Abolishing Anxiety, Part 2

Good morning, church. Let's bow for a word of prayer together. Father, we thank you for this great and glorious day. You truly are a great God. We have the opportunity, Lord, to give praise and honor to your name. And we ask that as we hear the word of the Lord this morning, that you would touch our hearts. Help us to see the glory of the Lord. Help us to see the beauty of your presence. Help us, Lord, to understand the sovereignty of Almighty God. We pray, Lord, for hearts that are troubled. We pray that they would find their comfort in Christ, knowing that you are the great God who's in charge of all things.

So as we spend time together around your word, we pray, Lord, that you'd open our eyes to behold only Jesus. For you are the only one we want to see on this day. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. It's so good to have you with us today. You know, it's a little different. The auditorium is empty. That's a lot different than what it normally is. Last week, we had a good number of people who came when there was a restriction on about how many people could come and be a part of our services. But now that no one's allowed to come, we realize that the auditorium is empty.

And so I've been asked, have I ever preached in an empty auditorium before? The answer to that is yes. About 24 years ago, when we first got started and we were running another facility, we would get together and we would, of course, have our services every week, but sometimes they didn't record.

And so I would come in on Monday or Tuesday morning and have to re-preach the sermon from the previous Sunday, simply because we had just started a radio ministry and we were trying to get going from time to time. And we had to make sure that we had enough recordings. So I would come in and preach to an empty auditorium. And the reason at that time was because of our radio ministry. And yet no one was here. And so to have no one here today is to realize that it's an opportunity for me to be able to present to you still the word of the Lord.

And I recognize that although you're not here because you're creatures of habit, I realize that there are many people who sit in the same spot. For instance, I know that Tom Mason sits over there in the second pew with his wife, Donna, every single Sunday.

And right down here, the Coles in the second service sit and they are here faithfully every week. Marlene Serino sits in the first pew, has been sitting in the first pew for 25 years that we've been together.

Sits right down here and has a legal pad and takes notes every Sunday morning. About the fourth row back, Jack Graham and his wife sit every week. And over there, Roger Flores and his wife sit. And in the back, we have the Lovases. They're there every week. Same pew, same spot, same time. Over to my right in the far section, I know that the Bonds sit over there. And over here, I know that the Slavins sit over there along with the Vargasses. And over here, we have the Andersons and we have Steve Rice.

After he takes the morning offerings, it's right over there. So I know your creatures of habit. And so even though I'm preaching to an empty auditorium, I imagine your faces out there. I imagine where you sit and what you're doing. And so when I preach this morning, that's that's very similar. But always remember that when a preacher preaches, he preaches to an audience of one, and that is the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He is the one that we are accountable to. And so you might not like what I say or even agree with what I say.

My job is to make sure that the Lord Jesus is pleased with what I preach. And so I want to honor him today and today as we continue what we talked about last week on how to abolish anxiety. So important. You know, we live in a world today where people are anxious about everything. I mean, after all, we can't go out, we can't leave our homes. We've been quarantined to lack of a better word. Say it that way. And people can't go to the store necessarily, except for necessities. They can't go to work.

And people are worried about their jobs. They've been laid off. All those things add to people's anxiety. I understand that people are wondering about their college or high school education, what will happen toward the end of this year and all the different discussion concerning that the virus and how it affects every one of us, whether we have loved ones who contact the virus, loved ones who have died because of the virus. All those things weigh on us. And I understand that. And so we, by nature, are anxious people.

And so how do we abolish anxiety? How do we learn to live calmly amidst the crisis? That's what I want to share with you again this morning and in the next previous or next succeeding weeks that we are together via Facebook or Instagram or wherever you may be watching. Remember, Proverbs 12, 25 tells us that anxiety in the heart of a man weighs it down. But a good word. A good word makes it glad. The question is, what's the good word? And you hold the good word in your hand. It's the word of the living God.

We know that because Hebrews chapter six, verse number five tells us that it's the good word. And the good word comes from a good God. Psalm 119 tells us that God is good. And he only does that which is good. Way back when Israel was about to enter the promised land, Joshua reminded the people of the good words of the Lord. Joshua 23, verses 14 and 15. Twice he says, remember the good word of the Lord. So we understand that what we hold in our hand truly is the good word of the living God. And so the word that makes the heart glad is a word that comes from God.

And the question is, what is the word, the good word that's going to calm anxious hearts during a time when this virus has encompassed the globe? Well, we looked last week that in order for us to abolish anxiety, we truly must rest in God's sovereignty. Rest in his sovereignty. We looked at Psalm 99, verse number one, where it says, the Lord reigns, let the people tremble.

If the Lord is in charge, if the Lord rules, then the people's response to that is to tremble under his authority, tremble under his rulership. And so we have come to understand that God certainly is in charge of everything. The Bible says in Psalm 115, verse number three, our God is in the heavens, he does whatever he pleases.

Romans 11, Romans 11, the apostle Paul says these words, verse number 33, oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable his ways. For who has known the mind of the Lord or who became his counselor? Or who has first given to him that it might be paid back to him again?

For from him and through him and to him are all things, to him be the glory forever, amen. Paul makes it very clear that everything comes from God. Everything that happens goes through God because ultimately everything that happens comes back to God. And Paul says to him be the glory forever and ever. We need to understand that no matter what's taking place in our lives, either personally or corporately, we realize that everything is from God. In other words, when you talk about the sovereignty of God, you're talking about the fact that God actively permits or causes and consciously permits everything that happens in the universe.

He is completely in charge. Job, in Job chapter 23, expressed it this way. And Job went through a horrendous crisis. It was a personal crisis. He lost everything. He lost his whole family except for his wife. He lost all of his possessions, all of his belongings. It had all been taken from him. This is what Job says. But he knows the way that I take, Job 23, verse number 10. When he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot has held fast to his path. I have kept his way and not turned aside.

I have not departed from the commandment of his lips. I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. But he is unique and who can turn him and what his soul desires that he does. For he performs what is appointed for me. And many such decrees are with him. Job knew that what God does, he does because that is his desire. He also knew that everything that God does to him was appointed for him. Job had to learn to rest in God's sovereignty, even though there was a tremendous tragedy that took place in his life.

As you go back to Psalm 33, the Psalm listed it this way. By the word of the Lord, the heavens were made and by the breath of his mouth, all their host. He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap. He lays up the deeps and storehouses that all the earth fear the Lord and all the heavens of the world stand in awe of him. For he spoke and it was done. He commanded, it stood fast. The Lord nullifies the counsel of the nations. He frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever.

The plans of his heart from generation to generation. God has a plan, it stands forever. The Lord said to the prophet Isaiah, Isaiah 46, verse number eight, remember this and be assured. We call it to mind, you transgressors. Remember the former things long past, for I am God and there was no other. I am God and there was no one like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, things which have not been done, saying my purpose will be established and I will accomplish all my good pleasure, calling the bird of prey from the East, the man of my purpose from a far country.

Truly I've spoken, truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it. In other words, God is completely in charge of everything. He doesn't have an alternate plan, he just has one plan. And we need to learn to rest in the sovereign plan of God. And so we asked the question, if God is sovereign, could he stop the crisis? Sure, can he stop the tragedy? Absolutely, he can stop anything he wants to. He can start anything he wants to because he is sovereign over everything. So why does God allow a crisis such as this virus?

Why does God even allow a tragedy, a natural disaster? Why does God do those kinds of things? We told you last week, it's because God wants man to fear him. Solomon said in the book of Ecclesiastes that that which God has made crooked, you can't bend back together again and make it straight. In the day of adversity or the day of prosperity, in the day of prosperity, be glad. But in the day of adversity, consider that God has made the one as well as the other. Earlier in Ecclesiastes chapter three, verse number 14, he would say that God's way is absolutely complete.

You can't add anything to it or take anything away from it to make it any better than it already is. He tells us God does that so that man would learn to fear him. God wants man to fear him. That's why he does what he does. He wants man to stand in awe of him. We know that there is no fear before the eye of the unbeliever, Romans 3, 18. We know that there's forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared, Psalm 130, verse number four. God does what he does so man will fear him because that's the ultimate in life, to stand in awe of the true and living God.

But yet, very few do that. And that's where we left you off last week. God does what he does because he wants man to fear him. But also God does what he does because he wants to show man his helplessness. Psalm 107 says it this way. As he talks about how God delivers man from all of his troubles, he begins by saying in verse number one, Oh, give thanks to the Lord for he is good for his loving kindness is everlasting.

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so whom he has redeemed from the hand of the adversary. And then he talks about the sojourner, the slave, the sick and the sailor. He talks about all of them. He talks about the sojourner this way. They wandered in the wilderness in a desert region. They did not find a way to an inhabited city. They were hungry and thirsty. Their soul fainted within them. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble. He delivered them from all their distress. And then it says, let them give thanks to the Lord for his loving kindness and for his wonders to the sons of men for he has satisfied the thirsty soul and the hungry soul he has filled with what is good.

Then in verse 10, he says, there were those who dwelt in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in misery and chains because they had rebelled against the words of God and spurned the counsel of the most high. Therefore he humbled their heart with labor. They stumbled and there was none to help. They cried to the Lord in their trouble. He saved them from their distress. God caused these things to happen to show them their helplessness that they needed to cry out to God. It says down in verse number 17, fools because of their rebellious way and because of their iniquities were afflicted.

Their soul abhorred all kinds of food and they drew near to the gates of death. And then he cried out to the Lord in their distress, in their trouble. He saved them out of their distresses. They too should give thanks unto the Lord. Then in verse 23, those who go down to the sea and ships who do business on great waters, they have seen the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep. For he spoke and raised up a stormy wind which lifted up the waves of the sea. They rose up to the heavens. They went down to the depths.

Their soul melted away in their misery. They reeled and staggered like drunken men and were at their wits end. Then they cried to the Lord in their distress and he brought them out of their distresses. He caused the storm to be still so that the waves of the sea were hushed. See, God wants man to understand he is helpless. He can't make it without the Lord. So God will cause the sailor to experience storms on the sea who caused the sick to realize that there is no remedy. They might cry out to the Lord.

He calls those who are enslaved in bondage and in labor who see no hope to cry in their distress. He talks about those who wander to and fro and they cry out to him in their distress and he delivers them. But that's what God wants for the sons of man. He wants to show us our helplessness. What better way to do that than to have a virus that encompasses the world where there is no vaccine? Where we cry out to God and say, Lord, deliver us. Lord, show us your mercy that he might show himself faithful to the sons of men.

So God does what he does because he wants us to fear him. He wants to show us our helplessness. And when we realize that, we can rest in a sovereignty. We rest in the fact that I am not in control of anything that I do. I rest in the fact that I am to fear God and only him. I'm not to fear the virus. I'm not to fear sickness. I'm not to fear death. I'm to fear only the true and living God. And then we need to realize that God does what he does because he wants to warn man. Remember what the Lord God said in Luke chapter 13, when it says in verse number one, now on the same occasion, there were some present who reported to him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.

They'd gone to worship the Lord. They'd gone to offer sacrifices to the Lord. And Pilate decided to slaughter them and mix their blood with their sacrifices. And Jesus said to them, do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this fate? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or do you suppose that those 18 on whom the Tower of Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem?

I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. The Lord took the opportunity amidst great tragedy to tell people that they need to repent. God does what he does to warn man of their impending death. Man is mortal. He is going to die. And when we go through life day after day, going to work, going to play, doing what we're doing, we don't really think about death. And yet that is the end of every man, Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes chapter seven. And God does what he does to warn man of their mortality, that death is imminent.

We forget that 56 million people died every single year in the world. 56 million. 153,000 die every single day in the world. 6,390 die every hour. 107 die every minute. And 1.7 die every second.

Death is imminent. And the Lord warns us, you're going to die. Are you prepared to die? You know, two weeks ago, when we were talking about this virus and we had not put the restrictions on the nation as we have at this point, two weeks ago in Chicago, 26 people were shot and killed. 11 children were wounded. But you never heard of that because the virus took front and center on the news. But it was a tragedy for those families to realize their loved ones had been shot and killed. Their children had been wounded by bullets.

What a horrific thing. Why does God allow those things to happen? Because he takes advantage of that to warn us of the impending death that awaits all of us. Are you ready? That's why he says you better repent or you will likewise perish. Are you ready to meet your maker? We rest in the fact that God is sovereign and he wants me to fear him. He wants me to be dependent upon him. He shows me my helplessness, that I might cry out to him in my distress. He also wants to warn me of the fact that death is eminent.

He also wants to teach me. He wants to teach me about him. Remember in John's gospel, the ninth chapter, that great story about how the Lord heals a blind man, a man that was blind from birth. And the disciples came to him and asked the question, Lord, whose sin, this man or his parents? And the Lord's response was this. It was neither that this man's sin nor his parents, but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. You know, God allowed this young man, older man now, probably he's of age, to be born blind, to never see the light of day for one reason and one reason only, that he might teach his disciples and teach those people around the pool of Siloam about him.

He would send this young man to the pool of Siloam, which means sent, because the Gahon Springs would send the water to the pool. And it was symbolic of the one that the father in heaven would send to the nation of Israel, the Messiah himself. So he had the young man go down in the pool of Siloam and wash so that he could see again. He obeyed the command of the Lord. He was submissive to the words of the Lord. And all throughout the ninth chapter, you see about how Christ is a man, how Christ is a prophet, how Christ is son of man, how Christ is son of God, how Christ is Lord, because he wants people to understand his identity.

Sometimes God does what he does just so that we can learn about him, because everything is about him. That's what Paul said in Romans 11. Everything's from him, through him and to him, to God be the glory. He wants to teach us about himself. He wants us to come to grips with the identity of his power, his mercy, his love, his forgiveness, his faithfulness. God allows things to happen that we might understand him. We can rest in that. He is sovereign. What lessons is God teaching you during this virus?

What lessons is God teaching your family, your workplace, our nation? How is he showing us to depend upon him? Because he is. He wants us to reach out to him. He wants us to cry out to him. He wants us to look to him in our distress that we might understand who he is and fear only him. Oh, by the way, God does what he does because he's going to judge our iniquity. Remember Genesis chapter six, when every heart and every man and every thought in every heart of every man was only evil continually. And Genesis six tells us the story of the flood.

Genesis seven, eight, nine, how God destroys the entire world because of their sin. Isn't it interesting that the wages of sin is death, but yet when you sin, you still live. That's because God's merciful. He demonstrates his grace every single day. He's faithful. The very fact that we can sin and still live shows us the mercy of God because we should die the moment we sin, but we don't. There are some that do. And God's patience had run out with the world. And so he destroyed the world with a flood because he is sovereign overall.

And one last thing, God does what he does that we might fear him. God does what he does to show us our helplessness. God does what he does because he wants us to learn about him. God does what he does simply because he wants to show us our dependency upon him and that he will judge iniquity. But ultimately, it's for his glory. Everything's about the glory of the Lord. He wants to be put on display. The book of Philippians tells us that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

That's where the world's going. That everyone will bow the knee and everyone will submit to the lordship of Christ and realize that all glory is due him. It's all about the glory of the living God. That's what it's about. That's why God does what he does. And so we need to learn to rest in God's sovereignty. Have you done that? You understand what that means? God is sovereign over everything. He's in complete control. Isaiah 45, seven says that the Lord is the creator of calamity. He's the creator of a calamity.

He's the architect of calamity. He goes on to say in Isaiah 45, cursed is every man who questions his sovereignty because God's in charge. He rules over all. We need to learn to rest in his sovereignty. The flip side of that is point number two.

Not only do we abolish anxiety by resting in God's sovereignty, but number two, we abolish anxiety by remembering our responsibility.

We have a huge responsibility. And sometimes amidst adversity, we forget about that. But there are things that we still must do. We're accountable. We're responsible for our actions. Yes, God is sovereign on the one hand. He rules over all on the one hand. You can't thwart the plan of God. You can't change the plan of God. You can't alter the plan of God, right? And yet on the flip side of that, men is accountable. Men is still responsible. And what are we responsible to do amidst a crisis that will eradicate our anxiety, that will abolish those anxious tendencies?

Well, I'm gonna give you 12 words, not all today, but I'm gonna give you 12 words that are a reminder of our responsibility. In fact, they help you live the fullest of life. In fact, you'll begin to understand that fullness in your responsibility will erase all your anxiety. Fullness amidst your responsibility will erase all of your anxiety. In other words, if you understand how we are to be full, then your anxiety will subside. Let me show you.

Number one, you need to be, I forgot, oh yeah, watchful. Watchful, that's number one, be watchful. Peter would say it this way, 1 Peter 5, verse number eight. Be sober, be vigilant, be watchful, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. But resist him firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. In other words, and it's true that everyone is experiencing the same kind of suffering, the same virus, the same lockdowns because of what is happening around the world.

But our first responsibility is to be watchful because Satan goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

You need to be on the alert, you need to be vigilant because Satan truly wants to cause all matter of doubt in your mind. He wants you to doubt that God is sovereign. He wants you to doubt that this sovereign God is a good God, a merciful God, a kind God. He wants to bring all kinds of doubt your way. He wants to deceive you into thinking that your God is not who he says he is. He wants to move you away from communion with the living God. You need to be watchful because Satan goes around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

Peter, who wrote this, remembers what Christ said to him in the Garden of Gethsemane. Remember, the disciples went to that garden. If you've been to Israel with me, you understand where that garden is and locations of the old city and how they had to go down and cross over the Kidron Valley and go up to the Garden of Gethsemane and go there to pray. And when they went to pray, the Lord would go further into the garden and take Peter, James, and John with him, those in his intimate circle with him, and he would go off to pray.

He said, keep watch and pray. That's what he said. And he went further into the garden to pray. In fact, the exact words were, my soul is deeply grieved, the Lord says, to the point of death. Remain here and keep watch. Be vigilant. Stay here and be alert. Meanwhile, off to the garden to pray, came back, found them sleeping. Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Could you not be vigilant for one hour? Could you not be alert for just one simple hour? Keep watching. Keep vigilant.

Keep praying, he says, that you may not come into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Temptation comes like a flood during a crisis. The apostles were troubled. Christ had said in John chapter 14, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. He wants to calm the troubled hearts of the disciples. And yet their hearts were agitated and anxious. So he goes to the garden to pray with his men. Be watchful, because he wants them to realize that temptation is going to come, and it did.

And Peter learned his lesson. He wasn't watchful, he wasn't prayerful, and what happened? He couldn't resist the temptation that came from a little girl around the fire when she said, you, I know you, you were with the Galilean, you were with Jesus of Nazareth. I know you, and he denied the fact that he's with Christ. He denied the Lord. He succumbed to temptation, why? Because he wasn't watchful, he wasn't on the alert. During times of crisis, temptation is going to come in all different shapes and all different forms.

And you need to be reminded of your responsibility. You need to be watchful. The second is easy, you need to be prayerful.

Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. You need to be prayerful. Listen, you have lots of time now, more time than you've ever had to pray. You're home all day. You only watch TV and Netflix and DirecTV and whatever it is you got going on for so long, right? You need to spend time in prayer. And so you need to realize that God wants you to be prayerful. The Bible says in the book of Romans that we are to be devoted to prayer, devoted to prayer.

We're to pray without ceasing, Paul says in First Thessalonians 5. In Philippians 4, that famous passage of scripture, the Lord says, be anxious for nothing. Don't be anxious. It's a prohibition. God says, don't do that.

Meaning to say that if God says, don't do something, if you do it, you have violated what he said. That means worry and anxiousness is a sin because you didn't obey the living God. He says, be anxious for nothing. That's a prohibition, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. He says, and the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. He gives a prohibition. Don't worry.

Don't be anxious. Then he gives a plan, be prayerful. And when you pray, give thanks to the true and living God. When you do that, here's the promise. The peace of God will encompass you, will surround you. And the peace of God that surpasses all comprehension. I mean, you can't even begin to comprehend the kind of peace that God wants to give you. It's his peace. He is the God of peace who grants you his peace, as Paul says in second Thessalonians three, I think it is verse number 16.

The God of peace wants to grant you his peace because he wants you to rest in his sovereign control. That's what God wants to do. He wants you to be prayerful. He wants you to be watchful. Number three, he wants you to be thankful or grateful.

That's what he says. He says, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Do you know that when you give thanks to God and the Bible says in first Thessalonians five, we are to give thanks in everything, right?

Because this is God's will for you. Ephesians five, he says, give thanks for all things. So not only in him, but for them. Why? Because they all come from him, through him and to him. Romans 11, 36. So we give thanks to God because he is in it some way, somehow. And we wanna give him glory. And whenever you give thanks to God amidst your anxiety, that anxiety is released. Because you're recognizing God's incomplete control. And you're resting in that sovereignty. Be thankful, be prayerful, be watchful.

You know what the key to this is? Verse number five of Philippians four. The Lord is near. Wow. The Lord is near. His presence helps you understand the prohibition. Be anxious for nothing. Why? Because the Lord is near. So let me give you the plan.

Pray with thanksgiving. Let me give you the promise. The peace of God, which goes beyond all comprehension is gonna guard your heart and mind through Christ Jesus, our Lord. The Lord is near. His presence. So many times amidst our anxiety, we forget that the Lord is right there. So many times during the years of my ministry, I've had the opportunity to do many memorial services. My favorite is the graveside service. Because it's a great reminder of man's ultimate destiny, he's going to die. And when I talk to the family members that are left, I love to go to Isaiah chapter 40.

Because the Lord through the prophet Isaiah says these words, why do you say, oh, Jacob, and assert, oh, Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord. And the justice do me escapes the notice of my God.

Why would you ever say that my way is something that God has not seen? God doesn't know about. If God is omnipresent, which he is, he's everywhere. There's no place he's not. Why would I ever say my way is hidden from the Lord? But Israel had said that. Why does justice escape me? Why doesn't God deal with me in a right way? Why would you say that? And so prophet Isaiah says, do you not know, have you not heard? I love it when the Lord says that. The Lord said that all the time to the Pharisees. Have you not heard?

Did you not read? How do you not know these things? I mean, the Pharisees and the scribes, they were to be the ones who knew the law of God because they would tell people that law, but he would go back to them and say, did you not read it right? Did you not hear it right? How'd you miss this? And so many times that miss our anxiety, we forget what God has already said. And so the Lord says, have you not heard? Do you not know the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired.

He uses three titles to describe God. He's everlasting, which speaks what? Of his presence. Presence. He is perpetually present. He's never absent. He is the everlasting God. He is the eternal God. He is everywhere. He calls him the Lord, which speaks not just of his presence, but of his power. It does no good for the Lord to be there, but not powerful enough to do what it is he's going to do, to stop the crisis or to step in and help you. He's all powerful, right? So the bottom line comes that if God's everywhere, is he powerful enough to stop what's happening?

And the answer is yes, he is. He is the Lord, speaking of his power. Not only is he perpetually present, he is exactly powerful. But he also says this, he says the creator of the ends of the earth. He is the perfect planner of everything. He is the master architect of every event, of every situation that has ever happened. Because he's the creator. So whatever situation we find ourselves in, not of any fault of our own, whether it be a natural disaster, a tragedy, a virus, God is present. He is all powerful.

And he has a plan. And that plan is right on course. He wants you to rest in it. He never grows tired. He never becomes weary. He gives strength to those who are weary. And to him who lacks might, he increases power. And though youse grow weary and tired and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired. They will walk and not become weary. Those who wait for the Lord, those who wrap their trust around him.

That's what God wants you to do. He wants you to wrap yourself around him. We wrap ourselves around social media. We wrap ourselves around Fox News. We wrap ourselves around CNN. We wrap ourselves around all that's being said in the world. And we become so anxious and forget about the fact that our God is everlasting. Our God is the Lord of the universe. Our God is the creator. He's the creator. Who never grows tired. Who never becomes weary. Who longs to give strength to those who are weary. So we wrap our trust around him and no one else.

He wants us to be watchful. He wants us to be prayerful. He wants us to be grateful, thankful. We did a whole series on praise. Whole series on praise in the fall. To teach the church body what it means to be a people of praise. You remember that? Isaiah 43, verse number 21. The people I have formed for myself. People I've created for myself. They will declare my praise. God has created you for himself. And therefore, he wants you to praise him. Could it be that God is doing what he's doing in your family, in your personal life?

Because he wants to remind you of who he is. And amidst all of that, he wants you to be responsible. Be watchful. Be on the alert. Be vigilant at this time. So easy we can slip back and say, and fall right back into temptation. Because there's so much time on our hands. There's so much downtime. But you gotta be watchful. Because your adversary, the devil, goes about like a roaring lion. He wants to destroy your testimony. He wants to devour your family. Don't let that happen. Be watchful. At the same time, be prayerful.

Spend time on your knees. Spend time praying with your family. Spend time praying individually. Asking God to do a mighty work. Praying for our country. Praying for those who are president. And those he has surrounding him to work through all the situation in our country. Praying that God gives them wisdom. All the while being thankful for what God has done. Praising him for what he's done. Because when that happens, the peace of God encompasses you. So be watchful. Be prayerful. Be thankful. And number four, be mindful.

Be mindful. Back in Philippians four, verse number eight. Finally, brethren, whatever's pure, whatever's honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

Keep your mind focused on these things. Fill your mind with these things. Things that you've learned and received and heard and seen in me. Practice these things and the God of peace will be with you. Listen, if you're not mindful of what God wants you to be mindful of, you forfeit the peace of God. But if you are mindful of what is really important, the virtues that he's ascribed for you in verse number eight, then the peace of God, yeah, that comes from the God of peace, will encompass you. What does it mean to be mindful?

How is it we are mindful of these things? Well, next week, I'll tell you about that and give you the rest of what we have. But all that to say is that fullness eradicates fearfulness. If you are watchful, if you are prayerful, if you are grateful, if you are mindful, mindful, you will eradicate your fearfulness. Let me pray with you.

Father, we thank you, Lord, for this day. We thank you for the opportunity to be in your word. We thank you for who you are, the very fact that you've given us the living and abiding word of God. I pray for everyone who watches this today or tomorrow or this week or whoever listens by way of audio. We just pray, God, that your word would stick in their hearts and minds and that, Lord, they learn to rest in your sovereignty. Remember their responsibility, that you might abolish all their anxiety. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, our soon coming king.

Amen.