0:08 You know, for 2000 and over all the years that God has been speaking from the time he created the world, never had internet or until what, 20, 30 years ago? So, if you couldn't meet in person, you had to just rely on the Holy Spirit and 0:27 I often think about how we should make sure that in the midst of all the ability to listen to sermons and to join online and all the other wonderful things that God has allowed to be created for his kingdom, that we don't miss the most important 0:43 thing, that we are dependent on the Holy Spirit for everything. Yeah, um and I was thinking even this as we were singing, what is our desire in gathering? Is it that a good message or we have 1:02 some good fellowship? Um I mentioned this verse you know, on Wednesday, but I'd like to say it again, Psalm 27, verse 4. One thing I've asked from the Lord that 1:21 I shall seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, that I could be here with his people. For what? To behold the delightfulness of the Lord. I hope that's why you come to these meetings, dear brothers and sisters, 1:40 to know a little bit more of just how delightful Jesus really is. He's far more delightful. Far more delightful. I mean, people spend money going to conferences where they learn how to make more money, how to advance in their career, 1:55 because they see those things as delightful. The experts, investor experts, they can they can stand up and captivate audiences for hours on end. People will spend money going to these tech conferences and business conferences for 2:12 week-long events and sit there and sit there and sit there and sit there and sit there. Why? Because they know the delightfulness of money. And it's a false gospel that tells us that everything else in the world, the football game and the money and the job 2:32 and everything else is more delightful for so give a little bit to God cuz he's really not that delightful. The devil would love for Christians to go to the end of their life thinking, believing that lie. This is why I come here to these 2:47 meetings is I want to behold the delightfulness of the Lord. And even in preaching, you know, I I I I thank God that for the last number of years, I want to tell you maybe a little testimony before I begin. Uh speaking in this church, I don't think 3:03 of it as like a big thing or anything like that, but it's just become much easier, more of a flowing, more simply of a faucet being opened as opposed to me trying to pump up some word. A simply a faucet being opened and 3:20 and water flowing, the word flowing. And I regret for years in past that it hasn't been the case, but for the last number of years, it's been like that for me. Uh simply a matter of opening the faucet and and that comes to walking with the Lord 3:37 throughout the day, every day, throughout the week. And I find that whether it's on Monday or on Saturday or anywhere in between, if it's if if the Lord wants me to speak, he gives me a prophetic word. And that's how it must be for all of us, 3:54 family. I want to encourage you, even the children, that if you come with a burning desire to just speak, it does you know, we say 2 minutes, really you only need 30 seconds, but we say 2 minutes is sort of the upper limit. And unfortunately, many 4:09 people are taken up with that limit is like and they're offended that they can't speak for more. Proud people. The humble people say, "You know, I don't even think I have 120 seconds worth of stuff to say, but I have 30 4:23 seconds and I want to be faithful to give that 30 seconds." And in our sharing times, family, just especially for us here, um it doesn't necessarily have to be, you know, I think it takes a lot of maturity, personally, I think it takes a lot of 4:41 maturity to maturity to hear like it says in 1 Corinthians 14, let the prophets speak um and then and then the others, past judgment and others can speak after that. It takes some maturity, spiritual maturity to be able to hear 4:59 something for the first time, like a a message, and then to to build on that in a prophetic way. I I personally think it it takes a large amount a great amount of maturity. And that's more than just saying, "Oh, I thank the Lord for what I heard and all 5:14 that." And that's good. I thank the Lord for what I heard and I'm going to apply it. But even if you can't, you know, maybe build on it or um add something to it, which would be for most of us, it could be simply something the Lord's been walking with 5:33 us through in the week building up to it. Children, if you faced a situation, for example, in the in at home or with one of your friends or at school if you go to school, or in a conversation at the table, something happened. Hopefully, 5:47 those conversations, spiritual conversations, are happening every day in your homes, right? And out of that, children, something may have something may have been talked about at the dining table, you can come and bless us with that 6:05 and say, "Hey, you know, on Wednesday, we were having dinner and my mom said this and my dad said this or one of my siblings said this and I I thought about this and I I'm just I want to follow Jesus." Something about how that inspires a desire in you 6:20 to follow Jesus that will encourage us to hear that. That's all that time of sharing is for. It's not to give some profound thought. And so, um my the reason I'm sharing this is to lay a word of exhortation and a challenge 6:34 before each of us. Uh especially if you're a member of this church, the reason we have those times is so that throughout the week, you're coming with something to share. It's just like when we have meal times together, if 6:48 you're a member of this church, we ask you to bring something so that it's not just one or two people that are bringing all the food. Everybody brings it who's a member of this church brings something so that we can all share together. 7:00 And it's the same thing with the word, a little bit that can bless somebody else. I believe the Lord will use us and as he's been doing during those times. So, with with preaching as well, um I don't have any high, lofty thoughts 7:15 about what it means to preach, but simply this, Lord, I want to behold your delightfulness more. And if you've called me to help others see that, I want to do that faithfully. And that's all our gatherings at River of Life should 7:29 be. And I pray it will be until the end of our lives, until God comes, until Christ comes. The beholding the delightfulness of Jesus, beholding the delightfulness of Jesus, so that um I think of it like this, I will still 7:44 be shocked when I see Jesus. He's going to be that much more delightful, but I want to minimize how much shock there's going to be. Because I was seeking his delightfulness, seeking his delightfulness, seeking his delightfulness, seeking his 8:00 delightfulness, and when I see him, I will be like him because he would have revealed to me without my ever having seen him face-to-face physically, he will have revealed his majesty, his glory, the beauty of his holiness, and 8:15 his delightfulness so much to me that I will recognize him. I want to recognize Jesus when he comes. That's my ambition. I want to be like him. I want to see his face more clearly, more in a way that's not hindered by my own thoughts of myself or 8:34 my pride or um things that happen on this earth or offenses or what people have done to me or anything like that. I want to strip all of that away. I want to see Jesus. This is my ambition. I want to see him more clearly. 8:49 So, um let's turn to 1 John chapter 4. We read a verse here that says that we know 9:08 God's love. If I was to ask you, how do you know that God loves you? Most Christians would say, "Well, he sent Jesus to die on the cross, John 3:16, for God so loved the world." But I want you to see this verse, 1 John 4:16. 9:28 We have come to know and have believed the love which has which God has for us. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love and the one who abides in love abides in God. And God abides in him. 9:48 And this is how you know how the love is perfected. This perfecting of love is that when I first come to God, I recognize he's love. But I've only tasted a drop in the ocean. This is what the ocean tastes like, you can say. 10:06 And I've tasted a little bit of the love of God, but now he wants to perfect that love in us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment. Because as he is, so also are we in this world. And here is the mark of my being 10:23 perfected in love. Here is a more mature knowledge, not knowledge in my head, but knowledge in my heart, in my spirit of the love of God. This is what we must be pressing on towards. Keep yourself in the love of God, Jude 10:38 says. And that love of God is perfected, I know that I have more of the love of God in my heart that there is less fear. That's what he says in verse 18, there is no fear in love. But perfect love cast out fear. As that 10:56 love is being perfected in my heart, what should be happening simultaneously is that fear is being cast out. Um the it's kind of like if you you if I had a tube that's full of something that's unhealthy. And now I send something from one end of 11:16 it through it, what's happening is that what's coming in is pushing out what what's in there already. And because we were in sin, our hearts are full of fear. Fear is the consequence of sin. When Adam and Eve sinned, immediately 11:34 their reaction was to go and hide. They were afraid. Adam says, I was afraid. And so the know the way we we know that we are being in we're increasing in the love of God, that God's love is now filling my heart is that it's pushing 11:49 out fear. It's pushing out anxiety. And that's what I want to speak about this morning. Dear family, I think that I I really it's sad, and I say this first of all to myself because I know this was true in my life as well. 12:06 It's sad that so many Christians live with constant anxiety and worry. And I tell you this, for me, I've taken it seriously this way that I now say that somehow I've not taken this seriously that I'm allowing worry to be a part of 12:25 my life, and anxiety to be a part of my life. And the longer I I I don't take it seriously, it means that I'm not allowing the love of God to fill my heart. I've closed myself off to the love of God somehow. Because the love of God has this one 12:41 certain power, a certain effect. It drives out fear. It drives out anxiety. It drives out worry. And I hope through what I'm sharing this morning that you will simply say, okay, you know, there's two ways to go about this. 12:58 I could say, well, okay, I'm going to grit my teeth, and anytime I'm tempted to be anxious, I'm just going to try hard not to be anxious. It will only make you more anxious because you'll get frustrated that you're not free of the anxiety, and 13:10 you'll just build on that anxious anxiety. It'll just pile on. I know it because I've done it myself. And the next time you're tempted to be anxious in any situation, I don't know about you. I face situations to that test me to be anxious 13:27 throughout the day, every single day. I'm not kidding. Every single day, I face at least one situation in my life, usually much more than that, where I'm tested to be anxious. I'm tempted to be anxious much more than to lust or get angry or 13:44 unforgiveness or bitterness. Honestly, the thing that I'm test tempted in the most in my life these days is anxiety. I have a feeling that you all can probably say the same. Maybe not, but I I think so, at least in conversations with different ones, some 13:59 of you, but even others, and what I see and observe by Christians, I see there's anxiety, there's worry, there's fear. And I have this word, this is a word from the Lord for me, and I hope it's you'll receive it as well. 14:15 There is no anxiety in love. There's no worry in love. There's no fear in love. But perfect love casts out fear. Because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. And I would along with that word 14:32 fear, I want you to think of anxiety. Think of worry. The one who worries is not perfected in love. The one who's anxious is not perfected in love, and that moment when I'm when I give in to that anxiety, allow that anxious thought to weigh me down, 14:49 I ought to stop and say, Lord, I'm not perfected in love. That's why I was anxious in this moment. That's why when I heard that news from the doctor, or I heard about when I got sick, or when I something happened in my job, or something 15:02 happened in a situation with my children or my loved ones, or something happened, I was rattled. I was shaken. Now, I don't want to bring a false condemnation in your life as well, that we will all face that initial moment 15:16 where we're taken aback because we're caught off guard, and don't be discouraged by that. That's the temptation to be anxious just as much as when when you're tempted to lust, it's a temptation. Temptation is not sin. But 15:29 if you give in to that, James says, when you yield to that temptation, sin is conceived. When you say yes, I'm going to entertain this thought, now sin is conceived. A baby sin is formed in my womb because I allowed that temptation to result in 15:46 sin being formed inside of me, engaging in that thought of lust. And it's the same with anxiety. The devil will throw an anxious thought at you or use the circumstances of what happens in your life to throw an anxious thought 16:00 at you. Now, what will you do with it? Will you What is anxiety essentially? It's just basically imagining the worst possible scenario. And imagine that that's what's going to happen. Oh, it must be something really bad. 16:15 And then what must we do? Remind yourself, God loves me. Oh, he loves me. He's not given up on me. He has a purpose in my life. He's still working. He's not His hands are not tied. Nobody could tie the hands of God. I'll tell you who can 16:28 actually, I can with my worry and with my unbelief. And so I've been learning over the last few years to when I'm tempted with that situation of anxiety or worry, to say, Lord, I'm choosing now to untie your hands by my 16:44 confession of faith, by the confession of hope that I refuse to allow an anxious anxiety to be anxiety to be birthed inside of me. I refuse to allow that baby of anxiety to be born or to be formed inside of me, that baby of worry, 17:02 that baby of fear. And this fullness of love comes through the power of the Holy Spirit. I've been meditating on this this phrase that the fruit of the Holy Spirit is peace. It's a freedom from anxiety. And when it says in Romans 5:5 that the love of God 17:18 has been shed abroad in our hearts, you know that verse? Let's look at it. Romans 5. The hope does not disappoint, verse 5, because the love of God 17:38 Let's pause that for a moment. Have you thought about that phrase, hope does not disappoint? Worry is essentially some form of disappointment, like, Lord, I trusted you. You're my father, but this thing is happening in my life right now, and I'm 17:50 disappointed in you. It's essentially what anxiety is saying. I'm disappointed in you, Lord. I thought you would be do things better, or somehow you would do things differently. I'm disappointed. True hope does not disappoint, though. 18:04 Because how does that disappoint? How do we avoid that disappointment? How do we fight that disappointment? By having the love of God. It says because the love of God has been poured out, or I like that the King James says shed abroad. Means 18:17 it's overflowing. I'm flooded with the love of God. Because the love of God has flooded me. It's flooded my heart through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. And so the next time you hear that news that results in a that results in a 18:34 temptation to be anxious, stop what you're doing, and maybe lift up your hands, and open your put your face upwards towards heaven, and say, Lord, I want you to flood ME WITH YOUR HOLY SPIRIT of peace right now because I've heard some bad news, or something's 18:49 happening, and and I sense that the devil's trying to tempt me with some more anxiety about something that's not yet happened that I've been asking you for A LONG TIME. FLOOD ME, LORD, with your Holy Spirit. Oh, it will take the power away from the 19:03 devil in that moment. Imagine if your children walk into the kitchen, and they see you that like this with your eyes open, they'll ask you, "What happened, Mom? What happened, Dad?" I'll say, "Oh, I just received the peace of God flooded my heart. Where it 19:17 used to be worry, where you used to come into the kitchen and see me with a furrowed brow, and and I'm I'm just stressed out, and I'm taking it out on on the children, and instead they see me with my eyes heavenward, with my mouth open, and God 19:32 filling me with his spirit of peace." Turn over a couple pages to Romans chapter 8. Romans 8, we read in verse 5. He's speaking about the life in the spirit. This is the secret to freedom 19:51 from anxiety, my dear brothers and sisters. You hear it often, seek God for the power of the Holy Spirit. Cry out to him for the fullness of the Holy Spirit, a baptism that's a baptism of power. And the result of that is so many 20:04 things. All these problems that in the past may have been my attempts to get better at not being anxious and get better at being thankful and get better at this and get better at that. All of that goes out the door when I receive the power of 20:19 the Holy Spirit. When I'm walking in the spirit, it's a newness of life. It's not a dead man trying to crawl, it's newness of life. That's what this chapter is talking about. And so he says the mark of that is those who are 20:34 according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. I used to read this verse and typically think of lust, anger, bitterness, all those things that typically you might hear about in this church. Now when you read this, let's think 20:52 about anxiety for a moment. Those who are according to the flesh set their minds on anxiety. That's a thing of the flesh. But those who are according to the spirit, the things of the spirit. What things? The overflowing flooded love of 21:10 God that we read about in Romans chapter 5. Think about that. You have to set your mind on it. For the mind set on the flesh is death. And that's what anxiety is. Worry is just death, more death. You know, I I read of you know, you may 21:27 have heard this. It's a saying in the world, worry doesn't uh change the things uh change the outcome of things, it just robs you of your joy right now. It's all it does. It's death. You know, it says the devil has come to 21:40 steal and to kill and destroy. I have seen that one of his greatest methods by which he steals, kills, and destroys is worry. I mean, think back. Think back to maybe this last week if you were worried or last month or sometime in the recent 21:55 past where you were worried. And how the devil robbed you of joy that day for whatever period of time. Stole something from you. Killed something in you. Now, Jesus can bring it back to life, newness of life, he will let you. 22:11 But destroyed something. Destroyed that Maybe you were having a wonderful time with the family, but all of a sudden some worry set in. And that turned that wonderful dinner meal or that event you were together with your family into 22:24 this sourness. It left a sour taste. The devil always does that, and he does it through worry and anxiety. Don't let him. The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life. Yes. What does that life look like? Peace. 22:40 It's peace. The mind set on the spirit is peace. No anxiety, no worry, no fear, peace. Oh, I long for this, dear brothers and sisters. And I want to tell you as the thirst has been growing within me. I don't say this to brag, just it's the 22:57 mercy of God. All I did was Now, I don't know if I've ever physically done Yeah, sometimes I have, actually. But um I've cried out to God and said, "Lord, I don't want even a moment of worry. The mind set on the spirit is life and 23:10 peace." And I say, "Lord, I'm going to set my mind on you and believe you will give me peace." And when you choose in that moment to either set your mind on the things of this flesh, anxiety, what's going to happen or this is going to happen and probably 23:24 after that this could happen and then that other thing could happen. That's the mind set on the flesh. And the mind set on the spirit is life and peace. Overwhelming peace. Because the mind set on the flesh Listen to this. Oh, the mind set on anxiety, 23:41 the mind set on worry is hostile toward God. Do you see it, dear brothers and sisters, that when I'm sitting there in my anxious moment in that moment of worry where I'm allowing worry to overwhelm me and to paralyze me in fear, 23:57 I'm I'm basically saying, "God, you're in my enemy." I'm hostile towards God. For it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so. And those who are in anxiety cannot please God. Go back and read those verses sometime. 24:17 Meditate on this mind set on the flesh, this mind set on anxiety and worry cannot please God. By contrast, you know, I was when I was reading that again a few days ago this week, it says, you know, Hebrews 11 says, "Without faith it is impossible to 24:35 please God." And that the the the same verse is you know, it's a parallel verse as it were for me. It's how it came to me. Hebrews 11:6 says, "Without faith faith it is impossible to please God." And those who are in the 24:48 flesh, those who are set their mind on anxiety cannot please God. And so I see that the secret to this being freed from anxiety, to coming to a life that's pleasing God is to really have faith. We call ourselves believers, right? 25:04 We're believers. It's become a just a casual word. Oh, I'm a believer. Are you a believer? Are you a believer? You meet somebody. What does it really mean? The next time you remind yourself, yes, I believe you are a believers. 25:18 I don't want you to doubt your salvation, but let's say, "Lord, I want you to prove that I'm a believer. How?" Believer just means that I have faith. And I want it to be, Lord, that you allow me to go through circumstances in 25:30 my life where my faith is tested. And God says, "There's a believer." I allowed him to go through this trial and this circumstance. He's a believer. He is full of faith. He refuses to set his mind on this anxiety. I want to give you three things. And so 25:47 if you if you're writing it down, we have bulletins today so you can if you'd like. Three things. Three um ways in which we can seek to be freed from anxiety. Matthew chapter 11, Jesus. And the first is, let me tell you this. And you if 26:01 you'd like to write it down, you can. Submit to God's dealings in your life. Submit to God's dealings in your life. And then you will be freed from anxiety. All anxiety comes from God dealing with me in a particular way 26:17 or allowing certain things to happen, which is still his dealing, he's in control. And as a result of that dealing with me, I have worry. Whether it's, "Lord, you should have healed my child and you didn't. Lord, you should have given me that job and 26:30 you didn't. Lord, that somebody did that said that thing to me and you allowed it to happen or this other thing happened." And all these things, Lord, your dealings with me, I'm somehow not happy with it. I'm not happy with what you've allowed 26:44 to happen in my life. When God takes away something that you wished you had or doesn't allow you to have something that you want or tells you to wait until you can have it, submit to God's dealings in your life. And that's in your heart. Don't just say 26:58 I submit. In your heart, submit. And you will find there's an increasing freedom from anxiety. Jesus said in Matthew 11:28, "Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. But that rest will come through your 27:16 taking my yoke upon you and learning from me." And so this God's dealings in my life. Think of it like a yoke. Now, Jesus doesn't tell you to take the yoke without himself having taken the yoke. And the characteristic of Jesus' life 27:32 here when he was here on this earth was that he took the yoke, bore the yoke that his father called him to bear. He walked around, you couldn't see it. What you saw at the end of his life was the cross, the physical cross that he 27:44 carried. But throughout his life, from day one to the end of his life when he was 33 and 1/2 years old, there was a yoke on his shoulders. Which was essentially saying, "Father." And and the last one of his last words on the cross exemplifies that, testifies 27:58 to that. "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. Put whatever yoke on me, Lord, I'll submit to your dealings." This is the yoke of God. Jesus submitted it to it every day. "Lord, you want them to say that about me? Okay. 28:12 These are your dealings in my life. Lord, you want you want me to hit that frustration or that other thing didn't go my way." We don't read much about the frustrations that Jesus faced, but I know he did. I imagine that he made a table 28:26 for the for one of his customers, and the customer just kind of nitpicked about it and said, "I'm not going to pay you." And after Jesus spent all that money on the wood, just said, "I'm not going to pay you." And that was a dealing. This 28:36 is the son of God. Not exempt from the frustrations that you and I would face. Or Jesus. Do you think do you people died in Jesus' life when he was before he turned 30? Were there people that Jesus knew who died or got sick? 28:56 And Jesus knew that his time had not yet come to do a work of healing miraculous. He could have spoken a word. Maybe there was a classmate of his that was sick. And he's the son of God, 14 years old sitting in what it would be, eighth, ninth, 10th 29:09 grade, ninth grade, something like that. Sitting in ninth grade, he hears his friend his classmate is sick. And on the words of death, and he could have said, "Father, I could bind that sickness and restore him to health." And 29:20 the father says, "No, not yet your time." Do you think it hurt Jesus? Perhaps one of his friends died. Close friend. And he knew "Father, why why wouldn't you let me bring raise that person back to life or or rebuke that sickness?" At the age of 29:37 15, he could have. He was a sinless man. And he had the power of God in him, but his hour had not yet come. And he said, "Father, this is a yoke." And then his mother came to him at at the age of 30 and said, "Hey, they're 29:50 out of wine." And I It was a big deal. It was an embarrassment. And I I get the feeling it was somebody that was related to Jesus, which is why he was invited to the wedding, somebody that Mary knew. And this was going to be a huge 30:01 embarrassment for their family. And people would have been talking about it. And so she said, "Can you this this relative of ours is in need right now. Can you take care of the problem?" And Jesus wants to. But the father's saying, "No, not yet." 30:19 Submit to my dealings in your life, Jesus, the father said. And Jesus said, "Yes." And out of that he said, "Woman, what do I have to do with you? I'm under a yoke that you don't know much about. I must answer to my father. My hour has 30:33 not yet come." And about 1 minute later, the father says, "Okay, my yoke now is go and turn the water into wine." And he did. So submit yourself to the yoke to God's dealings in your life. And so Jesus says now, "I It's my yoke that the father put on 30:49 me now. I just want you to come and allow yourself to be under the same yoke." And what that yoke is essentially to look different for all of us, but it is essentially submitting ourselves to God's dealings in our life. 31:04 What God allows us to have to have or not doesn't allow us to have, what he allows to happen or doesn't allow to happen, the prayers of ours that he doesn't answer or seems to not answer. You know, we've heard even recently that 31:16 God answers all prayers. It's either yes or no or wait. All prayers are answered, red, yellow, green. Red, no. Green, yes. Yellow, wait. It's not your time. And God answers all prayers, but I might be wanting green right now and that 31:31 yellow light is just It's yellow for too long. You don't do yellow, you know, in this country, but in India, before it turns green, it also turns yellow. And here it only turns yellow before turns red, but in India it turns red to 31:45 yellow means get ready. And usually what that means because traffic is very different in India is they're already going across the line and it's still yellow and everybody's already across the intersection and you just kind of And that's how we tend to 31:59 do it, right? Lord's saying yellow, yellow, yellow and I was like, "Well, this is a long yellow, Lord. When's the green going to come?" He says, "No, it's not your time." So when the Lord gives you a yellow light, and there may be some red lights as 32:13 well, submit to God's dealing in your life. 1 Peter chapter 5. He's talking about humility. 32:30 Therefore, verse 6, 1 Peter 5 verse 6, "Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God." This is essentially what I just said. Submit to God's dealings in your life. Like just remember, you're clay, he's the potter. Can the clay say to the 32:47 potter, "Why have you made me this?" or "Why have you fashioned me this way?" Submit to God's dealings in your life. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God so that he may exalt you at the proper time. Casting all your anxiety on him 33:06 because he cares for you. You see how Peter through through the Holy Spirit ties those two together. He says that anxiety comes from the fact that you don't want to submit to God's dealings in your life. So just submit. Humble 33:19 yourself under the mighty hand of God. What is the mighty hand of God? Have you ever seen it? I've never seen it physically, but I know what it is. It is that situation where things don't go my way or I want this prayer to be answered 33:32 or I want it to go that way or I would have preferred, Lord, if it had gone this way. That's the mighty hand of God through human agents, through circumstances here on this earth. Submit yourself under the mighty hand of God. 33:46 Casting all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. He cares for you. Oh, remember this, dear brothers and sisters, he cares for you. When it feels like his hand is heavy on you in oppression, it's he's caring for you. He's watching 33:59 over you. He's protecting you. He cares for you. Be of sober spirit. This is all the same thing that he's talking about. Be of sober spirit, verse 8. Be on the alert. For what? Because your adversary, the devil, is prowling around like a roaring lion 34:17 seeking someone whom he can devour through anxiety, I would add. Someone whom he could devour through worry. Yes, there are many ways in which the devil will devour. Could be lust, it could be anger, it could be anything, 34:31 but I'm talking about anxiety today. And that's the one we often don't include in this conversation. Let me ask you an honest question. Have you ever read 1 Peter 5 verse 8 and applied it to worry and anxiety, ever? I haven't until very recently. I'll be 34:51 honest with you. And I suspect maybe many of you are in that situation as well. I've never thought that the devil's prowling around me as I'm listening to that seemingly bad news saying, "I'm waiting for Santosh to open the 35:05 door and let me in. Let this anxiety in." I'm waiting, waiting. He's prowling. Where's where where When's he going to give in? When's he going to let that anxious thought captivate him and overpower him? When's he going to DO IT? 35:15 OH, OH THERE, YES, HE LET ME IN. AND ALL OF A SUDDEN DOWN, DISCOURAGED, DEPRESSED. GOD, WHY? WHY? He was prowling around, prowling around. Now when you face those when when you face those situations and you recognize you're being tempted to be anxious, 35:35 see the devil circling you. He's circling you. Don't let him in. Don't let him in. That's why I said, "Cry out. Say, Lord, this is the time to to close the door. Make sure it's double locked. Make sure the door's fastened, the windows are 35:48 shut because the devil's prowling around and he only needs a millimeter, which is much much smaller than even an inch, children. The millimeter is really really small. Give him 1 second of an anxious thought and he can destroy your whole day. 36:03 Be alert. Be alert. Be of sober spirit. You know, it it when Jesus towards the end of his life, he said, John 14 verse 30, "The The prince of this world is coming and he has nothing in me." No lust, yes. No anger, yes. No 36:21 bitterness, yes. No pride, yes, but no anxiety. What about that? The prince of this world is coming. John 14 verse 30. Do you know that verse? I want I would like to encourage you to make this verse 36:39 your motto for this week. This week, today's December 5th, right? From at least from this week. Let's Or maybe let's today. Let's just do today. Today the prince of this world is coming. The devil's going to come at me in some way. 36:55 He's going to allow me to hear some news or allow face some situation or something is going to happen. He's coming. The prince of this world is coming today, December 5th, 2021, and he has nothing in me. I'm not going to let him in at all. And 37:09 at the end of this day, when I'm going to bed, I'm going to be able to say the prince of the world came and he couldn't get in. There's There's nothing in me of the prince of the world. Tomorrow you wake up, you say the prince of the world 37:22 is coming, but he has nothing in me. He's not going to have anything in me, not a single moment of anxiety. Oh, what a difference this week will be. How How different it will be. Because I say I'm going to close the door. I'm going to close the door. And 37:35 I'm sick of you, devil, coming in and sneaking in through the back door because I allowed 1 second of anxiety. No more. Be alert. He has nothing in me. I'm going to show you this psalm, Psalm 55. I just read this psalm earlier this week 37:59 and it it blessed me so much. I saw a lot of things in here that I hadn't seen before, but um it's a psalm of David where he's mistreated and close friends of his have done harm to him and cheated him and backbitten against him and done harm to 38:17 him, schemed against him. And in the midst of this, look at what he says in verse 18. He will redeem my soul in peace. He will redeem my soul in peace. 38:35 From the battle which is against me, for they are many who strive with me. He will redeem my soul in peace. Remember that phrase. God wants to redeem your soul with peace. You've heard of the redemption of the blood of Jesus Christ, yes? That's 38:48 for the forgiveness of sins. Redemption from anxiety. When the battle is against you, verse 18, the latter part of verse 18. And there are many who are striving against you, whether it's your own lusts or physical people or other other 39:04 circumstances. How will How will you be redeemed? It's through peace. He will redeem my soul in peace. Then he says further down, verse 22, "So cast You know, this is actually the phrase that Peter's quoting in 1 Peter 5. Cast your cares upon him. 39:21 He says, verse 22, "Cast your burden upon the Lord and he will sustain you." Cast your burden upon the Lord. Uh I think it's a message paraphrase that paraphrases it this way. Pile your troubles on God. Pile your troubles on God. 39:37 You know, it's kind of like they have these competition to see how much weight somebody can bear and these Guinness Book of World Records I think I've seen a video like that and they say put on one more. Yeah, put on one more. Go 39:47 ahead, you can do it. Put on some more weight. And God is saying, "Prove my muscles in your life, children. Prove my muscles in in in your life, brothers and sisters. Add on another 10 lbs if you will and see if I can't 40:01 bench press it." Pile on your burdens on God's shoulders. Pile on your troubles on God's shoulders. He wants to take it. Pile your troubles on God's shoulders. He will carry your load. He will sustain you. He will never allow the righteous 40:16 to be shaken. What a wonderful promise. So, first of all, submit to God's dealings in your life. Secondly, start each day by listening to the Holy Spirit's voice. Start each day 40:35 by listening to the Holy Spirit's voice. I've been in the habit of that doing that for a number of years now. That at the very beginning, see the devil, you know, we all have our phones over there by the bedside, hopefully not 40:45 in the bed with you, but over there. And our default is like, "Uh, what happened while I was asleep?" You know. Um, that's the default. And instead, yeah, maybe there's somebody's going to call you or you need to text something, 40:58 but before that, start every day by listening to the Holy Spirit's voice. This is a secret that I found that helps me to be free from my anxiety. Isaiah chapter 50. Start each day, children. You can listen 41:16 to this and and do it as well. Every day, as soon as you wake up, just tell the Lord tell Jesus. He wants to hear you talk to him. Just say, "Lord Jesus, I want to hear you today." It will make such a difference in your 41:29 life when you start your day that way. Just even just look up towards heaven. And you know, if if you start to think, "Well, does he really hear me?" And I didn't hear him back or anything like that. Don't let the devil bring those 41:42 doubts into your mind. Just look up towards the heaven and say, "Lord Jesus, I want to hear your voice today. Speak to me." He will do do it. You know, he did that for an 8-year-old boy, Samuel, in the Old Testament. So, Isaiah 50, 41:56 verse four, "The Lord God has given me the tongue of disciples." Now, usually, we think of this in terms of prophecy, speaking words of prophecy to others. But what does it mean to have a tongue of a disciple? It It means a disciplined 42:10 tongue. That means my tongue will never speak a word of anxiety or worry. It's been disciplined. "The Lord God has given me a disciplined tongue." And oh, how often we have been indisciplined with our tongue. And that tongue maybe even our thoughts, 42:29 but often we have even sinned with our tongue saying, "Oh, this this you know, just those thoughts of anxiety and worry." But the Lord God has given me a disciplined tongue. How? Because he awakens me, verse four, morning by morning, he awakens my ear to 42:44 listen as a disciple. So, because my ear is disciplined to hear him, my tongue is disciplined to speak words of faith. So that I may sustain the weary one with a word. Discipline your ear, dear brothers and sisters. That's where it starts. Do you 43:04 want to discipline your tongue? Now, this This is true in all areas of life. If you find that there's a lack of control in your tongue, you just blurted out stuff or you speak for too long or you're just uh proud or you're bitter or 43:15 or in a moment something happened and you just blurted out frustration and anger at your wife or your children, um, what should you do? Yeah, you could tie up your tongue like tying up a pig with chains. No. Or you could discipline your ear and say, 43:30 "Lord, the discipline of my tongue begins with the discipline of my ear. I want to listen to you. And today, as I listen to you, as I begin my day listening to you, and I'm hearing you." Oh, when you when God sees, you know, he he wants you to 43:43 open your ear, as it were. Actually, he says he does it. But you have to let him. You've got the key to open your ear in the morning, but you've got to give him the key. He says, "Okay, I'll open the your ear now because you 43:56 you asked me to." And Lord, open my ear. He'll open it. You give him the key. He says, "Lord, open my my ear." He'll open it and he'll speak into your heart. He's doing that for me, brothers and sisters. I'm not here to sell you anything. I'm not here 44:09 to pretend, but it's working in my life. My life is so much more free from anxiety. Not completely, I'll be honest. But so much more, it's a lot better than it was last year or 2 years ago, 3 years ago. It's getting better. I'll tell you 44:21 how. Because I've disciplined my ear to hear him first in the morning. Um, or a similar verse that that's spoken to me in Psalms 16. Psalms 16. Verse seven. Psalms 16 verse seven, "I 44:42 will bless the Lord who has counseled me, who has spoken to me. I open He opened my ear and spoke into my heart. I will bless him. Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night." While I'm asleep. If you go to bed uh tonight, 45:01 I want you to do something. Say, "Lord Jesus, here's the key to my ear. While I'm asleep, you open it and just speak into my heart." You believe it's possible? I wouldn't if it wasn't in God's word. When the psalmist says, David says, 45:18 "Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night." How can I do that if I'm asleep? You know, there was a joke that we were talking about um with my family, the kids and I. What is the one question you cannot answer? The question is, "Are you asleep?" 45:31 You can't answer that because you can't answer affirmatively. Like, yeah, you can't answer it all actually, because if you are asleep, you can't say yes. And if you're not asleep, you know. And you can I guess you can answer no, 45:43 but anyway. Um, "My mind instructs me in the night." How is that happening? It's because I went to bed at night and say, "Lord, here's the key to my ear. You open it and speak into my heart." And then when you wake up and and God's 45:56 been counseling you at night, and you're at rest. It's a beautiful picture of how we can be free from anxiety. Where God is speaking into my life. And I'm really asleep. Literally asleep. And words of faith and words of hope are coming and filling my 46:13 heart because I let him open the my ear and he's instructing me at night. And then I wake up and I say, "Okay, Lord, now open it again to new things now that I'm awake. And now I'm in control of what my ear will listen to. Now, I still want to 46:29 give you the key, Lord. You speak to me." "I have set the Lord continually before me. Because he is there at my right hand, I will not be shaken. I cannot be anxious. I will not be anxious. I will not worry. I will not fear. 46:47 Because I set the Lord continually before me." My dear brothers and sisters, if you are really setting the Lord before you and allowing him to open your ear, it is impossible for you to be anxious. Impossible. It might seem like 47:00 theory for us who have been plagued by worry and plagued by anxiety, how we're so pessimistic in our outlook. If something bad can They call it Murphy's law. But it's really the devil's law. Don't blame Murphy for it. Whoever Murphy was. It's the devil's law 47:17 that says if something bad can happen, it will. It's a lie of the devil. It's a lie. It's not a law. It's a lie. It's the devil's lie. Doesn't matter if the bread falls on the buttered side, God's going to turn it into good. 47:31 You know, they have the saying that if a piece of toast will That's what Murphy's law is. If a piece of toast will fall falls, it will fall on the buttered side. Now, you can't eat it anymore. Okay, if it fell on the buttered side, 47:41 God will find a solution for you through that dirty butter side. And that's just a picture of the circumstances we face. So, don't let the world tell you that things are going haywire and and it's it's happening sadly Sadly, it's happening among even 47:56 so-called conservative Christians that they imagine that because of what the government is doing and all these things that somehow God is not in control anymore and we have to take control. No. Let's come to a life of rest, my dear 48:08 brothers and sisters. Let's go to sleep spiritually and rest in God and pray and say, "Lord, open my ear. I'm I'm going to turn off Fox News and CNN and the internet and all these other new all these others. I'm going to turn 48:20 it all off, Lord. All the doctors saying this doctor and that doctor. I'm going to turn it all off, Lord Jesus, and I'm going to give you the key to my ear, not all those other agencies that I allowed to influence me in the past. You have 48:32 the key to my ear. You instruct me while I'm asleep." He will. And you'll find rest. Jesus said, "Come, you'll find rest." Therefore, because my he's at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad and my glory rejoices. 48:49 My flesh also will dwell securely. So, learn to listen. Let me show you this in Matthew chapter 1. Jesus exemplified this life when he lived here on this earth. And I want to show you an example of where he couldn't even do it by his own strength. 49:06 You know, when Jesus uh even when he was 30, he said, "The son can do nothing of his own initiative. He only does whatever the Father he sees the Father doing." Now, that's uh harder for that would have been harder for him to do at the age of 30. 49:23 But you know that at the age of one, a few weeks old, maybe a few months old, of course you would say, "Jesus as an infant, as a helpless infant, is a beautiful picture of how he was his entire life. And the circumstances that I've been 49:40 thinking about recently, um in the end of Matthew chapter 1 and the beginning of Matthew chapter 2, where Jesus is a helpless baby. You know, the world likes to think of Jesus as a helpless baby only at Christmas time or around in 49:53 December. You know, Jesus was a helpless baby for 33 and 1/2 years. For 33 and 1/2 years, he was like that little baby in the hands of his father. And that's why he had such strength. That's why he could go to the cross and 50:06 bear the sins of the world. You see Jesus as a helpless child hanging on the cross depending on his father taking on the sins of the world, which is the greatest load anybody could ever bear. And now when you and I have to bear 50:19 these tiny little loads of some sickness or job situations or something else, a little tiny little load, how are you going to bear it? The The reason we're so anxious is because we're trying to take it on ourselves. And so 50:33 he says, "Come like a child." Come like the picture that you see in Jesus here in Matthew chapter 1, where Jesus, the son of God, was dependent on God speaking to somebody else for his own safety. Who? Joseph and Mary. 50:51 Right? So, here in Matthew chapter 1, here's Jesus um and there's a difficult situation. Joseph's not sure what to do because Mary's pregnant. And he's not married her yet and he's like I mean, he hasn't heard anything from 51:10 the Lord yet, but he's assuming, man, this woman, I thought she was so virtuous. And she talked to me about wanting to honor God and all that and you have to find out she's pregnant. I can't believe she would do this. Of all people, I thought she 51:23 was the one that the most godly young girl in all of Israel. Here I find out she's pregnant. And Joseph hears a word from the Lord. That made all the difference. It wasn't them having a heart-to-heart talk and Mary trying to convince him and anything 51:38 like that. Joseph heard a word from the Lord. His ear was open. Now, in the Old Testament, he he he couldn't have the Holy Spirit speak to within him, so an angel had to come and speak to him. Now, I hope you don't want to go back to the 51:49 Old Testament where you want an angel to come into your room where you're sitting there with these anxious thoughts and say, "It'll be okay." Because that's not going to help you. There's something far greater in the new 52:02 covenant and that is the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to you, much greater than what Joseph had. For Joseph, all he could get was an angel and that angel sealed it. He said, "Okay, it's done." The angel said it. Okay, it's good. And you have something 52:15 far greater, God himself through the Holy Spirit wanting to speak into your ear and telling you, "It'll be okay, my child. Not only will it be okay, it will be good. I'll use it to conform you into the image of my son Jesus." 52:29 So, the angel says, "She'll bear a son." And it says, look at verse 22, all this took place to fulfill what was already spoken. It was a prophecy. God had said it and the angel reminded Joseph about it. Done. So, what does Joseph do? He took his 52:46 wife. And um verse 24, Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took Mary as his wife. Now, it happened through an angel. Now, you and I, it's going to happen through our unlocking of giving 53:02 God the key to our ear and saying, "Lord, speak to me." Do you want it to be said about you that you went to bed uncertain about how God was going to or plagued with thoughts of anxiety? And sometimes when you're plagued with 53:14 thoughts of anxiety, the best thing to do is to just go to sleep. Just go to bed. You're not going to be able to figure it out tonight. But as you're going to bed, don't let it be a a wrestle and an anxiety, a tossing and 53:25 turning. Just lay down on your bed and say, "Lord, I open my ear to receive what you want to counsel me." And then verse 24, Santos awoke and obeyed. Awoke from his sleep and followed the Lord. This is what I want to be true about my 53:40 life. It happens again. Herod now is trying to kill Jesus. And Jesus is this little two, you know, I don't know, 1-month-old baby maybe, 2-month-old baby, or maybe less than that. What does Jesus know? He can't read the 53:57 news. He can't hear the devils about that Herod's about to kill him or wanting to kill him. But God is there. His father never lost control of his circumstance. He's watching it. And you you if you were to write the story, you 54:10 would never even allow Herod to kill those babies. God is doing something far greater. He wants to prove how he's going to carry his son through all these trials where everybody's coming at him. Everything's coming at him. And the 54:23 father's saying, "You can't touch him. He's my son. I've got him in the palm of my hand. I have set the Lord continually before him because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken." And so, you know, um he Herod tries to kill 54:40 verse 7, secretly. You ever had situations with somebody secretly doing something? Matthew 3:7, Herod secretly called the Magi. And so, he said, "Go search for him it and um then um verse 13, the angel of the Lord appears to Joseph 54:57 in a dream again. Joseph goes to bed and he and the and the angel says, "Listen, go to Egypt." Why? Because years before this, I have prophesied that my son has to go to Egypt. Look at that. And verse uh 15, this happened so that what was 55:14 spoken of by the Lord might be fulfilled. Out of Egypt I've called my son. And what I'm trying to get at, your brothers and sisters, is God has already spoken a reality of your life. What is that? Romans 8:29, you will be conformed into the image of his 55:28 son Jesus. It's going to be 1 John 3:3, when I see him, I shall be like him. This has become a seal in my heart. It's become a a rock in my life. And so, it doesn't matter what happens. I SAY, "LORD, YOU'VE ALREADY prophesied 55:42 well in advance that you're going to use everything, Romans 8:28, to conform me into the image of your son Jesus. So, here I am, just going to obey you. I'm going to listen to your voice and I'm going to obey you. That what was 55:55 prophesied might be fulfilled." If you will let God lead you in a in with peace, if you will let him have the keys to your life, he will simply fulfill what he has already prophesied about you. That's the Christian life. He will 56:12 simply fulfill what he has already said he's going to do in your life. We are his workmanship created for good works in Christ Jesus, which he prepared beforehand that we might walk in them. He's already prepared it. What has he prepared? Not the anxiety, 56:28 not the worry, not the fear, a way of peace, a way of peace. Happens again. They're coming back from Egypt. So, they come back towards Nazareth thinking, "Well, I guess we'll just go to Nazareth." But but um verse 22, being warned by God in a 56:45 dream, he left for the regions of Galilee so that it would be fulfilled that Jesus would come from Nazareth. He had to come from Nazareth. And so, there had to be an evil Herod, his son or something was still there in power. So, the father's saying, "Now, 57:00 listen, I've already said my son will come from Nazareth, so I got to take you up there because there's something that's going to happen in Nazareth, which will fulfill my purpose in your life." Start each day by listening. You see 57:13 what happens when we open the door for the Holy Spirit to speak to us, open our ear. I'll give you one more. And that is number three, have a thankful attitude. Have a thankful attitude. It will make such a difference in your 57:28 life when you're trying when you're worried with anxiety. Philippians chapter 4, have a thankful attitude. Philippians chapter 4, he says, you know, verse 4, rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice. Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. 57:46 The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing. That means you're entitled to zero seconds of anxiety in your life. Dear brothers and sisters, you're entitled to zero seconds of anxiety today. And the same tomorrow, zero. 58:05 If you had even 1 second of anxiety, it's not God's will for your life. Be anxious for nothing. But so, how do I deal with that anxiety with that temptation to be anxiety? When I'm tempted to be anxious in everything, whatever it might be, everything, it 58:19 doesn't matter how bad the news is, doesn't matter how unexpected it was, how out of the blue it came, in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. In everything with prayer and supplication. Prayer means you're 58:36 saying, "Lord, you are God. Blessed be the name of the Lord. The Lord gave and take away took away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." Supplication saying, "Lord, I'm still going to ask you for healing in this situation." Supplication means I can he 58:48 still still ask. If things aren't going as the way you want it and you think it's God's will for it to for that healing or for that situation to be changed, give it. But be thankful. Make sure that that prayer and that request is not 59:03 not seasoned with bitterness. Or say, "Lord, somehow I don't think you're going to come through. I'm going to ask anyway." Have you ever prayed that prayer? I'm going to ask, Lord, but I have a feeling you're not going to because 59:15 you haven't done it in the past and it's been 20 times I've asked or 120 times or 220 times or 2,020 times. The moment you allow because of past history, the moment you allow a little bit of unthankfulness to come in, all of a 59:30 sudden. God says, "I see anxiety there." Oh, that you would trust me. Oh, that you would just simply say thank you, Lord. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Lord. You've been faithful. You're good. I'm thankful, Lord. 59:46 Whatever life I have is better than what I deserve. That I know. I'm thankful, Lord. This problem that I'm facing is much smaller than the reality of the problem I would be facing if you hadn't been merciful to me. I deserve to be in hell 59:59 right now. What are the problems in hell? It's not all have this little bit of sickness or this other thing or I I need I don't have enough money. No, the problem there is God has forsaken me. That's the only problem in hell. And God 1:00:13 has saved me from that problem. Now, can't I be thankful? Of course I can. With thankfulness. Anytime you're tempted to be anxious over something on this earth, just picture yourself suffering in hell and how God has says, "You don't ever have 1:00:26 to go through that. I redeemed you. Come on. I'll I'll work it out. I solved that problem. How much more this little thing that you're facing right now? Be thankful. Um turn back uh in the next book, Colossians chapter 3. I want you to see this. Colossians 1:00:43 chapter 3 verse 15. Let the peace of Christ rule in your heart. Overwhelm your heart. Be the referee, the amplified amplified Bible says. He's in charge. Who's in charge today? Not anxiety, not my own thoughts, the peace of Christ. 1:01:03 That means the moment, you know, this the amplified Bible says referee. Almost every sport has a referee in most sports like basketball and football and soccer, they have a whistle. And the way the the sense I get that the 1:01:15 amplified Bible brings out clearly is that whenever there's a something set right so something that's wrong when there's a moment of anxiety, let the peace of Christ blow the whistle and say, "Hold on. Stop. Don't continue with your day 1:01:29 because you'll just continue. The foul has happened and even if you score a goal, it's not going to count because you there was a foul before that. Stop. Set it right. Say, 'I'm not going to have any anxiety in my life. Let the 1:01:40 peace of Christ rule in your heart.' Let the peace of Christ blow the whistle as soon as you're tempted to be anxious." And say, "No anxiety. The peace of Christ is in charge." Okay? Then he goes on to say, "Let the word and be thankful." 1:01:57 Says, "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you were called in one body and be thankful in the midst of it. Thank you, Lord, for that peace of Christ that blows the whistle." Verse 16, "Let the word of Christ richly 1:02:08 dwell within you with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with what?" Thankfulness. Did you sing with thankfulness this morning? If you didn't, next Sunday when you come 1:02:19 back, maybe we should put a little sign there that says, "We're going to sing with thankfulness." Not uh you know, this week and okay, Lord, I'll sing this song. No, with thankfulness. I hope that will be true about every 1:02:33 single time whether we're on Zoom or not, whether the instruments are playing or not. It doesn't matter what instruments we have. Doesn't even matter whether we're in tune. Are you tuned to thankfulness? Is this is it filled with thankfulness, 1:02:45 the singing? It make a difference. Verse 17. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks. It's like he has to say it three times because in fact, he says it a fourth time. Look at this verse chapter 4 1:03:02 verse um two. Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving. An attitude of thanksgiving. See, this is more than just giving uh saying thanks. It's more than just saying thank you. Whether you actually say thank you or 1:03:17 not, your attitude is one of thankfulness. That means everything you say, everything you do comes from this attitude of thankfulness, thankfulness, thankfulness, thankfulness. It's like you've been dipped into a jar of thankfulness and you come out 1:03:33 and you're dripping with thankfulness. In our rest of our time together, even now, you don't have to wait till next Sunday. Right now, say, "Lord Jesus, will you dip me, baptize me into a spirit of thankfulness?" And out of that thankfulness now, 1:03:50 they're going to we're going to pass the mic around and they're going to say something and let it smell full of thankfulness. Because it's dripping with thankfulness, immersed in thankfulness, an attitude of thankfulness. 1:04:03 You know, Jesus was it Luke 7 or Luke 17 where the 10 lepers. And it says that the one leper who came back was a Samaritan. I believe it's Samaritans who are thankful. What is a Samaritan today? You know, the physical Samaritan is not people 1:04:21 from Samaria, but it's those who are despised, those who think nothing of themselves, those who don't believe they are entitled to anything. That's what the Samaritans were. The Jews hated them. They treated them, despised them. 1:04:32 That's kind of how they grew up, the despised class of society. Now, maybe you and I are not the despised class in society physically, but will you choose to be that? Say, "Lord, I want to have the attitude of a Samaritan. I'm not entitled to 1:04:48 anything. I don't deserve anything. I don't have any demands on you. I'm just going to walk in loneliness." Such a person will be thankful. And those nine Jews who thought they were the chosen people of God and despised even the Samaritan and probably 1:05:01 thought, "Man, how come he got to get the miracle, too? He's a Samaritan." But that one Samaritan, it says he got salvation. Cuz he came back and he is like, "Jesus, you're a Jew and my whole life I've been used to Jews 1:05:15 mistreating me. And I thought bad enough that I'm a Samaritan, now I'm a leper on top of that. What good is my life?" He had such a low estimation of himself that when he when God did a miracle for him, there was no complaining or like, "Oh, you know, I 1:05:31 don't know what happened to the other nine." THEY WERE SO TAKEN UP with the world ahead of them that they lost sight of their thankfulness. They lost sight of the one who had saved them and healed them. And this one Samaritan who 1:05:42 immediately realized, "Maybe those nine Jews deserve it, but I definitely don't." And that's why he had an attitude of thanksgiving and that's why he received salvation. And the reason there's so much complaining and a lack of thankfulness 1:05:56 in our lives is because we're like Jews. We have our We think, "I I deserve better, Lord. I deserve you to treat me nicely." Let's humble ourselves. Please understand, I don't want you to be condemned, brothers and sisters. I know 1:06:09 that anxiety is a plague. It's worse than COVID. I'll tell you that. It's worse than AIDS. It's a plague. And I hope that in the things I've shared that you will have a desire to take the antibiotic and the probiotic and whatever it is. 1:06:25 You know, submit yourself to the dealings of God in your life. Start each day by listening to the Holy Spirit's voice. Think of this like vitamins. Probiotic. Fight against this. I don't want to fall prey. Everybody else is 1:06:38 falling left, right, and center. A thousand may fall on one and a hundred or ten thousands on the other side to this pandemic of anxiety, but I will not be shaken. Cuz the Lord is ever before me. I'll just close with this verse. 1 Peter 1:06:54 chapter 1. I've been going back to this chapter recently because our memory verse for this past week is in here. And uh I'll just read this verses 6 and 7. 1 Peter 1 verses 6 and 7. 1:07:11 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials. Think about that for a moment. If necessary. So, God will only allow you to be distressed by various trials. 1:07:29 Various means many and lots of different types. That's how what it means. But it's only if necessary. God is There's some purpose in it. It's necessary. And you can rejoice in it. Why? Because verse 7, "So that the proof of your 1:07:43 faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable." You know that because you went through that trial and God was able to carry you through it, you trusted him, you had faith, you have something much more than gold. 1:08:01 If somebody had said, "Hey, just do this for a little while, a week from now you'll have gold." I think there's a lot we would people in the world who would do for gold. You want me to do 10 push-ups or I don't know, walk a mile, 10 miles. Gold at the 1:08:15 end of it? Yeah. And that's what Peter's reminding us. He says, "Listen, you have something far more perishable at the end of it." And it says that these momentary 2 Corinthians 4, light afflictions. Are they momentary and light? You thought 1:08:28 about it. Certainly doesn't feel like that, right? What do you mean momentary, Paul? It's been a year. It's been two years. You know what what Why is it momentary? Because when we get to heaven, it says these momentary light afflictions are 1:08:42 gaining us an eternal weight of glory. And I pictured it like this that in heaven we'll be there with some weight of glory. Now, I don't think it'll be physical things. It could be something some special relationship with God. Some special 1:09:01 place with God. Something like that. That's that's what's glory for me. It's not crown or streets of gold or a mansion. No, it's just Lord, where are you? Can I be closer to you somehow? And and and experience you more and have 1:09:15 more you know, even in heaven I believe it will be a learning experience for us. We'll explore the depths of God and realize there's more to know of him. It's just not sin there. But we'll have these weights of glory as 1:09:27 it were, something of value there. And at that moment I picture as I'm I'm looking at this weight of glory that I have, I'll remember God will allow me to reflect on how this glory that I have now came through that five-year trial 1:09:43 that I went through. And it'll be like, "Five years, really? Man, it seems like it was just five seconds." Because I'm in eternity. And so now as we're walking through the time and time tends to slow time tends to slow down with the bad things and 1:10:00 speed up for the good things. Seems like it. Fix your hope on the glory to come. And how we will look back with this weight of glory. I'll be so thankful that during that momentary light period, whether it was five years, 10 years, 15 1:10:18 years, it didn't matter how bad it was, it won't matter what who went through how much even. But whatever God allowed you to go through, you have the glory on this side of it. And so I had written here part of a line from my one of my 1:10:33 favorite hymns, "I worship thee sweet will of God and all thy ways adore." One of Frederick Faber's wonderful hymns. And in that he says, "I have no cares thou blessed will, for all my cares are thine." And that's really what opening the year 1:10:49 is to do is to let God's cares become mine. I say, "Lord, I want to care about the things you care about." Not the things that are weighing me down. Let me care about the things you care about. All my cares are thine. I 1:11:00 live in triumph, Lord, for thou hast made thy triumphs mine. I live in triumph cuz you've made your triumphs mine. It's not that I overcame anxiety, God overcame anxiety through Jesus Christ and now I'm experiencing the 1:11:16 the fruit of that. His triumph is mine. And when it seems no chance or change from grief can set me free. When it seems that I'm just grief is just flooding over me like wave after wave after wave of grief over something. You 1:11:35 might have experienced some loss or you're going to experience some loss and grief will flood over you like waves. Hope finds its strength in helplessness. Think about it. Hope finds its strength in helplessness. 1:11:53 I can't do anything to fix the problem. I'm just helpless, Lord, and there hope finds its strength. And gaily, joyfully, waits on thee. Read that whole hymn sometime. I hope it'll be a blessing to you.
