Antioch Odessa
Wednesday Nights Summer 2026
- We want to welcome you to our “Remember the Cross” service. There are many churches who have a Good Friday service so this is much the same. If you are here tonight and our new to church we have this service to remember the death of Jesus and what He did for our sin. We call this Good Friday even though I know it is Wednesday because it truly is good, and wonderful, and so precious. Tonight is a reminder of the greatest sacrifice in all of human history and a reminder that because of our sin problem we so desperately our in need of a Savior.Scripture tells us that because of peoples stubborn and hardened hearts they are storing up wrath or building up wrath for themselves.“There is nothing more offensive to God’s holiness than our sin.” In other words, people who do not see that their sin offends God and who never confess their sin to God will someday experience the wrath of God because he is a just God. On the other hand because of God’s mercy those who run to God and seek forgiveness from their sin will find forgiveness through the gospel. This means that we are to repent of sin, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and trust in Him to be our Lord and you will be saved.This is the heart of the Christian message! Jesus the Son of God became a man and died for sinners so that God’s justice was satisfied and sinful men can be reconciled to God. Please hear me tonight. There is a huge problem that many people have not come to fully understand. There are many folks today who walk around saying, “I just feel like I can’t do enough good works.” I just feel like there is something more that I need to do. You can never do enough good works to enter into heaven. You will never be good enough. That is why Jesus came to atone for you sin. Until you recognize that you are a sinner and you desperately need Jesus to take care of your sin you will continually try to earn your salvation and therefore you will always feel empty and come up short.The sacrifice of Jesus Christ is the sole means by which God offers forgiveness to the world.
John 14:6 ESV 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.Acts 13:38 ESV 38 Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,In Jesus Christ we can have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.The saving of sinners was the entire reason why Jesus came to this earth and His mission would not be deterred.Luke 19:10 ESV 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”Nothing happens without having faith or trust in God. True faith in Christ means that there comes a time in your life where you relinquish trust in yourself and transfer that trust to Christ. Genuine faith, according to God’s Word, always involves surrender to the will of God. When Jesus came to this earth his message was never about being a better leader or positive-thinking psychology like what we see so much of today. His message was turn from your sin and believe in me. Saving faith counts the cost and humbly cries out to God, as did the tax collector in the Lord’s parable in Luke 18 and verse 13, “God, be merciful to me a sinner.”-Is your faith real?-Do you have true life changing faith in God?Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke chapter 18. Tonight we are going to take a look at Lukes account of the final days of Christ leading up to his death and the cross.Luke 18:31–33 ESV 31 And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. 32 For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. 33 And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.”As the Lord draws close to Jerusalem He heals blind Bartimaeus, He shows kindness to Zacchaeus, and shares a parable about Him coming to judge the earth. In chapter 19 of Luke we read that Jesus now comes into Jerusalem to the wild and triumphant cheers of the crowd.Let’s look at some of the events that happened during this passion week.-On Monday Jesus went to the temple, cleansing it of the merchants and money changers. We see this at the end of chapter 19.-On Tuesday, Jesus walks into the heart of this enemy territory by having an argument about His authority. Jesus also took time on Tuesday to teach the crowds who had made their way to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover Feast. While in the temple that day Jesus noticed a poor woman who made a tremendous sacrifice because she had given everything she had. He took time to point out her sacrificial gift. Then Jesus preached and prophesied about the destruction of Jerusalem.-In Luke 22:3-6 we learn that Judas joined the the Jewish leaders to come against Jesus.Luke 22:3–6 ESV 3 Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. 4 He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them. 5 And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. 6 So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd.This event likely happened sometime between Tuesday and Wednesday.-On Thursday of the Passion week Jesus gathered together with His disciples to celebrate the Passover and then instituted this new meal called the Lord’s Supper, which was intended to commemorate the new covenant in His blood.I find it so interesting that the Passover was a very special day in Israel which marked the time when the Hebrew people were redeemed from the Egyptians and their bondage to this people. Passover began back in Egypt when Israel sacrificed a lamb and put the blood of that lamb on their doors. At some point in Israel’s history it was customary to slay the lamb at about 3:00 in the afternoon. And down through history again and again the lambs were to be sacrificed because this was only a temporary fix to mankind’s sin problem.We read about the Passover and the institution of the Lord’s supper in Luke 22:7-23.After the Supper had finished up Jesus then led several of his disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane. It was late Thursday night where Jesus got alone to agonize in prayer before He was arrested.-Sometime early Friday morning Jesus was handed over to Pilate since the Jewish leaders lacked the legal authority to pronounce the death penalty. There a civil trial was held and it was there that Jesus was sentenced to death and led away for public execution at a place called the Skull.Let me take a moment tonight to read to you the details of the Lord’s crucifixion. Turn with me to Luke 23.Luke 23:26–49 ESV 26 And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus. 27 And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. 28 But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ 30 Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ 31 For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?” 32 Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. 33 And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 34 And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. 35 And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” 36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine 37 and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.” 39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” 44 It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, 45 while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. 47 Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!” 48 And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. 49 And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things.As we have taken a look at this Passover week there are several brief reflections that I want to point out to us tonight.1. We are to be distinct from the world.Throughout the Lord’s ministry the religious leaders despised his teaching and were frustrated at his healing of people on the Sabbath. Very early on they were looking for a way on how they might kill him. However, they feared what the people thought of them. If you have a genuine faith in Christ, there will come times where you will bear some of the reproach that Christ himself bore. Why is that??? Well because Christianity and the message of the gospel confront the system of the world by being distinct from it. It exposes sin so it can point to the remedy which is Jesus. If we are truly committed to Christ our lives will definitely be distinct from the world. Even though we are trying to reach the world for Christ we are called to live differently not to blend in and hide with them.2. The Cross of Christ is the main point of our faith.It has always been so interesting to me of how many people where a cross as a necklace. I see many people famous people who clearly don’t believe in Jesus where a cross necklace. When you think about Jesus there may be different pictures that come to your mind. Some people think of Christ as a baby in a manger. Others think of Jesus as a wonderful miracle worker who healed blind and lame people. There are some who think of Jesus as a fired-up preacher who had a great impact on the crowds. But one of the images that stand out above the rest is Jesus on the cross. But why is this??? When we really begin to understand Jesus we think about what He did for us. Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith if you have trusted in Him. Christ’s suffering on the cross is the focal point of the Christian faith. It is here that we see His deity, His humanity, His work, and His suffering and He did this for His people.3. Our hope then is in the Lord’s resurrection.We are definitely going to talk more about this on Sunday, but let me just briefly mention tonight that the resurrection of Jesus is the greatest even in history. No it’s not the Cowboys winning the Super bowl. It’s not us sending a man to the moon or scientists coming up with cures for diseases. The resurrection is the foundation to Christianity. Without the resurrection there would be no Christian faith, salvation, or hope. Our hope as believers can be summed up from this wonderful verse in John chapter 11.John 11:25 ESV 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,(Close in a word of Prayer) - Before The Throne Of God Above
- Tonight as we gather together I want to talk to you about the fact that Christians can so easily be blinded to common sins. When we go back to the very beginning of time, back to the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were blinded to sin. In Genesis chapter 3 everything started out very well but then the serpent came to Eve and said, “Did God actually say, you shall not eat of any tree in the garden? And Eve said God told them that they may not eat of the tree that is in the midst of the garden or they will die. Satan deceived Eve by telling her that she would not die and that she would be like God knowing good and evil.” So, she and Adam ate of the tree and sin entered into the world. Genesis chapter 3 calls this the “Fall.” Ever since the fall men and women have been blinded to various sins.God’s Word tells us much about sin and our sin problem. Turn with me to Proverbs chapter 6.
Proverbs 6:16–19 ESV 16 There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, 19 a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.It is very interesting here that the sins of pride and being divisive are listed alongside of murder. We also see that this list is similar to the one that Paul gives us in Romans chapter 1 and even in 1 Timothy chapter 3 where Paul includes disobedience to parents and being ungrateful alongside of hating God and being heartless.My point here is that of course not all sins are of the same degree of wickedness. There are some sins that we know of that are more serious or heinous in themselves because they are sins that are contrary to nature like homosexuality and bestiality. However, we as believers must fight the tendency to emphasize certain sins and then overlook lesser sins as if they were not that bad. I want you too see here that every sin we commit makes us guilty before the face of God, which is why he tells us some very difficult news.Romans 6:23 ESV 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.Romans 3:23 ESV 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,We have all sinned, and because of our sin the consequences or wages of our sin is death in hell for all of eternity. The good news however is if we confess our sin, Christ will forgive us and we will be made righteous in him and live with Christ eternally.Over the summer months we are going to take a look at some of the most common sins that we face. These sins may not seem like a big deal too many Christians, however these are commonly tolerated by many believers.-Neglecting Evangelism.-Envy.-Being Judgmental.-Laziness.-The Vain use of God’s name.-Anxiety.-Being Divisive.-Greed.-Gossip.Church, we cannot act as if these sins do not offend a holy and righteous God. We cannot ignore any sin even as some sins stand out to us more than others, because again every sin is a transgression against God and His law.I think that it can be very easy for us as believers to ignore the sins that involve our failing to act or to be obedient to what we are supposed to do.If you are like me than I think that we can all have the tendency to overlook our own sins while highlighting the sins of others. Sometimes we can get angry when we are around other Christians who sin differently than we do. In other words, it is easy for us to focus on the speck in our brother’s eye and overlook the log in our own eye.Matthew 7:3–5 ESV 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.Church, as we think about our own life and the sin that we know that we are prone to do or that we struggle with we should always take a look first at our own lives and strive to hate our sins more than trying to find fault with other Christians who sin differently than we do.May we never overlook our own sins as we pray that God opens our eyes to see those sins that we may be blind to, always remembering that there is more grace in God than sin in us.Tonight I want to take time to seek the Lord in prayer. One of the most important duties of the church is to pray. We want to be known as a praying church.A.W. Pink said, “Prayer is the way and the means God has appointed for the communication of the blessings of His goodness to His people.”John Newton said, “Jesus loves to answer prayer. He himself has bid you pray, rise, and ask without delay.”Scripture gives us a wonderful example of how we should pray. Many people are familiar with the Lord’s Prayer. It is hear that we see Christ teaching his disciples on how to pray.Matthew 6:9–13 ESV 9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.(Read first line of What a friend we have in Jesus)-Take time to explain the prayer book.-Matt will Read the call to Prayer.-We will read the Confession of Sin and the Assurance of Pardon together.-Then I will go over the requests part and explain to them to pray together for these requests.(Matt will Pray and dismiss groups to pray) Proverbs 6:16–19ESV
Romans 6:23ESV
Romans 3:23ESV
Matthew 7:3–5ESV
Matthew 6:9–13ESV
- a) Well, hello everyone! Thank you for being here this evening, for setting time aside to pray, and for coming together as a body to hear from God’s word and pray.b) As you know, we are continuing our summer Wednesday series on commonly accepted (or unknown sins), and today we will be looking at the sin of anxiety.c) If you are anything like me, you may have been taken aback when you first found out or heard that anxiety is a sin. We have looked at sins like greedand using God’s name in vain and if I were to ask you if those things are sins you would not think twice and say “of course that’s a sin!”, but when you ask people if you think anxiety is a sin they may have to think twice about it, and that’s what makes this sin so dangerous that we many times are too focused on the “big sins” that sins like anxiety passes under our radar.d) This topic is actually very close to me. I have personally struggled with anxiety quite a bit, even as a kid before I knew what anxiety was, or what was wrong. I struggled a lot with finding ongoing peace even as a Christian and have struggled with it well into adulthood.e) Actually, when Matt told me that I would be teaching on anxiety, we were in the church offices one Wednesday night. He gave me the little paper with the topic. My initial response was, “Matt, have you met me?!” Then he left to go teach the youth or something, and a few minutes later my wife walked in and asked what the notes were on the table, and she asked, “What is that for?” I told her Matt had just assigned me “anxiety” for my Wednesday lesson, and my wife said, “Has he met you?!”.f) Anxiety can still be an issue for me, as I am sure it can be for a lot of us, so as Paul says, it’s “Not that I have … already become perfect or that I have already arrived.” I can’t say that I am batting a thousand all day every day with anxiety. Still, I think that over the years I have learned how God would want me to think about my fears and worries.g) And that although it is difficult, correcting anxiety begins with admitting and confessing that anxiety is, in fact, a sin. That is where we have to begin.h) Unfortunately, we live in a world where anxiety is far too common, where the news and our social media feeds are a constant IV drip of misinformation, fear and panic into our bloodstream.i) For some reason, our society thrives on anxiety; have you noticed that? It’s like anxiety and fear create views, and views create money, so the news creates a new thing to be anxious about, and the cycle repeats, and it seems like every day the world is going to implode.j) We were not designed to drink from this firehose of fearmongering all day; we weren’t meant to know 24/7 what is going wrong on the whole planet!k) According to the National Institute of Mental Health, about 1/5 of people have dealt with an anxiety disorder in the last year, and about 1/3-1/2 of all people have dealt with an anxiety disorder in their entire lives.l) So, with such a rampant problem, we need to ask ourselves as Christians how we should see anxiety. And that’s what we will look at in the next few minutes.So, really quickly in the next few minutes we will look at four things :1. What is sinful anxiety?2. What causes sinful anxiety?3. What is the Biblical response to sinful anxiety?4. How can we quiet our sinful anxiety?I) What is sinful anxiety?a) So, as I mentioned, Christians, many times we don’t see our anxious fears as sin, but rather as an inconvenience. We don’t see it as an affront to God; we think that because our anxiety doesn’t hurt anyone but ourselves, it’s not a sin. We may even dismiss it as genetic or as part of our personality.It can become the toxic little pet that we keep around.b) But the reality is that anxiety is a sin; we read in1 Peter 5:6-7: “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”c) When we read this, we need to understand that even though this is a loving invitation to trust in the care of God, it is not ONLY a loving invitation from a caring and benevolent God; it is a command, an order.d) So just as we need to read the first part of that verse, “humble yourselves,” as a command, we need to take “casting all your anxiety on Him” as a command as well. Even if the command is given to us for our benefit, it is nevertheless a command. It’s what God desires for you and for me. When we fail to cast our anxieties on Him, and choose to hoard them for ourselves, we are then disobeying God whether it is intentional or unintentional!e) So, at this point, if you came in here with anxiety, you may be thinking, “Great, I was already anxious when I came in here, and now I am more anxious because I am sinning”.f) I want to be clear that my goal is not to mock or belittle anyone, nor is my goal to make light of the problems that you may be going through. I don’t want to ignore the serious issues that may be going on in your life that I don’t know about.g) That’s why it’s important to note that not all of our concerns are inherently sinful; it would be odd if we never cared about anything, no matter what.h) Paul is very honest about this in his second letter to the Corinthians:2 Cor. 11: “27 I have been in labor and hardship, in many sleepless nights, in starvation and thirst, often hungry, in cold and without enough clothing. 28 Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern (anxiety) for all the churches.”i) Paul had a genuine and wholesome care for the churches as you would expect any good Pastor to have, but this is not sinful anxiety; it was genuine concern for the well-being of the Bride of Christ.j) So not all concerns are automatically sinful; for example, my cousin Daniel was just recently diagnosed with cancer. What kind of family would we be if we were not concerned about his health? That would be a genuine concern.k) Our genuine concerns, however, can quickly turn into sinful anxiety if we are not careful; just like a small stream can erode a mountain, we need to analyze our hearts to see if our concerns are turning into sinful anxiety.II) What Causes Sinful Anxiety?a) Secularly speaking, the causes of anxiety are almost exactly what you would expect them to be:i. Moneyii. Politicsiii. Healthb) And biblically speaking, these are things that, like Paul’s concern for the church, we should be mindful of,c) God wants us to be good stewards of our money, health, and government, and we should pay attention to these things to some degree, but the Christian should never let these things turn into anxiety.d) And even though anxiety is a sin in and of itself, as we read in 1 Peter 3, anxiety in the Christian’s life is usually just the manifestation or the evidence of deeper, root sins going on in the background, and that’s what we are going to look at, namely ignorance, disbelief, and pride.Root Sins of Anxietyi. Ignoranceii. Unbeliefiii. Pridei. Ignorance: Anxiety can be the evidence of a heart that genuinely does not know that there is a sovereign and benevolent God in charge of all things in this universe.It proceeds from a heart that does not fully know the God whose throne is heaven and whose footstool is the earth.This is a sin of ignorance because we do not seek to know God’s character more and more when God has given us His Word, so we remain ignorant of His Character and can’t therefore trust Him.ii. Next, Unbelief: Anxiety shows up in disbelieving hearts when we KNOW God is sovereign, we KNOW that God’s will is perfect, and we KNOW that God is working all things for our Good and His glory, and we CHOOSE not to believethat this is true. We REFUSE to rest in His promises and CHOOSE to look to our circumstances rather than God’s face.And what is the most common critique that Jesus had of the disciples? “They lacked faith.” “Oh ye of little faith”iii. And finally, Pride: Anxiety arises from a prideful heart when we panic because God’s plans are not going according to our plans, and we begin to think that God’s plan is wrong and IT needs to be corrected.When we have anxiety, it is because we think that our will is better than God’s. Anxiety is only the byproduct of a prideful and arrogant heart that seeks to be sovereign, but it never will.e) And even though we may not want to admit it, this is usually the case, unfortunately!III) What is the Biblical Response to Sinful Anxiety?a) So where should the Christian find their response to anxiety? Is it found in:i. Psychiatryii. Medicationiii. Putting someone else in the white houseiv. A new job?Of course not! It is found in God’s Word!b) As Christians, it seems to be all too common for us to look at basically any other option before we turn to the Scriptures and ask ourselves, “What does God say about this?”c) And I can’t think of a better passage to look at than the Sermon on the Mount, and even though most people’s eyes immediately go to Vs. 25, let’s begin in Vs. 24, Matthew 6:24-34:24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.25 For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?26 Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?27 And which of you by worrying can add a single cubit to his life span?28 And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin,29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!31 Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’32 For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.34 “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.d) So, let’s work our way down this passage from the Sermon on the Mount. Why did we begin with Vs. 24, which is seemingly unrelated to the anxiety portion of the text25 For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?e) Why is it important that Jesus prefaces Vs. 25 by saying that we cannot “serve God and wealth”?f) The reason was that Jesus understoodthat even for Christians back then, finances could be a common cause of stress, among other things, and he was right; as I said, the most common anxiety people have been over is finances. Still, these truths apply even when the source of our anxiety is not necessarily finances.g) Jesus knew that even as Christians we would be prone to doubt that God can ACTUALLY take care of us, financially or otherwise.h) Regardless, Jesus says, “Do not be worried about your life,”. And every time I read that, to me that’s way easier said than done.i) But it is one thing when a spouse or a parent tells you not to worry, but it is a whole other thing for the Creator of the universe to tell you not to worry. He speaks25 For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?j) So, it matters WHO is saying this to us; it is not a mere mortal that has needs like us; it is the omnipotent God speaking to us!k) Remember that Jesus said these things to a culture that did not have a Costco and did not have an H-E-B; there was the possibility of starving to death at this time and famine; now we have the opposite problem. We have issues that arise because we are eating too much food!l) So, Jesus promises to provide for our needs here, not our petty desires, but our needs!“God promises to meet our needs, so if we don’t have it, we don’t need it” -Elizabeth Elliot25 For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?m) He continues: “Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” And the answer is of course!n) Life is far more than the possessions that we have and our status. But even in a culture without branded clothing or luxury cars, materialism was still an issue. Even the people back then reduced the purpose of their existence to their material wealth and their food and clothes.o) And again, whether we want to admit it or not, many times our anxieties are just downstream from materialism: we want more and more, and when we can’t have it, we panic and lose our minds.p) Again, look at all of the comfortsthat we have in this society that they did not have then: food in bulk, modern medicine, air conditioning, vehicles, and yet we are the most discontent and anxiety-ridden culture that has probably ever existed.q) He goes on to say:“26 Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?”27 And which of you by worrying can add a single cubit to his life span?28 And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin,29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!r) Here Christ turns our eyes to the created order, and He reminds us that He is sustaining not only the Lillies and Birds, but ALL of the created order.s) Hebrews 1:3 “He upholds the universe by the word of his power.” And in case you didn’t know, you are part of the universe as well. God is not only upholding and sustaining entire solar systems and ecosystems and galaxies, but His power is also upholding every last one of our frail little lives.27 And which of you by worrying can add a single cubit to his life span?t) And how practical is this Vs. 27? And which of you by worrying can add a single cubit to his life span?. And the answer to that rhetorical question is NO ONE. NO ONE adds anything to their life by worrying about things.u) Christ here wants us to recognize that worrying is basically a waste of energy; it can’t fix anything, and it cannot improve our situation. It’s useless! It’s actually worse than useless; it is corrosive to our lives.v) Here we need to remember that worrying about things that haven’t happened yet makes us suffer through them twice unnecessarily,i. If the thing we are worried about happens, well then it happened, and we can deal with it then.ii. But if it doesn’t happen (which is usually the case; the vast majority of the things we worry about don’t ever happen), then we just tortured ourselves for no reason, and that is what Jesus is saying is a waste of time.w) He goes on in Vs, 31:31 Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’32 For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.x) In other words, He is saying to us, “Why are you behaving like the pagans, living only for this world and this life?”y) And He reminds us, “for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.” He says earlier in this Chapter in Vs. 8 that not only does He know, but He knows “before we even ask.”z) Finally he concludes:33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.34 “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.aa) What wisdom this is! Today will take care of itself and tomorrow will take care of itself; focus on today, one day at a time.IV) Finally, to conclude, How Can We Quiet Our Sinful Anxiety?a) You may think that the solution to anxiety is thinking less about things, to stop overthinking.b) But that’s not the solution that the Bible gives us; it does not tell us to not think about things and go numb! That is the solution that the Pagans give, to clear our minds, but not for the Christian.c) Rather, the Scriptures never tell us that we should not think; rather, they tell us HOW we should think and WHAT we should think about. Again, Jesus did not say, “just stop thinking about things and gaslight yourself into thinking that everything is okay”d) As Paul writes to the church of PhillipiPhilippians 4:8-9:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is dignified, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything, worthy of praise, consider these things.9 The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.So, what are some practical things we can do when we feel anxious? Here are the five privileges that we have as Christians when we deal with anxiety. I picked something easy to remember, and that is the WordPSALMS:i. Prayerii. Scriptureiii. Atonementiv. Life’s Testimonyv. Musicvi. SanctificationPrayere) God has given us the high and holy privilege to carry all of our worries and sorrows and even our complaints to Him in prayer, like the hymn says, “What a privilege to carry, everything to God in prayer” We read what Paul said about thinking about those things that were true, dignified, and right, but right before those verses he writes:Philippians 4:6-7:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.f) Again, we are so prone to see prayer as our last resort instead of our priority when it comes to our fears, but it is maybe one of the greatest honors that we have that we neglect the most!Scriptureg) God has not only given us the privilege to speak to Him, but on top of that He speaks to us through His inspired Word! And how foolish would it be not to make full use of this Book to be able to know and trust our God? What better life pursuit than to know the Character and the attributes of the God we serve? This is why it’s so important that we are covering these attributes on Sunday mornings!a) It is impossible to be comforted by a promise you don’t know about, and it is impossible to trust a God you are ignorant of! Lastly and most importantly, we must get to know the Character of our God as revealed in His Word. There is no better cure to anxiety than to know that the God of Everlasting upholds and sustains us.b) I mentioned that the most common causes for anxiety were money, politics, and Health, and it’s no coincidence that the Bible addresses all of these fears for us not only in this life but the next as well:i. Money: God has promised to provide for us while we are on this earth, and if that is not enough to comfort us, then let us look to the promise He has given us of a new heaven and a new earth: “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore” (Rev. 7:16)ii. Politics: God says that “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.” (Prov. 21:2) And that the nations are “the nations are as a drop of a bucket and are counted as the small dust of the balance” (Is. 40:15). But if that is not enough, Revelation 22:3: “No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.”iii. Health: God knows every last cell in your body, and He is sovereign over all of it. “Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not,” and again, if that is not enough, then “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a corruptible body, it is raised an incorruptible body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;.”Atonementa) If you are a Christian today, above all things, without knowing everything that happens in your personal life individually, I can tell you your biggest problem that you ever had: your biggest problem was that at one point in your life, you were at enmity with God; at one point, you carried the condemnation of God’s righteous indignation. At one point you were the object of God’s wrath; that was your biggest problem!b) But as a Christian you can, with the Psalmist, “praise him [for your] salvation.”c) I like how the Psalmist in Psalm 42:5 speaks to his own soul; he says,“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?”It’s like his mind knows that God is worthy of being trusted, and yet the soul seems more hesitant to believe it. I find myself doing this a lot; it’s as if the mind believes one thing and the soul another.d) Back to Psalm 42:5, He says,“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?”e) “Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation”.He praises him for his salvation.Life’s Testimonya) It’s odd that time and time again we see God pull us through the most difficult trials, and then when we come out the other side, we immediately forget what just happened, instead of going into trials looking at God’s faithful track record.b) It’s like we have our minds wiped when we have years, decades of faithfulness to look back on, and not only His faithfulness in your life, but the lives of the brothers and sisters that have fellowship with you as well!c) Recount God’s Faithfulness in the Pasti. Judges 2:10 “And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know Yahweh or even the work which He had done for Israel.”ii. Here I Raise My Ebenezer, Hither by Thy Help I’ve Come.Musica) We underestimate the power of Music; Music is a gift from God to His people so that His truth gets embedded in the hearts of His Children in a way that mere words can’t!b) Maybe one of my favorite hymns, maybe for many of us, is “It Is Well,” and I love the second stanza:“Though Satan should buffet, though trials should comeLet this blest assurance controlThat Christ has regarded my helpless estateAnd hath shed His own blood for my soul”c) May we look to the cross and all of these beautiful privileges next time we are tempted to be anxious.Sanctificationa) This is important. When I say sanctification, I am referring to obedience. How many of life’s worries could we have avoided if we were just more obedient? How many times do we get ourselves into stressful situations because we disobeyed?Proverbs 28:1- The wicked flee when there is no one pursuing, but the righteous are secure as a lion.b) Sin, in other words, causes fear because it drags on our conscience, and sin inevitably has consequences, and many times that’s why we fear.c) How much better would we feel if we knew that we were obeying God with our relationships, our time, our families, and even our finances? A lot!
- Take My Life And Let It Be
- God Is Faithful (Psalm 114)
- We Give Thanks (Psalm 107)
Antioch Odessa
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