Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Living Without Worry | God Is: Part 2

Episode Date: March 13, 2022

When you're facing something you don't understand, it's easy to let doubt and worry creep in. In this message, we’re learning how to stop worrying and trust God no matter what. ABOUT THIS MESSAGEWhen you see God Is _____ what comes to mind? How can any of us really know what God's like? Too often, we view Him from our limited perspective, but it doesn't have to be that way. Together, let's discover how to fill that space with truth. WE’RE OPENWe’re continuing to monitor guidelines and best practices for gathering in a safe way. Learn more about everything we're doing to keep you safe and how you can help by using hand sanitizer, washing your hands often, and more: https://www.life.church/updatesFind a time and attend a service with us: http://www.life.church/locationsNEXT STEPSHave you made a decision to follow Jesus? You may be wondering what’s next on your journey. We want to help! Let us guide you to your next steps in your walk with Christ: https://www.life.church/nextABOUT LIFE.CHURCHWherever you are in life, you have a purpose. Life.Church wants to help you find your next step. Our hope is that your journey will include joining us at a Life.Church location throughout the United States or globally online at https://www.live.life.church. Find locations, videos, and more info about us at https://www.life.church or download the Life.Church app at https://www.life.church/app. FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIAFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/life.churchInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/life.churchTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/lifechurchTikTok:https://www.tiktok.com/@lifechurchCONNECT WITH PASTOR CRAIGYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIId...Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/craiggroeschelInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/craiggroeschelTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/craiggroeschelTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@craiggroeschel#lifechurch #craiggroeschel #livingwithoutworry Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What is it that keeps you up at night? When you're laying in the bed and your mind won't shut off, what are you thinking about? Let me ask it a little bit differently. What is it that you're worried about? You know, when we were kids, our worries were a little bit different. A couple of years ago, my family decided to take a trip. So we decided to go camping for the first time. We'd never been camping as a family.

We loaded up about everything we owned into our car. We drove two states away to where there's some mountains. We set up our tent. Our kids went and had a great time. That night we made extra sure that they were going to be warm, that they were going to be comfortable, because we wanted them to have a good experience their first year camping. The next morning they woke up.

Our eight-year-old daughter, Olivia, was up first. I said, hey, how'd you sleep? And she said, I slept great. He was like, awesome. My six-year-old son, Jack, got up next. And I said, hey, buddy, how'd you sleep? And he said, not very good. And I said, oh, yeah.

And he said, yeah, I heard scary noises. I said, scary noises. What did you hear? He said, I heard a bear. And I was like, bro, I don't think you heard a bear. And he said, are there bears here? And I was like, well, there are bears here? But I don't know if they're here here.

I don't think it was a bear. He said, it was a bear. Night number two, we shine the light around to make sure that there's no bears to show him. Look, nothing to be worried about. We go to bed. We wake up morning number two. Hey, buddy, how'd you sleep? Said the same thing.

I heard scary noises. It was a bear. I'm like, dude, it wasn't a bear. I have to go to the bathroom. So I unzipped the tent. I start to step out and I hear the bear. So I'm like looking around for this bear and this campground when I realize the bear is in the tent next to us

because my dad is snoring so loud. Wouldn't it be awesome if what worried us now was as funny as what worried us as a kid? All it takes is to click on the news. And we see news of war, of political unrest, of economic uncertainty. Or maybe for you, it's an aging parent. or what's the doctor going to say at the next doctor's appointment?

Or are my kids safe when they leave the house today? Maybe for you is can I pay my bills? Or this college debt that I have accrued will I ever get out from underneath it? Am I going to be able to get a job when I get out? Am I going to lose the job that I have? Am I going to be able to afford to retire? Maybe for you, it's something different. Maybe it's, am I ever going to be able to make a difference in this world?

Some of you are going, man, I didn't have any worries. So you started that list and now I got some worries. So what is it that you're worried about? For me, it's I can't get it all done. Right? As a husband, as a father at work, the home projects, the car maintenance, I just feel like I can never get it all done. What am I going to drop and who's it going to affect? So what is it that you're worried about?

Do you have it? Here's why I ask. Because what we worry about the most often reveals where we trust God the least. right well we worry about the most often reveals where we trust god the least yet jesus says this to us if we're a follower of christ in matthew chapter six he says therefore i tell you i want you to help me out today whether you're online whether you're at one of our locations i want you to help me out therefore i tell you jesus says do not what say it with me do not worry about your life pretty all-encompassing a few verses later he says this can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life

We know the answer is no, but we can't stop worrying anyways. Corey Ten Boone, who spent time as a child in a concentration camp, as a follower of Christ said this about worrying. Worry doesn't empty tomorrow of its strength. It empties today of its strength. I'm going to say that again. Worry doesn't empty tomorrow of its sorrow, but it empties today of its strength. We've all experienced that feeling,

which is why the title of today's message is living without worry. Living without worry, it sounds pretty good, doesn't. doesn't it? But to live without worry, we first have to answer one of the most foundational questions that humanity had to answer. In fact, it was one of the first questions that humanity had to answer. It's all the way back in the book of Genesis. Pastor Craig referenced it last week. Genesis chapter two, God created Adam. He gave him one rule. You can eat from any tree in the garden except for the tree of the knowledge of good or evil. Then he creates the animals. Then he creates Eve. Eve apparently learned the rule from Adam. She's in the garden one day. A new character

in Genesis chapter 3 shows up. It's a serpent. The serpent begins to talk to Eve. And here's what the serpent says. The serpent says, did God really say? Did God really say you couldn't eat from any tree? So yeah, the serpent twisted the truth. But what the serpent did is the serpent introduced a question to Eve. Did God really say, can you trust God? is God really trustworthy? A few verses later, Eve's in the garden, and it says that she looked at the tree and she saw that it was good to eat,

that it was pleasing to the eye, and it was desirable for gaining wisdom. And she had a choice to make, just like we have a choice to make when we make one of our 35,000 decisions a day, am I going to trust God, or am I going to trust what I can see? Am I going to trust God?

am I going to trust what I can touch? Am I going to trust God or am I going to trust what I desire? Am I going to trust what I can control? Every single one of us has to answer that question is God trustworthy. And yet in Psalm chapter 62, verse 7 and 8, the psalmist talks about a God who's trustworthy where he says this, my salvation and my honor depend on whom, not me, they depend on God. He's my mighty rock and my refuge. who's not worried. Trust in him at all times.

Not some of the time. Not when you feel like it. Not just with your eternity. Not just with part of the things. He says what? Trust in him at all times, you people. Pour out your hearts to him. Your worries, your fears.

Pour them out to him. Why? Because God is our refuge. The psalmist understands a truth. And the truth that the psalmist understands is this, is that God is trustworthy. Right? God is trustworthy.

It's not what he does. It's who he is. He's deserving of our confidence. How do we know that God is trustworthy? Today we're going to talk about three reasons why we can know that God is trustworthy. Not every reason. We don't have time to hit every reason, but three reasons.

How do we know that God is trustworthy? The first reason is this. We know that God is trustworthy because God has been faithful before. God has been faithful before. There's this theme in the Old Testament. It comes up in Genesis, in Exodus, in Deuteronomy, in the Psalms. It comes up in the minor prophets.

And this theme is repeated time and time again. And the theme is this, remember. Exodus chapter 13, Moses says this to the people of God as they're about to be delivered from being enslaved to the Egyptians. Here's what Moses says in Exodus chapter 13. Moses said to the people, remember this day. Look back on this day. Do not forget this day for which you have departed Egypt from the house of slavery.

For by what? Not by my strength. Not by your strength, but by a powerful hand, the Lord brought you out from this place. Moses says to the people of God, remember that God has been faithful before. Remember the fact that when you cried out for mercy, God heard your cries. Remember that God delivered you from the most powerful ruler on the face of the earth by 10 miraculous plagues. Remember the fact that when you got to the Red Sea, you were not stopped by the water, but God parted the water. You crossed on dry land, and God stopped the most powerful military force on earth in their tracks.

Remember that when you got to the wilderness, God led you by cloud by day and fire by night. Remember that when you were thirsty, God provided water. Remember when you were hungry, God provided manna for you to eat. Remember what? Remember that God has been faithful before. Remember that our God is trustworthy. because if he's done it before, he can do it again. Right? If he's done it before, he can do it again.

It's why the Israelite people had this practice. Anytime God would do something significant, they would pile up stones. They would build a memorial when Jacob wrestled with the heavenly figure on the riverbank. When Moses went and got the Ten Commandments, they piled up stones so that when they walked by, they would remember what God had done. to be reminded of what he could do. How do we know that God is trustworthy? Remember that he's been faithful before.

What are the piles of stones in your life that remind you of God's faithfulness? Maybe it's when he radically transformed your life when you entered into a relationship with him. Maybe it's when your child was baptized. For me, one of those piles of stones was my 1994 Honda Accord. People were like, hey, how did you ever get your wife?

to agree to marry you. Right there. So after Katie and I got married, I went into seminary because I felt called to be in ministry. I took a job pastoring this small country church. About 30 people would show up every single week. But it was an hour's drive from where we lived, an hour west to the church and back. One day, the car broke down. Took it to the mechanic. The mechanic called a few days later, said, hey, Tim, your car's ready to pick up. I was like, that's awesome. How much is it going to be? and he said $213. Here's the problem. I made $125 a week.

That was our income. $125 a week. I didn't have $213. So I hung up the phone. I went to Katie and I said, hey, I got good news and I got bad news. Good news is, cars ready. Bad news is $213 and we don't have $213.

Katie sat there for a minute and then she said, hey, what about those cups of change that my grandfather gave us? I was like, what are you talking about? And she said, remember, he gave us these cups of change and we just put them in the back of the closet. And I was like, babe, we need, like, stacks of bills, not change. She said it's worth a shot. So we dug out the change.

We walked across the street to the grocery store. They had one of those machines that you would dump in the change, and it would spit out a receipt that you would take to the register. The receipt came out, and it was what? $213. And so now when that unexpected thing comes up, what do I do? I remember that God has been. been faithful before? How do we know that God is trustworthy? Number one, God has been faithful before.

Number two, God is faithful today. God led the Israelite people to the edge of the promised land, to the doorstep of the place that they desired to be. Joshua, one of the leaders, stands up before the people and says this to them in Numbers chapter 14, only do not rebel against the Lord, Do not be afraid of the people of the land because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. The Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them. You see, Joshua understood something.

And what Joshua understood was this, is that our success is not dependent upon what we see. Our success is not dependent upon the size of the opposition. Our success is dependent upon the presence of God in our lives. And here's the good news of Jesus. Matthew chapter one, the first chapter in the New Testament gets straight to the point. Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and they will call him a manual, which means God with us.

The good news of Jesus Christ is that he's with us. Matthew chapter 28, Jesus' last words to his disciples. And surely I will be with you always, even until the very end of the age. The good news of Jesus Christ is what is that he's with us. It's not that every single time we get in a difficult situation, God pulls us out of the situation. It's that every single time he enters into the situation with us. How do we know that our God is faithful?

How do we know that our God is trustworthy? He's been faithful before, and he's faithful today. Because God's faithfulness today is not dependent on the absence of problems, but on the presence of God in my life. It's like when you're a kid, maybe you had this experience. You were five, six, seven years old. Your parents would tuck you in at night. They would turn off the light.

And 38 seconds later, you would show back up in the living room. He'd say, I can't go to sleep. I need a drink of water. And they would say, okay, get a drink of water, go back to bed. You'd go back to bed. And then 36 seconds later, you'd show back up in the living room. And you'd say, I can't go to sleep. I'm not tired.

And they'd say, go back to bed. And you would go back to bed. And then 35 seconds later, you would show back up and you'd say, I can't go to sleep, I hear noises. And eventually you hoped that you would wear them down. So they got to the point where they would say, do you want me to come lay down with you? And you would walk back to the room and you would get in the bed

and they would tuck the covers in extra tight around you. And they would lay down on top of the covers next to you. and nothing had changed. Like nothing about your situation had changed, but everything had changed. Because there was someone who was trustworthy who was with you. How do we know that God is trustworthy?

We know that God is trustworthy because he's been faithful before. We know that God is trustworthy because he's faithful today. And we know that God is trustworthy because he will be faithful to. tomorrow. He will be faithful tomorrow. So God led the Israelites to the edge of the promised land. He had been faithful before. He was with them. Did they trust him? Did they go in? No. No.

They didn't trust him. How do we know that they didn't trust him? Because trust is not something that we have. Trust is a verb. It's what we do. And they didn't step into the promised land. And here's what blows me away about this. What blows me away about this is that the end of the story was already written. Like the end of the story was already written. Genesis chapter 12, God called Abram and said, I want to bless you so that you will be a blessing to the world.

And I'm going to give you this land where you will be my people. Right before the spies are sent to scout out the promised land, here's what God says to them. Numbers chapter 13, verse 13, the Lord said to Moses, send some men to explore the land of Canaan, the land that he had promised them. Send some men to explore the land of Canaan,

which I'm giving to the Israelites. Like the end of the story was already written. This is the promised land. My people are going to live in it. all you have to do is to step into it. And they did not do it. Like, I feel so much better about myself when I read this. Because I think what? How dumb can you be? He was faithful before. He's faithful today. He will be faithful in the future. And yet you still didn't trust him. The end of the story's already been written. How dumb are you? But I do the same thing. Like I can see God's

faithfulness in the past. I know that he's faithful today because he's with me. And God has already written the end of my story. And if you're a follower of Christ, God has written the end of your story. Revelation chapter 21, the next to last book of the Bible. This is what God says. He says, and I heard a loud voice from the throne. This is John saying, I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, look, God's dwelling

places now among the people. He will dwell with him. They will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There'll be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away. There'll be nothing left to worry about. Then he says this and he who has seated on the throne said, I'm making everything new. I'm making everything new. and then he said write this down for these words are what they are trustworthy and true. If we're a follower of Christ, the end of our story has already been written. And some of you're going, you know what, that's awesome. And I believe that.

Like is God trustworthy? Yes. Can I see his faithfulness in the past? Yes. Do I know that he's faithful because he's with me today? Yes. Do I know that he will be faithful in the future? Yes.

I know that. but what about the thing I'm worried about? Like, what about if it happens? And that's a fair question. What about if the thing I'm worried about happens? I have a couple friends who came with me today, Gabe and Hannah. I met Gabe and Hannah six years ago.

They walked into Life Church that first week, and they immediately wanted to be a part of what God was doing. They got connected to a life group, a group of people that they could do life with, and they started serving in their church. Gabe still runs sound for us at all four of our services every weekend. We got to celebrate with Gabe and Hannah as they had their first child August. A couple of years ago, we got to celebrate with Gabe and Hannah

as they got to share the good news that Hannah was pregnant again. This time with a little girl named Avan. as Hannah's pregnancy went on, the doctors began to be a little bit concerned, that Avan wasn't growing as much as they had hoped. So they ran some test, and at 26 weeks, they figured out that Avan had a heart defect,

a pretty big heart defect. So big, in fact, they said, are you sure you want to continue on with this pregnancy? And they said, absolutely, Aven's a gift from God. So the doctors induced Hamon, out early so that they could do heart surgery on a newborn baby. What are you worried about? And they took Avan as a newborn and they did this heart surgery. And we prayed that God would heal her. And he did. But as Avin continued to grow, the doctors continued to be concerned.

And they ran more tests and they diagnosed little Avin with CDLS. I'd never heard. heard of it before. Gabe and Hannah had never heard of it before. It's an incredibly rare genetic disease that has not passed on from mom or for dad. It's seemingly random. About 1 in 10,000 babies are affected by CDLS, some very mild, some more severe. Avents was a little bit more severe. Gabe was telling me, he said, Tim, early on, I was afraid to pray for a miracle for my little girl. and he said, because what if I prayed for God the healer and he didn't? What would that do to my faith? So as he and Hannah were talking about it, and as they prayed about it,

and as they went to God's word about it, they made a decision. And here was the decision that they made. We trust God. We trust God. We trust that God has a plan for our little girl. And so what did they do? They didn't know how the story was going to end. So they just did the next thing.

Some days the next thing was just getting up and providing care for their little girl. Some days it was taking their little girl to the doctor or for another procedure. One day Hannah had an idea, a way that she could trust God. She had an idea to share Avan's story. She thought maybe there's other parents out there who have children who have this and maybe they could be encouraged through me sharing this story. So she started an Instagram account. She thought maybe a few people would watch this story unfold.

The Instagram account's still going. There's 40,000 people who follow this story. Some of the reels have been viewed over six million times. There have been thousands of messages that have poured in from parents, from grandparents of children with special needs saying thank you so much for sharing your story and allowing God to encourage us. They celebrated a birthday. They did the next thing because they trusted God. They had a verse from the book of Isaiah that they put up over Aven's crib. Isaiah chapter 46 verse 4 that says this, I am he, he being God. I am he, I am he, I am he, I am he,

who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you. I will sustain you and I will rescue you because that was their prayer for their little girl because they trusted God. About eight weeks ago, I was in my garage one Saturday morning and I got a text. It was a text from Gabe and it was a text that I had prayed I wouldn't get. And he said this morning, Avon passed away in the arms of her mother. This is a photo of that moment. I collected myself the best I could and thought, what do you say? Like, what do you say to somebody

who's facing the biggest worry that they could ever imagine? And I called Gabe and Hannah as they were getting in their car in the parking garage of the hospital after they had just left their little girl in the hospital room for the last time. And I said, all I could think to say, which is, I'm so sorry.

And I didn't say anything else because I couldn't think of it. anything else to say. And as we sat there, I could hear him crying on the other end of the line. And after a while, Gabe said, Tim, this is so hard. And he said, we've been praying that God would heal our little girl. This isn't the outcome that we've prayed for. But we believe that God healed our little girl today. And then he said this. He said, and we trust God. And like I called him as a pastor, but I'm just sitting there on the other end of the line as a dad, talking to another dad and a mom facing the biggest worry in the world.

And he says, and we trust God. He said God is trustworthy. And I think, how do you say that? How can I say that? How can you face the worries in your life, the fears in your life, and say, I trust. Just God. In talking with Gabe and Hannah, something became so clear. In fact, it reminded me of an experience that I had after Katie and I had been married for about six months. We moved to a new town. We made new friends. One of my new friends' name was Drew. And Drew loved to rock climb. And so he was

like, Tim, do you want to come rock climbing with me? And I was like, that sounds awesome. So I went with theme, had a great time, loved it, it was physical, there was risk. I felt like I was alive when I was up there. And so what did I do? I came home to my wife of six months and I was like, rock climbing's awesome, you got to come with me. And do you know what she said to me? She said, no. I like my feet on the ground, like right here. Did I take no for an answer? No, because it was awesome. She was awesome. It's a match made in heaven. So I kept after her until finally one day she said, okay, I'll go once, just so you'll leave me alone, but I'm afraid of heights and I don't want to do it. I was like, it's going to be great. So we go to the rock climbing wall. We get her hooked in to

one side of the rope. I'm on the other. Her trusted husband is going to belay her. I'm ready. I brought my two buddies. Because I'm like, what's better than your husband is six months making you do something you don't want to do, then if he brings us two buddies to encourage you. So we're standing there. She's ready. We're like, okay, you got this. And she starts climbing the wall. It's like spider woman for about 10 feet. And then she said, I want to come down. And do you know what I said to her? I said, no. I was like, you got this. You can do it. My buddy's sensing the encouragement joined in. They're like, Katie, you got this. You can do it. So she's like, okay, I'll go three more feet than I'm coming down. We're like, yeah, in three feet, you're coming down.

She goes up three feet. She says, I want to come down. Do you know what I said? No. Like, you're doing great. Keep going. My buddies are like, yeah, keep going. Katie, you got this. And this goes on until she gets to the top four and a half stories later. She gets to the very top, the last two holds, at which point I realize there may be a problem. Because she is terrified. I can see her shaking. I can see her shaking. I can the color drain out of her face. I can hear her voice quaking as she says, what do I do now? And I was like, it's easy. You just let go. And do you know what she said to me? She said, no. And I was like, no, you can do it. Just let go. And she said, no. And I said, you can trust me. There's nothing to worry about. She said the ground is something to worry about. I'm like,

what are we going to do? Finally, my buddy Drew has an idea. And he goes, guys, guys, be quiet for a second. That's probably the best part of his idea. Like, be quiet for a second. He called out and he said, Katie, I want you to do something. She said, maybe. He said, I want you to take just one hand. Not both of them.

Just one hand. And I want you to grab the rope. She said, will it hold me? He said, it'll hold a car. After a few seconds, she takes one hand and she grabs the rope. And then he said, I want you to do something else. I want you to take the other hand and I want you to grab the rope.

So a few seconds go by and she takes her other hand and she grabs the rope. And it's at that moment I realized she didn't need to let go. She needed to grab a hold of something better. You see, when talking to Gabe and to Hannah about how do you trust God in the moment like that, they made a decision. And the decision was this, we're going to take hold of something better because Jesus and John chapter 14 says this, do not let your hearts be troubled. Do not let your hearts be troubled.

Trust in God. Trust also in me. Jesus says, I'm trustworthy. I've been faithful before. I'm faithful today because I'm with you and I'm faithful in the future. So I have a question for you today. Not what keeps you up at night. What are you holding on to?

Pray with me. Heavenly Father, thank you so much that you are a God who's trustworthy. Thank you that you have been faithful in the past. Thank you that you are faithful today because you're with us. And thank you that you will be faithful in the future. As we continue in an attitude and spirit of prayer at all of our life church locations, online, YouTube, when I ask the question, what are you worried about? if something came to mind, I'm going to ask that you just raised your hand and said,

you know what, Tim, there's things that I worry about in my life. My hands up with you. Let me pray for us. Heavenly Father, thank you so much that we can pour out our hearts to you. Because if it's important to us, it's important to you. And thank you that you are trustworthy. Help us to put that into practice this week as we do the next thing. as we continue in an attitude and spirit of prayer.

Maybe today what you were thinking is, you know what? I don't think I've ever taken that step to trust God. Maybe you've tried to control life. Maybe you've tried to do it on your own. And maybe you feel like my wife at the top of that rock wall clinging on for dear life, thinking how much longer can I do this? The good news for you is that there's something better to hold on to. The good news for you is that while we were sinners, Christ died for us.

How do we know that God is trustworthy? How much more trustworthy can you be than to go and die a sin, a painful death on the cross? Not for your sins because Jesus didn't have any sin, but for mine and for yours so that we would not be separated from a loving God, but instead be able to be in relationship with him, placing our trust in him. if you don't have a relationship with God, if you haven't received his grace and his forgiveness and his mercy, but today for the first time, you're ready to say, you know what, I want to hold on to something better. I want to hold on to Jesus Christ, the only trustworthy thing that I can anchor my life to. If you want to make a decision to follow Jesus, if you want to

receive his grace, if you want to place your trust in him, I'm going to ask that you raise your hand right now saying yes Jesus I want to put my hope and my trust in you as people are raising their hands welcome to God's family life church I'm going to ask that you pray out loud with me today as we get the opportunity to pray alongside people making a decision to trust God with their lives every voice together praying out loud with me heavenly father I'm ready to trust you with my life because I know that I've sinned but I believe that Jesus died on the cross and was raised from the grave so that I could be saved. So thank you, Lord, for this new life.

And thank you that you are trustworthy. And it's in Jesus' name that all God's people said. Amen. Life Church, why don't we celebrate?