Abolishing Anxiety, Part 5

It's so great to have you with us this morning I thought you gathered your family around with you so that you can hear the Word of the Lord together as a family To be able to receive those things that God wants for you today And as you gather around I just remind you of a couple of things one is don't forget that on Wednesday night We have our Wednesday night service, which is really recorded from my office About a fortress for the family. The father is that and so we're trying to explain what that looks like And we hope you'll join us on Wednesday nights at 7 o'clock Also, don't forget that Roger Flores on the first Saturday in May One of our elders is gonna do his min study If you want to know more about that just contact Roger his numbers in the directory And he'll tell you how you can be a part of that Tom Mason has a Bible study this evening His ABF you want to be a part of that contact him? He'd love to have you be a part of that zoom Bible study and don't forget that after our service today Pastor Patrick will be with their young people to discuss the principles that they've learned from the message As we gather together We want to pray we want to pray for those people who lost loved ones over the last several weeks due to the coronavirus We want to ask that God does a great work for them and in them that God will save souls Got to do a mighty work So pray for those first responders who want to do that I want to pray for all the events surrounding our church and the opportunities that we are trying to provide for you as well Realizing that financially it's difficult for many people to give we get that But we're gonna pray for our finances that God will continue to sustain us through this year And as we go through the summertime into the fall, and so if you're able hopefully you join your family together we can gather together on our knees approach with owner grace and Come to him with praise and Thanksgiving. So let's let's go to prayer together Father we thank you for today.

What a great day to worship you as our King We are so grateful Lord for the opportunity to worship you We realize that things are so different, but your word is the same Yesterday today and forever. You are the same Yesterday today and forever and we are so grateful Our prayer Lord today is that you would do a mighty work through your word that it would touch all of our lives And that we'd come to grips with what it is. You have for us Those who might not know you that they today would be the day of their salvation When I pray Lord for the many people who have lost loved ones over the last several weeks to this virus When I pray for them that you would do a mighty work that someone would tell them about Christ They would understand the security they could have in Christ Jesus alone a salvation only comes From you and you are the great deliverer of man's souls We pray God that you're your grace would sustain them and that Lord you would do a mighty work in their lives When I continue to pray for those first responders those nurses those doctors, especially who they're on the front lines every day Ministering to people that you keep them safe and protect them even those in our own church When I pray Lord for our church family that you do a mighty work in their hearts and lives husbands and wives and children Grandfathers and grandmothers and aunts and uncles and pray Lord that during this time of quarantine that Lord We would see the opportunities before us and praise you for them give.

Thanks to you Trust you through them and ask Lord that fathers would lead in a way that honors you They would be the fortress for their family. They'd be that strong Rampart that bulwark that never never diminishes. They might be strong for the glory of your kingdom We pray that our time of the word today will be rich and rewarding for all who listen We thank you for the opportunity to continue to dispense the word of truth to the people of God We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ our soon coming King Amen, and that you've joined us to continue on in our series entitled abolishing anxiety Our text is found in Proverbs chapter 12 verse number 25 It's our springboard text Anxiety and the heart of a man weighs it down But a good word a good word makes it glad and we're trying to give you that good word to help you understand How it is you can be glad during these times So that anxiety is completely gone from your life This month April 2020 is a unique month because seven years ago on April 28th 2013 My father was officially diagnosed with ALS He and my mom would get up early in the morning and travel from their home in in Delaware to go to Baltimore to Johns Hopkins University To take a series of tests that would tell him that he had ALS The unique thing about that day though is what took place before they embarked on that journey to go to Baltimore and that was the opportunity they had to spend in the Word of the Lord When they spent their time in the Word of the Lord that morning that the text was Psalm 119 Psalm 119 verse number 49 Reads as this Remember the word to your servant in which you have made me hope And my mom and dad would go through Spurgeon's morning and evening and on that morning Spurgeon wrote on Psalm 119 49 April 28th, and this is what Spurgeon says.

He says whatever your Special need may be you may readily find some promise in the Bible suited to it. Are you faint and feeble? Because your way is rough and you are weary here is the promise he giveth power to the faint When you read such a promise take it back to the great promiser and ask him to fulfill his word Are you seeking after Christ? Thirsting for a closer communion with him This promise shines like a star upon you Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled Take that promise to the throne continually Do not plead anything else but go to God over and over again with this Lord Thou has said it do as Thou has said Are you distressed because of sin and burdened with the heavy load of your iniquities? Listen to these words I even I am he that blotted out thy transgressions and will no more remember thy sins You have no merit of your own to plead why he should pardon you but plead his written Engagements and he will perform them Are you afraid Lest you should not be able to hold on to the end lest after having thought yourself a child of God you should Prove a castaway if that is your state take this word of grace to the throne and plead it The mountains may depart and the hills may be removed but the covenant of my love shall not depart from thee if you have Lost the sweet sense of the Savior's presence and are seeking him with a sorrowful heart Remember the promises returning to me and I will return to you for a small moment Have I forsaken thee but with great mercies will I gather thee? Banquet your faith upon God's own word and whatever your fears or wants Repair to the bank of faith with your father's note of hand saying Remember the word unto thy servant upon which thou has caused me to hope My folks would would read that they would read in Psalm 119 and then they would embark on their journey not knowing what to expect when they Arrived at Johns Hopkins University Only to realize down the way back Things no longer would be the same And it was less than two years after that diagnosis that my father went home to be with the Lord and Yet it was the word of the Lord that would sustain my father and my mother through a very difficult ordeal for the next 17 months And I tell you that because it reminds us of the fact that the Word of the Lord Prepares us For what it is. We're about to face and we need to trust all that God says rely upon him and go to him because we don't know what tomorrow holds We don't know what next week or next year holds But if we find ourselves Embedded in the Word of the Lord Letting the Word of Christ dwell in us richly be at home in our hearts as Paul says in Colossians 3 Then we can really begin to face adversity and face difficulty In a way that helps us overcome the anxiety of our hearts That's very important Let me say it to you this way.

Every one of us have have heard of preventive medicine preventive medicine Some kind of medicine that you would take to prevent you from becoming ill for instance, there is the flu shot we take the flu shot every year to prevent us from getting the flu and For some it's a great testimony to the fact that they never get it and for others. It doesn't make any difference They still get the flu But but it's called a preventive medicine There is Zycam that we take because that will prevent us from getting a cold or prevent the cold from becoming worse than it's going to be But that works or not. I Don't know.

I looked up On my phone the other day all the different preventive medicines that are available to man Realize there are tons of them Some think that the best preventive medicine is not to take any medicine Others say well you if you eat right and you exercise and sleep well, then then that will Help your immune system and that will prevent you from becoming sick, but we understand preventive medicine We also understand preventive maintenance We do that with our cars. We change the oil on our car We change the the hoses on our car a car when they become older and not as fitting We change the radiator fluid we change the transmission fluid We do those kinds of things but like rotating the tires or getting new tires because we want to prevent something worse happening to us So we take these preventive measures We understand preventive maintenance We understand preventive medicine. We understand preventive methods, right? We're doing that right now.

We go outside. We wear masks we we keep our distance in the store from those around us because social distancing seems to be the key factor in this virus and slowing the spread of the virus So we understand preventive methods. That's why there's social distancing.

That's why we we wear masks That's why we we wash our hands constantly There are certain preventive measures that we take that will help us in the long run So we understand those things whether it's preventive medicine or preventive maintenance or preventive methods But how many of us really understand preventive? meditation preventive meditation Because that's a kind of prevention that prepares us for future difficulty for future tragedies for future hardships that might come our way and I wonder if you understand preventive meditation Remember way back in the book of Joshua God told Joshua these words now Remember Joshua was taken over from Moses Moses was the greatest leader Israel ever had and the nation of Israel went to kill Moses But God told Moses that Joshua would be the successor so now Joshua is going to take over for Moses the greatest leader in Israel's history That Israel at times wanted to kill Now Joshua was going to take over his position and be the leader that would take them into the promised land and What was the promise God gave to Joshua? God says to Joshua and Joshua 1 verse number 6 You probably know these verses very well be strong and courageous for you shall give this people possession of the land Which I swore to their fathers to give them Only be strong and very courageous Be careful to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you Do not turn from it to the right or to the left so you may have success wherever you go this book of the law Shall not depart from your mouth But you shall meditate on it day and night Preventive meditation So that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it for then You will make your way prosperous and then you will have success God tells Moses. This is what you need to do. You need to meditate on my word day and night You need to understand this is how you're strong This is how you are going to be courageous, but you have to be a man of meditation You have to look at my word study my word memorize my word.

You must know me the God of the word and That's exactly what Joshua did and Joshua had a big responsibility a lot larger than You or me will ever have But the key to his success was preventive meditation Being in the word all the time Listen to what the psalmist says in psalm one. I'm sure most of you know these verses as well Psalm one verse number one How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked nor stand under the path of sinners? Nor sit in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the lord and in his law He meditates day and night He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water which yields his fruit in this Season and its leaf does not wither and whatever he does he prospers There's great strength there When you meditate day and night in the law and on the law of god He would say in verse number four the wicked are not so But they are like chaff Which the wind? Drives away, they have no stability They have no security And then you go on to to psalm four Psalm four verse number four tremble and do not sin meditate in your heart upon your bed and be still Offer the sacrifices of righteousness And trust in the lord. What a great promise But you have to meditate meditate on your bed In the night watches over in psalm 19 verse number four After the psalmist listed all those aspects of the word of god being that which restores the soul and makes wise As simple and rejoices the heart enlightens the eyes.

He said let the words of my mouth in the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in thy sight. Oh lord my strength and my redeemer But it doesn't stop there psalm 63 Verse number six when I remember you on my bed on my bed I meditate on you in the night watches for you have been my help and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy. My soul clings to you your right hand Upholds me the psalmist says my soul clings to you and it does that simply because In the night watches when i'm on my bed, I am meditating upon your law I am consumed the lord with you preventive Meditation is the key to abolishing anxiety in your heart and mind It goes on in Psalm 119 and psalm 119 is filled with these kinds of exhortations He says in verse number 15 in psalm 119, I will meditate on your precepts and regard your ways verse number 48 and I shall lift up my hands to your commandments, which I love and I will meditate on your statutes verse number 78 may the arrogant be ashamed for they subvert me with a lie But I shall meditate on your precepts verse 97.

Oh, I love that law. It is my meditation all the day Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies for they are ever mine I have more insight than all my teachers for your testimonies are my meditation And then over in verse number 148 my eyes anticipate the night watches that I may meditate on your word He anticipated the night watch That he could spend his time meditating Pondering thinking over all the things that god himself has said Over in psalm 143 verse number 5. I remember the days of old I meditate on all your doings I'm use on the work of your hands I stretch out my hands to you my soul longs for you as a Parched land Preventive Meditation is all throughout the scriptures. I've just given you a few verses That you can meditate upon and think about And what we're trying to do in our series on abolishing anxiety Is help prepare you? For whatever anxiety comes your way.

We're in the midst of one right now this pandemic in our country And and and people are are ridden with anxiety but but it's not going to stop here There's going to be other things down the road that you're going to have to face whether it's some tragedy some difficulty Some hardship some kind of suffering you're going to have to face it. Will you be prepared to face it? We take preventive medicine because we want to physically be well But you take preventive meditation so that you are spiritually well That's the challenge And so when we look at abolishing anxiety, we've given you two points, right two main points number one Rest in god's sovereignty Why because he's in complete control of everything god causes All things to happen or consciously allows all things to happen because he's in complete control We looked at several verses you can go back and listen Ecclesiastes chapter 7 says that you cannot make straight that which god has bent Why because in the day of prosperity be happy But in the day of adversity consider that god made one as well as the other Because he is the author of calamity isaiah 45 verse number 7 in the book of lamentations the third chapter Jeremiah says is it not from the mouth of the most high that both calamities and good things come So true We told you you need to rest in god's sovereignty And number two, we told you that you needed to remember your responsibility Your full responsibility not all your responsibility, but your full responsibility because fullness eradicates fearfulness We told you you needed to be watchful Needed to be prayerful and thankful Needed to be mindful helpful Going on to talk about being merciful and being dutiful being faithful being fruitful being truthful Being peaceful because you want to ultimately be beautiful And so you need to remember your responsibility because you just can't sit back and do nothing But what do you do? And so we told you you need to remember your responsibility And number three I want to give you right now Rest in god's sovereignty. Remember your responsibility and number three Realize Your dependency Realize your Dependency If you go back And you remember what we told you about resting in god's sovereignty We told you there's no answer to the why question, but there is an answer to the who question It's always gone And if you understand the who question or you can answer the what question what is god doing and we told you If you recall we told you what god was doing god was showing man his Responsibility ecclesiastes 3 14 and 15.

We went through all these verses with you. God does what he does that man will fear him Man's responsibility is to fear the true and living god because he doesn't there's no fear of god before his eyes So god is doing what he's doing because he wants to show man his responsibility He wants to show man his immortality luke chapter 3 you better repent or you may likewise perish He he number three wanted to show man's accountability. That's genesis chapter 6 because man's accountable for his iniquity And when god destroyed the world with the flood He was reminded man of his accountability to the living god We also said that it shows you god's identity That's john chapter 9 and ultimately god's glory.

That's psalm 1 12, but but we also said that What god is doing is he's showing man's dependency God needs to depend. I mean man needs to depend on the true and living god. That's psalm Psalm 107 verse number 28.

I want man to call out to me I want man to cry out to me that I might be able to deliver him in the day of his distress but that's Not necessarily happening in our country, is it? We hear things like, you know, we're looking at science we're looking at data we're looking at statistics No one's saying we're looking to the lord for guidance for wisdom when the bible says very clearly Trust in the lord with all your heart lean not on your own understanding It will always lead you the wrong way And all your ways acknowledge him. He will direct your paths. He'll make them smooth But you got to trust the lord for all things, but we lean on our own understanding You know in our country in america we we thrive on independence We are independent beings so we think but god made us dependent beings And so god will do whatever he has to To rid us of our independence from him to establish our dependence upon him That's what god is wanting to do all the time He wants us to cry out to him, but but man does not do that Instead man is consumed with the fact that he is a master of his own fate and the captain of his own soul We in america we will find a virus we will handle this problem God wants us to cry out to him And unfortunately that kind of mentality Creeps into the church And as christians we find ourselves very Independent of god.

In fact, we we sometimes live as practical atheists. We live as if god doesn't even exist We make plans as if god doesn't even exist We plan out our future We plan out our educational plans and just say this is what i'm going to do and we lean back on our own ingenuity our own Creativity our own kind of experience and ministry skills and whatever it is we might have But we lean on those things thinking that I can do this And that worldly attitude creeps into the church and we live Independently from the god who has created us to be dependent upon him and so god will stop at nothing To break you To bring you back to him That you might truly trust only in him During the time in which this pandemic has erupted in our country People are are looking and depending upon a a vaccine dependent upon Doctors dependent upon the president to open or close the country based on this or based on that We're depending on all these external things. We're depending on certain people or certain avenues Instead of depending upon the lord that does not negate the fact that we need to be responsible beings We need to do what we need to do But yet we don't do those things without learning to trust in the living god What if What if things get worse? What happens then? Our lord said in isaiah 41 verse number 10.

Do not fear For I am with you Do not anxiously look about you For I am your god I will strengthen you. Surely I will help you. Surely I will uphold you with my Righteous right hand One thing is sure god saves And the god who saves sustains the god who sustains satisfies the god who satisfies secures For he is our stronghold Who are you dependent upon? When you realize your dependency all of a sudden Those anxious thoughts are gone and you can begin to trust on the true and living god It was corrie ten boom Who during the time she was so courageous during nazi fascism that she said these words? She said worry doesn't empty tomorrow of its sorrow It empties today of its strength Oh how true that is We we become weaker mentally Emotionally because we worry today And we have no control over tomorrow And so we need to realize our dependency psalm 78 great verse Because it it talks to us about fathers and their responsibility with their children In psalm 78 it says for he established a testimony in jacob verse number five and appointed a law in israel Which he commanded our fathers that they should teach them to their children That the generation to come might know even the children yet to be born That they may arise and tell them to their children.

Tell them what? That they should put their confidence their trust their hope in god And not forget the works of god but keep his commandments And not be like their fathers A stubborn and rebellious generation a generation that did not prepare its heart A generation that did not prepare its heart. There was no Preventive meditation Looking back on the works of god looking back on the word of god musing All about those things that god has done Because the fathers didn't teach them to their children Who could not then teach them to their children? To put their confidence in god during days of distress and difficulty fathers. What are you doing? Have you done that? Have you become the fortress for your family I would trust that you are That you haven't forsaken your responsibility as leader in your home Realize your Dependency No, god's not given us a spirit of fear of love and of power And of self-discipline That's the spirit god's given us We should never act contrary to that.

We should always trust in him But what happens is that we have this misplaced dependency And that is when we we depend on someone or something to come through for us other than god something happens If I if I depend upon Someone or something to come through for me in times of distress in times of hardship I'm disappointed If I as a wife depend upon my husband to be strong and he's not i'm disappointed If if if I am dependent upon my job during times of distress and I lose my job i'm i'm disappointed And that disappointment always leads to disillusionment And disillusionment then leads to Discouragement discouragement leads to despondency despondency leads to despair And despair leads to depression Depression Most people are depressed Because they have a misplaced Dependency They have depended on someone else to come through for them Something else to come through for them when they need to depend upon the living god for everything So important Let me show you this Psalm 9 Psalm 9 is one of those verses that really opens our eyes to our trust in the living god and depending solely upon him Psalm 9 verse number 9 says the lord also will be a stronghold for the oppressed the downcast Those who are downtrodden the lord's a stronghold for them a stronghold in times of trouble And those who know your name What's the name of god? He is Who he is. It's his character. It's his nature It's his attributes Those who know your name will put their trust in you For you oh lord have not forsaken those who seek you wow They trust in the name of the living god.

Do you? See psalm 20 verse number 7 some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will trust in the name of the lord our god For they should be brought down to fall, but we shall rise up and stand firm those who trust in the name of god stand firm Are not easily shaken Do not fall Listen, you're going to be blindsided You just don't want to blow over We're going to be blindsided all the time by tragedies hardships and difficulties But those who trust in the name of the lord might be blindsided but they never blow over Listen to psalm 33 Verse number 16. The king is not saved by a mighty army A warrior is not delivered by great strength A horse is a false hope for victory Nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength Behold the eye of the lord is on those who fear him on those who hope trust in his loving kindness To deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine Our soul waits for the lord. He is our help and our shield for our heart rejoices in him because we trust in his holy name There it is again Trusting in the name of the living god over in uh chapter 44 verse number 6 44 verse number 6 for I will not trust in my bow nor will my sword save me But you have saved us from our adversaries and you have put to shame those who hate us in god We have boasted all day long and we will give thanks to your name forever The great god of the universe whose name is I am that I am That describes the beauty of his character We will trust in that name and no one else and nothing else because I realized my dependency upon the true and living god psalm 146 verse number 3 Says this I'm, sorry.

Yeah Psalm 146 verse number 3 Do not trust in princes in mortal man in whom there is no salvation Psalm 147 verse number 10. He does not delight in the strength of the horse He does not take pleasure in the legs of a man The lord favors those who fear him those who wait for his loving kindness god says look And horses in scripture and chariots in scripture and armies in scripture and the swords in scripture refer to man's strength Refer to man's ingenuity refer to man's mechanisms to win Depending on something that i've created or something that's been given to me to win the war to win the battle And god says you need me That's what you need So important Over in isaiah chapter 31 God says this woe to those cursed are those Who go down to egypt for help? and rely on horses Relying on something Some strength other than god And trust in chariots because they are many And then horsemen horsemen because they are very strong But they do not look to the holy one of israel nor seek the lord cursed is every man who looks outside of god for deliverance cursed is every man who looks outside of god for someone or something else to come through for them to To to to secure them to to save them to help them instead of looking to the holy one of israel The god of jacob who is our deliverer? The scriptures over and over again reiterate the fact that we need to be dependent upon the true and living god So much so that over in psalm 56 These words are spoken by david When I am afraid This is david the warrior the soldier Who when he was a teenage boy defeated goliath because he wasn't afraid Who's a king? He says when i'm afraid I will put my trust in you In god whose word I praise in god. I have put my trust.

I should not be afraid What can mere man do to me? That should be your prayer That should be my prayer we should truly realize Our dependency is on god Let me close with this remember the words of isaiah isaiah chapter 26 Verse number one it says In that day, what day is that? Well chapter 24 and chapter 25 and chapter 26 are talking about the day of the lord You see if you think this is bad this pandemic Think again The day of the lord is going to be horrific People talk about this pandemic being catastrophic It's not It's not the day of the lord That's going to be catastrophic When every city is destroyed except for mount zion the city of god When when god comes again And and isaiah is going to give the jewish nation hope As they learn to seek and trust their god During that time the day of the lord So he says in that day in that day this song will be sung in the land of judah We have a strong city He sets up walls and ramparts for security open the gates that the righteous nation may enter the one That remains faithful This is this the steadfast mind You will keep in perfect peace the fixed mind The mind that is solely focused on god The savior the redeemer That mind that is for lack of a better phrase preventive meditation That is so fixed on the lord god You will keep that person in perfect peace because He trusts in you You've realized your dependency You've realized that there's no one else or nothing else but god he says Trust in the lord god forever abandon all other crushes All other helps trust in the lord forever for in god the lord we have an everlasting rock We have an everlasting rock in him We trust in him that steadfast mind that mind is that's hooked on preventive meditation Because it realizes its dependency upon the true and living god It's that mind that god will keep in perfect peace because he trusts in you So therefore trust in the lord because he is an everlasting rock and then he goes on and says this verse eight Indeed while following the way of your judgment. So lord we have waited for you eagerly Your name there it is again your name even your memory Is the desire of our souls Wow, isn't that great I wonder if god's name is the desire of your soul I wonder if the memory of his name is the desire of Your soul He says in verse number nine of isaiah 26 at night. My soul longs for you Indeed my spirit within me seeks you diligently See that When you are involved in preventive meditation You are seeing how dependent you are upon the true and living god You realize that dependency you trust in him you believe in him you follow him and you rest in him Remember that old hymn That old hymn that we sing quite regularly What a fellowship What a joy divine leaning on the everlasting arms What a blessedness what a peace is mine leaning on the everlasting arms leaning leaning Safe and secure from all alarms leaning leaning leaning on the everlasting arms the psalmist in psalm 62 Understood that When he said these words Psalm 62 verse number one my soul waits in silence Only for god Only for god From him is my salvation.

He only is my rock and my salvation my stronghold. I shall not be greatly shaken And then he says that again my soul wait in silence for god only For my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation my stronghold.

I shall not be greatly shaken When you realize your dependency Your hope is only in god You're never shaken Because anxiety has been abolished And you trust in god My prayer is that that's you that that's me Rest in god's sovereignty. Remember your responsibility And realize your dependency Let me pray with you father. Thank you for today.

You are a great god. You alone are worthy of praise And we trust in the name of our lord In jesus name we pray Amen