Anxieties?

[0:00] Father, we come to your word. You know, even this morning as we read your word, you know what heavy burdens some of us are carrying. You know, Father, what heavy loads, what anxieties, maybe about finances or about our marriage or about our singleness or, Father, you just, there's too many to name, Father. You know that we, many of us are carrying very heavy loads and cares. And Father, you also know that many of us are carrying cares and stresses that we're not even conscious of.

[0:34] Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for Jesus. We ask, Father, that the Holy Spirit would bring your word very deeply into the command center of our lives so that we would humble ourselves under Jesus. And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated.

[0:57] So, I'm not going to say how long ago because it will make me sound really, really old. But a few years ago, I started to develop very, very, apparently very, very serious heart problems.

[1:13] I started to experience what it felt to me as if my heart was missing beats. And it would also seem as if my heart was fluttering. And sometimes it would seem as if my heart was pounding too strong, almost as if, I mean, those are contradictory symptoms. Not entirely contradictory, by the way, when you talk to a doctor about it. And all of a sudden, their eyes go like this and they get very concerned. But it would feel I'd have these, and I'd feel like I was having shortness of breath.

[1:42] And so I went to my doctor. You know, I'm a typical guy. I worried about it for several months before I finally told my wife. And my wife, of course, said, you better go see a doctor because those sound like very, very serious conditions. And so I went to my doctor and he said, this could be very, very serious.

[2:04] And he sent me, at the time we were living in Eganville, I was the minister there, and he sent me to the the doctor, the specialist in Pembroke. And he was very concerned. In fact, he told me that I had to stop exercising, and I had to wear a heart monitor. And he sent me as well for some tests. And after the tests, he told me that he thought I had a very, very serious heart condition, that I had a valve that wasn't working, and I had a diseased and enlarged heart. This is not the news you want to have.

[2:39] When you are in your mid-30s, and you have a whole pile of young kids. And needless to say, I was very, very, very worried about it. So I go back to my doctor in Eganville, because he's the one who's also sort of, he wanted to see me and debrief me about the results. And my doctor in Eganville, he, he, there was actually, there are only two people in Eganville who ran, me and my doctor.

[3:12] Rural people don't run, as a general rule. And so my doctor, who was a runner, he was a bit suspicious about the diagnosis. And so he called up the Heart Institute in Ottawa. And at the time in the Heart Institute in Ottawa, there was a doctor who specialized. He had a, one of his subspecialties was people who ran a lot, were very, very athletic, and also had heart trouble. Because at the time, I was probably running about, I was probably running about 80 kilometers a week. So that's why it was very shocking to find out that I had these, potentially a life-threatening heart condition that could potentially kill me at any time. And so my doctor called up the Heart Institute, found out that there was this doctor who had this subspecialty of people who had been not only running like that a lot, but had been running for a long time. And because there's not too many of us who do that, he took me almost immediately. I know for some of you, I've had to wait to see people in the Heart Institute. I saw him within a week, I think it was, which is sort of like a bit of a miracle.

[4:19] And so he put me through a whole pile of tests. And as a result of all of the tests, he said that I had this condition, the name of which I can't remember. Maybe some of you would know what it is. And basically, he said I had, in fact, my valve was fine. It was a faulty test in Pembroke.

[4:40] And my heart condition was a result of accumulated and high stress. Now, just before he told me that, I would have told you that I didn't experience stress.

[4:54] I would have told you that I'm not an anxious person, that I'm a very calm person. And so on one hand, it was a big shock to discover that my heart symptoms were meant that I had a particular condition. He said that throughout the rest of your life, you might, some of these symptoms might come. And he said, you should always have it tested out. But chances are, what's happened is you're under a lot of stress and a lot of unconscious stress. And then he said, because we're in the, he said he knew I came from Eganville. He said, you should take a couple of weeks off and go fishing.

[5:27] Or you should talk to a counselor or something, or you just take some time off. You have to deal with your stress. And on one level, it was a shock to discover that I was an anxious person, that I was experiencing a lot of stress and didn't recognize it.

[5:43] On the other hand, it was a huge relief to know that I wasn't about to die any moment from a heart attack. And interestingly enough, my stress level went like in half, just as I was walking out of the hospital after he told me that I didn't have a condition.

[5:59] So the fact is, this was, the part of the thing which is so crazy about this whole incident was that I actually have a counseling degree. I know people wonder, why aren't I nicer?

[6:12] But I actually have a graduate level degree in counseling. And one of the things you learn in counseling is how powerful and destructive stress can be in your lives, a person's life, but I didn't recognize it in my own life.

[6:26] And the fact is, often when people come to me because they have some type of problem, one of the things, depending on what the problem is, one of the things I start to ask them questions about is to see if, in fact, what's happening is that there's a lot of stress that's going on in their lives that they don't recognize.

[6:43] Because it's a very common problem. We have a lot of things that cause us stress, that cause us anxiety, that cause us care, cause us worry. And believe it or not, a lot of us don't experience it directly.

[6:57] We experience it indirectly, and part of the way we deal with it is through very, very bad things. We drink. We go shopping, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it is if you spend money with your credit card that you don't have.

[7:15] And that actually ends up causing, of course, more stress, just like drinking ends up causing you more stress. Or you watch pornography, or you get involved in some type of risky behavior.

[7:27] In other words, often what we end up doing without realizing it is we try to numb or run away from the terrible burden of stress and anxiety, which we might not even be directly conscious of.

[7:41] So, it's a very, very common problem. It's a very destructive thing. And believe it or not, the Bible has something profoundly wise to say about it. So, if you would open your Bible...

[7:53] Actually, you don't have to open it. Well, open your Bibles because you might want to underline it. But, Andrew, if you could put the text up on the screen. And, by the way, this is another one of those sermons.

[8:04] And the point of this sermon is you remember the verse, not my story, or some other things I'm going to say about trying to unpack this text. This is a profound text to memorize and to think upon and to learn how to pray.

[8:20] If you go back, I think it's in the bulletin, and if you got an email about it, I've turned this verse into a prayer that you could pray for yourself. Or you can just take... It's called In Growing in Grace.

[8:32] Or you can just try to memorize this text and then learn to pray for it yourself. And just one other thing. Here's a bit of a teaching moment. You'll see how it says it's 1 Peter 5, 5c to 7.

[8:45] And sometimes you see things like A, B, or C, or a D even after a verse. What that means is that in verse 5, there's at least three parts. And we're not memorizing or looking at all of verse 5, just the last bit, which I call 5c.

[9:01] That's what the little letter to a verse, that's what it means. And originally I asked you just to memorize 1 Peter 5, 6, and 7. But as soon as I started to work on the text, I realized if you just look up there, say the second line, the therefore.

[9:16] The therefore means it's following something that was said earlier. And so I had to put it in the text. And that's how I've memorized it. So if you would join with saying this with me, that would be really, really good.

[9:30] God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you.

[9:43] Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. It's a very, very, very powerful verse. And, you know, it's...

[9:56] So that first little bit up there, see that? God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And you'll notice... Actually, it's entirely right up there on the screen.

[10:08] It's missing bigger quote marks. But anyway, that first little bit, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. That's a quote from the book of Proverbs. I think it's... I don't have it in my...

[10:19] I'm writing in my preaching notes here, but I think it's Proverbs 330. And that's a description of God. You've heard me say, not for a little while, that I do not believe in the God that Canadians believe in.

[10:34] I don't. In terms of Canadians, when they talk about God, I'm an atheist. But I believe in the God that's revealed by Jesus. I believe in the God that's revealed in the Bible.

[10:46] That's the God I believe in, not the God that most Canadians believe in. And this verse, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. That's a quote from the book of Proverbs.

[10:57] It's a description, one of the New Testament descriptions, because it's also in the Old Testament, of what God... Who is God? And it's a very, very, very profound description of God.

[11:10] In the original language, it's the word opposes and the word gives grace are both in the present tense. It means that when Christians, when Jewish people were reading this maybe 2,500, 2,800 years ago, at that very moment that they were reading that verse, the God who really does exist opposed the proud and gave grace to the humble.

[11:35] It means that when Peter wrote this to the Christians in the late 50s or the early 60s, it meant at that very moment, the God that really does exist opposed the proud and was giving grace to the humble.

[11:51] It means that right now, as I read this text, the God that really does exist is a God who opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. And it's a very, very powerful text, because one of the common complaints about religion is that often, more often than not, God is used to prop up the powerful.

[12:13] God is used to legitimize those in positions of power. One of my people that I have, one of my friends that I have very regular conversations with, who's a very, very committed atheist, and he loves to tell me stories, and he has a particular fascination with the Orthodox Church.

[12:33] He loves to tell me stories of the most recent excess of Putin giving expensive gifts to the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, because he uses the Russian Orthodox Church to prop up his power and popularity.

[12:50] And my friend loves to tell me the latest terrible thing that's gone on there. I don't know if I've shared this with you. After he'd done this, because I'm really slow at responding to things, after he'd said this several times, I said to him one day, well, you know, not all Christians are like that.

[13:08] I said, we, because we believe the gospel, we walked away from our building and walked away from our property to follow Jesus.

[13:20] And he paused and said, yeah, but you folks are different. And just as a compliment from an atheist to the congregation, that we would walk away from our property rather than doing whatever we could to keep it.

[13:34] But it's a very, very common complaint about religion by people who are non-Christians or just who would say that they have no religion whatsoever. And in fact, it's historically true that often, in fact, religion and spirituality is used to prop up the powerful, is used to oppress the weak.

[13:54] It is used for that purpose all of the time. And you see, that's one of the reasons why it's important for us to learn that we don't believe in the God or the gods of this world, but we believe in the God who is revealed by Jesus, who is made known by Jesus.

[14:10] And the God that really does exist is not a God who says to Putin, I'm going to do everything I can to make you more powerful. I'm going to do everything I can to make you more proud and have a higher opinion of yourself.

[14:27] I'm going to do everything I can to help you look down on others and have an exalted view of yourself. No, that's not the God that does exist. The God that does exist is God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

[14:44] That's the God that really does exist. And if he exists, if that God really does exist, the same fellow who is my friend, who likes to tell me stories of the latest excess of the Russian Orthodox Church, or he'll also say something about the Roman Catholics or evangelicals.

[15:10] I mean, he has a particular interest in the Russian Orthodox Church, but he'll pick any Christian. And he asked me on Friday what my sermon was about, and I told him it was this verse, and he said, Ah, God is just a social construct.

[15:26] It's just something we human beings have invented. You're not going to give the congregation good advice. He said, What matters is the journey, not the end.

[15:38] It's not some end in God. What matters is the journey. I said to him, because I have an odd relationship with him, I said, You know, that can't be true.

[15:52] You don't believe that. And he said, I do. It's not, the end doesn't matter. I said, Well, surely it makes a difference if you're driving to the cottage than if you're in a train to the gas ovens in Auschwitz.

[16:07] Surely the end matters a lot in that journey. And I said to him, If your end is just death, and if the end is just the death of all things, don't you think that makes some difference to how you live your life now?

[16:21] To which he had no reply, but you can pray for him, my friend. I pray for him almost every day. But if, in fact, God is just a social construct used to prop up the powerful, then thinking about God in terms of your anxiety isn't going to help you at all.

[16:38] Because, in fact, one of the main problems, one of the main ways that the world deals with anxiety is to tell you to just imagine things. It's a technique to visualize success, to visualize, you know, if you're, what's that, I don't know if they still tell you that, the old, I don't know, if it's just like a bit of an urban myth that if you're speaking in front of a crowd and you're going to be nervous, just imagine them all naked and you'll be less nervous.

[17:04] I mean, in fact, often the world's advice to dealing with anxiety is to just imagine something. And if, in fact, God is just a part of our imagination, then that's, I mean, that's not very, at the end of the day, it's not really helpful advice just to imagine things that aren't real, that are not in front of you.

[17:25] But if, in fact, God does exist, and if, in fact, the God that does exist is described by this sentence, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble, there has to be some therefores in terms of how we live our lives.

[17:41] I think one of the attitudes that I wrote in the Growing in Grace, if you look at it later, and I, in fact, after my friend said about it's, it's, you know, God is just a social construct, I said to him, if, in fact, I showed him the quote, I'm going to get it slightly wrong, I should have written it down in my notes, if God really does exist, the God described here really does exist, then to live in light of that God's existence is to actually live in the real world.

[18:15] If God does exist, and you live your life as if God doesn't exist, you're not actually living in the real world. And if God, the God described here, is the God that really does exist, there's going to be a therefore.

[18:32] So, why don't we say this verse together again, I mean, you're all looking at it, but can you say it out loud with me again? God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.

[18:56] In the original language, for reasons of English style, they move the therefore to after humble yourselves, but in the original language, the therefore is immediate. It would be, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble, therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God so that the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.

[19:20] The way the world in Canada would help us to deal with stress, I mean, there's some good things in it, by the way. They understand that you need to be active in dealing with it, but that you have to, they'll often give you good advice that you have to walk towards your stress rather than away from your stress, which is good advice, but often a lot of the advice that the world gives is either find some way to numb or medicate or soothe your stress, like take up meditation, learn how to chant a mantra while you do some yoga as a way of calming yourself, but that's actually not, I mean, that's just the advice.

[20:04] The other type of advice is to, is basically to pump yourself up, so you, you, you learn how to meditate or medicate yourself so that the stress gets a little bit lower, and then you work at different things about how to pump yourself up.

[20:17] You can do it. You deserve it. You're, you're powerful. You are able. Visualize success. But if, in fact, and in a sense, often the advice of the world is to become more proud.

[20:33] And if, in fact, there is a God that does exist who opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble, some of the advice of the world will actually only be making the problem worse rather than better.

[20:48] But some of you might say, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, George, like, humble yourself. Good grief. Do you know what the world is like? Do you know how dog-eat-dog the office is?

[21:00] Do you know, you know, George, do you know what it's like in certain social circles in terms of, of just trying to, to get ahead? Like, George, your advice to humble yourself and to be weak, that's, like, that just doesn't make any sense.

[21:17] That's not how the world works. Well, if you look at the verse again, one of the things which is very clear about the text, if you start to think about it, is that humble doesn't mean weak.

[21:33] This text, God knows what the world is like. He knows what your social circle is like. He knows what your office is like. Nothing in your life will surprise God.

[21:44] He knows all about it. And, um, the text doesn't say, make yourself weak. Humble doesn't say, isn't saying, make yourself weak, put a shirt on that says, kick me, please.

[21:58] Uh, it's not saying, put on a shirt that says, I am a doormat that you can wipe your feet on. It's not telling you to be passive. And it's not telling you to tell yourself lies, as if trying to pretend that you're stupid when you're smart is, uh, is what humility is.

[22:18] Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, so that at the right time, he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.

[22:35] Humble yourself means to come to an acknowledgement, amongst other things, that you can't deal with all of these problems by yourself. But it doesn't mean, therefore, you're screwed.

[22:48] It means that you are to remember as a Christian, that there is a God who saved you, that you are in fact coming to God who is greater than you, who loves you.

[23:01] And you're bringing to him these particular problems, acknowledging his sovereignty. It's not saying, uh, Lord, I'm really, really stupid and can't do math.

[23:12] So help me with calculus too. I mean, maybe that's, you're not worried about calculus too, because you're good at math or you, whatever. It's just, the text is pointing you towards God when you have your anxiety, in terms of being honest with him about what exactly is going on that's causing you the anxiety.

[23:31] That's the powerful thing about the text. But some people might say, George, okay, I'm going to try to get my mind around what this advice is, but George, don't you think that this is actually a bit of a frightening image, not a comforting image?

[23:48] Like, George, isn't it saying, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God? As if God has this big, clenched fist that will bang and beat you into submission, and you need to recognize that God has this big, angry fist, his mighty hand, and you have to humble yourself under that.

[24:14] Doesn't that, in fact, the whole image, George, doesn't the, isn't the image sort of contradictory? I had a very angry father. And they definitely believed in corporal punishment.

[24:30] In fact, just about everything could be solved with lots of spanking. When my mom could no longer hit us hard enough to make us cry, my dad made a specially designed stick for her so that she could hit us with the stick to discipline us and make us cry.

[24:52] He, he got the right type of wood. He spent a long time crafting it so that it had a nice grip that fit my mother's hand and was of the right type of light wood so she could move it quickly.

[25:05] And he had it, he, he worked with the wood so that it flared out and went narrow so that it could hit nice and broad and really hard and really hurt you.

[25:18] And, for many people who've grown up under abuse, this potentially is a very, very, very hard image. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God.

[25:33] But I'm going to explain what the mighty hand of God means in a moment. Andrew, could you put up the image? But just before I describe what the humble, what the mighty hand of God is, this is actually a far better image to think of.

[25:47] It's a famous picture by Anne Geddes. Amen. You see, the phrase, the mighty hand of God is used almost exclusively in the Old Testament to describe God redeeming his people from slavery.

[26:08] It's an Old Testament reference to the fact that God deals with tyrants and oppressors to deliver his people from slavery and to call them into a relationship with him where they will be protected by his power and will become free and that they will know that they are his precious possession and treasure.

[26:37] That's what the mighty hand of God means in the Old Testament. And so, for us as Christians, if you read through the whole book of 1 Peter, you'll see that Peter has several very, very powerful and moving descriptions of what it was that Jesus does for us on the cross.

[26:58] That, for Christians, the whole story of the Exodus is both something that happened in time and history and space which is completely and utterly true, but it also points to this far greater Exodus, this far greater act of deliverance, this far greater mighty hand of God acting to reveal not just the people of Israel but everybody who puts their faith and trust in him.

[27:24] The mighty hand of God is revealed when God, the Son of God, sets his side, his glory and splendor and divine prerogatives and all of his appearance is God and he is actually willing to, by remaining fully human to take into himself our human nature and be humble to the point of being born, of being placed in the womb of the Virgin Mary and be born and live a humble life, a life in complete dependence upon God and complete obedience to God and then he continues to humble himself by dying on the cross and Christians understand that when Jesus is dying upon the cross he's doing two things for us.

[28:14] He is dying in our stead and so that every claim of demand, every demand of justice, everything that we have ever done wrong, that we deserve some type of punishment or accounting for, every single thing that has ever gone on in our lives where we, there is a proper demand for some type of justice.

[28:37] Jesus deals with all of that as he dies on the cross for us. And when we put our faith and trust in Jesus, we discover that not only when we put our hands in his, that he was condemned for us, he died for us, by his wounds we are healed, that he does everything to deal with all of the wrong that we've done, he deals with that completely, not only the justice that would unmake you and me, he says, George, let me bear what will unmake you and I will do this because I love you.

[29:16] And not only that, his perfect life of obedience will stand for us so that for us as Christians when we understand the mighty hand of God we not only think of all of the times in the Old Testament when God delivered his people but preeminently we look at Jesus' death upon the cross that he humbled himself to the point of death and tasting all there is to taste of death that you and I might be free.

[29:43] The doom that you and I deserved fell on him. The destiny that he deserved is offered to you and me. Could you put the scripture text back up?

[29:54] So when this text says God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God so that the proper time he may exalt you casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.

[30:11] Notice what it's saying. It's saying humble yourself under Jesus. It's not saying humble yourself under the proud. Humble yourself under the tyrants. Humble yourself under the powerful.

[30:24] Humble yourself under the aggressors. Humble yourself under the violent. It's not saying humble yourself under any of these things. It's saying humble yourself.

[30:35] Willingly come to Jesus and be willing to accept him as your savior and Lord. Understanding that he is God. Come to him with all of your cares, all of your burdens, all of your worries.

[30:48] Understanding that he alone is the one who will justify you. He is the one who will make you right with God. He is the one who is life. He is the one who is health. He is the one who will feed you and care for you.

[31:01] You humble yourself under him. This is a bit of a side. One of the reasons that we know that the world's advice doesn't work is that everybody ends up being humbled.

[31:14] Death humbles us all. Death humbles us all. Death humbles us all. Death humbles us all. Death humbles us all. Death humbles us all. We might not want to be humbled under death, but not only death, failure.

[31:29] Everyone fails. Age, if we live long enough, those of us who are getting older, age humbles us, doesn't it? Can't do what we used to do.

[31:40] Mind doesn't work as well as it used to work. Everyone will be humbled. Christians alone are invited to understand that the God who really does exist, the real God of the real universe, that he always opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble.

[31:57] And so, he gives grace to those who humble themselves coming to Jesus saying, Jesus, you alone will make me right with God. You alone. I cannot, I have so much pride in my life.

[32:09] I have so much self-centeredness in my life. I have so much things in my life, so much self-preoccupation in my life. I can't leave myself to save myself. Only you can save me. I come to you that you might save me.

[32:23] And the text is saying, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, under Jesus Christ crucified, so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.

[32:37] You see, how do I humble myself before God? The text gives me a very, very clear thing. I humble myself under God's mighty hand by casting all my anxieties on him.

[32:53] The cross reminds me that Jesus cares for me, that he loves me. It tells me that the world might forget that I exist. The world might no longer take any notice of me, but Jesus always remembers me because I am his and he will never abandon me.

[33:10] He will never let me go. He will never leave me. And when it says that he will exalt us at the right time, that's not just some sort of dodge. It's saying that it's actually like an end time word that no matter what happens on this side of the grave, the fact of the matter is is that when we put our faith and trust in Jesus, when we come to him with our cares and anxieties, the one thing that we can be absolutely certain about is that Jesus will return.

[33:36] And when Jesus will return and when there is the end of all things, the word that all creation will hear about you and me when we put our faith and trust in Jesus is well done, my good and faithful servant.

[33:49] Well done, my beloved child. Come to me and live with me and be with me forever. I have longed once again to walk with you in the garden in the cool of the day.

[34:00] So this text is saying that one of the main ways that we humble ourselves is to learn to cast all our anxieties and worries on Jesus.

[34:20] One of the things I do sometimes when I start to maybe just realize my mind's going in places that it shouldn't be going or that I'm just really feeling depressed or I'm really feeling down or I can just even very directly feel that I'm starting to get very anxious.

[34:42] One of the things I do and I encourage you to consider doing it is I say, sit down at a desk and get out a piece of paper and I know that's old-fashioned for people but you get a pen and a piece of paper and just say to Father, maybe even pray this prayer.

[34:58] Say, read this text and say, Jesus, I'm coming to you right now. I'm humbling myself. I come to you. I want you to be my Savior. I want you to be my Lord and I thank you that at the proper time, at the right time, you will fit me for the new heaven and the new earth and that is my final home and Lord, I ask now, I want to live this verse.

[35:24] I want to cast all my anxieties on you and so Lord, could you reveal to me all those loads and burdens and worries that I am carrying and so say some simple prayer.

[35:41] It doesn't have to be as long as that. It might just even be read this verse and then just say, Jesus, help me and then just write down on a piece of paper one by one all of the different things that are worrying you and I encourage you if you do this to write down really, really big things.

[36:01] You know, I'm worried because my credit card debt is at $40,000. I'm worried because I think I'm going to get fired.

[36:12] I'm worried because I think my marriage is in trouble. Like, write down big ones. But write down every aspect of it and write down even the smallest things.

[36:25] I'm worried about getting my laundry done. Like, write down all your anxieties. There's this old hymn, Count Your Blessings, Name Them One By One and it will surprise you what the Lord has done. This is sort of like the opposite of it.

[36:36] Count your worries, name them one by one and it will surprise you how many worries you have. Sometimes I've done this and it takes two or three pages of stuff that I've actually written down because going into it it was as if all these worries and all these anxieties and all these cares it's sort of as if it buzzes around in your head and buzzes around in your heart and you can't even keep them straight.

[37:01] So you put them all down. I'm aging. My weight. My money. My relationships. The unkind, the email that I got the other day that just seems to be so mean like write them all down.

[37:16] Write every single one down until you cannot possibly think of even the tiniest one that's left and then say to Jesus, Jesus, these are the anxieties and the worries that I have and I want, I'm giving them to you.

[37:32] I'm giving them to you. May you guide and provide and provide for me but I give them to you. And I'm not going to say to you that magically you're going to feel better although every time I have done it I have felt better just getting it off and giving it to Jesus.

[37:52] And the thing is that when you do something like this the text doesn't say that God is magically going to take all of your problems away. but it's amazing when you ask the Lord you put them all down and you ask him to guide and provide how often it helps you to be able to walk towards some of those things and be able to deal with it or just to be able to have a bit of a more honest conversation with Jesus for what's going on in your life and how you need his help to guide and direct you to what to do.

[38:26] And when I'm going through periods of great stress I might have to do that every day. And here's how the devil works. The devil will say George you're really being immature you just did that yesterday you don't have to do it today.

[38:40] But you have to say to the devil shut up. Like don't listen to the devil think of the text. It doesn't say here gosh George if you have to do this two days in a row are you ever a loser?

[38:55] That's what the text says. It says humble yourself George. Humble yourself. And there are some times in our lives when we are so filled with anxiety we might have to do this more than every day.

[39:10] We might have to do it several times a day because the worries start to once again flood in and carry us down and bear us down. And this text is saying that one of the primary ways that we humble ourselves is to cast all of our anxieties plural onto Jesus remembering who Jesus is.

[39:29] He is God's mighty hand to save me. God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son to the end that all who believe in him will not perish but have eternal life.

[39:42] And one of the things which I'm very slowly learning is that anxiety amongst other things is God knocking on the door of my heart saying George I exist.

[39:59] I am mighty to save. Come to me. Give me your cares and your worries and lay them on me.

[40:09] I am big enough to handle them. And you will find rest for your soul. Lay your cares and anxieties on me and allow me to walk with you as you walk towards them to deal with them.

[40:28] Humble yourself Sinclair to list them and give them to me so that we might walk towards them together. Your anxiety is God knocking at the door of your heart to remember that Jesus is your Savior and your Lord and he is strong and mighty to save and that he will give you rest.

[40:52] Please stand. let's just bow our heads in prayer.

[41:06] Father, some of us here are under great stress and they were like me and often still like me that they're not even aware of the great stress that they're under.

[41:18] maybe maybe their best friends or their boss or their husband or their wife or their boyfriend or their girlfriend can see that we're under great stress but we can't see it ourselves.

[41:30] So Father, we ask that the Holy Spirit would gently but powerfully move in our lives to help us, Father, to recognize how much anxiety and stress that we're carrying.

[41:41] Father, some of us need this work of your Holy Spirit in our lives. And others of us, Father, know we're under great stress right now. And we ask, Father, that you would bring this word, your word, and you would write it in our heart, that it would become a habit of how we live, that we would remember that you oppose the proud but give grace to the humble, that we would remember that we are to come to Jesus remembering who he is, and we are to humble ourselves by casting all of our anxieties, even the ones which seem so silly, that if we told our friend that we were worried about it, they'd laugh at us.

[42:20] But, Father, we know that Jesus will not laugh at us, that he wants us, that you want us to cast all of our anxieties and cares, no matter how immature, no matter how tiny, no matter how big, that you desire us to cast them all on you.

[42:35] And, Father, we thank you for Jesus. We thank you that he knows us. We thank you that he knows that we deal with anxiety. We thank you that he wants to bear them for us. We thank you that he wants to walk with us towards our problems and deal with them.

[42:52] Father, thank you for Jesus. Write this word in our heart. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.