Its OK to Not Be OK - Part 2 - Anxiety

Good morning Church!

I hope you’ve had a great week, I know yesterday we had a great breakfast and a great time serving someone out in our community, and I want to thank everyone who showed up for that - it was a little cold, but I think we can all agree that serving Jesus together was a great time of bonding and showing the love of Jesus to others. And after service today as has already been mentioned we’re going to have our special budget meeting and as unexciting as numbers on a page may be, I have to say that I am excited for what God is doing here at Harmony and I pray that you are too. And I think we will be in Harmony as we leaver here today!

Let’s pray and get started today.

We're in a message series that I believe is very important for a lot of people. The message series is called "its ok to not be ok" and the title of today's message is "Anxiety." I want to just acknowledge something that many of you may not have thought about but it's very true in our lives. Oftentimes the biggest battles that we're going through are battles that other people just don't see. So often the battles that we're fighting are battles in our own minds. We often will show on the outside that we look confident while on the inside, we're secretly insecure or we're struggling. We could often look like we're strong but the truth of the matter is, we feel weak. We can put on happy face at church. Praise the Lord, bless You God, all this kind of stuff. But oftentimes truthfully we go home, we feel anxious, we feel worried, we feel a weight, we feel angst. There's a heaviness, there's an insecurity, there's a fear, there's a dread. What do we do when we find ourselves battling with anxiety? Philippians chapter 4 verses 4 through 7 tells us

Philippians 4:4–7 ESV

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

This was the Apostle Paul writing from a Roman prison. He was chained up 24 hours a day to Roman guards and he was awaiting trial. He didn't know what was gonna happen to him. If there was anyone anywhere who had the right to be anxious, it was the Apostle Paul and what he was going through. And under that type of duress, here's the words of power, life and truth that he penned. He said, Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice. Let your gentleness be evident to all. Then the Apostle Paul says, Do not be anxious about anything. Another translation says, Be anxious for nothing. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation. No matter what you're facing. If you're worried about your job, if you're worried about the economy, if your teenagers are freaking you out, the virus, the election, no matter what you're going through, in every situation, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. In every situation, by prayer and petition, we present our requests to God.

What is anxiety? The answer is very very complicated. There's no easy answer. Anxiety can be physiological. It can be emotional. It can be situational. I think it's always spiritual. Because anxiety is very complicated, we're gonna take a holistic approach always to anxiety. In other words, we are always going to pray. We also may seek professional help. We may go to a doctor. We may get advice about supplements or about our diet. We may, under professional care, take certain medicine. We may seek counseling. Now for the sake of this time together, I want to focus wholly and completely on the spiritual side because I cannot prescribe medicine to you nor would you want me to prescribe medication to you. But I can offer spiritual prescription that I hope will be helpful. Because the goal of all of these messages is that even though it’s ok to not be ok, the bottom line is that it’s not ok to stay that way.

So again, what is anxiety? I'll try to explain it this way. How many of you ever have had one of the annoying red lights come on your car that indicates there's trouble? Any of you had that? That gives me anxiety any time the check engine light comes on. What is the check engine light? The check engine light is not the problem. The check engine light signals that there's a problem somewhere else. The signal indicates that if you're smart, you should take the car to the mechanic, take it to someone who knows how to fix it. The light is not the problem. The light is a signal indicating you should take it to someone who knows how to address the situation. What is anxiety? Well, point number one, among many things,

1. Anxiety is the signal alerting you that it's time to pray.

Let me say it again. It's the signal, it's the alert, it's the indicator that something else is not right, that you would be wise to go to the mechanic, go to your Creator, go to the One who made you. Anxiety is the signal alerting you that it's time to pray. In other words, if it's big enough to worry about, it's big enough to pray about. If it's on your mind, it's on God's heart. Be anxious about nothing but in every situation take your request to God. If you're worried about your upcoming doctor's appointment, pray about it. If you're worried about a decision that you need to make, pray about it. If it's on your mind, it's on God's heart. Take your request to God. Here's something I've learned over the years. People will just say "pray" but there are a lot of people honestly who just don't know how to pray. They kinda wonder, like, what are the prayer rules? How do I address God? Do I address Him as the omnipotent Creator? Is He Daddy? I mean, what do I call Him? Do I have to pray in King James language or doesn't count? - that one was really big for us coming from that strict KJV only style, because that seemed to be the way everyone prayed there - Harken unto the voice of my cry, O God. Hide not Thyself from my supplication.- How do I sign off? Do I say, "In Jesus' name," "In the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit." Does He get mad if I don't? What if I fall asleep praying? Have I offended God, and I'm in prayer timeout for the next seven weeks? He won't listen to my prayer. What are the prayer rules? You don't have to do that. You don’t have to be anxious in how to pray, because you don't have to pray to a relational God who loves you in a formal language. He loves you. It can be intimidating, yes, especially if any of you have ever been around people who seem to be prayer ninjas. People with the spiritual gift of prayer. Like sometimes we hear them pray and we just think God goes, dude, that was good. and then we tend to look at our own prayer life we think wow, yeah, that stunk. Theirs was a good prayer. I mean, they quote scripture. You know, and they know where it is in the Bible, you know, and they can find the book in the Bible. You know, like, God You said in Isaiah 54:17. No weapon formed against me will prosper. You're like, whoa, that's good. How do you pray? Listen to what scripture says. And I want to give you a little insight to what Paul said. He said this.

He said, pray about everything. God cares about it. He said, present your requests to God. The text is saying, let your needs be known.Present your requests to God. How do we do that? It's very simple. You, get ready for it, let your needs be known. You talk to God in your way. In other words, it doesn't have to be in my way. It doesn't have to be in prayer ninja's way. It's just in your way. For example, we have four kids. And here's what's interesting. They all let their needs be known to me in different ways. They'll text me. or call me, or shout it out to me, all hours of the day, they’ll send links to me in email, all kinds of ways to communicate even some that are inaudible and only through body language, and these are all very different ways to let their needs be known. They're all different and that's how you can talk to God. You can ask Him. You can write your prayer requests to Him. You can sing your prayer requests to Him. You can sigh, He knows your heart. You can shout with joy, you can shout with anger. Believe me, He's big enough to handle your temper tantrum.

And here's what I want you to know. I'm a dad and as an earthly father, I actually like when my children need me. Don't tell them I said that but I do. I want to be needed and God who loves you as your Heavenly Father loves for you to come to Him and let your needs be known. In every situation, with prayer and petition, let your needs be known to God. What is anxiety? It's a signal alerting you to go to the One who loves you, go to the One who created you, go to the One who can help you. It's a signal alerting you it's time to pray. I love the way that Peter talked about how to handle anxiety. Peter's a guy that probably did have anxiety if you looked at the way he lived his life. And this is what he said to do when you're anxious. He said in 1 Peter 5:6-7,

1 Peter 5:6–7 ESV

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Do you feel anxious, do you feel a weight, do you feel afraid? We're gonna approach holistically but we're always gonna take it to God and we're gonna cast our anxiety on Him because He cares for us. What do you do? You humble yourselves and you pray.

The second thing we’re going to look at is perspective. We have to have a

2. Perspective of Praise

"Rejoice in the Lord always. "I'll say it again, rejoice." That is an amazing verse for a coffee mug. That is amazing verse for a refrigerator magnet. It's a powerful verse for a greeting card. That is an unbelievably spiritual verse to quote to your friends. don’t you hate it, though, when people quote that to you when you’re in the middle of a difficult situation. Right?

You get a flat tire on the side of the road, it's 102 degrees out, and someone says, "Rejoice in the Lord always." I'll make you rejoice if you say that to me again. Like, really Paul? I mean, seriously? Rejoice always? Under all circumstances? Really, Paul?

Rejoice when you lose your job and you don't know how you're gonna make rent, rejoice? Rejoice when your best friend betrays you, rejoice?

Rejoice when you find out that your child's been making horrible decisions?

Rejoice when you can't sleep at night and the anxiety is so real, so deep, that you don't even wanna leave your house? Rejoice then, Paul?

Out of that context, awaiting his judgment, Paul says, and this time we’re going to look at the Christian Standard Bible version for a little different translation:

Philippians 4:4–7 CSB

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your graciousness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

How could Paul rejoice when he's locked up? How could he praise God when he wanted to preach, but he goes to bed as a prisoner? The answer is, it's all about perspective. It's all about perspective.

What does perspective mean? Perspective very simply means how you see something. In other words, two different people can look at the same thing and they can see it from two different perspectives.

Think about those pictures that as you walk by them and look at them from two different angles, the picture changes. One person may see the picture as a basketball player dribbling, the other person may see them dunking.

It's all about perspective. I wanna talk to you today about a perspective of praise. The apostle Paul could've looked at his situation at face value, and you know what he would've said? This is really bad. This is not good. This is ripe for anxiety. How can I function? My ministry is over, my dreams are crushed. This could've been really bad.

Had the apostle Paul had a bad perspective, what he could've said was this. "Now, I want you to know, brothers and sisters, "that what's happened to me really stinks. "My God let me down. "I'm overwhelmed with anxiety, "depression, and hopelessness." "And because of the hell I've been through, "I'm quitting LifeGroup and I'm never going back to church."

We look at our situation. This is bad, I've got anxiety, it's getting worse, I can't function, I don't know what to do. It's about perspective. But instead, what the apostle Paul did, is he did look at a very bad situation. We're not minimizing the situation, but he looked at it through a perspective of praise. We're gonna rejoice in the Lord always and through a perspective of praise, this is exactly what the apostle Paul said. He said in Philippians 1:12-13

Philippians 1:12–13 ESV

I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.

In other words, through a perspective of praise, you might look at this and think, I didn't feel like it was good. I thought it was really bad, but then I realized, my God will never leave me. He will never forsake me. No weapon formed against me will prosper. No, no, no, my God is working for good in all things. Therefore, I've got a perspective of praise. Paul sees that what really happened actually served to advance the gospel. In fact, for a long time, they thought Paul was their prisoner. They had no idea that they were locking up some of the most influential Roman leaders to him for eight hours at a time for him to preach the gospel to them. Who is the real prisoner now? It's all about perspective.

- You can look at the very same situation and say, this is bad, this is horrible, I can't stand this, or you could have a perspective of praise. God, now that I look at this way, I actually see that You are in this, You're working for good. What's happened to me actually served to advance the gospel. What's so powerful is that this isn't the first time that the apostle Paul was actually in prison. In fact, you can read another time in Acts chapter 16, Paul and Silas, they were kinda going to their LifeGroup and there was this woman possessed with an evil spirit. And when they cast the evil spirit out of this woman, a gang fight broke out, a big riot, and they ended up being arrested, beaten by the crowd, and then ordered to be beaten by the religious leaders, or the magistrates. In fact, this is what scripture says in verse 22, that

Acts 16:22 ESV

The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods.

I'm hoping that none of you will be stripped of your clothes this week and beaten with rods, but there are some of you who might be stripped of your confidence. You're stripped of your faith right now. You're trying to have faith, but you just can't find it. You're beaten down with anxiety. You're beaten down with your doubts. You're doing everything you can to hold onto your faith, but the anxiety feels so real that you just can't press through it.

The apostle Paul and Silas were doing everything right. They were beaten and thrown into prison. I want you just, for a moment, to try to visualize this. They're in prison, maybe broken nose, perhaps, maybe a couple of broken ribs, wiping dried blood off. I mean, we're talking like really severely beaten on a cold, hard prison floor, and they're in this situation. So you know what they decided to do? Well, things are really bad. This isn't fair. We might as well have a worship night. That's what they did.

It'd be kind of the equivalent of you finding out that someone you love has cancer, so you say, hey, let's just get together and worship God. Or hey, I just discovered my kid's on drugs. Let's get together and worship God. That's kinda what it's like. How did they do that? It's a matter of perspective.

I don't know who this is for right now, but there's someone here, you do have an issue, and it's big, and I'm not minimizing it in the least. Maybe two issues, maybe complicated and three issues. Those are real, but don't forget to look at the whole picture.

Do you have friends? Perhaps you do. Do you have your health? Perhaps you do. Do you still have a glimmer of faith? Just a mustard seed of faith 'cause you can move mountains if that's the kind of faith that you have. Do you have a church of people that care for you?

Don't just look at what's wrong. Also look at what's right. How could they, when they've been beaten, falsely charged, worship God? Maybe Paul leaned over to Silas, said, "Well, there's a lot of bad, but we're not dead! "If we're not dead, we're not done!" If you've got a lot of bad in your life, at least you can say that. I'm not dead. If I'm not dead, I'm not done. You can look at it from a different perspective and what they did is said, "Let's just go ahead and worship God." Here's what they did, verse 25.

Acts 16:25 ESV

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them,

Now, I want you to notice this. They were praying and they were singing hymns when they were bound up in prison. In other words, God had not delivered them from prison. There was no miraculous provision. There was no miracle.

They weren't praising God at this moment for the what, they were just praising Him for the who.

This wasn't praise for the what, this was praise for the who, this was praise before the provision.

This was praise for the character and the nature and the goodness of God.

It wasn't praise for what they had seen, it was just praise for who God is. And what happens is a miracle. In the middle of their praise, God.

He's gonna shake the cell with an earthquake. The doors are gonna swing open and their chains are gonna fall off.

Why do I tell you that? Because knowing what God has done here in Acts 16, and now what God did not do when Paul was in prison in Rome brings way more power to the truth when he says, "Rejoice in the Lord always." Because Paul knew, from Rome, the power of God to deliver him from the exact same problem. Paul knew God could deliver him from prison, but God did not and Paul still offered Him praise. That brings color to the idea of rejoice in the Lord, always. Rejoice when He delivers you and rejoice when He doesn't because this is not praise for the what, you see. This is praise for the who. This is a deeper type of praise. Now, I want you to imagine, if you can, this context. Paul and Silas were beaten, bloody, they're in prison, and they decide to worship.

- Visualize it if you can. Paul and Silas, they're praying, they're singing hymns. They're worshiping God for who He is, not just for what He might do, and in the middle of their praise, the ground shakes. The doors fly open. Their chains come loose. In the middle of the praise, sometimes you might find out that the key that unlocks your miracle is the sound of your praise. We praise You, God, for who You are. We praise You, God. I have a feeling today, I don't know who it is, but somebody, somewhere, is gonna wanna give our good God some praise. You're gonna wanna praise Him, even in the middle of the pain. You're gonna wanna praise Him when He breaks you out, and you'll praise Him when he doesn't. You're gonna rejoice in the Lord always. You've got a perspective of praise. It's all about perspective.

Let’s pray.

Jesus, we will praise You when we feel You and we'll praise You when we don't. We will praise You in the prosperity, and we will praise You in the pain. We know, God, that what is happening to us eventually, by faith, will actually serve to advance the gospel. We're not praising You for the what. This is for the who.

Jesus, we praise You that You are here. We praise You that You are faithful, that You'll never leave us, You'll never forsake us. We ask God for Your presence to do what only You can do. God, send Your spirit to give us a peace that goes beyond our human ability to understand. God, we cast our cares upon You. Father, hear the cry of our hearts. We present every need before You, God. We thank You, God, that You care for us. God, even if we don't see the result immediately that we want, we trust in You, God. We worship in You. We worship You, we praise You, God.

And with nobody looking around, those who have something to surrender to God, a weight, a burden, you're looking at it maybe from the wrong perspective. You want a perspective of praise. You wanna thank Him in the middle of it. You wanna trust Him even when you don't see how the provision, the answer, the solution might come.

God, we ask for the power of Your Holy Spirit to minister to us today. God, give us the faith to praise You when we don't feel it, when we don't see it, when we can barely catch our breath. We thank You that You are our breath, that You are present, that You never leave us, God. We cast our cares by faith upon You because You do care for us, God. Because You care about everything, we will not worry about anything. We will seek You, we'll choose to trust You. God, I pray for a miraculous provision. God, we know that sometimes, the sound of our praise touches Your heart. And just send miracles, God. We pray for healing, we pray for relational healing, God, we pray for emotional healing. We pray for a calming of anxious hearts. And God, when You move, we'll praise You, and God, when we don't see what we hope to see, we will still praise You. That's simply because of who You are. As you keep praying, nobody looking around, there are those of you, you may be a bit confused. Why do these people sing like that? Why do they worship like that? I don't seem to have that. What was it that changed Paul's perspective from prison? He said, "All this has happened to me "to advance the gospel." What is the gospel? The gospel's just kind of a big word that means, the good news. What is the good news? Well, the bad news is this, that without Jesus, on our own, we've all messed up, we've all sinned. If you're really, really honest, you do some things you're ashamed of. And you might wonder, where do I stand with God because of this? That's the bad news, the good news is that God loved you, He loved me so much that He actually became one of us in the person of His son, Jesus. It's a mystery, it's a miracle. God in the flesh, Jesus, the son of God. Jesus was all God and all man, all at the same time, and He came from people like us, people who were messed up, people who were hurting, broken, desperate, lost, lonely, and afraid, and Jesus didn't leave us there. But He became sin for us on the cross, died in our place for the forgiveness of sins. The good news is, on the third day, three days after He gave His life, our good God raised Jesus from the dead. The tomb was empty, He is not there. Why? So that anyone, and this includes you, doesn't matter who you are, doesn't matter what you've done, doesn't matter how dark your life is, doesn't matter how deep your sin resides, anyone who calls on the name of Jesus, your sins would be forgiven. You would be brand new. There may be those of you that realize, I am here for this moment. I'm watching it on FaceBook for this moment. I'm here because I need His grace. I need His forgiveness, what do you do? Just turn from your sins, turn toward Him, call on the name that is above every name. When you call on the name of Jesus, He hears your prayers, He forgives your sins, He makes you brand new. And for those who say, yes, I need Him, this is my moment, I turn to Him. I give Him my whole life. Jesus, I need You, I give my life to You. If that's your prayer, but you don’t quite know what to say, just pray with me now pray

Heavenly Father, forgive all of my sins. Jesus, save me. Make me new. Fill me with Your Spirit so I could follow You. I cast my cares on You. I want to live for You. My life is not my own. Thank You for new life. In Jesus' name I pray.

If you are tired, weary or broken, if fear and anxiety have been eating away at you, as the music continues to play softly for a moment, either right where you are or you can bring it up here to, grab someone to pray with you if you want, but whatever it is, lay your burdens at the feet of Jesus.

Questions for the Week

Do you ever hold back how you’re feeling from God? How could being honest with Him help in times of anxiety?

Read 1 Peter 5:6-8. Why is it important to focus on God’s ability to care for you, rather than on the threats of the enemy?

What steps can you take to surrender to God and break the cycle of anxiety this week?

Has there ever been a time in your life when a new perspective made a big difference? What happened?

How can we start to approach all situations with a perspective of praise?

How could you praise God for a struggle you’re facing right now?