own.

So there are lots of opportunities to be anxious.

But God has given us lots of opportunities not to be.

And shouldn't we as believers be peculiar people?

People who praise the Lord, regardless of the circumstances.

People who say, "I'm going to trust God because I've made my request to him. I've done so humbly with thanksgiving. And I have been meditating on those things that are true and right and pure, all of those things I'm doing, so that his peace will be with me and he will guard my mind and my heart.

I am following him and by seeking his kingdom first.

I don't know what tomorrow will hold.

But as you've heard it said, I know who holds tomorrow.

So, no one can tell, a little harder to tell, if you're living by faith.

But we and the world can tell if you're consumed by anxiety.

And the scriptures tell us not only not to be consumed by it, but not to pay it any attention at all.

And all God's light keeps saying.