How to Overcome Worry & Anxiety -

in the lobby area over by the welcome center. And we're going to be in Matthew 6. And as We will also have it on the screens. I want to give you some context. If you've missed on the Mount, it is go time. Anybody believe it's time to reach some people for Jesus? Anybody believe that this morning? So Jesus was doing some miracles. He was casting out demons and healing people and feeding people. And it is believed that there were, there were probably tens of thousands of people at this point that were pressing in on him, following him at a distance to watch what he was doing and watch what was taking place in these towns. And there's this moment where Jesus withdraws and the word says that Jesus saw the crowds. He went up on the mountainside and he sat down and his disciples came to him and began to teach them. So we're going to pick up in Matthew 6 verse 25 and we will read, this will be the main text we read this morning. In verse 25 chapter 6 it says, "Therefore I tell you do not worry about your life." And all God's people said, amen. This word worry for a moment I want to pause and this word used here in the original language, it means to be divided, to be pulled apart and to be fragmented. Like this is what it looks like in our life. Like when we're worried, how is this going to go? How is this going to turn out? Is this ever going to end? What's going to happen? Why did they say that? Why did they look at me this way? Well, what if? What if? Will we ever have enough? Is it always going to be this way? Jesus starts this entire teaching with this simple statement, do not worry about your life. What you will eat and drink or about your body. What you will wear isn't life more than food and the body more than clothes. Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or store away in barns and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any of you by worrying at a single hour to your life? There's actually been studies that show that worrying does the opposite. And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin yet. I tell you that even Solomon and all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God closed the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, you of little faith. So do not worry. Do not worry saying what shall we eat and what shall we drink and what shall we wear for the pagans run after these things and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. But, everybody say but, seek first the kingdom and righteousness

and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow. Or tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Everybody take a big deep breath and breathe out. Can we all agree this morning we need this reminder? Like I want you to write this down. Do not worry about your life. Do not worry about your life today. I want to make this as practical as possible. And so we're going to identify that there is a problem, that there is a root to that problem, there is a solution, there's a practice for us to put into place and there is a promise that we can cling to. If you're ready, say I'm ready. So in this life, there's an obvious problem. It's the ultimate root. It's sin. And because of sin, we live in a broken world which causes us uncertainty and confusion. I think Jesus is very aware of our sin. He's very aware of our brokenness. Jesus knew that we would worry that it would be one of the biggest temptations that we would have on this side of eternity as human beings. And he says, I tell you, do not worry about your life. So this is where we find the problem in the root. The problem here, I want to make this really clear, the problem here is not worry or anxiety. I'm going to kind of work those in together today as the same thing. The problem here, and I want you to write this down, the problem is a desire for control. Listen, we want so badly to be in control of our life. Spurgeon said it really well, by worrying, we are tearing ourselves apart Man, so much of our life is spent grasping for control, white knuckling around control that when we realize that when we are not in control, it will either bring us great peace or great worry. One of those is from God, one of them is not. Anxiety or worry, if we want a working definition today, it is a complex emotion that all of humanity experiences. It's a feeling of fear, dread, and uneasiness. It might even cause you to feel restless, intense, and it will increase your heart rate, increase your breathing. This is how many of us react to the stress that life brings. There's many things that cause anxiety. There's a long list, but here's a few upcoming deadlines. Deadlines, even as I said that, some of you are like, "Oh, man, tomorrow."

Sorry about that. Final tests, revisiting pain from your past, when you need to have a hard conversation with somebody. Uncertainty about the future or your life, when you've got a lot going on at once, you feel pressed on every side, your kids and your marriage, and even the razorbacks at times. All of us agree. Listen, for some of you, anxiety comes just the thought of logging into your bank account on the mobile app, because it's a crapshoot every time. Because you don't have a budget. Worry. For some of you, it's when you're driving too fast and you see that cop car. And you start acting really weird. Like, you wave that and you've never waved before. It's like, "Stop it. This is weird." Worry. It's when your spouse says, "Hey, babe, we need to talk." Worry sets in. I know for me, it's when Kendra is driving and I'm in the vehicle. Worry sets in. But on a serious note, as a pastor, every single day, this is a temptation for me. This is a temptation for me to worry and to be anxious and to be fearful, the pastoring and planning and managing and dealing with people. Imagine that, right? It's conflict resolution. It's putting out fires. It's divorces and custody battles. But then there's good things and there's marriages and there's wins in life. And there's great. There's all of these things piled into one day. One pastor told me, he said, "Seth, you need to learn this early on, buddy. There is no one day in ministry that will be alike."

I'm like, "Sounds like an adventure." I say all that to tell you, if you are here and you are wrestling with worry and wrestling with anxious thoughts, you are not alone. Can I have an amen church? You're not alone. You're in good company. But I believe to experience worry or to experience anxiety is simply to be human. But I want to say this boldly. You are not identified by the thing that you experience. When I am most anxious, I am the least productive. I don't know about anybody else. I will begin to create situations in my mind that literally will probably never happen. I've said this before years past that some of the most creative people in the world are some of the most anxious people in the world. I'll tell you how this looks. I have the ability to travel into the future in my mind, to create a potential problem that does not currently exist, stress about that problem, and then go to the future, try to solve the problem that probably will never happen. And then I come back to reality with all of that baggage with me and I worry until it comes and most likely won't. Does anybody else do this? Oh, we're creative. I will create scenarios next week and next month and next year, years to come and completely lose focus of what is right in front of me today. And when I do this, this is what happens. It robs me up today's blessings because I'm too busy carrying tomorrow's burdens. I want to say it this way. Worry is carrying tomorrow's burdens with today's strength. And it's exhausting.

It will leave you empty. There is a holistic approach to this. This isn't a one's shoe fits all thing, but I want to tell you it's body, soul, spirit. I'm going to give you a few of these, but we're going to lean into the last one. Physically, you can go outside, get some sunlight. I highly encourage you to do that. Exercise daily. Can I have an amen? I'm working on once a week right now. We're making progress, okay? These ribs. Better sleep. Less caffeine. Better eating. Relationally letting friends help you and support you and encourage you, having people to lean on to help you carry burdens. to help disciple you. I'm a huge advocate of counseling. This last season counseling literally saved my life. It was a game changer for me. And this counselor helped me reframe the way that I see everything. But today I want to lean into the spiritual. There's a lot that God has to say about this in the Word of God. So listen, I want you to write this down. And worry is a byproduct of desiring control and misplacing our trust. Desiring control and misplacing our trust.

Listen, I want control so bad that I will begin to put trust in myself and trust in my plans or trust in circumstances more than God. In my life, there have been many times I felt like God was not moving quick enough. So I decided to grab the steering wheel. Has anybody else struggled with this? Oh, y'all are so good girl. Oh, great Christians. I want to take control. And so it's like, it's not happening like I think it should. So I'm going to step in and I'm going to move into action. This is a bad way to live your life, by the way. We think to ourselves like, God, where are you at? What are you doing? Maybe you have felt this way before like God is asleep in the middle of a storm in your life. Like, are you ever going to answer? Are we ever going to see the end of this? Like, do you even, like, do you even care? There's a moment in scripture shortly after this sermon on the Mount that takes place. And I'm just going to visit this shortly and we'll continue. Luke 822, it says one day Jesus said to his disciples, let's go over to the other side of the lake. It's important to remember that because Jesus, when he says we're going to do something, he's a man of his word. Can I have an amen? So there's no need to worry in the middle of a storm

because if Jesus says you're going to the other side, you're going to the other side. So they got into the boat, they set out and they sailed and look at this, I love this. Jesus fell asleep, come on, I love a good nap. And a squall came down on the lake so that the boat was being swamped and they were in great danger. The disciples went and they woke him saying, master, master, we are going to drown. So he got up and he rebuked the wind and the raging waters and the storm subsided and all was calm and this is what he says, where is your faith? He asked the disciples in fear and amazement, they asked one another, who is this? Even he commands even the winds and the water and they obey him. Well, this was not some wimpy storm. These guys are, most of them professional fishermen, they've been on the water, they know the water, they know the boats, they've been in many, many storms. This was terrifying to them. Enough for them to freak out and yell, master, master. We are going to drown. Has anybody ever said this kind of like, honestly with God before? Like, I don't know if you're watching, but this ain't going well down here. It's important that you see this word master.

It matters because here's the tension in this story. They call him master with their mouth, but their actions show us that the storm has mastered their hearts. So often in my life, I can honor God with my lips, but dishonor him with my life. This is not some random one-off situation that's found in scripture. This is the human condition. This is the brokenness of humanity. This is sin that entered into the earth and has corrupted each and every one of us. Listen, we are really, really good at declaring Jesus as Lord and master with our mouth while our life says otherwise. It looks like this, Jesus, your Lord. But listen, when you don't get the job, when you didn't get the promotion or the raise or the position or however you thought it would go. And so now I'm anxious and I'm grasping for control 'cause it seems like God isn't really here. It looks like this, Jesus, your Lord. But then the diagnosis comes back and it's not like we thought it would be. The kids are sick again. Another hospital visit. So now we're fearful of the future. Jesus, your Lord, but then a moment of anxiety spikes through the roof and now we're running around and we are worrying ourselves to death.

Listen, church, I get it. Just this last couple of weeks within 48 hours, my transmission blew up on the way back from Bentonville on the interstate. I just like hosted off on the side of the road and ended up going to a meeting and just had him a car towed. Within 48 hours, transmission blows up and I broke four ribs, I will say. One of those was self-inflicted. He can't blame God for everything, people come on. (laughs) I take full responsibility, Lord. But I'm literally laying on the ground after shattering my ribs, riding a snowboard. I've never snowboarded my entire life. (audience laughing) And all I'm thinking is this, my ribs are broke, my car is broke, and your boy about to be broke. God, do you see this? Like, I'm having this dialogue. You can ask some of my friends that were there. I was literally laying on the ground, I was like, first my transmission. Now my ribs, like literally, it's on video, okay? I'm not showing you all that video. (audience laughing) But in those moments, please hear me. We have a choice to make.

I can trust in God, or I can trust in myself, or place it somewhere else. So here's the deal, if he's my master, he masters what comes out of my mouth. If he's my master, he masters what comes out of my life. If he's my master, he masters the storm that seems like it's mastering me. He is in control. God does not cause every storm, but he can use every storm. And if we would take a moment and just say God, I know this isn't going well, but I trust you, it would change the way that we see everything. So Jesus shows up, he calms the storm. He looks at the disciples who were melting in fear. He says, "Where is your faith?" Not, "Why do you guys not have any faith?" I wanna ask you, if somebody shows up, this happens all the time, they're like, "Where's your wife?" They're not asking me, "Do I have a wife?" They're wanting to know where Kendra is. This happens everywhere we go. They don't care that I'm there. Where's where's Kendra? And I'm like, "Well, she, you know, she's..." I have a wife, she's just not there. She's somewhere else. Well, where's your car? It doesn't mean I don't have a car, this means it's in the shop getting transmission fixed, okay? So when someone says, "Where is your faith?"

It does not mean you don't have faith, it means your faith is somewhere else. So Jesus says, "Where is your faith?" A lot of people read this, say, "Well, the disciples didn't have any faith." No, they had faith. It was just somewhere else. Jesus is not saying you don't have faith. It's just been placed in something else. Your trust has been misplaced. And because of our desire for control, we want it so badly that we stop trusting in the Lord. You may be here today worried to death about something that is coming up this next week or this next year, whatever the case may be. It could be a person or a situation or a circumstance. It could be financial. It could be about your marriage or a relationship or whatever it may be. Listen, ultimately, this worry and this anxiety is caused by us desiring control. So there's a problem. I think we can all agree. There's a root to the problem. So there must mean that there's a solution. This is the solution. It's found in that same passage, but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow

for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. This is what Pride says. Pride says, my way, I've got this. This is what prayer says. Prayer says his way, God's got this. Do you see the difference here? We must respond in prayer and not pride. I spoke a sermon about anxiousness and anxiety a couple of years ago. And the night before the message I called Pastor Mason, I was like, I had this moment where I was like, man, a Chinese finger trap would be a really good illustration. So I called Mason and I said, dude, I have a really random question. Do you have a Chinese finger trap anywhere? He's like, yeah, I just have him laying around. I said, can you please go find one for me? So him being such a mighty man of God, he went to go find one. I just imagined him walking here. Y'all got anywhere with Chinese finger traps over around here? So he calls me, he's like, man, I have any luck. I said, well, you need to go check your cheese. But I want you to know, you can't buy prizes. You're going to have to play some games. (laughing) Oh, that hurt. You're going to have to play some games

and you're going to have to win one. Okay, we didn't, the moral of the story here is we didn't get a Chinese finger trap. But as a kid, I would play with these and I would always like panic when they're stuck on my fingers and y'all know, you put them on there and then you try to pull away. And the more that you pull away, the more that you resist, the more pressure, the worse it gets. If the tension increases, the more you pull away. The problem increases, the more that you resist. I want to give you this visual as soon as you relax and you just release, you're out of that thing. And I think that's a word for somebody today. I don't want God's help. I don't want anyone else's help. One of the most dangerous things you can say in this life in your relationship with God is, I've got this. Listen, hey, news flash, you don't. (laughs) I don't. We don't. We need the Lord. Second Corinthians, I love what Paul says in chapter 12, but he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you. Man, this minister to me this week. For my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me.

That is why for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties, look at this. For when I'm weak, I am strong. With pride in our own strength, we resist God. But with prayer in our weakness, we release it to God. I'm bleeding with you today to not be arrogant and prideful, walking around life like you've got it figured out because you don't. I don't, we don't, we need God. We've got to release it to God. It looks like this God. Maybe you're not familiar with prayer. Just do this God, I really need your help. I'm giving you this thing. I'm releasing, my hands are open and I want you to know that posture is completely counter-cultural. Because the world says you need to be strong. When's the last time you saw a resume with someone's weaknesses, all their weaknesses? Yeah, really bad at this, really bad at this, really bad at this, really, you ain't getting that job. I at least, I don't think so. It's interesting, strength looks really good in this economy, but weakness looks really good in God's economy. Today I encourage you to come to God in your brokenness, in your weakness, and then listen, this is a promise from God, you will be made strong. He says, do not be anxious about anything.

It's really easy to read scriptures like this and just get frustrated, it's really easy for you to say, no, I think Paul could probably talk about this. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your request to God in the peace of God which transcends all understanding, it'll guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Listen, this is from a heart, I am not negating what a doctor has told you about anxiety in your life. But what I am telling you is that if God says that I can be free from something, you better believe I believe that I can be free from something. Listen, I want you to try this this week, take that thought captive, submit it to God, make it obedient to Christ, the peace of God that transcends all understanding, it'll guard your hearts and your minds. And listen, you just begin to think about God things you will see a change. I want to encourage you just because you're worried doesn't mean that you're defeated. Worry should be a signal, I love, a pastor said this, worry should be a signal that alerts for you to pray. Worry should alert us, it's like an alarm going off, it's time to lean on the Lord and not on your, your understanding, y'all remember that old song, ♪ I lean on me when you're not strong ♪ ♪ I'll be a friend ♪

I just think, you know how it keeps it in the heart. (congregation laughs) I just think God may be singing that song. But instead you're thinking, man, I'll just lean on myself, did you know you physically? I don't think so, I don't think you can like physically lean on yourself. I don't know how that works, you know? You need people in your life. You need the Lord in your life to lean on anxiety, maybe your current reality, but anxiety is not your identity. It may be real, like I'm not negating that you feel this way, but it is not who you are. It's not, listen, some of you need to hear this, I'm gonna preach it like I feel it this morning. Come on, in Jesus' name, I believe a cloud will lift off of your life. Stop calling yourself something that God never called you. Listen, if God says I can be free, I can be free in Jesus' name. Listen, because as a child of God, you have the ability to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ. Hear me, church, because if you do not conform to the patterns of this world, you can be transformed by the renewing of your mind. We demolish arguments and everything that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. You see what happens. You start speaking Scripture out, the devil has to flee.

You start speaking the word of God. You think Jesus, if Jesus had to speak the word of God in the wilderness being tempted by Satan, why in the world would we not have to do the same? Those thoughts come, and I'm gonna start saying, oh, I guard my heart above. We are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, and we show others the goodness of God. Why? How do we do that? Because he's called me out of darkness into his glorious light. I'm going to preach my ribs back broken again. Help me, Lord, please. Man, something begins to shift on the inside of us when we speak out the word of God. And I am convinced without a-- you can't prove it otherwise-- that if we would change the way that we think, we could change the way that we live. This is why we meditate on truth and not lies. The scripture, it says in that same passage from Paul. He says, finally, brothers, one of my favorite passages, scripture, whatever is true, and noble, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable, and excellent, and praiseworthy. Anything, it says, think about these things. Now, you may read that, and you're like, well, Seth, that's a long list. How about go remember all of those things? I'm going to help you out this morning. This is Cliff Notes 101.

Jesus is all of these things. He is true. He is noble. He is right. He is pure. He is lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. You don't know what to think about. Think about Jesus. And you will see, you will feel a change. Why? Because you're changing, you're thinking, and when you transform your mind, everything else falls and just think about Jesus. Can I have an amen church? Just meditate on Jesus. Fix your eyes on Jesus. Man, I forgot this at the end of last year, by the way. So much so that I started trying to do stuff in my own strength, newsflash church. We are not strong enough. Instead of presenting God all of my weaknesses and being strong in Him, I'm presenting these strengths, which is a really short list. But there is something about saying, God, I don't have this figured out. Man, I'm as dumb as a boxer, ox, Lord, help me, God. Please, I need to get real with the Lord. I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know how to lead this church. I didn't really see a dad growing up.

I don't know how to be a husband. He's saying, hey, if you'll walk with me, if you will talk with me, if you will walk with me hand in hand, you don't have to know the future. You just need to know who stands in the future. And it's Him. So it's changed everything for me. This is personal to me. This has changed my life. I was reminded of this really silly example of this husband and wife getting ready for Thanksgiving, they're getting all the food ready and the husband, he goes over and he gets the ham and he cuts it in half, cuts the end off of it. He puts it in the oven, throws the other half away. And the wife is just like dumbfounded. She's like, what are you doing? He's like, oh, is that my mom did it? She's like, I'm calling your mom. Figure out what's going on. Calls mom, why'd you cut the end off the ham? Well, that's how my mom always did it. Okay, make a progress. Call grandma. Hey, why cutting the end off the ham? Well, that's how my mom always did. So she's on the phone with great grandma. Why are you cutting the end off the ham? This is what great grandma said, well, my oven was too small.

My oven was too small, and so I would cut the end off and cook it separately. Listen, three generations of wasting ham. Just go with me. For what? None of them even knew what? This is just how we've always done it, this is what I've always seen. Listen, this explains a lot. Cecilia Ostrasio, I just wanna give you a picture as humans. We are sinful, and we have the ability to repeat things that we've seen, and we don't even know why we're doing it. So stop cutting the end off the ham. Are y'all with me? The devil's a liar, and his job is to deceive and distort and manipulate that, which is the truth. He cannot create anything, so he distorts that already is. He manipulates every good thing that God has created. He wants to distort and change, and I'm telling you, he's a liar. He's the deceiver of the brethren. Listen, some of you think, oh yeah, the truth will set me free, partially true. This is what John 832 says. It says when you know the truth, the truth will set you free. Listen, I know a lot of people with a Bible that operates as a cup holder next to their nightstand. That truth can set you free, but it will not set you free. So what am I saying? I am pleading with you to get some scripture in your heart

to fight the evil one. To get, man, you start speaking the word of God. You start speaking the name of Jesus. The devil has to flee. We need to know the word of God in our life. So then there's the practice that God calls us to and the promise I'm gonna end with this. Whatever you have learned or received or heard or seen in me, look at this, put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. Everybody say peace. Hold on, don't leave yet, okay? That was a dad joke. World peace is the absence of conflict. Godly peace, the peace that God offers is His presence in the middle of conflict. I don't want an absence of conflict in my life. God says that you will endure hardships. You will endure pain. You will endure trials and tribulations. But that means I'm on the right road. That means I'm going the right direction. The day you stop facing adversity, you're probably on the wrong team, going the wrong way. And so He says, I want to be the peace that's in the middle of your storm, in the middle of your life. Listen, God's peace is accessible to you today. John says in chapter 14, this is Jesus speaking peace. I leave with you, my peace, I give you.

And I don't give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. Psalm 55, cast your cares on the Lord. And He will sustain you. Man, He will never let the righteous be shaken. Do you know what cast means? It means to aggressively throw in a direction. He's saying, take your worry, take your shame, take your anxiety, take your stress, take your addictions and cast them to the foot of the cross where they belong. And when we say, no, I'm going to hold on to this. What we are saying is that you can have all of that, but I know you died for all that, Jesus, but I'm going to hold on to this thing. Stop coddling your sin. Jesus is saying, lay it at the foot of the cross. This is what He died for. And as we start putting these things into practice, here's the promise, the peace of God, which surpasses all, understanding will be with you. Get you some of that, baby. It'll change your life. I love that Jesus doesn't just give us the peace. We have the gift of peace, but He's saying, He is the giver of peace, and He's saying, I want to be with you. You don't have to walk along. Listen, the desire for control is destroying your life.

I'm speaking from experience. Your desire for control and your misplaced trust and misplaced fear, it is wrecking, it is wreaking havoc on your life. And if it hasn't done it yet, learn from me. You don't have to get to the worst place in your life to come to the Lord. You can either learn from my mistakes or you can learn from your own. I pray you would learn from mine. I had to get to the very, very end of myself to get to the beginning of God. We crave control, but here's the truth. God is in control. Can I have an amen church? So the question today is not, do you have faith? The question ultimately is, where is it? And would you put it in Christ? His peace, he wants to give us a gift to you today. This week I was sitting with my son, Zayn. He's six years old, for those that don't know, he is one of the best gifts God has ever given me. And he came home and from school, he got a new Bible from school, which I'm going to explain this. There's this new ministry, and it's changing lives, kids. And my son has Bibles, but he just wants to read this one. Imagine that, and brings this Bible. There's a ministry called Lifewise Academy and they're getting Bibles and scriptures

in the schools all across state of Arkansas. It started in the period of Arkansas, I believe. Listen, if somebody in this room knows somebody that can help me get this in Fayetteville and Springdale schools, will you please come talk to me after service? But they pick kids up during library hour, lunch hour. They bust them over to local churches. This church will be that, we will do that. We will host kids, we will teach kids scripture, we will love on them, we will feed them. I'm just telling, it's changing my son's heart. Then they come back to school, so he gets in the car, he's got this Bible, and I look back, I'm like, what is that? He's like, I got a Bible, I'm like, awesome, tell me about it. So he begins to tell me, he's like, I've been reading Genesis. So he's been reading, y'all, and it's this amazing thing. And he says, I've been reading Genesis and off and on, they'll last several days. So funny stories have happened from this. He's like, Dad, did you know that God took one of Adam's ribs He said, Dad, did you know that the snake tempted him to eat the fruit and they ate the fruit? And I was like, yeah, that's how we got here, like it's pretty bad, you know. And he's like, well, why did he make the snake crawl on his belly if snakes already crawl on their belly? I'm like, I'm not really trying to have that conversation tonight, you know, like, I don't know, I don't know about that. He's like, he comes, he says, Dad, did you know that Cain killed his brother Abel? And Kendra says, you know, yes, and all I could think about was how that chapter of Scripture begins. In case you forgot, I'm going to remind you, verse 1, Adam made love to his wife and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. I told Kendra, I was like, you filled the rest of these questions.

I'm just like, I don't know what it is, like, do we need some parameters on what he's reading in the Bible? And she said, well, Seth, the Word of God does not return void. I said, okay, when he gets to song a song and we'll see if you've got that same energy, you know. It's like, we need to, like, tape some of those shut for a later time, you know. Listen, Pastor Mason came over a couple nights ago and Zane was sitting on the couch and, you know, he's doing everything to stay awake, not go to bed, and he's got his Bible. He's reading from John 3 and he reads this passage, and so I give him a Scripture to read, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have he turn alive. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him." Now, a lot of people will stop there, but I want my son to know that if there's good news, there's also bad news. And I don't want to pressure him into anything, so I'm believing the Holy Spirit is going to draw him to himself. And so I said, read the next part, "Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only son." I've got a video of this moment. I said, "Buddy, when you give your heart to Jesus, you get a new heart." I said, "He saves you from your sin, he forgives you, he washes you clean, and you get to spend the rest of your life and eternity with him and go to heaven." He said, "Well, Dad, do you have a new heart?" I said, "Yeah, Daddy's got a new heart." He said, "What about Mom?" I was like, "I think so." I said, "Mom's got a new heart." And he said, "Well, do I have a new heart?" I was like, "Not that I'm aware of." And you can just see this resonating with him. He says, "Daddy, well, what does condemned me?" I said, "Well, buddy, whoever puts faith in Jesus and recognizes that they're a sinner that needs his saving grace, they put faith in the resurrection. They believe in their heart, they confess with their mouth, they are saved. If you do that, you're not condemned. But if you don't, you're condemned." He was like, "Well, what does that mean?" I was like, "It means that you're going to go to a bad place."

And he's like, "What's that?" I said, "It's bad." And it's called hell. And he was like, "Are you going to hell?" I was like, "Not that I'm aware of." You know, it's like, "I'm going to heaven." He's like, "Well, what do I have to do?" This is like, man, the innocence of a child out of the mouth of babes. He says, "Well, what do I have to do to go to heaven?" So at that moment, I realized, "I don't want to scare you into this, so we're going to take this easy." And so I just said, "Buddy, you've got to recognize that you are a sinner that needs Jesus to save your life." We talked about sin. We talked about all this, and then he opens his Bible. And listen, this wasn't the night. This story doesn't end with my son giving his life to Christ. It ends with him opening his book. He's like, "Now, where were we?" And so we just continued. I looked at Mason. I was like, "So close." A couple of weeks ago, he's talking about sin. He's like, "I can't believe people sin." And I'm like, "Yeah." It's just so funny to me. And as I shared that story, listen, my prayer is really simple today. It's that the Holy Spirit would minister to you that you would realize you can have a new heart, that you can receive salvation, that you can receive a peace that surpasses all understanding, that you can receive forgiveness of your sin. Some of you are fighting this battle alone, and Jesus is saying, "Stop it. I want to help you."

If you will close your eyes. That's right. I just want you to invite him in. Maybe you've been a follower of Jesus for a long time. Today is the day that you really put your trust in him. Maybe you've misplaced your trust. Today is to come back. Maybe you've never put faith in Jesus. Today is the day of salvation. It was the best decision that I've ever made in my life. This is what the Bible says. "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." Romans 5, "But God demonstrates his own love for us, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 10, "If you declare with your mouth that Jesus is the Lord, and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, that you will be saved. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Acts 4, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven, given to mankind by which we must be saved." Right there with your eyes closed. If that is you this morning, you want to put faith in Jesus. I can't give you something. Instead of resisting the love of God Release it to him. God would you take my sin away? Would you forgive me? Would you wash me clean this morning? I repent which means I turn from my ways and I say yes to your way God Jesus I want to make you the Lord of my life. I want you to save me from my sin. I want a new heart I want a fresh start. I want to stand on solid ground and God. I want access to a peace

That surpasses all understanding and here's the beautiful thing. You do not only receive peace. You receive the giver of peace So right there in your seat just say Jesus will you save me? God we thank you for this morning. I pray for those given their hearts to Jesus I pray they would tell a friend about it God. They would tell a family member that they would come tell one of us God I believe that you are speaking and moving right now in this service and as we begin to worship you through song I pray God that you would remove fear Remove worry and anxiousness from our minds and our hearts and that you would saturate us with trust We need you God in Jesus thing everybody said amen get stand to your feet. Let's worship [MUSIC PLAYING]