Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Anxious for Nothing, Part 2: Praying Through the Pain

Episode Date: August 11, 2019

You weren’t created to exist in a constant state of anxiety. It drains your joy and leaves you stressed, burned out, and exhausted. Your purpose isn’t living in fear. Step boldly into the peace you’ll find when you’re Anxious for Nothing. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, thanks for joining us here at Life Church. For more videos, messages, and content, be sure to subscribe to our channels or a great way to stay connected throughout the weekend. Everywhere you go is the Life Church app. It's free and available wherever you download your apps from. Right now, let's go to our senior pastor Craig Rochelle for this week's message. I am incredibly thankful to have all of you today gathering at all of our different Life Search locations. We're in a message series that I believe is very, very important for so many people. quite honestly, it's very important for me. The message series is called Anxious for Nothing,

and the title of today's message is praying through the pain. Praying through the pain. We're looking at Philippians chapter four before we dive into the text that we're using to start our series every single week. I want to just acknowledge something that many of you may not have thought about, but it's very true in our lives. oftentimes the biggest battles that we're going through are battles that other people just don't see.

So often the battles that we're fighting are battles in our own minds. We often will show on the outside that we look confident while on the inside we're secretly insecure or we're struggling. We can often look like we're strong, but the truth of the matter is we feel weak. We can put on happy face at church.

Praise the Lord, bless you God, kind of stuff, you know, hashtag blessed. Here's my Instagram self. But oftentimes, truthfully, we go home, we feel anxious, we feel worried, we feel a weight, we feel angst, there's a heaviness, there's an insecurity, there's a fear, there's a dread. What do we do when we find ourselves battling with anxiety? Well, our text that's driving us through this message series is Philippians chapter 4. I want to read it to you again today, and I want to read it to you.

remind you as we experience the power of God's word that this was the Apostle Paul writing inspired by the Holy Spirit to his friends in Philippi, but he was writing from a Roman prison. He was chained up 24 hours a day to Roman guards, and he was awaiting trial. He didn't know what was going to happen to him if there was anyone anywhere who had the right to be anxious It was the Apostle Paul and what he was going through. And under that type of duress, here's the words of power, life, and truth that he penned. He said this.

He said, rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice. Let your gentleness be evident to all. Remember last week, the Lord is near. Why does the Lord whisper? He whispers because he's close. The Lord is near. Then the Apostle Paul says, do not be anxious about anything.

Another translation says, be anxious for nothing. Do not be anxious about anything, but in what? Let's say it aloud to all of our church. He said, but in every situation, no matter what you're facing, if you're worried about your job, if you're worried about the economy, if your teenagers are freaking you out no matter what you're going through. In every situation, by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving, Here's what we do. We present our requests to God, and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding,

will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. In every situation, by prayer and petition, we present our request to God. And so let's do that today. Father, I ask that the power of your word and the presence of your spirit would build. our faith today. God, for those who are anxious, would you send your peace? We ask this in the name of your son, Jesus. And everybody said, amen. What is anxiety? What's anxiety? The answer is very, very complicated. There's no easy answer. Anxiety can be physiological, it can be emotional, it can be situational, I would argue, it's always spiritual. Because anxiety is very complicated, we're going to take a holistic approach always to anxiety. In other words, we're always going to pray. We also may seek professional help. We may go to a doctor. We may get advice about supplements or about our diet.

We may, under professional care, take certain medicine. We may seek counseling, which is something that I'm doing right now for anxiety in my life. We're always going to take a holistic approach. For the sake of this time together, I want to focus wholly and completely on the spiritual side because I cannot prescribe medicine to you, nor would you want me to prescribe medicine to you, but I can offer spiritual prescription that I hope will be helpful. Are we clear? We're going to be holistic, but today we're talking very, very pointed toward spiritual. What is anxiety? I'll try to explain it this way. How many of you ever had one of the annoying red lights come on your car that indicates there's trouble? Any of you have that?

That gives me anxiety anytime the check engine light comes on. What is the check engine light? The check engine light is not the problem. The check engine light signals that there's a problem somewhere else. The signal indicates that if you're smart, you should take the car to the man. manufacturer, take it to the one who made it because the one who created it is the one who knows how to fix it. The light is not the problem. The light is a signal indicating you should take it to someone who knows how to address the situation. What is anxiety? Among many things, anxiety is a signal

alerting you that it's time to pray. Let me say it again. It's the signal, it's the alert, is the indicator that something else is not right, that you would be wise to go to the manufacturer, go to your creator, go to the one who made you, anxiety is a signal alerting you that it's time to pray. In other words, if it's big enough to worry about, it's big enough to pray about. If it's on your mind, it's on God's heart. Be anxious about nothing, but in every situation, take your request to God. If you're worried about your upcoming doctor's appointment, pray about it. If you're worried about a decision that you need to make, pray about it.

If you're worried about going back to school, who's going to be in my class, what teacher am I going to get? Are the kids going to be nice to be? Pray about it. If you're worried about your kid going back to class because you don't know how you're going to afford the scientific calculator that cost the same as a used Honda Civic. Pray about it. If it's on your mind, it's on God's heart.

Take your request to God. Here's something I've learned after being a pastor. I used to just say pray, and then I recognize that a lot of people honestly just don't know how to pray. They're kind of wondering, like, what are the prayer rules? You know, how do I address God? Is he like the omnipotent creator? Is he daddy? I mean, what do I call him?

Do I have to pray in like King James language, or it doesn't count? How do I sign off? Do I say in Jesus' name, name and Father, Son, the Holy Spirit? Does you get mad if I don't do? What if I fall asleep praying? Have I offended God and I'm in prayer time out for the next seven weeks? He won't listen to my prayer. What are the prayer rules? You have to pray in King James language. Harkening into the voice of my cry, oh God, hide not thyself from my supplication. You don't have to do that. You don't have to pray to a relational God who loves you in a formal language. He loves you. It can be intimidating, honestly. I don't know if any of you have ever been around, like, prayer ninjas. People with, like, the spiritual gift of prayer, like, they pray and God goes like, dude, that was good. Wow, hey. Yeah, like, that sucks.

That was a good prayer. I mean, they're, like, they quote scripture, you know, like, you know, like, and they know where it is in the Bible, you know, stuff like, and they can find the book in the Bible. You're like, God, you said in Isaiah 5417, you know. no weapon formed against me will prosper. You're like, whoa, that's good. I remember when I was a brand new Christian trying to do that. There was just one guy, he was like so powerful and eloquent.

And so I was trying like I was like, God, you know, you're so good. Yes, you're so good. You're good to the last drop, God. You're like a good neighbor. You're always be there. Now, I didn't know how to do it, but with everything in me, I was trying. Like, here's a good prayer, God. How do you pray?

Listen to what scripture says, and I want to give you a little insight to what Paul said. He said, he said, pray about everything. God cares about it. He said, present your requests to God. I don't love that translation. There's different ways this text is written in Greek, and so scholars determine here's the best way I think it should be translated. That's why there's different versions of the Bible, there's different translations. In my opinion, that's a little bit more formal than what the text is saying.

What the text really is saying is this. How do you pray? The text is saying, let your needs be known. That's what it's saying. Present your request to God. It's let your needs be known. How do we do that? It's very simple.

You get ready for it. Let your needs be known. You talk to God. In your way. In other words, it doesn't have to be in my way. It doesn't have to be in prayer ninja's way. It's just in your way. For example, we have six kids.

If you're new here, you must say, you must really love kids. Eh, they're okay. I really love their mama. And all God's people said, my kids hate that joke, but they know I really love them. And here's what's interesting. They all let their needs be known to me in their own creative and unique ways. They're all very different in how they let their needs be known.

I'm going to introduce them to you via photos, and I'm going to tell you how they let their needs be known. My oldest daughter, Katie, she lets her needs be known on texts. She'll text me whatever she knows. needs and the texts are short, they're direct, they're to the point, and they're always very loving. Mandy doesn't text her needs, she calls. And the average Mandy call lasts about 43 minutes. She's a talker. Then there's Sam, and, sorry, there's Anna next. There's six of them. They're hard to keep straight. You, whatever your name is, stop that, okay? There's Anna. Anna recently got married, Anna presents and brings data and flip charts and proves her case and won't let anyone

back out. Then there's Sam. Sam waits until 10.30 at night comes into our bedroom to talk for a long period of time, which honestly, that's not the ideal time to come into our bedroom, because often we are planning some very intense prayer time. Then there's Stephen, and what he does is he's like a little attorney. He's smarter than anybody in the room. He's three moves ahead of me. He's already got his defense, and he wins when he walks in the room. Then there's Joy.

Joy will ask, text, call, come into the room, sing, shout, beg. She never surrenders, and she gets what she wants because she's the baby of the family. and everybody's favorite, just ask her and she will tell you. They're all creative and they're all unique, and that's how you can talk to God. You can ask him, you can write your prayer request to him, you can sing your prayer request to him, you can sigh, he knows your heart. You can shout with joy, you can shout with anger.

Believe me, he's big enough to handle your temper tantrum. And here's what I want you to know. I'm a dad, and as an earthly father, I actually like when my children need me. Don't tell them I said that, but I do. I want to be needed, and God who loves you as your heavenly father, loves for you to come to him and let your needs be known. In every situation with prayer and petition, let your needs be known to God.

What is anxiety? It's a signal alerting you to go to the one who loves you, go to the one who created you, go to the one who can help you. It's a signal alerting you. It's time to pray. I love the way that Peter

talked about how to handle anxiety. Peter is a guy that probably did have anxiety if you looked at the way he lived his life. And this is what he said to do when you're anxious. He said in 1 Peter 5, verse 6 and 7, he said, humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand. Focus on the hand.

We're going to come back to this, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Then he said, cast all your anxiety. Do you feel anxious? Do you feel weight? Do you feel afraid? We're going to approach it holistically.

but we're always going to take it to God, and we're going to cast our anxiety on him because he cares for us. What do you do? You humble yourselves, and you pray. This is what I've been doing more than you can imagine. If you were here with us last week, I got kind of open with you,

and I really appreciate you not freaking out and leaving the church and run out and going to our pastors and counseling. Yes, you're pastor in counseling. I've been battling with unusual anxiety. This is not normal for me, but it's been real enough to get help. The doctor I'm working with is a performance psychologist, and so he's helping me not just look within, but to perform at a higher level, and it's incredibly helpful.

Here's what I've been going through. I'm just going to kind of unpack it for you, and what I'm going to tell you this, it's not to complain, and it's not to say, my world is any more difficult than anyone else's. Everybody's got their stuff. Let me say it again. Everybody's got their stuff, right?

We all do, we all do. My world's not harder. It's just different. What I'm going to tell you is I'm not bragging, I'm not complaining. This is just what's been giving me this anxiety to a point where I have a hard time breathing and I'm not functioning the way that I want to. Over the next two months, I have 16 or 17 messages to write and preach. And they're all new.

That's not easy. Okay? You've got to be creative. Every time I read the Bible, David always beats Goliath. Every time. Christmas is a virgin, Easter, it's an empty tomb.

Got to be creative, and it's like, can we change it? No, we can't change it. So every year. And just to give you insight into my world, it takes me from start to finish, from concept to research,

to digging into the text, to illustrating, to personalizing, to checking with other people, to make sure I'm not omitting a group of people, to finalizing, to internalizing. It's about a 12 to 16-hour process. Sometime, it will drift up to 20 hours. So I've got about 16 messages. I'll show you, just as my board,

I always keep this board for two months ahead. So you'll see Anxious 1, Anxious 2, Anxious 3, and then the Global Leadership Summit. I did the opening and closing talk. Just to help you feel the pressure is translated into 60, languages and goes to about 450,000 people, I feel the pressure. This week there's all staff, then there's a September series in the conferences and such. And so I've got about 22 days worth of study time that I need in the next two months. And I have only 11 on the calendar. Because

contrary to popular belief, pastors actually do more than just preach on Sunday. Just saying, Okay. So I have what is according to my schedule an impossible situation, meaning that doesn't work. So what I've been doing now for the last year or so is I've been cheating earlier and later, meaning kids go to bed, I work until late, or I get up, and Amy will tell you she's not happy about it, and it's not sustainable, but I will be in the office oftentimes at 3.30 or 4 a.m. in the morning because that's what it takes. That's not good. anxiety. Too much. Pressure. Here's how I'm dealing with it.

I am a tither. I'm a tyler. What I believe with all of my heart is that God owns everything, but everything that he gives me the first 10% is devoted to him. If I worship him with the first 10% of what he gives to me, scripture says that he blesses the rest and pours out blessings. on me in ways of provision and not just monetarily, but in all sorts of way. So for all 28 years of our marriage, we've always put the first 10% toward God and believe that he would bless the rest.

I'm taking that principle according to help with my counselor, and I'm applying it to preaching, which is, I don't have time to spend a lot of time in prayer. When I get up in the morning, I speed in, I take two steps at a time. I'm telling you, every minute of my day counts. If I'm on an airplane, you might be watching a movie. I'm working on a sermon every minute counts. I'm now tithing time and prayer. Meaning, instead of working longer, I'm praying longer when I don't feel like I have the time

believing that if I'll prepare my heart, God will help prepare the message. The message that you're hearing right now has about five hours less time than a normal message. my hope is that you don't say, well, it shows, pastor, get up at two in the morning. I hope that that doesn't show because in my heart, what I'm saying is rather than working harder, I'm going to believe more. Rather than trying to produce my way through it, I'm going to pray my way through it,

I'm going to tie this time, and I'm going to trust God to be my provision. I'm going to pray about everything. I don't know how this would apply to you, but when ever, there's anxiety, it's a signal. Alerting you, it's time to go to the one who cares about you. It's time to seek God in prayer. Do you feel down? Do you feel depleted?

Do you feel like there's too much and you're sinking? Peter said, humble yourself, therefore under God's mighty hand, I love this imagery, that he might lift you up. That will mean so much more to you. if you recognize who was writing this. Peter was writing this. Peter was the one who was in a boat with all the other disciples and had the audacity to believe that he could get out of the boat and walk toward Jesus on water, which he did. He's walking on water, and when he saw the wind and the waves,

the anxiety took over, he took his eyes off Jesus, and he started to sink. And then what did Jesus do? Jesus didn't say, you no good, faithless guy. No, Jesus reached out his hand. Humble yourselves under his mighty hand that he may lift you up in due time when you go before God in prayer. If you're sinking, perhaps the problem isn't that you're sinking. The problem isn't that you're weak. They're not reaching out to his hand that is there for you. If you reach out to him, reach out to him, he will lift you up in due time. In fact, here's a little secret to where we're going. At the end of this message, we're going to sing a song that's about three minutes long, which cuts three minutes off my message, which actually helps me prepare less.

Okay. And when we sing, I'm actually going to have you. reached up a hand or two. And you may say, that's not my style. You've done it somewhere. You've been at a concert. You've been at a game. You can do it one time. I'm going to push you just a little bit. What do lifted hands symbolize? Well, they symbolize victory and or they symbolize surrender. In this case, I believe that they will symbolize both at the same time. The moment that we surrender, we will experience a victory that God is with us, that he cares for us, that he's comforting us, that he's strengthening us, that he is with us.

What do we need to do? If you're battling with anxiety, there is a cycle. There's always a cycle. The cycle looks like this. What do you do? You feel anxious. You feel a weight. You feel an angst.

You feel a dread. You feel worried. So you try to do what I try to do. You try to take control. I'll make this happen. I'll get her into shape. I'll fix him. I'll control that.

You try to take control. The problem is the more we try to control, the more we fear losing control, and the more we fear losing control, the more we try to control, and the more we try to control, the more anxiety we start to feel. What do we need to do? When we start to enter into the anxiety cycle, we need to break the cycle. We need to shatter the cycle.

How do we break the cycle? We recognize this truth, internalize it, embrace it, live it, let it sink into your soul, let it heal your mind, let it bring comfort to you. What do we do? We recognize the truth that you don't always have the power to control, but you always have the power to surrender. You always, you can't fix everything. You can't change everything. Medicine won't always fix it. Counseling won't always fix it. Changing of circumstances will always fix it. We can't always fix everything, but we can surrender anything that is a burden to our God. We can take it to God. We can take it to God. We can take it to God. We can take it to God.

We can take it to God. In fact, if you wouldn't mind, I'm going to change microphones because I'm going to ask the band to come up, and I need some help getting over the band because the band's going to be really, really good today. At all of our different churches, at this moment, would you just stand to your feet? every life church location. I want you to prepare to take what is weighing on you. And just in the only way you know how, let your needs be known to God.

Present your request to God. What are we going to do? We're going to humble ourselves. Listen to me. I need help. your pastor needs help i'm seeking help i'm going to god for help humble yourselves therefore under god's mighty hand that he may lift you up in due time cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you cast in the Greek, it means to throw.

It means to release. It means to surrender. It means to let it go. In other words, we're not going to just say, oh God, I give this to you. Oh, God, it's been 12 minutes. I'm taking it back. No, no, no, no, no, no.

God, you are sovereign. God, you are always good. God, your ways are perfect. Your ways are higher. God, you're working in all things to bring about good. to those who love you, God, and are called according to your purpose. We believe, God, that no weapon formed against us. We'll prosper, God.

We believe that the devil is a liar. We believe, God, you're going before us. God, you are working in us, God. We cast our cares upon you. What's weighing on you? What burden are you carrying? What are you anxious about? Your future?

your job, your finances, your marriage, wondering if you ever will get married, your children, what they're doing, what other people will think, aging parents, your health, or like me, you're worried, I just don't think I'm going to be able to keep up. Anxiety. It's a signal, alerting you that it's time to pray. Don't be anxious about anything. but in every situation with prayer and petition

we let our needs be known we present our request to God and the peace from heaven the peace of God notice this is the peace of God it's not your peace listen to me it's not a peace from this world it's not something that this world gives

therefore this world can't take it away this is a peace of God that will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus at all of our campuses simultaneously symbolizing surrender and victory, would you push beyond your comfort zone today and lift up your hands before God?

I want to declare over you the lyrics of the words of the song that our worship team wrote just for this very moment and then you sing it with every bit of faith from your soul. The lyrics say this, when I say Jesus, the name that is above every name, the name of Jesus. When I say Jesus, the very mention shatters the darkness and it calms my soul. When I say Jesus, even a whisper breaks through my doubting.

Get ready to sing it. Tell all my fear. God, we humble ourselves. As you're reflecting at all of our different churches, those of you with a burden that you'd like to cast upon him today. Would you lift up your hands right now, all of our churches, just lift up your your hands. Father, hear the cry of our hearts. We present every need before you, God. We thank you, God, that you care for us. God, even if we don't see the result immediately that we want, we trust in you, God, we worship in you, we worship you, we praise you, God. We recognize that

you are here, God. Comfort your children. May heaven open up, God. May in this moment, we sense of peace because you are good. We cast our cares upon you. As you keep praying today at all of our churches, nobody looking around. There may be those of you that you recognize spiritually you're missing something. We talked about the name of Jesus. Who is Jesus?

Jesus is the son of God. He wasn't just a prophet. He wasn't just a man. He wasn't just a teacher. He wasn't just a miracle worker. the son of God, he was perfect, he was without sin. Jesus loved people just like you and just like me. He loved those who messed up, who sin, who religion rejected. And because of his love, Jesus perhaps experienced the greatest anxiety you could imagine. As he was preparing to go to

the cross, he fell on his knees in a garden and he said, my soul is overwhelmed to the point of death. That's anxiety, knowing what was to come, separated from his father and the torture on the cross, and what was anxiety? A signal alerting it's time to pray, and he cried out in prayer. Father, if there's any way to remove this cup of suffering, take it away, but nevertheless, God, not my will, but your will be done. He prayed, and he obeyed, and he died in our place, and he rose again for the forgiveness of sins to make us new to give us life. When you pray to that name that is above every name,

our God hears your prayer. He forgives your sins. He makes you new. At all of our churches, there are those of you. Maybe you feel anxious right now. Maybe you feel really low. Hey, it's time to lift up your hand, lift up your faith, and when you do,

God's mighty hand will lift you up. He will save you. He will forgive you to all of our churches. is those who say, I need forgiveness from my sins. I need his grace. I want his life. I turn from my sins. I turn toward him.

I call on that name, the name that is above every name. I call on the name of Jesus. Jesus saved me. I give you my life. That's your prayer. Lift your hands high now. All of our churches, lift them up now. Right back here and here as well.

Others love you. Up here, my goodness, over there. Leave them up, boy, you right back here. And up here, up there on this side, right over here. Praise God for you. Oh, my goodness. Right back up here and here. Praise God for you.

Others of you today say, yes, Jesus, I give you my life waving high. Praise God for you. Right back over here, somebody ought to worship even louder. Church online, you just click right below me. And as we give some praise to our God, oh, take a moment. Let's go before God together in prayer. Just pray aloud, pray Heavenly Father. Forgive all of my sins.

Jesus save me. Make me new. Fill me with your spirit. so I could follow you. I cast my cares on you. I want to live for you. My life is not my own. Thank you for new life.

In Jesus' name, I pray. Somebody ought to worship. Somebody ought to praise God. Thanks again for joining us here at Life Church. You know, it's our heart's mission to help you grow and take your next steps in your relationship with Christ. And we've a great way to help you do that. Just go to life.church slash next, and there you can find all kinds of resources to help you as you take your next steps in your faith journey.

Again, thanks again for joining us this week. We'll see you next time.