Don't Worry, but Pray

[0:00] The passage we're going to be looking at this morning, Philippians 4, 6, that was our memory verse.! That's pretty cool. And then the song that we sang had a reference to Philippians 4, 6.

[0:14] You know, that's pretty impressive. I don't know if that impresses you guys. I don't know if that was all completely planned, but I appreciate when those kinds of things happen.

[0:25] But, yeah, let's see. Anything else before we get started? I think we took care of all the announcements and all that.

[0:36] Yeah, so go ahead and open up your Bibles to Philippians 4. I wanted to start off by asking a question.

[0:48] Have any of you ever laid awake late at night, unable to sleep, because your mind is kind of going crazy, racing with a million questions about the uncertainty of your future?

[1:05] Or maybe it's the other way. You wake up early in the morning, you can't sleep, your stomach is in knots, because you're overwhelmed with the responsibilities of life.

[1:21] Maybe this is you. A few other examples. You're a young father trying to figure out how to stretch your paycheck to pay all the bills that are coming due.

[1:34] Or maybe you're a young mom juggling diapers and laundry and a baby that has all kinds of needs. Maybe you're an even younger woman. You're not married yet.

[1:50] You spend a lot of time worrying, is there ever a man I'll be able to find out there who I can marry? Or maybe you're an older man wondering if you'll ever be able to retire.

[2:05] Is the stock market going to go up or is it going to crash this year? How is my retirement account going to do? Or with the elections coming up, are we going to be hurtling more towards socialism and communism in this country?

[2:22] Or will we be able to keep the liberties that we've enjoyed for so long? Or maybe there's an impending surgery coming up that you're really concerned about.

[2:36] Or maybe you just got diagnosed with something, some kind of condition that was very much unwelcome. And maybe even unexpected. Today we're going to talk about the topic of anxiety and worry.

[2:52] It's something that everyone deals with and has since the beginning of creation. And really there's just two verses that we're going to look at today.

[3:02] Philippians chapter 4, verse 6 and 7. And as we look at these verses, we're going to look at three primary things. Three things to consider. One, the problem of anxiety and worry.

[3:17] Two, the Bible's solution. Which is prayer. And then finally, the outcome of that solution.

[3:28] Which the Bible says is the peace of God. Let's go ahead and read this verse. And then we'll jump into some of the context and then get into the details.

[3:39] Philippians 4, 6 and 7 says this. Be anxious for nothing. But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

[3:51] And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. You know, some verses, some passages just are much more dense than others.

[4:05] There's a lot to them. And there's a lot in these two verses, which is why we're going to spend our whole morning looking at them. But to just provide a little bit of background, a little bit of context to remind ourselves about kind of where we're at in the passage or in this letter.

[4:21] Paul's writing this letter from where? From prison. Probably, more likely, a house arrest. But he is in some kind of confinement. He is writing to the people in Philippi and constantly emphasizing this theme that we've talked about of rejoicing in the Lord.

[4:44] Of having joy regardless of your circumstances. Teaching them to live a life of gratitude for what Christ has done in them.

[4:55] And also teaching them to emulate Christ's character, his humility, his self-sacrifice. That we ought to pour out our lives for others as Jesus Christ poured out his life for us.

[5:11] And then in chapter 4, or excuse me, in chapter 3, focused a lot on our growth in Christian maturity. Running that race to grow in Christ.

[5:25] And here as we've gotten into chapter 4, and this is just our second message in chapter 4. He just lists off a bunch of brief exhortations on how to live the Christian life.

[5:39] Last week, or I think it's been a couple weeks now, we looked at the first few verses about being of the same mind. There were two people that were at odds with one another.

[5:51] We don't know the details, but there was some kind of division between these two people. And he was imploring them to be of the same mind. To not allow divisions. To create a rift in the relationship that we enjoy in Christ.

[6:05] And he also repeated again, as he's done over and over and over, that we need to live our Christian life grounded in joy. Rejoicing in the Lord.

[6:17] He says it again, I say rejoice. And then he speaks to this concept of, well, what my translation says is gentleness. But many others call it moderation.

[6:29] That as we live the Christian life, we need to be moderate in all things. And then we get to our passage today, where he just addresses this concept of worry or anxiety.

[6:44] So he starts off by saying, hey listen, be anxious for nothing. That word that is translated anxious, some translations, the King James in particular, we did that as part of our memory verse this morning.

[6:58] Uses the word careful. Be careful for nothing. It's not the kind of language we would typically use. We typically use the word anxious or worry.

[7:10] There are other more modern translations that say, don't worry about anything. Another one says, do not fret about anything. So worry and fret. That Greek word, in a very literal sense, actually means to be divided or pulled apart.

[7:28] And you can imagine, you have good thoughts and then you have bad thoughts. And it's causing a division in your mind where you're being pulled apart in two different directions.

[7:38] Trying to live your life, but then the cares of life, different things, are pulling you away from the peace that you might otherwise enjoy.

[7:50] Like I said, this word is many times translated anxiety, care, worry, concern. And you know, the word here that it's used is actually used both in a negative sense, like it is here, something to be avoided, but also in a more positive or even a neutral sense.

[8:09] We'll actually look at that more fully. But one example is actually in the book of Philippians, in chapter 2. You can turn there if you want, since it's just a couple of pages over.

[8:22] But in Philippians 2.20, Paul is talking about Timothy. And he says this about Timothy, For I have no one like-minded who will sincerely care for your state.

[8:37] That's that exact same Greek word that is used here for anxious or being careful. So you can care for someone in a very positive sense, but we don't want that care to turn in to something beyond that.

[8:54] So with that difference in mind, with the range of this word, I think it's helpful for us to consider before we consider more about what Paul is saying, that we consider what he is not saying.

[9:09] One of the things that Paul is not saying is that we ought to ignore the responsibilities that we have in life. We shouldn't be careless about life's duties.

[9:24] And we shouldn't just pretend that the problems that we have in life don't exist. And we cannot justify neglecting our duties and responsibilities in life with some kind of spiritual platitude like, Oh, I'm just trusting God about those things.

[9:49] You know, the cares of life are actually, the cares of the world, I should say, the cares of the world, the cares of life, are important. And we have a lot of duties and responsibilities in life.

[10:01] Things that we need to care for. Things that God has given us to care for. To provide for our own needs. To provide for the needs of a family. To manage a household.

[10:12] To teach and train children. To care for the other members of the body of Christ. In fact, Paul specifically actually uses this same word to talk about our duties and responsibilities.

[10:29] You don't have to turn there, but in 1 Timothy 5, verse 8, Paul is talking about widows. Widows who might need to be helped out.

[10:41] You know, especially back then, they didn't have a lot of things like we have, you know, insurance and other ways to take care of people who lose, especially women, who lose their husband.

[10:53] But he talks about, he's talking about the church taking care of the widows. But he says, hey, before the church gets involved, hey, the family needs to get involved first.

[11:05] Specifically, if she has children, her children ought to help care for her. And then he gives this admonition. He says this, if anyone does not provide for his own, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

[11:23] That kind of care, that kind of responsibility is important. Paul talks in 1 Corinthians chapter 7. He talks about marriage.

[11:34] Paul is not married. And he is giving advice about marriage, but one of the things he wants to point out is, he says, you know what? Not everybody has to be married. Now, if you want to be married, by all means, you should get married.

[11:47] But don't think that you have to get married. You could be like me. And he talks about the benefits of not being married. You can care and focus on the things of the Lord only.

[12:00] But then he says this. He says, if you are married, you have a responsibility, a worldly care, he calls it, to care for the needs of your husband or your wife.

[12:15] those are cares that we need to own, that we need to take responsibility for. And then in 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, Paul is giving an admonition to have a good work ethic, to not be lazy, to not leech off of other people, but to work with your own hands, making your own bread, he says.

[12:47] And he gives an example of himself. He says, I gave you an example. I worked night and day. And you should follow my example. And he uses that same word, care, by the way, in talking about how Paul himself cared for them in that way.

[13:09] But, doesn't the Bible teach somewhere that God will always provide for every need that we have, even if we don't work?

[13:26] Does the Bible teach that anywhere? You know, I've actually heard with my own ears, from a father. This was many, many years ago. Who was jobless, did not have a job, and was not, it seemed to me, really looking very hard for one.

[13:44] And his family was in a pinch, somewhat in dire straits, but he didn't seem to be concerned at all. And, just mentioned, oh, I'm just trusting the Lord, having faith.

[13:59] God will provide for our needs. And you know what? He had a Bible passage to turn to. In the book of Luke, chapter 12, Jesus is teaching his disciples.

[14:13] And I'm going to read this passage fairly quickly. We'll just read through it. He says this, then he said to his disciples, therefore, I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, nor about the body, what you will put on.

[14:30] Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn.

[14:40] And God feeds them. of how much more value are you than the birds? And which of you, by worrying, can add one cubit to his stature? If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest?

[14:56] Consider the lilies, the flowers, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. And yet I say to you, even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you, of little faith?

[15:19] And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind, for all of these things the nations of the world seek after. And your Father knows that you need these things, but seek first the kingdom of God, and all of these things shall be added unto you.

[15:39] He says, hey, there are, Jesus gives the example, there are birds and other animals, they don't have barns, they don't have storehouses, they don't toil and labor, yet God provides for their needs.

[15:53] And so I don't want you to worry about all these needs that you have. If you just seek first the kingdom of God, then God will take care of all of your needs. And so, like this man that I gave as an example, that was his attitude in life.

[16:09] And you know what happened? His family suffered. Because he did not understand how to rightly divide the scriptures and make a difference between one passage and who it's being written to and another passage and who that's being written to.

[16:28] And this passage is Jesus speaking to his disciples in a very specific context in which he had a job for them to do that was of utmost priority in which he asked them to go and preach the gospel of the kingdom to all of Israel at that time.

[16:45] And this is your number one responsibility. He asked them to leave their nets behind to give up their jobs which would help to support their families by the way for those that had them.

[16:56] And to put as the number one priority in life this gospel of the kingdom that they would preach all throughout Israel. And this passage is him telling them why they can trust him when he tells them that they ought to do that.

[17:13] That they don't need to worry about the normal responsibilities of life, right? Because the things that Jesus is talking about here are normal responsibilities of any adult to labor and to toil and to actually store up things for the winter.

[17:29] Right? These are normal responsibilities of life. Things that in normal circumstances we ought not to neglect. But in this special circumstance during Jesus' short ministry on the earth he had a very special mission for his disciples.

[17:48] And so that's why context is so important. A few other verses just to kind of bring home this point. In Luke 9 verse 3 Jesus says this he said unto them take nothing for the journey neither staffs nor bag nor bread nor money and do not have two tunics apiece.

[18:06] He was sending out his apostles his disciples as missionaries all over Israel and he said I don't want you to take more than one coat I don't want you to take any money and I don't want you to take any food.

[18:18] Now that's dumb. Right? Usually. If you're going to be a missionary today you should take all of those things and more. Right? But in this very special circumstance Jesus said we don't have time to prepare.

[18:33] The time is now go out and I will supernaturally provide for your needs. And that's what happened. But I want to read this verse Luke chapter 22 this is towards the end of the gospel of Luke.

[18:49] Luke 22 verse 35 says this There was a situation that we were dealing with then and now things have changed.

[19:21] And as we read through the Bible we need to understand those differences so we don't get confused with how we ought to live the Christian life.

[19:32] Another verse that is sometimes taken out of context that I think about you know as a as a pastor sometimes I worry about the sermon that I'm going to preach the next week.

[19:44] If any of you have done public speaking it's not always easy. I worry about am I going to be able to figure out anything good to tell these people that's going to be interesting. I worry about well what if I'm up there and I completely lose my train of thought and just blankly stare at everybody wondering what I should say next.

[20:05] And there are some out there that say you know what when you preach you don't have to prepare you don't have to prepare anything just get up there and just start talking and the Lord will come in and give you aid.

[20:17] Matthew chapter 10 Jesus spoke to this. He said to his own disciples but when they this is Matthew 10 19 but when they deliver you up do not worry right don't worry about how or what you should speak for it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak for it is not you who speak but the spirit of your father who speaks in you.

[20:44] And I could take that and say hey listen I'm not going to worry I'm not going to be concerned I'm not going to be anxious I'm not going to study and prepare and look into Philippians 4 chapter 4 verse 6 today I'm just going to wing it and you know what the Lord is going to give me the words to speak and maybe if I'm the kind of person that's really good on their feet and has a really sharp mind then maybe I might do a pretty good job but if I'm like most people which I am I'd kind of flounder around and maybe some weeks it would be kind of good depending on what the subject matters and others it would just fall completely flat because I didn't prepare but again Jesus is speaking to his disciples and saying hey there's a special scenario here there is no time to prepare what you are going to say you are going to be persecuted people are going to put you into prison and you need to be able to speak up on behalf of me and we're not going to spend time you're not going to go to

[21:49] Bible college to prepare what to say I'm going to give you the words the Holy Spirit is going to speak through you like a prophet to speak the words that you need to say to those people that imprison you and so!

[22:02] when Paul here is teaching to be anxious for nothing he is not talking about just throwing caution to the wind and not preparing for anything in life not giving things their due diligence but what is he talking about?

[22:22] right? so there's just regular standard care in which we have a responsibility to steward things in our lives but anxiety in the way that we use that term anxiety or worry is when the cares of life consume our mind they consume us or when our minds are tormented by fear just one example I think about myself 20 years ago of a young father who's working overtime to provide for his family you know what that's good that's good sometimes those things are necessary in certain seasons of life but what is not good that same father laying awake at 3 a.m.

[23:15] in the morning his stomach in knots imagining every catastrophe that might befall him and his family that is a destructive anxiety that will eat away his joy and his peace that God worked so hard to give him God wants that young man to work hard and to sleep well both and after all does anxiety help with getting the job done well what did Jesus say to his disciples right about anxiety which of you by worrying will add one cubit to his stature are you gonna is this gonna help the process if you worry worry about it it won't you know to this point we've we've focused on that term anxiety and what it means and what it is even what it isn't but there's another word here in this short little phrase it says be anxious for nothing for nothing you know

[24:28] Paul could have just said hey don't worry he could have just said that means kind of the same thing right but I really appreciate the emphasis that he put he said anxious for nothing!

[24:40] not hey let's try to tone it down maybe about 50% let's just try to worry a little bit less he said be anxious for nothing there is nothing in life that you need to have anxiety about not a thing and so what do we do we just stop right just stop worrying that's easy to do all you have to do is there a pause button or a stop button that you can push somewhere to just make it stop make it go away well thankfully Paul gives us an alternative something else to do instead a solution to the problem be anxious for nothing he says but in everything in every worry in every concern everything that you face he says this by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to

[25:49] God now I want to point out because I think this is necessary to point out what he did not say he did not say be anxious for nothing but hire a therapist he did not say be anxious for nothing but make sure you get a prescription to that Xanax stuff not to say that those things are completely bad but I am certain that they are way way way overused and completely unnecessary in many if not most cases you know what he doesn't even say go talk to your friend which I think is a completely legitimate thing to do if you have a worry or concern no what he says is if you worry go talk to God that's what he wants us to do if you're anxious go talk to your heavenly father and that's exactly what prayer is it's just talking to

[26:55] God it doesn't have to be formal it's not something that you have to do where you get on bended knee or fold your hands or you're in a church service it's something that you can do any time any place whether you're by yourself whether you're with people it doesn't have to be formal it doesn't have to be fancy but talk to God that's the number one thing and then he mentions two parts of that prayer two parts one is supplication not a word that we would typically use today so what does that word supplication mean it we use the word petition to petition someone to ask for something and he makes it even more clear he says bring your requests to God let your requests be made known to God that's what supplication is it's asking God for things now should we really be asking God for things I mean he's given us so much already right I mean he's probably annoyed when we ask him for things no ask make your requests!

[28:01] known it says don't be afraid to ask for whatever it is that you need ask in detail and be honest with whatever it is that you're facing and then he says this with thanksgiving so would you go to the Lord and talk to him ask for all the things that you need but also be sure to at the same time thank God for all the things that he has already done for you for all the things that he's already given to you for all the things that he's already promised to you let your requests be made known to God!

[28:41] thanks! giving! we have we talk about this every week we have an eternal hope in Jesus Christ Jesus came died for the sins of the world died for our sins so that we might live forever in eternity with him so despite all the fleeting cares of life and it's not to make light of them Paul doesn't make light of our cares but we have a future hope in which God has promised us that our sins are forgiven and we can live with God forever if we will put all of our trust and faith in him and so we can be thankful to God and we ought to and when we come to God in prayer we can just thank him for just the simplest!

[29:38] of things one for creating was there somebody else that gave that to us the breath in our lungs no it's God himself we can thank him for the warmth of the sun are you grateful for that and did Elon Musk make the sun warm no it's God our creator we can thank him for just loving us no he didn't have to love us many of us are quite have been quite unlovely thank him for the gift of eternal life then let's ask this well if we pray then what God will ease our anxiety does it say here that he's going to when we pray ease our anxiety by what by answering our prayers every single time by giving us exactly what we ask is that what it says here that's not that's not what he says in fact the

[30:57] Bible promises in many many many places that we as Christians will suffer many of the same maladies problems troubles as everyone else that can be challenging and I'll tell you there are churches out there that will teach that when you become a Christian all of life's problems goes away you'll be rich and wealthy and healthy all the time and all of your worries and concerns will go away here's what Paul says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 verse 16 2nd Corinthians 4 16 therefore we do not lose heart and it can be easy to lose heart right when life is really tough even though our outward man is perishing yet the inward man is being renewed day by day there's the outward part of us the physical part the part that we can see and it's perishing our bodies are getting older we're dealing with things that you know feeling parts of our body that we didn't used to feel things are breaking down yet our inward man the inside of us the real part of us that spirit man what he describes here as the inward man is being renewed day by day by day and then he says this for our light affliction the afflictions that we deal with he calls them light and

[32:37] I don't think it's to make light of affliction right especially when you're in the middle of something that is turning your stomach into knots it doesn't feel light at the moment but when you take a step back and have the big picture perspective of the short life that we have the fleeting life that we have here on earth and in an eternity that we can enjoy with God I think from that perspective we can call it a light affliction for our light affliction which is but for a moment is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory he's saying that those afflictions do something in us they work something in us and so if he answers every prayer and makes them all go away they might not do their work that while we do not look at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporary but the things which are not seen are eternal and so when we're going through something it's a medical diagnosis we can pray and we can ask for whatever we want and God is happy to listen and hear our prayers doesn't necessarily mean that he's going to take away the pain the affliction the suffering so does that mean that we ought not to pray no he says here bring every request that you have to the

[34:19] Lord and so we ask him to answer our prayers we ask him to meet our needs and you know what he wants to hear from us you know I think about my own my own wife my own marriage and sometimes my wife comes to me and she has a problem and you know as a good specimen of the male species I am there to fix her problem right just like every good man wants to do you know what sometimes there's problems I just can't fix I can't do anything about it and sometimes you know what when I try it doesn't really help you know what so many times she wants and she's looking for and she needs she just needs somebody to listen to her problem and then communicate that I care that I care and you know what that means so much and makes so much of a difference do you know that

[35:30] God cares for you even through all the afflictions that you might deal with all the troubles even when he doesn't take them away it might seem like when they don't go away that maybe God doesn't care but as we read the scriptures we can know that God does care for us that was a story that's a made up story okay but there was this guy and you might call him a worry work we still use that term today worry work and he just worried all the time about everything and everybody at work knew him as the worry work he's just constantly worrying about this and worrying about that and then one day he comes to work and there's a skip in his step and he's bouncing around and there's a brightness in his eyes and all the worry is gone and everybody is wondering what in the world happened to this guy and so somebody asked him and they said what happened to you you used to worry all the time and I don't see any worry anymore they said well

[36:33] I knew that the worry was a problem well I found this guy and he's a professional worrier and so I found out I could pay him to worry for me and so now I don't have to do it anymore and the guy says well wow that sounds pretty great how much does this cost how much do you pay this guy he says it's a thousand dollars a week his eyes got real big and he says how in the world can you afford that and he says oh I let him worry about it but did you know that we we have a professional as well that is willing to carry our worries and cares for us did you know that we have someone like that I want you everybody who has a bible open up to the book of first Peter chapter five because I want you to look at this with your eyes first

[37:35] Peter chapter five and verse six I'm going to give you a few moments because I want everybody to make sure I'll wait until all the pages stop turning first Peter getting close to the end of the new testament first Peter chapter five verse six and here's what it says therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time and here's the important part casting all of your care upon him for he cares for you as you know that God wants to carry your cares and burdens for you it's because he cares about your circumstance he cares about the things that you're going through he cares about the emotional burden that you are bearing so you know what at any time day or night it could be in the middle of the night it could be while you're driving on the way to work you could be feeling the cares of life and how many of you have ever felt it's almost like a physical burden that you are carrying the cares of life on your shoulders that you can at any time talk to the

[39:02] Lord say Lord I'm feeling the cares of life right now but right now I'm going to cast them on you because I know that you care for me and that's exactly what Paul is describing here in going to the Lord in prayer and what does he say to kind of wrap this up will be the outcome if we are willing to cast our cares on him to come to him with our requests and with our thanks giving and to talk to God what is the promise and this is Philippians 4 verse 7 and he says this and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus does he say that your problems will go away no maybe they will maybe he will answer your prayer exactly as you asked and the problem will just disappear but regardless whether the problem goes away or it remains this is a promise that you can hold on to that the peace of

[40:17] God God's peace which passes all understanding will guard your heart and your mind that word guard by the way is the word that we would it's translated at times in the Bible a garrison and I don't know if you understand what that word means but a garrison or a body of troops that would protect a city and so imagine God's peace as like a body of troops surrounding the city of your heart and your mind protecting it from enemies that would come and try to invade your heart and your mind and steal your peace and so when we go to the Lord in prayer talk to him when we look to him when we focus on him when we put our trust in him when we hope in him when we remember through thanksgiving the things that he has done for us when we remember all the promises that we have in

[41:30] Christ when we remember that God loves us and cares for us and ultimately will see us safely through any suffering and any storm of life and you know what even through death right Jesus said I am what the resurrection and the life even though a man dies yet if he trusts in me yet he will live forever and ever and a peace will come and he describes it like this a peace that passes understanding you know when you're having anxiety because of a certain thing it's causing you anxiety and that thing goes away we understand when peace comes back when the anxiety goes away but the peace that passes understanding is the peace that comes when that thing is still there and yet still we can have peace in our lives that is

[42:39] God's peace that he's willing to give to us when we come and talk to him now so what do we do with all this what do we do you know I think we talked about how the command here is to have be anxious for nothing right don't let anything bring anxiety into your life but for many and most of us that's not been our life story that's not how things have worked in our life many of us struggle with worry and fear and anxiety over lots of different things and some people might think because they have not as of yet been able to have success in overcoming the anxiety in their life that they never will and there are others for some people worry and anxiety is like an addiction it's like crack cocaine it's a drug that they need to it's an addiction that they need to continually feed or maybe it's like a warm blankie that makes you think that you have total control over every aspect of your life and you know what you don't have control over every aspect of your life and that addiction needs to stop anxiety anxiety needs to be put to rest that is an important part of living the

[44:20] Christian life a life of peace but it does take time and it does take practice it's not something that we just say okay Paul said do it let's do it and then it's done it's a process it's something that takes time and practice like any good thing so let's finish up this morning I'd like to finish up by taking an opportunity to practice I bet you with every single person in this room there is one thing especially at the top of your mind that causes you anxiety that you think about over and over and over again and not in a healthy way and so I want all of us to just take a moment and we can do this silently you know that God can listen to your prayers just in your head do you know that we actually have examples in the Bible Jesus you know people were thinking things and Jesus knew what they were thinking yeah the father he can do the same thing so we can pray to him silently but I want to take a moment and just think of that one thing don't think of everything think of that one thing that causes the most anxiety and we're going to go to the Lord we'll just take 30 seconds and tell him what it is this is the thing that's causing me anxiety and these are the needs that

[45:38] I have that I my requests that I'm bringing to you and then take it an opportunity to be thankful and to thank him for what he's already done in you and done for you let's do that right now and then we're just going to take 30 seconds think of that one thing and we're just going to take 30 seconds right now and just talk to the Lord and then I'll finish up here in just a little bit and then talk to Thank you.

[46:44] Thank you.

[47:14] We had anxiety and worry in our life and we just tried to figure it out ourselves. We neglected to come to you. It doesn't even take much time.

[47:24] Father, work in us. Help us to be more diligent at this, to come to you, to cast our cares on you instead of carrying them all on our own.

[47:38] And may we be those who teach others to do the same as we see others around us trying to care all the worries and cares of life on their own.

[47:50] Thank you for all of your promises. That ultimately you are the caretaker of our souls. Regardless of what's going on, the fleeting light afflictions, as Paul calls them, we deal with on a daily basis.

[48:04] Ultimately, we look forward to an eternity with you and your love and care. We thank you for all those things. We thank you in Jesus' name.

[48:16] Amen. If everybody would stand, can we sing the last verse of that one song, What a Friend We Have in Jesus? I don't have it in front of me. Let me see. 6.30.

[48:29] So if you don't know it, I just want to do the last verse of 6.30. In the hymnal. We can do this a cappella, but let's see if I can get the pitch right.

[48:44] Are we weak and heavy laden? Cumbered with a load of care.

[49:00] Precious Savior, still our refuge. Take it to the Lord in prayer.

[49:11] Do thy friends despise, forsake thee. Take it to the Lord in prayer.

[49:26] In his arms he'll take and shield thee. Thou wilt find a solace there.

[49:38] Amen. Now, don't forget, this is not something you do once a year when we preach about it on Sundays. This is something that you do sometimes ten times a day.

[49:53] Amen? So go in peace, everybody. And you're happy.