Broken Part 4
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Anxiety
Anxiety
Intro:
Main Idea: Our anxiety raises when we take our focus off Christ
Good Evening!
It is great to be with you all tonight!
We are currently in a new series called Broken.
Living in a world where we can be honest instead of hiding behind the word I’m Okay.
This series is about changing the conversation when it comes to our brokenness, loneliness, depression and anxiety.
Several weeks ago we kicked off the series by looking at the brokenness of Gideon and we hopefully came to this understanding that God loves people despite our brokenness.
Then we talked about Loneliness.
We talked about how your generation the Generation of Gen Z, is the most connected generation of all time, yet it is the loneliest generation of all time.
But there is hope because as we discussed loneliness is just an obstacle to God’s goodness.
Before the Super Bowl we talked about depression.
How depression can leave us hopeless but Christ gives us hope.
I hope that these last couple of weeks you have been able to have some good conversations about mental health.
And I hope that this is not a stoppage in conversations after tonight.
That we keep talking about it and helping each other through it.
This leads us to part 4 of our broken series.
Tonight we will be looking at Anxiety.
I want us to be clear on what anxiety is
Anxiety is— is a sense of uncertainty.
“Anxious individuals tend to have an intolerance for uncertainty. Sometimes people with anxiety call this “fear of the unknown.” Those who chronically worry equate uncertainty with bad outcomes. To lower the risk of a future threat, people with anxiety may try to minimize the number of uncertain situations they encounter. This avoidance strengthens anxiety in the long run.”
So what does this look like?
You see many times we fear the unknown.
And when you have crippling anxiety, the more of the future that is unknown the more fear you will have.
And in these moments it can be easy to forget that we serve a big God who can handle all things.
Me:
CrossFit Open on Friday—
3 Wall Walks
12 DB Snatchs
15 Box Jump Overs
15 min to get that in as many times as you can.
162 reps
the leaders currently has 390 reps
In the gym I am 10 out of 24
USA- 21,701st out of 57,531
Making my place in North America 24,512th out of 65,537
in the world 52,339 out of 144,445
We:
Have you ever been anxious about something?
Open it up
Can you think of a time where you let fear get the best of you?
Like you had ever intention to not be anxious but found that it only made it worse.
The more unknown it is the more fear seems to rise in us.
It can be about a test, because grades can be unknowns.
It can be about a relationship
A game— An event—
Has anyone ever text you and said, we need to talk how about tomorrow or next week?
And they give you no detail about the meeting?
I am so anxious for that meeting.
It is the worse!
What college you are going to get into.
What will you do for the rest of your life.
It is easy to be anxious.
But here is the rub— God does not give a spirit of anxiety.
But so often we find ourselves distracted by fear.
When God wants to give us peace.
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
He gives us rest— not to worry as Jesus talked about in Matthew 6.
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
At the end of the day you can’t control so much of what you are anxious about.
I long for peace.
Do you?
I think truthfully we get distracted often.
And when we get distracted by worldly problems that can be solved by an infinite God— we get fearful and anxious.
We try to fix all our problems and try to limit the variables.
We take everything in our own hands because if we don’t then who is going to be in control— and a ship without a captain will eventually crash.
To us we are saving the ship but in reality the best captain is God and you are hogging the wheel.
He knows where we need to go— that is going to involve letting go of that worry, and fear and that is scary.
I believe that anxiety rises when our focus is off Christ.
God: Anxiety raises when our focus is off Christ.
I want us to look at the story of Peter and Jesus.
Matthew 14:22-33
If you have your Bibles turn there.
While you are getting there let me break this down a bit.
Jesus had just fed 5000 people on the heels of hearing about the death of John the Baptist.
And he is about to send them all away and this is where we will pick up the story.
Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”
And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Jesus puts his disciples in a boat and then he dismisses the crowd.
But check this out, after all of that is done, what does Jesus do?
And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone,
He get by himself and he prays.
You see so many times we get stuck in the ebbs and flows of life that we forget to get away and pray to God.
We get nervous and anxious about what is coming up instead of going to God in the moment and just being alone with him.
It must have been some time later, because the boat is far from the shore, and the water is rough.
The wind was against them and the waves were pushing them out further from the shore.
Never fear— Jesus had the Airwalks 2000 sandles with flotation device on it and he walks on water.
Towards the disciples.
Now, I don’t know about you all, but being in water at night is probably the scarest thing on the planet.
We had a pool growing up and when had a light for the pool but if that light got switched off— I was done— for I was convinced that a shark was going to eat me in my pool.
You can’t tell me that water at night is not scary.
It is terrifying.
I can imagine this boat bopping up and down and in total darkness.
The 12 would not want to give the impression that they were scared.
However remember when that storm come on them and Jesus was napping and they freaked out.
We know they already are a little on edge in the boat.
The waves are getting bigger and maybe a storm was moving in again.
But this time they have no Jesus.
But Jesus is coming and he is walking on water.
This is why their reaction when they see something in the middle of the sea is to cry out it’s a ghost!
I have been in places where there is logical conclusions to why scary stuff happens and I know that Ghost are not real— but I find myself yelling ghost often.
I can’t blame the disciples here.
They were terrified.
But even if you are terrified— Jesus still calls out to you and commands that you do not fear.
But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”
Jesus knew he was going to scare them.
He lets them know he is present.
Then Peter— shouts back if it is you then let me come out on the water with you.
Jesus honors his request.
This takes a lot of boldness to step out of the boat.
It took courage to get out and walk on water.
None of the 12 made this request and got out with Peter.
It was only Peter.
And Peter begins to walk towards Jesus.
But then he sees the waves, he feels the wind, he begins to sink.
He was once on what felt like solid ground but now is sinking into the dark abyss.
And he cries out to Jesus— SAVE ME!
And Jesus reached down immediately and saved Peter.
And he says of you of little faith— why did you doubt.
Why did you doubt me?
Peter you were walking on water— only two people walked on water in all of history—Jesus and Peter that’s it— it is a very short list.
But Peter saw his circumstances and he said there is no way I can keep walking out here.
And he got distracted by his own fear and worry and he began to sink.
We may have had the courage to say yes to Jesus at some point in our lives.
We said yes, we got out of the boat and started to walk towards Christ.
But at some point we got distracted.
We let our anxiety of tomorrow ruin the moments of today.
We are fearful of the future.
When Peter stepped on the water— he did not sink— that had to be the coolest feeling ever.
I am sure he had a smile from ear to ear— and as he was looking at Christ— I can picture Jesus giving him a smile and the look of pride, as Jesus thought Peter finally got it— and for a while he did.
Until he let his problem dictate his path— which was downward and sinking.
Peter got off that boat with every intention of falling Christ.
He never had a second thought about the waves and the wind when he was inside the boat.
It wasn’t until he was in the mist of the storm that his eye began to drift.
He lost his focus.
When we lose our focus we stop letting God have control of our situations.
We say, don’t worry God I got this.
And when the waves began to pull Peter down, what does he do?
He cries out!
Jesus save me!
He is overwhelmed by his situation and circumstances and only choice he has is to call for help.
He doesn’t call for the other disciples they are still in the boat.
He calls out to Christ.
Christ is the only one who is able to pull him out of his doubt, his anxiety, his fear, and his worry.
Jesus was there to save him even despite Peter’s circumstances.
So what does this mean for you?
You:
I believe that Our anxiety rises when we take our focus off Christ.
There is a little part of this that shows that our faith is lacking, that we have doubt that Jesus can do what he says he will do.
Or we begin to doubt his goodness and his power.
And here is the deal, in your relationship with God you may have at one point told God that he has control over your life.
You may have committed that to him and you may have even gotten out of the boat and walked on water with Christ.
And maybe at first everything was smooth and it was easy.
You gave God control of your dating life— it was easy because you had no suitors anyway.
But maybe you gave God control of an addiction to you had.
Gave him control over little things.
It was easy because the waves weren’t very big.
They were easy to give up control.
It wasn’t until life hit hard and the waves of life were set to crush you.
And instead of keeping your attention on Christ it began to drift to fear, what if I don’t make the grades to get into a good college.
What if I don’t ever date anyone.
What everyone hates me.
I fear the unknown because I want to be in control.
And those waves are going to hammer you.
When things look bad, and that worry sets in, here is the truth and the hope I want to leave you with.
Jesus is with you through it all.
It is not the people in the boat who you just left behind.
It is not your buddies, or your family.
And I understand some of you have close relationship with everyone but Peter didn’t go back to the boat—
Peter didn’t yell for the others when his fear set in.
He yelled out for Christ.
I love having people in my life, but sometimes those people can become our Jesus— and that is not a weight they were meant to carry.
People will let you down— when life hits, they will leave you behind.
When the storms are raging in your life—there is only one who is always with you.
Jesus is with you.
We so often believe that Jesus is only with us when the good stuff is going on and he leaves when the bad stuff happens.
Stop that!
God does not leave you when the bad stuff hits.
He is right there with you!
When divorce hits your family— He is with you.
When you lose your friend— He is with you.
When your grandpa dies— he is with you.
When you can’t shake your thoughts— he is with you.
When life just seems like it is one mess after another— He is in the mess with you.
And if He is with you and he is for you then why on earth of we worried about the next thing— when we know God’s got you!
And he want to take care of the problem and he wants to take the wheel and he wants to give you rest— but we are white knuckled, eyes wide open, firm, and unmovable and we never give up the control, fear become comfort and worry becomes our rest.
He never move out of that captains chair.
That chair doesn’t belong to you.
That chair that throne in your life belongs to the one and only Christ.
Are you willing to move out of the boat and keep your eyes on Christ the whole time, no matter the situations?
And look I get it, you may be thinking, Zach it is not that simple.
I have to think about these things.
I can’t just let go and let God.
And that is not what I am saying to you today.
I think to often we think that no fear or no anxiety means that we don’t plan.
That is not what I am saying.
Plan life, dream about the future, wonder about what is next but don’t take your eyes off Christ.
and when you begin to worry or sense your fear coming to the surface, it may mean that you need to give that over to God before you sink under it.
So you can have peace and not anxiety or fear.
That is God offers us if we seek him fully.
We:
So what would this look like if we started to do this?
Well we would begin to live lives of peace and rest instead of lives where we are in a constant state of worrying about things that we don’t have control over.
What I think we would see is us going to God first in our fears, worries and anxieties.
Rather then friends, family, doctors, nurses, yes even pastors.
Again I am not saying having people in your life is a bad thing.
We are called to share the burdens of other believers.
But when we run to them first before God there is problem.
It means we give up control and give it over to the one who is in full control.
I know it is scary, but God did not give your spirit of fear.
Don’t let worry, fear and anxiety take your focus off of Christ.
Keep following him and chasing after him with everything you have.
Keep striving to grow in your relationship with him and it will be easier to give up control to him.
Keep your focus on God above all else.
Let’s pray
So what are some ways that we can overcome anxiety
Give your life to Christ as well as your thoughts.
*Billy Graham once said: “At its best, anxiety distracts us from our relationship with God and the truth that He is “Lord of heaven and earth” (Matthew 11:25). At its worst, anxiety is a crippling disease, taking over our minds and plunging our thoughts into darkness.”
2. The Gospel is everything
*We know beyond a shadow of a doubt God is with us. He doesn’t want us to suffer and he can heal us. What we don’t know is how he will heal us.
3. Ask for prayer
It is okay to let others in and ask that they pray for you.
4. Self-Care is God’s Care
**Anxiety crops up when we least expect it. It happens when we’ve put too much on our plates. When we pile on the hustle, the busy, the doing, the too much, the too many yeses. Our body doesn’t know any other way but to say no. And our bodies shut down in ways we don’t expect.
**God didn’t design us to hustle 24-7. He designed us to Be Still and Know. To ‘Be still’ means to rest in God’s presence. This verse wasn’t written in the context of taking a spa day. It was written in the context of war.
5. Seek Help
In some situations the anxiety that you are feel and dealing with are too much because of an imbalance in your brain.
No need to be hero, seek professional help.
See a doctor first.
**Once you’ve visited your doctor to find out if it’s a chemical imbalance in your brain, the next step is your Pastor, or your trusted spiritual advisor, for spiritual guidance, accountability, and prayer. The next professional is a critical: a Biblical Counselor.