When Anxiety Attacks

0:00:01.560 --> 0:00:02.840 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:05.840 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:08.360 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope 0:00:08.360 --> 0:00:10.719 this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. 0:00:10.800 --> 0:00:12.880 Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:13.600 in your life. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:18.360 Enjoy the message. Now. 0:00:18.360 --> 0:00:20.800 I know this message is for somebody because the devil 0:00:20.920 --> 0:00:24.279 was fighting me to be able to deliver it. So 0:00:24.400 --> 0:00:26.920 let's go forward together now into the word of God. 0:00:27.920 --> 0:00:32.400 Peter has an instruction here. He says, in the same way, 0:00:32.920 --> 0:00:37.839 you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. Everybody 0:00:37.840 --> 0:00:44.040 over fifty say amen. All the parents say amen. This 0:00:44.120 --> 0:00:46.839 is your verse. Peter's a little older now, he's got that. 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:53.360 He's got that senior citizen discount swag going on in 0:00:53.400 --> 0:00:58.400 this letter that he's writing. He's got that aarp swag. Amen, 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:05.920 and all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another. 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:12.600 Because God opposes the prow but he shows favor to 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:20.560 the humble. Humble yourselves. Therefore, under God's mighty hand, that 0:01:20.680 --> 0:01:24.800 he may lift you up in due time, cast all 0:01:24.840 --> 0:01:29.280 your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:36.800 Be alert and a sober mind. Your enemy, the devil. 0:01:37.480 --> 0:01:43.880 Prows around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. 0:01:45.920 --> 0:01:50.600 But resistant, standing firm in the faith because you know 0:01:51.040 --> 0:01:54.640 that you're not the only one going through something. The 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:57.360 family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same 0:01:57.480 --> 0:02:00.520 kind of sufferings. Touch somebody, say, you're not a You're 0:02:00.520 --> 0:02:02.440 not alone, You're not the only one. 0:02:02.680 --> 0:02:05.840 You're not the only one. You're not crazy. It's a battle. 0:02:05.840 --> 0:02:09.080 We all must fight, some fears, we all must face 0:02:09.120 --> 0:02:11.959 some things, we all must go through, and we're. 0:02:11.680 --> 0:02:14.040 In this together. Amen. 0:02:14.200 --> 0:02:17.160 And the God of all grace, who called you to 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:21.080 his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a 0:02:21.080 --> 0:02:24.880 little while, will himself restore you, make you strong, firm 0:02:24.919 --> 0:02:29.080 and steadfast to Him be the power forever and ever 0:02:29.440 --> 0:02:31.119 and ever and ever. 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:33.360 And ever and ever and ever. 0:02:34.320 --> 0:02:38.080 And let the church say, Amen, Amen, I want to 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:39.880 speak to you for a few moments today on the 0:02:39.919 --> 0:02:44.639 subject when anxiety attacks? What are you going to do 0:02:44.840 --> 0:02:49.720 when anxiety attacks? Amen, you may be seated in the 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:53.680 presence of God. Thank you, worship team. Then they do good. 0:02:53.520 --> 0:02:57.359 Following my random little Come on, didn't they do good 0:02:57.360 --> 0:02:58.480 following that little. 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:04.040 We have the best musicians on the planet at Elevation Church, 0:03:04.120 --> 0:03:07.960 the best volunteers on the planet who. 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:10.520 Do the technical stuff, the. 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:13.560 Best cameraman on the planet. Watch these cameramen switch back 0:03:13.600 --> 0:03:16.000 and forth real quick. Go from the yeah, just go 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:19.040 back and forth a bunch of times. Just watch. Just 0:03:19.080 --> 0:03:19.400 watch this. 0:03:20.160 --> 0:03:22.840 That crazy, not cool. 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:24.440 They do all this stuff that you don't even know 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:26.680 about behind the scenes to bless you so you can 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:29.440 hear the word of God. I appreciate all our volunteers 0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:33.200 back in ekas the parking lot, all of our ushers 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:36.680 ushing with excellence for the glory of God. Ay Man, 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:42.320 I just feel grateful today for everybody. Hey, my mom 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:44.600 and I were texting this morning. We were talking about 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:48.000 my memory and how I remember weird little things from 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:50.160 my childhood, and she says that I remember some of 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:54.000 them incorrectly. But one thing I know I remember was 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:58.320 around age sixteen at Monk's Corner United Methodist Church when 0:03:58.840 --> 0:04:01.280 Aunt Jackie she was really my aunt, but I called 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:03.160 her Aunt Jackie because when I was a little boys 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:04.960 to go over to their house all the time and 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:08.520 she let me watch dukes of hazard and she pulled 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:10.720 me aside because I had made a commitment to Jesus 0:04:10.840 --> 0:04:13.240 Christ as a sixteen year old boy, and she could 0:04:13.240 --> 0:04:15.760 see the passion and enthusiasm from my eyes, and she 0:04:15.800 --> 0:04:18.239 had changed my diapers. And she was at that age 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:20.520 where you can say whatever you want to say, kind 0:04:20.520 --> 0:04:22.919 of like Peter was when he was telling the church 0:04:23.000 --> 0:04:26.479 there the people of God who were under persecution and 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:29.640 under attack at the hands of the Emperor Nero. And 0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:32.560 Aunt Jackie pulled me aside and she was telling me 0:04:32.760 --> 0:04:33.719 some words of wisdom. 0:04:33.800 --> 0:04:35.520 She said that she believed that. 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:37.919 God had a plan for me and that God was 0:04:37.960 --> 0:04:40.000 going to use me and do something special for me. 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:43.520 She said, I even told our committee. She was on 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:46.480 the committee. The Methodist Church has a lot of committees. 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:49.479 They have committees on committees. For God so loved the 0:04:49.520 --> 0:04:52.479 world that he did not send a committee, but Aunt 0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:55.320 Jackie was on all the committees, and the Flower committee 0:04:55.320 --> 0:04:58.440 and the Chair committee. She said, I told the committee 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:00.599 that you wouldn't be here much longer, that this was 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:02.360 the church that you were raised in, but that God 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:04.279 was going to use you for other things, and we 0:05:04.320 --> 0:05:05.880 need to let you go when God calls you, because 0:05:05.880 --> 0:05:07.400 he's going to use you, and you're going to speak 0:05:07.600 --> 0:05:09.560 and she was saying all these things to me, and 0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:11.320 again I had been only. 0:05:11.120 --> 0:05:13.159 A Christian for a short time, so I was encouraged 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:13.400 by it. 0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:16.160 Then she shifted gears and she went into this real 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:21.520 serious mode and she was like, but the devil, the 0:05:21.600 --> 0:05:27.200 devil doesn't like you, and he wants to use you 0:05:27.240 --> 0:05:31.240 as target practice, bring you down. 0:05:31.279 --> 0:05:35.320 As God he's raising you up. So she told me don't. 0:05:35.640 --> 0:05:37.000 This is the Southern way to say. 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:40.160 First Peter five six, which says humble yourself under God's 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:40.599 mighty hands. 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:44.320 She said, don't get too big for you. It's a 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:45.040 Charlotte thing. 0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:48.520 You know. We're regional national church now, so I have 0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:50.960 to tell him don't get too big for your breeches 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:55.000 and keep yourself low so God can raise you up high. 0:05:55.440 --> 0:05:57.080 And she told me that because she said, the devil 0:05:57.160 --> 0:05:57.839 is after you. 0:05:58.560 --> 0:06:01.680 He does not like the passion that you have for God, 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:03.400 and he's after you. 0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:05.840 And I'm glad she. 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:08.840 Told me that second part because I don't know if 0:06:08.880 --> 0:06:14.720 a lot of Christians get told that second part. And 0:06:14.800 --> 0:06:17.960 so I thought I would join in with Peter, who 0:06:18.000 --> 0:06:23.280 said you're enemy. The devil roars like a lion looking 0:06:23.320 --> 0:06:27.359 for someone he can eat. Alive, looking for a family, 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:30.680 he can tear apart. Looking for a future, he can 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:33.080 ruin before it even has a chance to get started. 0:06:33.960 --> 0:06:36.679 Looking for a church, he can divide, looking for a nation, 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:39.640 He can divide looking for an addiction. 0:06:39.760 --> 0:06:40.640 He can plant in. 0:06:40.600 --> 0:06:42.440 The heart of a fourteen year old so that they'll 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:46.679 never live a normal adult life. The devil is busy, 0:06:46.720 --> 0:06:47.960 The devil is active. 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:48.200 She told me. 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:52.320 And the interesting thing about it is she was saying 0:06:52.320 --> 0:06:54.240 that to me, I think because she thought God was 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:57.200 calling me to preach. But you don't have to be 0:06:57.240 --> 0:07:02.920 a preacher to have a bull's eye on your back. 0:07:04.040 --> 0:07:05.400 In fact, I want you to write. 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:06.120 Something down for me. 0:07:06.200 --> 0:07:08.760 If you care anything at all about your future, your family, 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:12.520 or your faith, write this down. The birthmark of a 0:07:12.560 --> 0:07:17.240 believer is a bulls eye. Peter is here to teach 0:07:17.320 --> 0:07:21.200 us that we are born again into a living hope. 0:07:21.360 --> 0:07:23.840 But as you are born into a living hope, you 0:07:23.880 --> 0:07:28.520 are also born into an eternal struggle and a very 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:29.720 real battle. 0:07:31.320 --> 0:07:35.840 The day that you become one with Christ the enemy. Now, 0:07:36.080 --> 0:07:37.520 I want to be careful here because this is what 0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:37.800 we do. 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:40.200 Sometimes we get way too carried away about all the 0:07:40.200 --> 0:07:41.040 stuff that the devil. 0:07:41.080 --> 0:07:42.680 Does you know. 0:07:42.880 --> 0:07:45.800 Someone will say, well, I've just been under it. Let 0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:47.480 me get my white girl boye on. I've just been 0:07:47.560 --> 0:07:51.960 under attack lately. So like lately, I see like the 0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:54.800 devil's been attacking me and so much, and it's just 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:58.040 like so Bad's like my mom and my dad and everybody, 0:07:58.120 --> 0:07:59.640 like my teachers and everything. 0:08:01.200 --> 0:08:02.480 And like my iPhone. 0:08:02.680 --> 0:08:04.440 I was charging in it the other day and I've 0:08:04.520 --> 0:08:06.200 charged I know, I charged it overnight, but then I. 0:08:06.120 --> 0:08:07.480 Woke up and it was dead, and it's just the 0:08:07.520 --> 0:08:10.520 devil knows your charger. It wasn't the devil. 0:08:13.480 --> 0:08:16.280 People on my job, they just hate me because I'm 0:08:16.280 --> 0:08:16.880 a Christian. 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:19.720 I'm just under attack. My boss doesn't like me. I'm 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:20.640 just under attack. 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:23.960 Right now, I know you're not under attack, you're underperforming. 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:26.120 Your boss doesn't like you because you're not doing a 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:30.600 very good job commensurate with the paycheck, that they haven't 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:37.959 trusted to you. But yet there are those times, and 0:08:38.000 --> 0:08:41.200 there are those seasons where you just get a sense 0:08:41.240 --> 0:08:43.560 that I feel like I'm under attack. 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:45.520 And it's something only Christians say. It's not something you 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:46.160 would say if. 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:47.680 You didn't believe in God, because you wouldn't believe in 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:50.200 the devil, so you would just say everything's falling apart 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:54.880 or whatever. But do you remember when President Bush was 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:57.520 reading to the elementary school class, and there's a famous 0:08:57.559 --> 0:09:00.600 picture of his chief of staff and to go up 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:03.520 to him while he's reading a book and say to 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:06.240 the President, the second plane hit the second tower on 0:09:06.320 --> 0:09:10.000 nine to eleven, and he said America is under attack. 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:12.200 And he told the President that, according to his account 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:16.640 and his record after the fact, he said America is underattack. 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:22.200 Peter is walking up to a church under attack and 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:23.959 speaking to them on a personal level. 0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:25.000 I want you to know. 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:31.480 That you're under attack now, just the preacher, because people 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:33.479 will come up to me all the time and say. 0:09:33.559 --> 0:09:36.960 I'm praying for your preacher. I know the devil wants 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:37.880 to take you out. 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:40.280 Well, I look right back at him and say, well, 0:09:40.280 --> 0:09:42.160 I'm gonna pray for you too. Write your name down, 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:47.079 because he'll take whoever he can get. He's after construction 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:50.559 workers and sophomores in high school and stay at home 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:58.520 moms and attorneys, prowling around like a roaring lion looking 0:09:58.559 --> 0:10:00.600 for someone to devour. 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:01.520 And I wonder, is it you? 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:07.679 I wonder is that you he's been after with thoughts 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:12.720 that repeat themselves over and over again in your mind, 0:10:13.120 --> 0:10:18.640 thoughts of worklessness or thoughts of anxiety. This seems to 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:21.960 be Peter's primary focus is that the attack of the 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:26.920 enemy often manifests itself in an overwhelming sense of anxiety. 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:29.920 I know this is the manifestation of the attack, for 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:32.880 if it were not the manifestation of the attack, Peter 0:10:32.960 --> 0:10:35.959 would not singularly lift it in verse seven as the 0:10:36.080 --> 0:10:40.040 focal point of his admonition to the church under attack. 0:10:40.080 --> 0:10:42.000 I feel like teaching today. Are you ready to learn? 0:10:42.840 --> 0:10:45.680 Give me about thirty minutes, because you're under attack, and 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:50.320 there are some things you need to know about this attack. 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:57.280 The good news is it is not an ambush. Peter 0:10:57.400 --> 0:11:01.880 says that the devil is like a roaring lion. That 0:11:02.080 --> 0:11:06.080 means he gives you a warning before the warfare begins. 0:11:07.520 --> 0:11:11.240 And so sometimes we act really surprised by things that 0:11:11.280 --> 0:11:14.240 we go through and ways that we struggle, and we've 0:11:14.840 --> 0:11:17.679 come into situations that are harder than we expected them 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:20.120 to be, and we ask God to do great things 0:11:20.360 --> 0:11:22.840 in our lives. But the battle begins and we act 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:26.000 like we weren't warned. No, Peter said, this lion. The 0:11:26.040 --> 0:11:29.600 devil is not silent. He's a rule. 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:35.400 Come on, give me your best roar. I've never done 0:11:35.440 --> 0:11:35.840 this before. 0:11:35.880 --> 0:11:38.240 I've done a lot of touch your neighbors, but somebody 0:11:38.320 --> 0:11:39.599 roar at your neighbors. 0:11:39.240 --> 0:11:44.079 Saying, devil's all up in your face. 0:11:44.280 --> 0:11:47.800 He'll let you know is coming. 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:52.320 And what you need to know if you are under attack. 0:11:52.400 --> 0:11:53.400 And I will not have you. 0:11:53.440 --> 0:11:56.880 Raise your hand because perhaps the very people who need 0:11:56.880 --> 0:11:59.640 this message the most would be the most reluctant to 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:03.400 admit that this is for me. But he said, when 0:12:03.440 --> 0:12:06.200 you find yourself in a season of attack, that roaring 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:07.280 lion is in your face. 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:09.280 Now, I'm thinking right here, Peter is gonna. 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:15.640 Say run, because to me, that's the only reasonable advice 0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:19.280 when you're faced with the roaring lion. Hello, I don't 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:26.040 even like dogs very much. Holly's scared of rats. Can 0:12:26.080 --> 0:12:31.280 you imagine if she saw a lion. But he doesn't 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:38.800 say rhyme. Instead, he challenges us to resist. And it's 0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:42.800 a certain type of resistance because he says, to those 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:48.600 who are under attack, you need to come under the 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:50.520 mighty hand of God. I want you to see that 0:12:50.559 --> 0:12:53.000 phrase because it touched me so deeply in my study. 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:55.520 I was hoping to explain it to you for a 0:12:55.559 --> 0:12:58.680 moment today. The three things that the hand of God represents. 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:02.520 This is verse six. Humble yourself under the mighty hand 0:13:02.559 --> 0:13:04.560 of God, an image that would have been familiar for 0:13:04.600 --> 0:13:07.000 a Jewish audience, for it was with a mighty hand 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:09.720 and an outstretched arm that God brought his people out 0:13:09.720 --> 0:13:12.360 of Egyptian slavery. And Peter wants him to know that 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:15.720 same hand of God that has been actively fulfilling his 0:13:15.800 --> 0:13:18.839 purpose throughout human history is still reigning over your life. 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:22.960 Humble yourself under that mighty hand. The hand of God 0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:26.720 represents his plan. I don't know about you, but I'm 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:29.800 thankful that God's plan for my life has prevailed, even 0:13:29.840 --> 0:13:32.840 against my own plan that I thought was better Sometimes. 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:35.920 How many are grateful for the hand of God. If 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:37.959 you're grateful for the hand of God, just wave your 0:13:37.960 --> 0:13:40.840 hand at me. God's hand is not like your hand. 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:43.480 It's an invisible hand. You can't see it, but you 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:46.520 definitely know the effects of it when it moves, because 0:13:46.520 --> 0:13:49.520 after you've lived a little while, Peter said, I saw 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:52.600 what happens in the hand of God, the plan of God. 0:13:52.679 --> 0:13:53.560 I saw what happens. 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:57.360 See, Peter is not writing this as advice unsolicited, And 0:13:57.400 --> 0:14:00.840 he's not writing this as advice uninformed. Peter is a 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:08.280 grown man now, a grown Christian man, now getting a 0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:13.000 little polder about relaying his advice from his experiences. And 0:14:13.080 --> 0:14:16.280 who better to tell us about the hand of God 0:14:17.120 --> 0:14:20.560 than a man who walked with Jesus Christ in the flesh. 0:14:20.920 --> 0:14:24.200 Who better to describe to us the function of the 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:28.640 hand of God than the one who saw his face. 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:31.080 Jesus said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. 0:14:31.800 --> 0:14:35.080 Peter didn't just trace the hand of God. He saw 0:14:35.120 --> 0:14:38.040 the face of God. And now he says, to those 0:14:38.080 --> 0:14:41.640 who were under attack, up under depression, up under disappointment, 0:14:41.680 --> 0:14:44.680 dealing with failure, hit rock bottom, don't know what's next, 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:48.560 freaking out, crying yourself to sleep at night, feeling all alone, 0:14:48.720 --> 0:14:51.960 he says, to every believer, You've got the upper hand. 0:14:52.360 --> 0:14:55.280 The hand of God is mighty, the hand of God 0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:58.520 is strong, The hand of God is over your life. 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:01.360 You will prevail. His purpose will come to pass, for 0:15:01.480 --> 0:15:02.480 I know the plans I have. 0:15:02.480 --> 0:15:05.080 For you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you, not 0:15:05.120 --> 0:15:07.120 to harm your plans to give you hope in a future. 0:15:07.160 --> 0:15:09.640 And if you find yourself under attack today, you need 0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:11.440 to know that the hand of God is guiding you, 0:15:11.720 --> 0:15:13.960 leading you that same hand to split the sea open 0:15:14.040 --> 0:15:16.200 so as people could walk right through it. The hand 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:18.680 of God will make a way where there is no way. 0:15:18.720 --> 0:15:21.000 The hand of God will bring a rock a water 0:15:21.120 --> 0:15:21.960 out of a rock in. 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:22.720 A dry place. 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:25.720 The hand of God is over your life, and he 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:29.440 has a plan, plan, the plan of God. The hand 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:31.440 of God represents the plan of God. The hand of 0:15:31.440 --> 0:15:33.840 God represents the provision of God. These all start with 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:40.280 the letter P because that's what I do, the provision 0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:43.760 of God. And who better to remind the church that 0:15:43.840 --> 0:15:46.520 is under attack or a believer who is under attack 0:15:48.200 --> 0:15:49.920 that the hand of God is the place where bread 0:15:50.000 --> 0:15:52.920 multiplies than the one who saw five thousand fed with 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:56.800 just a few loads and a few fish. Anytime you 0:15:56.920 --> 0:16:01.160 see seeing a skid snackpack from Captain D's multiplied into 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:04.240 a buffet, you know something about the provision in the 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:07.000 hand of God. And Peter was right there, and he 0:16:07.080 --> 0:16:09.640 saw what happened when they put the bread in Jesus' hand, 0:16:10.440 --> 0:16:12.480 and so he knew that at times where you feel 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:14.680 like you're in a place of lack, that your provision 0:16:14.760 --> 0:16:18.000 is never dependent upon your own ability to provide for 0:16:18.120 --> 0:16:21.280 yourself or your own ability to create resource for yourself. 0:16:21.320 --> 0:16:24.480 But anything you put in the hand of God will multiply. 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:27.200 Anything you put in the hand of God will multiply. 0:16:27.320 --> 0:16:28.600 Anything you put in the hand of. 0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:31.400 God, it just keeps coming, It just keeps coming. Don't 0:16:31.440 --> 0:16:32.360 have any witnesses. 0:16:32.600 --> 0:16:34.800 You've been through some hard times in your life, but 0:16:34.920 --> 0:16:37.880 hope kept coming. You've been in some tight places, you 0:16:37.960 --> 0:16:40.040 felt like you were running out, you didn't feel like 0:16:40.080 --> 0:16:42.440 you could make it to the next day. But somehow, 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:47.120 blakeney strength kept coming, surely kept comming. Tomorrow kept coming 0:16:47.200 --> 0:16:49.680 in spite of your past. Because the hand of God 0:16:50.120 --> 0:16:55.280 is a hand of provision, and it's a hand of protection. 0:16:58.680 --> 0:16:59.960 God has me in his grip. 0:17:01.720 --> 0:17:03.600 Who better to help me see that the hand of 0:17:03.640 --> 0:17:05.639 God will protect me than the one who tried to 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:10.800 walk on water the end of the Bible. Go study 0:17:10.800 --> 0:17:13.960 this story in Matthew chapter fourteen, where Peter got out there. 0:17:14.440 --> 0:17:16.560 He's trying to make his way to Jesus. He's coming 0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:19.400 toward him, and about the time he gets there. Because 0:17:19.400 --> 0:17:24.359 sometimes it's right when you're on the verge that you 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:27.760 start to sink. I never saw it before. Can I 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:30.639 take a moment? Okay, I'm gonna take a moment. You 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:33.199 said I could in Matthew chapter fourteen, because I was 0:17:33.240 --> 0:17:34.880 just gonna mention it. But you act like you came 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:37.239 to here preaching today. I don't know what's happened at 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:40.639 University City, but there's some hungry people for the bread 0:17:40.640 --> 0:17:41.040 of life. 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:42.400 At Valentine. 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:45.600 It says that Peter in the storm, got out of 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:48.480 the boat, and when he walked out on the water, 0:17:49.280 --> 0:17:49.959 he did pretty good. 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:51.480 Watched this. He came toward Jesus. 0:17:51.560 --> 0:17:54.440 Y'all got that scripture of Matthew fourteen. He came toward Jesus, 0:17:54.840 --> 0:17:57.000 but when he saw the wind, he was afraid and 0:17:57.080 --> 0:18:01.919 beginning to sink. Cried out, Lord save me. So he 0:18:02.000 --> 0:18:06.760 cries out before he goes completely under. So he's sinking, 0:18:06.800 --> 0:18:11.600 but he's not sunk. He's going down, but he's not out. 0:18:14.560 --> 0:18:18.479 The lion is prowling, but he has not prevailed. You 0:18:18.520 --> 0:18:21.960 follow me, Watch this, says one I never saw. Verse 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:27.960 thirty one says that immediately that's the word, Jesus reached. 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:28.080 Out his. 0:18:29.560 --> 0:18:35.440 Do it again immediately, Jesus reached out his Immediately Jesus 0:18:35.480 --> 0:18:37.080 reached out his hand. 0:18:37.080 --> 0:18:40.720 Noticed the construct of the narrative. Jesus is not walking 0:18:40.800 --> 0:18:44.760 toward Peter. Peter is walking toward Jesus. 0:18:46.600 --> 0:18:50.760 When Jesus sees Peter falling and hears him crying, he 0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:54.959 reaches out his hand, and Peter is close enough for 0:18:55.119 --> 0:18:56.200 Jesus to reach. 0:18:56.720 --> 0:18:58.840 The problem with some of us, isn't. 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:02.119 That we're sinking, is that we won't stay close enough. 0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:04.960 Come on for God to get us in his grip. 0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:06.720 But I came to. 0:19:06.760 --> 0:19:10.679 Announce to that lion today, that liar the devil, that 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:14.119 I'm in his script, even when I'm going down, even 0:19:14.160 --> 0:19:16.919 though the winds and the waves are roaring and raging 0:19:17.040 --> 0:19:19.080 in my life, I'm in this script. 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:20.920 Somebody said, I'm in his script. 0:19:22.320 --> 0:19:24.560 I'm in his gript. God's got me in his grip. 0:19:24.880 --> 0:19:27.960 He's got me in his grip. He's got me in 0:19:28.000 --> 0:19:30.919 the hand of his protection. He might let me suffer 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:33.440 a little while, but he won't let me stay there. 0:19:33.680 --> 0:19:37.040 He is my God, and I'm in his hand. Humble 0:19:37.119 --> 0:19:41.720 yourself under the mighty hand of God. 0:19:41.800 --> 0:19:44.359 Doesn't matter how well you can walk on water matters 0:19:44.359 --> 0:19:47.080 how close you are to his hand. Doesn't matter about 0:19:47.119 --> 0:19:50.600 your intelligence. It matters about your surrender. It doesn't matter 0:19:50.680 --> 0:19:55.800 about your ability. It matters about your surrender. Humble yourself. 0:19:55.840 --> 0:19:58.840 I'm preaching to somebody. I'm preaching to somebody so straight 0:19:58.880 --> 0:20:01.600 you can't even no. You're trying to hold back tears. 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:04.160 But God sent a preacher with a message. You might 0:20:04.160 --> 0:20:06.720 as well go ahead and cry out, Lord, save me. 0:20:07.119 --> 0:20:09.520 I can't do this on my own. I am not 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:11.040 enough by myself. 0:20:11.560 --> 0:20:12.760 Humble yourself. 0:20:13.480 --> 0:20:16.840 Under the mighty hand of God. He'll lift you up 0:20:16.880 --> 0:20:19.320 and do time. He'll get you up. He'll lift you 0:20:19.400 --> 0:20:21.400 up and do time. He'll let you go down low 0:20:21.480 --> 0:20:22.920 enough to know that you need him, and bring you 0:20:23.000 --> 0:20:24.040 up high enough to let the. 0:20:23.960 --> 0:20:26.600 World know that he's with you. Come on, come on, 0:20:27.119 --> 0:20:27.439 come on. 0:20:33.560 --> 0:20:37.000 Verse seven is what I've been trying to practice, that 0:20:37.080 --> 0:20:40.720 I can be under attack and not anxious. Cast all 0:20:40.760 --> 0:20:47.320 your anxiety on him. He cares for you, and trying 0:20:47.359 --> 0:20:51.640 to do that because I felt like after Codorin's revival, 0:20:51.640 --> 0:20:53.720 I felt like I went under an emotional attack, and 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:55.480 I don't even know that I'm still out of it yet. 0:20:57.520 --> 0:20:59.119 Part of it is probably because. 0:20:58.840 --> 0:21:01.399 Of adrenaline and physiology factors that have to do with 0:21:01.440 --> 0:21:03.560 getting up ten nights in a row, and all of 0:21:03.560 --> 0:21:05.919 the hosting of trying to put up with guests for 0:21:05.960 --> 0:21:07.480 ten nights make them feel special. 0:21:12.720 --> 0:21:15.000 Part of it, though, had to be spiritual. 0:21:14.560 --> 0:21:14.879 And. 0:21:17.680 --> 0:21:18.880 It was like for ten nights. 0:21:18.920 --> 0:21:20.760 If you weren't here in our church, you know you 0:21:20.840 --> 0:21:23.000 basically missed out on life by not coming to Code 0:21:23.000 --> 0:21:28.960 Orange survival. But not only did our city go through 0:21:28.960 --> 0:21:31.080 a shaking after the revival, I went through a shake 0:21:31.160 --> 0:21:32.359 in And I don't want to get up here and 0:21:32.440 --> 0:21:34.359 use you for a counseling appointment because I don't want 0:21:34.359 --> 0:21:34.639 to have to. 0:21:34.600 --> 0:21:36.440 Pay your hourly fear or anything like that. 0:21:37.840 --> 0:21:39.240 And I don't want you to worry about me because 0:21:39.240 --> 0:21:41.560 I promise you I'm good and I love my wife 0:21:41.600 --> 0:21:43.199 and my kids and we're good and everything like that. 0:21:43.200 --> 0:21:45.480 Don't send me these emails. We're praying for you, pastor. 0:21:45.280 --> 0:21:46.840 That's not the reason I'm telling you this, And it'll 0:21:46.880 --> 0:21:48.119 make me feel like you missed the point if you 0:21:48.119 --> 0:21:48.640 send me an email. 0:21:48.640 --> 0:21:50.040 I don't want a cart or anything like that. 0:21:50.200 --> 0:21:52.800 Flowers cookies trying to get me fat on carbohydrates because 0:21:52.800 --> 0:21:53.600 you think I'm struggling. 0:21:53.680 --> 0:21:55.040 I don't want anything. I don't need any of that. 0:21:55.160 --> 0:21:56.000 I just want to say something. 0:21:57.160 --> 0:22:01.720 While we were in here talking about ten nights, ten years, 0:22:02.119 --> 0:22:06.600 celebrating ten years, I felt overwhelmed about do I have 0:22:06.680 --> 0:22:10.000 what it takes for the next ten And it's like, 0:22:10.080 --> 0:22:14.280 once you've gone real high with God as a leader, 0:22:14.320 --> 0:22:15.040 I think you feel a. 0:22:15.080 --> 0:22:16.280 Pressure to go higher. 0:22:17.960 --> 0:22:20.960 But then it's kind of hard because you feel like 0:22:21.119 --> 0:22:24.399 maybe you've gone as high as you can go. And 0:22:24.440 --> 0:22:26.000 maybe you feel that way as a parent, not as 0:22:26.040 --> 0:22:27.919 a preacher. Maybe you feel that way in your business. 0:22:27.920 --> 0:22:30.200 And I don't know I'm preaching to but I'm gonna 0:22:30.240 --> 0:22:32.280 open myself up here a little bit for you today 0:22:32.480 --> 0:22:33.359 if it'll be helpful. 0:22:33.400 --> 0:22:36.959 Because anxiety attacked me and it hit me kind of hard. 0:22:37.000 --> 0:22:39.120 And I wasn't staying in the bed or anything like that, 0:22:39.240 --> 0:22:42.280 but I didn't go get addicted to something, some kind 0:22:42.280 --> 0:22:44.479 of pills or anything like that, but it was a 0:22:44.600 --> 0:22:45.440 thing in my mind. 0:22:46.400 --> 0:22:48.399 You don't have what it takes. I don't have what 0:22:48.520 --> 0:22:50.480 it takes. I can't do you know, I. 0:22:50.680 --> 0:22:52.439 As far as I can take them, I don't know 0:22:52.440 --> 0:22:53.919 if I'm the one to do it. 0:22:53.960 --> 0:22:56.480 And all this stuff that was going through my mind. 0:22:57.480 --> 0:22:59.600 That's how I got over the first Peter chapter five, 0:22:59.640 --> 0:23:00.840 because I know that scripture. 0:23:00.880 --> 0:23:03.639 I love that scripture. That scripture has helped me before. 0:23:03.640 --> 0:23:05.960 And sometimes when you are up against the fight, you 0:23:06.000 --> 0:23:07.720 got to go back to a weapon that you know. 0:23:07.800 --> 0:23:09.720 I can't fight Goliath in this armor. I got to 0:23:09.720 --> 0:23:12.840 get a slingshot. So it was kind of like just 0:23:12.880 --> 0:23:14.680 a well known verse. And I went back in there 0:23:14.680 --> 0:23:19.080 and considered the context of Peter who fell asleep in 0:23:19.119 --> 0:23:21.960 the garden of Gethsemane while he was supposed to be 0:23:22.000 --> 0:23:25.600 watching Jesus back. Jesus came over to him, gave him 0:23:25.600 --> 0:23:28.520 two wake up calls. He hit this snooze button three times? 0:23:29.760 --> 0:23:33.000 Are you still sleeping? And I looked at how Peter 0:23:33.160 --> 0:23:36.680 was telling the church to be alert, which is translated 0:23:36.680 --> 0:23:40.960 elsewhere in the New Testament. Be prayerful, the enemy eats 0:23:41.080 --> 0:23:44.160 Christians who sleep in times of. 0:23:44.119 --> 0:23:47.119 Battle, be alert to what's going on. 0:23:47.280 --> 0:23:50.960 Realize that the birthmark of a believer is a bull's eye. 0:23:51.560 --> 0:23:54.040 The devil doesn't like it one bit. That you're moving 0:23:54.080 --> 0:23:55.680 forward in your relationship with God. 0:23:57.880 --> 0:24:00.760 I started taking the verse apart because the word of 0:24:00.800 --> 0:24:03.040 God really is while I live by, not just while 0:24:03.080 --> 0:24:06.400 I make my living off of So I went into 0:24:06.480 --> 0:24:10.640 verse seven real hard, like I needed an answer. When 0:24:10.640 --> 0:24:15.600 anxiety attacks, it'll drive you to seek God, to seek 0:24:15.600 --> 0:24:18.879 his hand. And I was looking for him because he 0:24:18.920 --> 0:24:20.480 said cast all your anxiety. 0:24:21.640 --> 0:24:22.399 While I was reading it. 0:24:22.440 --> 0:24:24.760 Since I knew Peter wrote it, and he's a fisherman, 0:24:24.800 --> 0:24:28.440 I wondered, was he picturing like casting the nets from 0:24:28.440 --> 0:24:30.399 one side of the boat to the other, just because 0:24:30.480 --> 0:24:34.480 Jesus told him to Sometimes anxiety in our life. 0:24:34.240 --> 0:24:36.640 As a result of our unwillingness to be obedient. 0:24:37.720 --> 0:24:40.360 And when he casts the net to the other side, 0:24:41.040 --> 0:24:43.800 maybe that's a word for somebody. He said, cast all 0:24:43.840 --> 0:24:45.600 your anxiety on him. 0:24:45.920 --> 0:24:48.800 Do it his way. Now, we fished all night and 0:24:48.840 --> 0:24:50.200 caught nothing, Peter. 0:24:50.080 --> 0:24:53.080 Said, But because you say so, I'm gonna cast my 0:24:53.200 --> 0:24:54.480 net on the other side. 0:24:54.640 --> 0:24:56.720 I've been trying to do this my way. 0:24:56.960 --> 0:24:59.399 I've been trying to handle it on my own. But 0:25:00.080 --> 0:25:04.280 ask my net on the other side. 0:25:04.440 --> 0:25:06.720 However, it was in verse five and six that I 0:25:06.800 --> 0:25:08.240 found my answer. 0:25:10.160 --> 0:25:12.280 For In verse five he says, in the same way, 0:25:13.000 --> 0:25:15.520 you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. 0:25:15.600 --> 0:25:19.639 All of you clothe Greek word tie on, tie on. 0:25:19.760 --> 0:25:21.760 That's not the Greek, that's the translation of the Greek 0:25:21.760 --> 0:25:27.520 word tie it on like a towel, like Jesus did 0:25:28.760 --> 0:25:31.480 when he took on the role of a servant, and 0:25:31.520 --> 0:25:33.440 he got a towel, a servant's towel, and he put 0:25:33.440 --> 0:25:36.720 it around his waist. And when Peter saw him tying 0:25:36.760 --> 0:25:40.320 on that towel, he said, no, you don't tie. 0:25:40.080 --> 0:25:43.520 On the towel, Jesus, you sit on the throne. But 0:25:43.680 --> 0:25:45.199 Jesus tied on the towel. 0:25:45.200 --> 0:25:47.760 And I wonder, as Peter is telling them to clothe 0:25:47.800 --> 0:25:51.159 themselves in humility, is he having a flashback of the 0:25:51.240 --> 0:25:56.600 Savior who laid his riches and glory aside and made 0:25:56.680 --> 0:25:59.399 himself nothing found in the appearance of sinful man, and 0:25:59.480 --> 0:26:02.280 became a humbling himself, even to death on the cross. 0:26:02.280 --> 0:26:05.320 As he tied on the towel and washed Peter's feet, 0:26:06.320 --> 0:26:09.560 Peter's response, no, Lord, you can't wash my feet, Peter said. 0:26:10.000 --> 0:26:15.320 Jesus said, Peter, shut up. That's not the exact conversation, 0:26:15.400 --> 0:26:16.560 but it's the essence of it. 0:26:17.280 --> 0:26:18.399 And he did what he came to do. 0:26:18.480 --> 0:26:22.159 The son of men came not to be served, but 0:26:22.200 --> 0:26:24.080 to serve and to give his life a ransom for men. 0:26:27.880 --> 0:26:32.240 But maybe my biggest problem was the fact that I 0:26:32.280 --> 0:26:36.840 always thought that verse seven put it on the screen 0:26:36.880 --> 0:26:40.080 police was the instruction where you say, cast all your 0:26:40.119 --> 0:26:43.439 cares on him, because he cares for you. Your anxiety's 0:26:43.480 --> 0:26:47.320 on him, because he cares for you. You know, you 0:26:47.680 --> 0:26:49.280 go to the word of God sometimes and you try 0:26:49.280 --> 0:26:52.560 to pluck up these little promises and try to do 0:26:52.600 --> 0:26:59.760 stuff and just by like that verse that verse. But 0:27:02.200 --> 0:27:05.280 back up and catch the essence of the text verse six, 0:27:05.600 --> 0:27:10.000 Humble yourself therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may 0:27:10.040 --> 0:27:13.320 lift you up in due time, cast all your anxiety 0:27:13.320 --> 0:27:13.600 on him. 0:27:13.640 --> 0:27:14.320 He cares for you. 0:27:15.720 --> 0:27:18.840 To really understand the essence and profundity of the connection, 0:27:19.840 --> 0:27:22.399 you need to see a more literal translation of verses 0:27:22.440 --> 0:27:26.000 six and seven, because Peter is writing this letter in 0:27:26.080 --> 0:27:29.040 Cooin a Greek in the Greek language. 0:27:29.040 --> 0:27:30.640 As Peter is writing this letter, as you. 0:27:30.600 --> 0:27:34.320 Will see demonstrated in verses six and seven, these are 0:27:34.320 --> 0:27:41.800 not two separate sentences. It reads like this, humble yourselves 0:27:41.840 --> 0:27:44.240 therefore under the mighty end of God, so that at 0:27:44.240 --> 0:27:49.040 the proper time He may exalt you watch his comma. 0:27:49.359 --> 0:27:54.800 What happens next is predicated on whether or not what 0:27:55.040 --> 0:27:58.960 happens in verse six is applied. 0:28:01.280 --> 0:28:04.919 In Greek. It is one sentence, humble. 0:28:04.640 --> 0:28:09.480 Yourself therefore under God's mighty hand, that he may exalt 0:28:09.560 --> 0:28:14.120 you in due time. Watch this, casting all your anxiety 0:28:14.200 --> 0:28:18.880 on him because he cares for you. See. I've been 0:28:18.920 --> 0:28:28.480 trying to cast my anxieties and keep my pride. But 0:28:28.600 --> 0:28:31.880 the thing about it is you need to know that 0:28:31.920 --> 0:28:38.560 the pride and the anxiety come in the same package. 0:28:39.280 --> 0:28:43.600 So if you insist on doing it your way, then 0:28:43.920 --> 0:28:45.440 expect to feel like. 0:28:45.480 --> 0:28:47.840 The weight of the world is on your shoulders because 0:28:47.880 --> 0:28:48.280 it is. 0:28:50.600 --> 0:28:54.240 You can't just do verse seven because you decide to God. 0:28:54.080 --> 0:28:56.720 Take it off me. God, take it off me. Take 0:28:56.800 --> 0:29:00.160 I'm so worried. God, make me not worried anymore. Or 0:29:00.640 --> 0:29:02.080 don't you care if we perish? 0:29:02.120 --> 0:29:04.040 That's what Peter said one time in the boat. 0:29:04.040 --> 0:29:07.040 Don't you care that we're drowning? Don't you care? Don't 0:29:07.040 --> 0:29:08.160 you God? Don't you? 0:29:08.160 --> 0:29:10.760 You said, cast all my anxieties on you. 0:29:10.520 --> 0:29:17.200 I'm casting them. I'm casting them. This doesn't work. 0:29:20.320 --> 0:29:24.360 See look at the word anxiety, because I'm telling the 0:29:24.400 --> 0:29:27.040 Lord in my in my prayers. I don't know if 0:29:27.120 --> 0:29:28.920 I can do it, and I don't know if I 0:29:28.920 --> 0:29:30.320 can do it, And I just need you to give 0:29:30.360 --> 0:29:31.880 me a sign that I can take the church for 0:29:31.920 --> 0:29:32.800 it in the next ten years. 0:29:32.800 --> 0:29:36.480 And I just need to D D take this anxiety. 0:29:36.520 --> 0:29:39.880 I'm casting it on you, Lord. I am casting it 0:29:39.960 --> 0:29:44.120 on you, all of my anxiety. And after I prayed 0:29:44.120 --> 0:29:46.200 this way for a little while, the Lord spoke to 0:29:46.240 --> 0:29:47.640 me in my heart. Now this is not an out 0:29:47.640 --> 0:29:48.400 loud conversation. 0:29:48.440 --> 0:29:50.400 I want you to think I'm really, really crazy, but 0:29:50.480 --> 0:29:51.800 this is the impression that I got. 0:29:51.800 --> 0:29:58.560 The Lord said, are you done? Now? Shut up, Peter done. 0:29:58.600 --> 0:30:05.000 Now look at the word anxiety. Look at how it's 0:30:05.000 --> 0:30:11.400 spelled in English. Look at what is in the center 0:30:11.440 --> 0:30:12.000 of the word. 0:30:13.800 --> 0:30:14.320 Do you see it? 0:30:15.560 --> 0:30:22.400 Show them on the screen, at the center of your 0:30:22.440 --> 0:30:25.160 anxiety if you really trace it. I'm not talking about 0:30:25.160 --> 0:30:26.400 a medical condition. 0:30:26.800 --> 0:30:28.880 I'm not a pharmacist. I don't know about all that. 0:30:29.000 --> 0:30:32.760 I am not a neurologist. I'm saying spiritually. 0:30:32.160 --> 0:30:38.040 Speaking that the Lord told me, at the center of 0:30:38.080 --> 0:30:44.560 your anxiety is your pride. The reason that you're so 0:30:44.720 --> 0:30:50.400 anxious is because you've got you at the center, and 0:30:50.520 --> 0:31:01.720 you can't sustain it because it's not your throne. I mean, 0:31:01.800 --> 0:31:04.960 even listen to your language. The Lord said, I don't 0:31:05.000 --> 0:31:07.800 know if I have what it takes. I don't know 0:31:07.920 --> 0:31:10.560 if I can do it. I don't know if I 0:31:10.600 --> 0:31:12.960 can make it. If I have, I have, I have, 0:31:13.120 --> 0:31:14.840 I have, I have, I have. 0:31:14.880 --> 0:31:20.560 I ah A A I. You can't spell anxiety without eye. 0:31:20.600 --> 0:31:22.840 It's right in the middle. And you know what other 0:31:22.880 --> 0:31:28.520 word I is in the middle of pride. 0:31:30.160 --> 0:31:34.160 And maybe the reason that you've been carrying carrying anxiety 0:31:34.200 --> 0:31:36.480 that you can't get rid of is because you've been 0:31:36.520 --> 0:31:40.560 bearing weight that you weren't meant to bear. You better 0:31:40.640 --> 0:31:45.959 humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, because if 0:31:45.960 --> 0:31:48.040 you stay weight down with pride, you're going to be 0:31:48.080 --> 0:31:51.880 waved down with anxiety and God can't lift you up. 0:31:54.640 --> 0:31:56.720 I don't know if I have what it takes to 0:31:56.760 --> 0:31:59.240 make it through the next ten years, God said to me, 0:31:59.520 --> 0:32:01.320 did you have what it took to get through the 0:32:01.360 --> 0:32:02.000 first ten? 0:32:02.160 --> 0:32:02.440 Boy? 0:32:04.160 --> 0:32:07.680 You better cast your net on the other side. You 0:32:07.800 --> 0:32:09.800 better call out to me in the time of the 0:32:09.880 --> 0:32:17.400 storm and humble yourself, casting all your anxiety on him. 0:32:17.560 --> 0:32:21.080 See it's not a command to cast your anxiety on him. 0:32:21.120 --> 0:32:21.920 It's a result. 0:32:23.360 --> 0:32:27.960 The command is to humble yourself under His mighty hand, 0:32:28.280 --> 0:32:31.400 and when you do, the anxiety. 0:32:30.760 --> 0:32:33.880 Goes with the pride. If you would get. 0:32:33.760 --> 0:32:37.560 Yourself out of the center and get God on the 0:32:37.720 --> 0:32:41.000 throne and lift your hands to him and say, I 0:32:41.160 --> 0:32:48.560 need you, Lord, I'm a sinful man. Can't step without you, 0:32:48.640 --> 0:32:51.360 can't breathe without you, can't eat without you, can't pray 0:32:51.440 --> 0:32:54.640 without you, can't parent without you, can't preach without you, 0:32:54.680 --> 0:32:57.040 can't work without you, can't live without you. 0:32:57.160 --> 0:33:00.640 No peace without you, no joy without you. God. 0:33:00.800 --> 0:33:05.000 Now I'm ready to lift you up above the wind, 0:33:05.040 --> 0:33:12.160 above the waves, above your pride. My mom lost eighty 0:33:12.200 --> 0:33:15.160 pounds over the course of two years. 0:33:16.760 --> 0:33:17.640 Eighty pounds. 0:33:18.720 --> 0:33:22.440 That's like an Elijah and one fourth of an Abbey. 0:33:23.520 --> 0:33:28.120 Eighty pounds. Eighty pounds. That's about how much you curl 0:33:28.160 --> 0:33:34.920 with one arm. Eighty pounds. But you know what was weird. 0:33:35.480 --> 0:33:36.760 She didn't just lose weight. 0:33:38.440 --> 0:33:42.400 See, my mom had bad knees and a bad back. 0:33:43.280 --> 0:33:46.080 In fact, I wanted to give my mom the house 0:33:46.120 --> 0:33:48.280 that we lived in when we moved into another house, 0:33:48.800 --> 0:33:51.400 but she couldn't take it because it had stairs. 0:33:51.880 --> 0:33:52.640 She said, I can't. 0:33:52.880 --> 0:33:54.400 I would love to live in that house, but the 0:33:54.400 --> 0:33:57.280 bedroom is upstairs and I can't climb the stairs. 0:33:57.600 --> 0:33:59.800 You know what's a weird thing, though, Because she would 0:33:59.800 --> 0:34:00.880 go to the doctor. 0:34:00.600 --> 0:34:02.840 About her knees and the doctor about her back, and 0:34:02.920 --> 0:34:04.880 my back and my knees, I got bad knees and 0:34:04.920 --> 0:34:05.960 got a bad back. 0:34:06.280 --> 0:34:09.520 When the weight came off, the pain went with it. 0:34:11.239 --> 0:34:13.480 I always shook a see her today, she is like 0:34:13.560 --> 0:34:15.000 an Olympic rower. 0:34:16.520 --> 0:34:18.359 Do you remember the social network. 0:34:18.040 --> 0:34:21.480 The Winklevoss When she was she's she rose. How much 0:34:21.520 --> 0:34:23.759 does she roll? Fifteen thousand meters a day? 0:34:23.800 --> 0:34:25.359 I don't know. I'm making this up, but. 0:34:25.360 --> 0:34:28.520 She rose a lot, and she can climb the stairs, 0:34:28.560 --> 0:34:33.640 and she can dance, and she's lively. It wasn't her knees, 0:34:33.960 --> 0:34:45.200 it was the weight. Is the reason that you're so 0:34:45.320 --> 0:34:50.319 anxious because of your pride? Maybe the anxiety is the 0:34:50.320 --> 0:34:52.719 fruit and the pride is the root. If you would 0:34:52.719 --> 0:34:57.759 pluck it up by the root, the fruit couldn't grow. 0:34:58.520 --> 0:35:01.720 Get yourself out the center. Get yourself out the center. 0:35:02.480 --> 0:35:04.359 Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. 0:35:04.600 --> 0:35:06.720 Well what if I look stupid? 0:35:06.719 --> 0:35:08.600 Some of you are about to try something right now 0:35:08.680 --> 0:35:09.720 that you never tried before. 0:35:09.800 --> 0:35:12.640 What if I look stupid, I got good news for you. 0:35:13.000 --> 0:35:16.000 Everybody else is thinking about themselves, not you, so they 0:35:16.040 --> 0:35:21.520 won't even notice. 0:35:22.800 --> 0:35:27.680 But if I ay, ay ay ay. Who better to 0:35:27.680 --> 0:35:33.520 teach us about humility than Peter? Huh. 0:35:33.560 --> 0:35:35.880 He was sitting around the table having dinner with Jesus 0:35:35.960 --> 0:35:38.440 one time. Jesus said, all of you are going to 0:35:38.480 --> 0:35:40.719 fall away. Look what Peter said? What's that other verse 0:35:40.760 --> 0:35:43.120 I gave you Mark fourteen? I think I gave that 0:35:43.160 --> 0:35:45.600 to them this morning. Yeah, because the Lord was speaking 0:35:45.600 --> 0:35:48.080 to me. I appreciate this message one time before, but 0:35:48.200 --> 0:35:50.439 the Lord was speaking to me about it for this 0:35:50.640 --> 0:35:55.040 particular group, and he reminded me what Peter. 0:35:54.920 --> 0:35:56.319 Said when Jesus said, you. 0:35:56.280 --> 0:35:59.960 Know, you're all going to hit rock bottle, Because sometimes 0:36:00.040 --> 0:36:02.759 the only way for you to find your foundation is 0:36:02.800 --> 0:36:07.520 to hit rock bottom. Sometimes that's the best place to 0:36:07.560 --> 0:36:11.239 build from. Sometimes that's the best place to lead from. 0:36:11.600 --> 0:36:14.800 Sometimes that's the best place to be a better husband from. 0:36:15.000 --> 0:36:18.520 Is the place of Lord save me. Not call me 0:36:18.640 --> 0:36:21.279 to come and I'll come, but Lord save me. And 0:36:21.280 --> 0:36:25.399 then the hand of God gets involved. But Peter didn't 0:36:25.440 --> 0:36:30.000 know this, and so he sitting around the table. 0:36:30.040 --> 0:36:36.719 He says, Uh, even if all fall away, I will not, 0:36:39.160 --> 0:36:40.960 I will not. 0:36:43.520 --> 0:36:45.839 I will not, Jesus said, before the rooster even gets 0:36:45.840 --> 0:36:48.000 his second crow out of his mouth, You're gonna be 0:36:48.040 --> 0:36:49.600 telling people you don't even know me. 0:36:51.160 --> 0:36:55.080 And that's exactly what happened. And Jesus warned Peter of 0:36:55.120 --> 0:36:55.520 the attack. 0:36:55.560 --> 0:36:57.560 And sometimes we don't listen and we don't hear, so 0:36:57.560 --> 0:36:59.440 we're surprised when it comes and we act like this, 0:37:00.040 --> 0:37:01.879 We act like it's an ambush when it's when it's 0:37:01.920 --> 0:37:04.160 really it's really normal. 0:37:05.280 --> 0:37:10.520 It's normal to be attacked. It's normal, Jesus told Peter. 0:37:11.840 --> 0:37:15.759 Satan has asked for all of you, and specifically, he's 0:37:15.800 --> 0:37:19.319 asked for you to sift you as we to sort 0:37:19.360 --> 0:37:22.680 out what's real from what's not real. But I pray 0:37:22.760 --> 0:37:30.640 for you, Peter. I pray for you, Peter. You're gonna fail, Peter, 0:37:31.560 --> 0:37:37.920 but I'm not. You are shaky at best, Peter, but 0:37:38.040 --> 0:37:42.480 I am a solid rock at the bottom of your failure. 0:37:43.480 --> 0:37:44.640 I pray for you, Peter. 0:37:46.680 --> 0:37:51.440 And now, Peter writes decades later, to a church under attack, 0:37:52.680 --> 0:37:54.359 humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. 0:37:54.440 --> 0:37:57.560 For your enemy the devil. What's he like. 0:37:57.600 --> 0:38:02.160 He's like a roaring lion. He's looking for somebody to devour. 0:38:03.400 --> 0:38:05.640 He's looking for somebody who he can shred to pieces 0:38:05.680 --> 0:38:09.600 with doubt and fear and selfishness. 0:38:09.640 --> 0:38:11.680 He's looking for somebody that he can get to walk away. 0:38:12.160 --> 0:38:15.600 And as a pastor, I'm just sick of having to 0:38:15.600 --> 0:38:17.960 make phone calls and visits for people every week who 0:38:18.040 --> 0:38:23.480 are being devoured by the enemy. So Peter says, this 0:38:23.560 --> 0:38:27.879 is a time for resistance. This is not a time 0:38:27.920 --> 0:38:29.799 for you to run. This is a time for you 0:38:29.880 --> 0:38:33.600 to resist. Yeah, but he's a lion, Okay. He is 0:38:33.640 --> 0:38:37.680 a lion, and he might be licking his lips, and 0:38:37.719 --> 0:38:41.360 his fangs might be sharp, and he might have you 0:38:41.440 --> 0:38:44.360 in his sight, and you might have failed, and you 0:38:44.440 --> 0:38:46.520 might have done it, and you might be going down. 0:38:47.560 --> 0:38:48.520 But you need to know. 0:38:48.560 --> 0:38:52.800 One thing about this lion, Peter says, is that after 0:38:52.920 --> 0:38:58.080 you have suffered a little while, God himself will step 0:38:58.120 --> 0:39:05.120 in and restoy you and make you strong. He's a lion, 0:39:06.600 --> 0:39:09.880 but the lion is on a leash. He can only 0:39:09.960 --> 0:39:14.160 go so far, he can only do so much. He 0:39:14.320 --> 0:39:18.680 can't keep you down forever. Humble yourself under the hand 0:39:18.719 --> 0:39:22.480 of God. And in due time, come on. 0:39:22.600 --> 0:39:25.600 This is somebody's still tied. This is it. 0:39:26.000 --> 0:39:29.680 Anxiety stops here, Depression stops here. 0:39:30.280 --> 0:39:31.600 There stops here. 0:39:32.200 --> 0:39:41.799 In due time, he will lift you up. Feel the 0:39:41.840 --> 0:39:45.359 hand of God reaching down for somebody today you've been 0:39:45.400 --> 0:39:48.120 going down. If it's you, lift your hand. If this 0:39:48.239 --> 0:39:51.320 you lift your hand. If this message was straight to you, 0:39:51.360 --> 0:39:52.680 stand up on your feet. 0:39:52.440 --> 0:39:54.160 Lift both your hands in the air. 0:39:54.280 --> 0:39:57.640 If this message was straight to you, straight to you, 0:39:57.680 --> 0:40:00.600 straight to your heart, straight to what you've been dealing with, 0:40:00.960 --> 0:40:02.760 straight to the battle you've been fighting. 0:40:03.000 --> 0:40:04.239 Lift your hands. God. 0:40:04.320 --> 0:40:07.440 We thank you for your hand of favor, your hand 0:40:07.480 --> 0:40:11.480 of provision, your hand of protection, your hand of power, 0:40:11.760 --> 0:40:15.880 your hand of purpose. We humble ourselves under your hand today. 0:40:16.239 --> 0:40:18.279 We know that the lion is loud, but we know 0:40:18.360 --> 0:40:21.360 that the suffering won't last long. It is not worthy 0:40:21.400 --> 0:40:24.200 to be compared with the glory that will be revealed 0:40:24.239 --> 0:40:24.640 to us. 0:40:25.000 --> 0:40:25.839 So we look it in. 0:40:25.800 --> 0:40:28.960 The face today and we declare the name of Jesus 0:40:29.520 --> 0:40:33.520 is greater. The name of Jesus is higher. You have 0:40:33.600 --> 0:40:37.239 all power in your hand, all authority on heaven and 0:40:37.239 --> 0:40:40.439 an earth has been given to you. Now lift your 0:40:40.480 --> 0:40:44.920 people God, Lift your people. Lift your people, as we 0:40:45.080 --> 0:40:48.680 lift you up in this place. Lift their heads, God, 0:40:49.239 --> 0:40:54.880 lift their heads. Fry their tears, calm their hearts. Speak 0:40:54.920 --> 0:40:58.120 to the storm, and the storm will cease. 0:40:58.760 --> 0:41:08.000 We declare in the name of Jesus, this is our 0:41:08.120 --> 0:41:08.680 due time. 0:41:12.320 --> 0:41:18.400 Trouble won't last always, and the enemies that we're afraid 0:41:18.400 --> 0:41:22.160 of today will be our testimonies in our tomorrow. 0:41:22.520 --> 0:41:27.920 I'm gonna say that again. The enemies that you fear today. 0:41:29.600 --> 0:41:38.080 Will be your testimony of triumph in your tomorrow. God said, 0:41:38.080 --> 0:41:41.560 it's just a little while. The God who has called 0:41:41.560 --> 0:41:46.560 you into his eternal glory what lasts forever. After you've 0:41:46.600 --> 0:41:50.680 suffered a little while, he himself will restore you. 0:41:52.200 --> 0:41:55.400 Peter said, I know about it because I've been there. 0:41:56.719 --> 0:42:00.719 I've had me at the center. Was so bad. I 0:42:00.719 --> 0:42:02.160 didn't know if I could ever bounce back. 0:42:02.200 --> 0:42:04.480 I went back to my fishing business because I figured 0:42:04.960 --> 0:42:06.520 God didn't have any more use for me. 0:42:08.040 --> 0:42:11.280 But when I was going down, that's where I found 0:42:11.320 --> 0:42:15.560 his hand. When I was going down, that's when he 0:42:15.640 --> 0:42:16.400 reached out to me. 0:42:18.239 --> 0:42:20.400 Just when it looked like the lion had me in 0:42:20.480 --> 0:42:23.839 his sights, That's when the God of all Grace, the 0:42:23.840 --> 0:42:27.279 God of all provision, the God of all power. Do 0:42:27.400 --> 0:42:31.960 I have a witness that immediately he reached down and 0:42:32.080 --> 0:42:32.719 picked you up. 0:42:33.760 --> 0:42:34.680 Come on, Let's. 0:42:34.480 --> 0:42:38.359 Call on his name, Tonate, Let's call on his name, 0:42:39.800 --> 0:42:42.359 Savior of the world. 0:42:42.360 --> 0:42:56.319 Call on his name, see Jesus, to thank you for 0:42:56.400 --> 0:42:57.000 joining us. 0:42:57.320 --> 0:42:59.719 Special thanks to those of you who give generously to 0:42:59.760 --> 0:43:03.320 this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. 0:43:03.760 --> 0:43:06.239 You can click the link in the description to give now, 0:43:06.840 --> 0:43:10.719 or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information 0:43:11.239 --> 0:43:13.879 and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. 0:43:14.280 --> 0:43:15.600 You can share it with your friends. 0:43:15.920 --> 0:43:18.200 You can click the share button, take a screenshot and 0:43:18.239 --> 0:43:20.359 share it on your social stories and tag us at 0:43:20.360 --> 0:43:21.239 Elevation Church. 0:43:21.280 --> 0:43:27.320 Thanks again for listening. God bless you.