Abolishing Anxiety, Part 11

Today we want to continue looking at what the Bible says concerning abolishing anxiety. 13 weeks ago we began this study. We are not done yet because I purposed in my heart to make sure that as long as you still have anxiety in your heart, I'm going to keep preaching on it, okay? Because it's so important to understand what the scriptures say about abolishing anxiety.

Just because things begin to loosen up and because the virus has taken back seat to all the violence and vandalism doesn't mean that your anxious hearts are not going to worry once again. You're going to face another crisis. If you think this is your last crisis, you're mistaken.

You're going to face a tragedy down the road. You're going to face some difficult times down the road. It's going to happen and you need to be prepared to be able to understand how it is you are to find rest for your souls and how you're going to help your family, your friends, understand how they can find rest for their souls.

How will you help them understand what the Bible says? So abolishing anxiety becomes a very practical lesson for you and me to understand what God has called us to do as a church, as individuals, plus our outreach to those who face all kinds of crises, all kinds of tragedies, all kinds of difficulties and hardships and pains, and they become very, very anxious and worried about what's going to happen next. So let me see how well you remember. My children always get on me about reviewing and reiterating previous points, but I want you to remember there's a whole book in the that does that.

Does anybody know what book that is? Book of Deuteronomy. Who said that? Wow, look at you, Therese. Bang, look at that.

The Book of Deuteronomy is a whole book of remembrance. Moses is about to die. So what's he going to do? He is going to review everything from Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers so they understand as they embark on the promised land what God requires of them.

Did he have to do that? Probably not, but he remembered that if they forget what God said, they will falter. If they falter, they will fall. If they fall, they will fail.

So don't forget. So before he dies, he reiterates the law. Peter, 2 Peter chapter 1 verses 12 to 15 says, I write these things for your remembrance.

I know that you know them already, but I need to review them for you so you never forget them. You need to understand what it is God has said in his word. And so when we review principles with you, when we go back and reiterate verses to you, it's only so that you do not falter.

It's only so that you don't fall and end up failing on the road, on your pilgrimage as you walk through each and every day. So we have a verse that has been the springboard for our series. That verse is what? Proverbs 12 25.

Yeah, you got it. I know you guys are not so sure which verse it is here. Proverbs 12.

All right, it's Proverbs 12 25 and you should have it memorized by now. Anxiety in the heart of the man weighs it down, but a good word makes it glad. What a beautiful verse to help people abolish anxiety.

We know that anxiety weighs the heart down. It burdens the soul, but there's a good word that makes it glad. And the good word is the gospel of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

The good word is the word of the Lord. And so because we have the good word, we can make someone's heart glad. Now the backup verse to that was Psalm 94 19.

Remember that one? When my anxious thoughts overwhelm me, thy consolations delight my soul. So when I am overwhelmed with anxious thoughts, when I am overwhelmed with worry, when I am overwhelmed with what's going to happen next, the consolations of God delight my soul. Two verses that lead you on your way to abolishing anxiety.

How great is that? And those two verses then become the springboard for the seven principles or the eight principles that we've given you so far. And I would want you to remember what those eight principles are. So if you were home and you were taking notes, writing them down, you know that principle number one is what? Thank you for yelling it out.

To rest in God's sovereignty, right? We know that God is sovereign. So whatever situation comes, I know that God's in control of it. I understand what the Bible says about the sovereignty of God.

So I rest in the fact that God's in complete control of every event, of every situation, of every circumstance, of every relationship, of all that happens. I can watch television and know God's in charge of this. God has not lost control of the city of Los Angeles.

God has not lost control in New York City. In fact, it's doing exactly what he has planned and decreed from eternity past. I can trust that.

So once I rest in God's sovereignty, number two is what? You remember your responsibility. Thank you, Chelsea. Remember your responsibility.

We talked about all those things that that make you full, right? How to be grateful and thankful and mindful and all those things that that fill you with the joy of the Lord. You remember your responsibility. Once you rest in God's sovereignty, you don't sit back and just do que sera sera, whatever will be will be.

No, you have a responsibility to fulfill. So you get in gear and you do that. Once you remember your responsibility, number three is what? What? Realize your dependency.

Now I've only got three or four saying this, so I guess the rest of you weren't taking notes. Realize your dependency. Listen, you're going to be called on at a funeral.

You're going to be called on when someone's in a car accident. You're going to be called on when someone gets a negative report back and says, my cancer is a stage four carcinoma. You're going to be called on when someone says, I've lost my child.

What are you going to tell them? How are you going to counsel them? How are you going to work them through the difficulty? Teaching them to rest in God's sovereignty, to remember their responsibility, and then to realize their dependency upon the Lord. They must depend upon the Lord God who gives them grace to strengthen them day by day. Number four, regard your testimony.

You have a testimony to uphold. And if we as a believer live in fear, when the whole world is in fear, how are we helping them through their fear if we can't get through it? If we live in trepidation, how do we help a world that's engulfed in trepidation? We need to regard our testimony. We are salt and light in the community of a society that's engulfed in darkness and needs to know the way out.

So we show them the light. We need to regard our testimony. We talked to you about how it is you do that.

Number five, rejoice in his sufficiency. Remember that one? Oh, that must have been when you paused the pastor and went and got some coffee, right? Rejoice in his sufficiency because he is sufficient for all things. His grace is sufficient.

It will strengthen you. His power, the Lord's power is made known clearly through all of our weaknesses. Once you rejoice in his sufficiency, number six is what? Reflect on your destiny.

It's getting fainter and fainter. Reflect on your destiny. You're going to go home and be with the Lord, right? You're going to go home and be with the Lord.

Now Sarah Jordan, she's not in this service, but she comes to the second service and she parks right out there in the handicapped section. It takes you about 20 minutes to walk right outside the door into here because she has neuropathy. It's hard for her to walk.

But no, she comes in without a mask on. I don't know if people are really concerned about that, but she says, you know what? I'm going to go home and be with the Lord. So if I get it and die, I die.

That's her living. If I die, I'm going to go home and be with the Lord. What are we afraid of? We're going to go see Jesus.

I want to see Jesus. I want to go home and be with the Lord. I hope that you do too.

And so Sarah Jordan walks in here and she says, you know, Pastor Lance, I'm ready. I'm ready for whatever the Lord has for me, but I'm ready to see the Lord Jesus. Well, praise the Lord for that, right? Because when you reflect on your destiny, I'm going to go be with the Lord.

Nothing around me fears me. Nothing that happens to me am I afraid of because I trust in the Lord. Now that doesn't mean you're not careful.

That doesn't mean you just haphazardly go through life. I'm not saying that. Please don't hear me say that.

I know sometimes I overstate things. I don't always strike a good balance. And I want to be able to do that because there are times where you have to take precautions and you are trying to do what is necessary and responsible.

I understand that. And there's nothing wrong with wearing a mask. Absolutely nothing wrong with that whatsoever.

And so don't hear me say that everybody should rip off their mask and go out and breathe in everybody's spit. No, I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is, is that when you reflect on your destiny, there's a great security about your life, is there not? That Jesus is going to welcome you one day.

Well done, now good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord. I can't wait to hear those words.

Those are the words I want to hear more than any other words ever. When my Lord says them. Once you reflect on your destiny, you do what? You reorder your priority.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God, His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. And then number eight, radiate the Christ and His glory. There you go, eight principles.

I've got 10 of them. Really, I had almost 20 of them, but I cut them in half because I knew that this would take me way into Christmas. So I'm going to give you 10 principles and this is number eight, radiate Christ and His glory.

Why? Because in Ephesians three, verse number 21, the apostle Paul says, let there be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus from generation to generation forever and ever. Amen. Let there be glory in the church.

In other words, may the redeemed reflect the righteous radiance of their Redeemer. That's what it means to give glory to the Lord, where the redeemed reflect in and through their lives, the righteous radiance of their Redeemer. And we told you in John 17, 22, that Christ put His glory in us.

So now we become the reflectors of that glory where it radiates in and through our lives to everyone around us. And as a church, we have that responsibility to give glory to the living God, to lift up the living God, to bow before Him and to honor His glorious name. That's what we do.

We live for Christ. Paul said in first Corinthians 10, 31, whatever you do, whether you eat or whether you drink, do all to the glory of God. Do it all for Him, whether you eat or whether you drink.

He chose the most mundane things that we do every day, eating and drinking, because He knows that if He chooses the most mundane things, the most normal things, it translates into everything else that we do, right? We are to give glory to the Lord. Let there be glory in the church. Why is that important? Why is that important? I have so much to say and my time is so incredibly short, but there needs to be glory in the church.

God has designed the church to be a restraining influence in society. When you lock down churches, when you burn down churches, you are taking away from that restraining influence in society. I do believe with all my heart that the consequences we are seeing today are because of the lockdown of the church in America.

I firmly believe that and it's God's judgment upon a community that says, you want to close my churches? I'm going to cause so much chaos in your streets. You won't be able to control it. Now, am I 100% sure about that? No, but I truly do believe that because the church has been designed by God to be a restraining influence.

Second Thessalonians chapter two, right? That when the restrainer is removed, and I believe the restrainer in second Thessalonians chapter two is the spirit of God working in and through the church of God in conjunction, because that's how the spirit of God works. He works in and through your life and mine, and it says that when the restrainer is gone, the lawless one will be revealed. That's the antichrist.

So we know that the antichrist is not going to be revealed until the church is taken away up into glory. And once we're gone, once that restrainer is gone, do you think the chaos that you have seen in the streets is bad? And I know that if you go into Minneapolis, it looks like a war zone. If you go to downtown LA, it looks like a war zone.

If you go to those places that there's been riot, it looks like a war zone. You think that's bad? You wait till the church is taken out of this world, and it takes only seven years for the world, the whole world to be completely in shambles. A lot of that is because of the wrath of God being poured out on man, right? And so the church is a restrainer.

God is, listen, God uses the church, listen very carefully, as a moral compass for society, the church paves the way. But if you are to read the dogma of Black Lives Matter, the organization, you will see that in their statement, they are the ones who now become the moral compass for society. They believe they are the moral compass, but the church is not the organization, Black Lives Matter.

Very, very important. And have you noticed all around the country, how people are capitulating to that? How churches are capitulating to that? It drives me crazy. It drives me, it gripes my gizzard.

It truly does. We had the president of the Southern Baptist Convention, J.D. Grier, who said these words, we support Black Lives Matter. Not the organization, but Black lives.

Because, and we denounce, he said this, we denounce all lives matter, but we promote Black lives. Why? Because, and this is what he says, Black people are made in the image of God. Well, listen, we affirm that, we don't deny that, but aren't all lives created in the image of God? Of course they are.

But we live in a society where you can't say all lives matter, because if you do, you devalue Black lives. You can't say anything that's against the Black Lives Matter organization, because if you do, you're a bigoted racist. That's not true.

Absolutely false. Because listen, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians 5, verse number 16 tells us these words, we no longer regard man according to the flesh. If you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you never see color.

You don't watch the external. Why? Because you are consumed with the internal. Paul would go on to say that we beheld Christ in the flesh, but no longer.

We saw him in the flesh, but what was inside of him, his glory, his person, his presence, that's what we see. We, that's why we can be ministers of reconciliation, because we understand people. Listen, I don't need sociology to tell me about how people function.

I don't need philosophy to tell me about how people function. I need no external education to tell me how people function. All I need is anthropology.

All I need is a study of man in scripture. That's all I need, because I don't regard man according to the flesh. I see his person.

I see the inner man. I see a man who is depraved, dark, and separated from God. And that man, that woman need the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That's why as a believer, you can truly see, say, I see no man according to the flesh. It's what Paul said. So we need to understand that.

And so as the organization of Black Lives Matter, who want to control the moral compass of our society, when God has designed the church to be that, we need to stand up, take note, and say, no, God has designed the church for that. But you see, God has given in his word, four aspects, four entities that are involved in restraining immorality and the immoral way of life to move the moral compass of a man toward the things of God. The first one, of course, was conscience, right? We understand that.

Conscience, God has given man a conscience. But because Romans 1 tells us that he suppresses the truth, we have a problem. Because the only answer is the truth.

The only answer to the chaos we see is the truth. Sociology cannot solve our problems. Psychologists cannot solve man's dilemma.

Only the living God of the universe can solve man's dilemma. The holy word of God, who is the God of truth. That's it.

So we hold that dearly. Because we understand what God says in his word. And because Romans 1 tells us, and it goes through the litany of what's going on in man's life as he suppresses the truth and refuses to bow to the creator, but bows to himself instead.

So once conscience is removed, then you have what the Bible calls the family, the family unit, right? Deuteronomy 6, Psalm 78 speak about the importance of the family unit. All through Jewish history, the family unit was extremely important. Why? Because it was the communication of truth to children from generation to generation.

And God has designed the family unit to be that. And yet the Black Lives Matter organization, and I don't mean this to be a sermon against Black Lives Organization, but I guess it is, okay? Because they are governing what's happening in these different cities. And that organization has in its dogma to destroy the nuclear family, to rip apart the family.

And yet we as a church promote the family. God promotes the family. Satan wants to divide the family.

So if you're into destroying the nuclear family as designed in scripture, which Black Lives Matter, the organization does and says, it's sinful because that's Satan's objective to divide the family, to divorce the family, to destroy the family, to devalue the family, to detach the family, all those things. And so we are fighting to keep the family together because we know that the family unit, what? Portrays the bride and the bridegroom. Portrays the body of Christ and its objection to the bridegroom.

And there's a portrayal there that happens in the marriage unit. Very important. And then the third entity that God has designed are those who control the arena in a society, the authorities that govern society, the police that rule in society.

That's Romans chapter 13. In Romans chapter 13 it says this, every person is to be subject to the governing authorities for there is no authority except from God and those which exist are established by God. Do you know that the police department has been established by God? And yet the organization of Black Lives Matter wants to defund the police.

They want to abolish the police, yet they are going against the design of almighty God. God has established the authorities that exist and he's put them in leadership. But read on, watch this.

It says, therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same.

Do you want to live a life without fear of God's ordained authority? Do what's right. Obey the law. Not only will you have the praise of that authority, but you have the praise of God as well.

And then it says this, for it is a minister of God to you for good. That governing authority is a minister of God. Do you know that there are only two things in scripture called the ministers of God? Pastors and police.

That's it. Pastors are called ministers of God and the police, the governing authority, are called ministers of God. Not that they are saved, but they are doing the restraining work of order of peace that God has resigned for communities and God has set them up that way.

And then it says, but if you do what is evil, be afraid. If you do the wrong thing, you need to be afraid. For it does not bear the sword for nothing, for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.

Therefore live in subjection to them. God has designed that. But what has happened in our society is what? Abolish that authority.

Get rid of that authority. So once man's conscience is destroyed because he suppresses the truth, then once the family is divided, okay, it no longer supplies the moral compass for the family unit. And then once the authorities that be, the police department, now is defunded or devalued or set apart, what's left? The church.

The church, you and me, the body of Christ. But it's coming. It's coming the way of the church.

They're going to move from where they are to destroy the church because the church preaches against homosexuality. The church preaches against, well, the true church does, preaches against transgenderism, which by the way is another agenda of Black Lives Matter, the organization. You see that? It slips its way in very subtly.

But let there be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus from generation to generation for now and forevermore. There needs to be glory. Christ needs to be seen in his church.

So important. And as we proclaim the gospel and we pour into families, a good book, it's not a Christian book, it's called Shame. It's written by Shelby Steele.

He's an older gentleman. He's a black man who preaches against white guilt, preaches against it. And he knows that the solution to the black community lies, in his own words, the family unit.

Because 75% of all black children that are born are born out of wedlock. 75%. 70% of them are raised in a single family environment.

One parent. He says if black lives really were concerned about black lives, they would reinforce the family unit, the institution of marriage. This guy doesn't know the Lord, but he's right.

But the organization itself has set out to destroy the nuclear family, to spread it apart and redefine what family is. You think we've got a problem? We've got a huge problem in society, but God's got it all under control. He's designed you and me to proclaim his glory, to preach the truth about who Jesus Christ is.

So important. I have so much to say. I feel like, I'm sorry, I feel like a more political day than ever before.

Some people like that, some people don't, but because of what's happening in society, we need to understand the truth. You have found, you have found throughout, throughout our country that, that the white man needs to ask forgiveness from the black man. And we need to ask forgiveness for our whiteness, our white privilege.

There's a huge biblical problem with that because we are to ask forgiveness of our sins from the Lord Jesus only. But if I ask forgiveness for my whiteness, and I have seen all throughout this time, people who claim to be Christians on Instagram and on Facebook and on different posts, that they are, sorry for their whiteness. Do you understand that that goes against Psalm 139? That you are fearfully and wonderfully made, not just in the image of God, but everything about you has been designed by God.

Everything. You are an image bearer. And whether you're born into a white family or a black family or an Asian family or an Hispanic family, God designed all that, right? God was in charge of all those things.

I can't ask forgiveness for the way God created me because that says, Lord, you're not sovereign. Lord, you're not sufficient. Lord, you're not right.

Lord, you made a mistake. God didn't make a mistake. A man can't ask forgiveness for his whiteness anymore than he can ask forgiveness for his blackness.

Or he can't ask forgiveness that he is born in China or Japan or Guatemala or any other country. That's what God's design was. We can't go against the authority of Scripture, and we certainly can't go against the sovereignty of God, right? Absolutely not.

So here's my admonition to you. Amidst all that's happening around us, this is the only truth that you have. And you don't sway from the truth.

You don't compromise the truth. You stand strong on the truth. We need men and women of conviction.

We need men and women who will stand strong and not bow to the subjects that have caused chaos in our society. But no, we're bowing to them as if they are an idol. They need to be worshipped, but we're only to bow to one God, the one true God, the living God, and do what His Word says.

We are followers of Christ. We are not followers of anyone else, only the Christ. And we lift His name high, and we worship only Him, and we glorify only Him.

Only His name matters. His name matters. And I say that in conjunction with the fact that, and I said this last week, and I probably overemphasized it the other way too much, but yes, every one of us made in the image of God, we have value because we're made in that image, and we are designed to give glory to God, right? I mean, Psalm 19.1, the heavens declare the glory of God.

If the creation declares the glory of God, those of us who are new creations in Christ should truly declare the glory of God, right? But every man, woman, boy, and girl is born in the image of God. That's why Paul could say, I regard no man according to the flesh. I don't see you for who you are on the outside.

I see you as a person on the inside. I see you as someone that God has created in His image that has fallen away from the true God because you're a sinner, and you need the saving grace of Jesus Christ, our Lord. And as a church, that's what we're designed to do.

And if we don't do it as that last, the last element on the agenda to be able to stand strong for the gospel, because one day God's going to snatch the church away, it's going to be gone. And once it's gone, the lawless one, the Antichrist will be revealed. And amidst all the chaos, He will bring peace because Revelation 6 tells us that He comes on a horse with a bow, but no arrows.

He's the great peacemaker. And He'll bring peace to a chaotic society all around the world. But after three and a half years, He will desecrate the temple in Jerusalem, demand that He now be worshiped, and even greater chaos erupts in the world.

That's where society is going. That's the plan of God. But in the meantime, the church of Jesus Christ is to radiate and reflect the beautiful righteousness of our Lord.

In every conversation, in every interaction, in every situation that we have, we are to reflect the beauty of our God, standing firm for the gospel of Jesus Christ, our Lord, never compromising, never backing down, but say, thus saith the Lord, thus we do. So the question then for us comes, okay, so how do we do that? How do we live to the glory of God? That's next week. So let me pray with you.

Father, we thank you for today. We thank you for all that you do. Lord, we know that there's so much to be said, and I know this is mainly introductory, but Lord, we need to understand the truth of your Word, what you designed the church to do, to be the guiding light in a community filled with darkness.

We show the way to Christ. We show the way to life. We show the way to a Savior who saves man from his sin.

So Lord, may we be the people who do that, who stand strong on the truth of Jesus Christ, our Lord, who light the way. Thank you for those who are here. Thank you for those who are able to watch through social media.

We pray that your Word would take effect in their lives and use them in a mighty way for your glory. In Jesus' name, amen.