Sermon Transcript:Thank you so much. Yes. So we're gonna be talking about fear, worry and anxiety over the next several weeks. And, you know, one of the things that is true and even as I discovered about myself, as I was studying through this is that we all have it, even if we think we don't, we all have different degrees. And I get that, and we'll talk about that and different symptoms. But we all have it, because what we believe and what we think and how we respond to this issue of anxiety, and it's sometimes called fear or worry, it tells us what we believe about the future. Because that's really what worrying is, isn't it? It's, it's, it's over concern. It's maybe thoughts about the future, it's letting our mind run amok. And so it reveals something about us, it reveals what we trust in how we process and think through the future as it relates to these topics, fear, worry, and anxiety. It tells us something about what we value, what we think and ultimately what we believe. Now the idea of fear, it really goes back to all the way when we were a little kid. So in other words, even if you and I came from good, stable households, and you know that somebody kept us away from all the scary, you know, cartoons and movies, even as a little one, we would have been scared of something, we would have heard some sort of thump or noise in the dark, we would have still maybe wondered like, where is my nightlight? Where is my comfort? Because why we didn't have to learn it. We didn't have to be told even though there might have been things that fanned the flame of fear in our hearts, whether it was older brothers or sisters or cousins about, you know, something scary in the basement or in the dark or whatever. But it was always there. Then pretty early on, we began to see it and maybe the cartoons we watch whether it was Scooby Doo, or maybe it was Winnie the Pooh. And so I'm gonna throw up a pic that I remember early on his little piglet. Remember a little piglet, such a worrier, we just call him like a worrywart just someone who was always worried sometimes he he would even have a twitch in his ear in his eyes, or even he would stutter over his words. Because while he was always concerned about what was right around the corner, or what tomorrow may bring, as adults, we're not much better we have all kinds of things in society that we're scared of, or that we have a phobia of, I'm gonna kind of list a couple that I thought of that are sort of out there. Common fears are fear of heights, fear of snakes I went by get scared in the room. So please, these are just example some of y'all like it's so on the surface, like you can literally feel your blood pressure rising, flying, some some of y'all may be scared of flying some you may be scared of the dark. These are phobias, needles, cancer, whether it's in yourself or those you love. baldness, right? So we want to stay, we're gonna stay looking good. getting fat, germs, dentists, crowds or water. And I was specific because swimming because I've never known anybody who was actually scared of like water, like I couldn't drink it or whatever. But the idea of like, so there's, there's people that maybe you know, you don't want to go swimming, you don't want to get in a boat, you don't want water separating between you and land, that kind of thing. So we understand that, that fears and phobias. They're out there. Now we have to ask ourselves, why is that? What is it about these things? And what is it about us that makes us think believe or even like process that even go down that path of fear. If we need admiration for our attractiveness, in other words, that's something that we are overly concerned or consumed with, we will fear getting fat. If we need love, we will fear rejection. If we need comfort, we will fear what physical pain if we need approval from others, we will fear being critical criticize. So these things can sort of come out in all kinds of ways. Alright, we're talking a little bit about some physical manifestations of fear. And keep in mind that sometimes we physically respond to situations whether they are truly of danger or not, right? I mean, you've known this in yourself, or in other words, that that you'll respond a certain way, even if there's no real danger. I mean, the easiest way to see this is if you're in a theater or at your home, watching a scary movie, and something like jumps around the corner, you don't know what's coming, you're really going to respond, even though there's no truth to that. Or maybe you're scared of one of these things that the majority of the population is not. And so it is a real fear. It is a real physical thing that happens inside of you to a perceived danger or real danger. But just throw some things out. That might be a clue to some of the fears you and I might have dreams can be a clue. And have you ever thought about this? If you've had a recurring dream or a dream, where you wake up in panic, maybe you haven't turned something in at work or you haven't done this or you haven't talked to this person or you're afraid of someone maybe finding out something or speaking and so dreams can sometimes be a clue Have some sort of fear worry or anxiety, you have already talked a little bit about physical cues, or stress that can make you respond physically in all kinds of ways. We all have different ways that we respond and have physical manifestations of anxiety and depression. Sometimes it creeps up. In other words, just like just like anxiety, I don't think anybody says, Hey, I'm waking up today, please, Lord, give me an extra dose of anxiety, I'd love to worry about some more things today. That's not how we think about it. That's not how we often think about anger or depression, either. It just creeps in, it creeps up like anxiety. You and I don't ask to be angry or depressed or anxious. But if you find yourself saying things like, I can't take it anymore, or things are spinning out of control, or underneath all this pain is terror, which is, in other words, saying I'm scared or you find yourself angry? Why do sometimes we get angry I mean, we talked through the book of James about a year ago. But I want to remind us James chapter four verses one and two says this, what is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don't they come from the evil desires at war within you what you want, what you don't have, so you skim and kill to get it, you're jealous of what others have, but you can't get it. So you fight and wage war to take it away from him from them yet you don't have what you want, because you don't ask God for it. So we're even seeing that, that our fear and anxiety and our calls to sort of take the reins or take over control or get things done our way, my way is sometimes, or even oftentimes, especially for mowing other people over to do it. Because we're fearful or anxious about something, think about this in terms of superstitions. Again, sometimes we make fun of these, whether you got to sit a certain place, or wear a certain shirt or have a certain way that you touch a, you know, the doorframe of your house, or all these kinds of things, or maybe a certain creature figure that you have in your house, that you're really superstitious. Why because you are overly concerned about the future. And you think that by doing some sort of outward act, that you're somehow going to affect the future. Why would you even do that, because you're worried about it. Now every age has it. Every Age has fear, worry and anxiety. But I will say this, the dial in our hearts and in our lives can be turned up by certain surroundings. In other words, think about this. I mean, one of the things that you know, I'm not going to promise in a series like this, because it's just not true on this side of heaven is that we'll no longer you know, struggle with anger or fear, or depression or those kinds of things. But what we can do and what the subtitle of our series is, is breaking the cycle of fear, worry and anxiety, I think that can be true, and in fact, should be true for those of us who are Christ's followers. And that's what I'm gonna really seek to do in this series. But I want to be honest, that that one of the things that we can do is the dial can be turned up on fear, worry and anxiety, if we have certain tensions, or we have certain stressors, and we have certain things going on in our lives or in our culture. There's certain things that can turn the dial up of anxiety in our lives in our hearts. But also what's true is there are things that we can do that we can control, some things are outside of our control, we realize that there's other things that we can do to turn the dial down on these issues of fear, worry and anxiety. But let's just talk about some things that are going on, even though every age has it. What are some things going on right now that may have caused us extra angst and anxiety that may be needed or necessary. First thing I wanna throw up is a book that came out in the last 30 days that he was on Domeier just talking about these kinds of issues with children. He is not a believer. He's a psychologist, he teaches at New York University. And we're going to I'll probably quote some more out of this book throughout the series. But one of the things that he talks about in the very beginning his premises he wants to help us get not as a he's not a believer whatsoever. He wants to help us as a psychologist in the West, I think through these issues of smartphones and children because of the anxiety issues that we all know, I don't even have to give stats on that. But here's his solution. He has a four part solution. Number one,he says no smartphones before high school. I've talked about some of these things before I think they are biblical things that can be helpful to us. Okay. No smartphones before high school, no social media before 16, which, as you're probably aware of California just passed that law, maybe Florida as well. I'm not sure he pushes for phone, free schools, which I think are important. I know that even in our school, I think a couple of years ago it wasn't and this year it has been and that's been really helpful that it goes in the backpack in the morning and it's not pulled out again until school is over. And then the last one which I thought I wasn't I was a little surprised that this I mean, in my gut, I knew this would probably be true, but he says it's so interesting. He says for children this is under the age of 18 Far more unsupervised play in childhood independence. He says that these four things kind of put together will just help us put a dent in fear, worry and anxiety in our young people in our children. And so maybe I've said this before, you know, my wife and I, we made some decisions on some of these issues early on, and smartphones were holding off all the way until three months before college, and we're going to train all our kids how to get on social media, and they're gonna just think us that they have zero pictures of themselves on social media from zero to 17 and a half. We taught them from a young age that tablets and smartphones were for adults. And so we've tried to keep that at bay. And, you know, again, I told you that our schools kind of move there. But one of the things we may not realize is you think, well, not my school pastor, what am I supposed to do? Well, the power is in us. In other words, like, if enough of us in our school begin to speak up and say, Hey, I don't want my kids assignments, texted to him in class anymore. I want them to be done the old fashioned either print it off or email it to him. So they can receive it after hours. And this unsupervised play, I can, I can tell you for my wife and I and even for many of y'all around the room, I can I can, I can feel the angst coming up inside of you, right, whether it's bike riding, or whether it's, you know, having a fire pit, or whatever it is that a soccer weight, maybe at the park. And so you're just trying to figure out and I know, this isn't easy, but I think there's just studies after studies that show that somehow under our care, our children have to figure out how to sort of manage themselves and sort of work through issues so that they are less anxious. Number two, I want you to see up here, this is true about us as adults, the World Health Organization, and we can talk about that politically or not, that doesn't really matter. This is just a study that they did that COVID 19 pandemic triggers 25% increase in prevalence of anxiety and depression worldwide. Okay. So I know we have people from all over the world here, worldwide. And as you notice here, the World Health Organization, you can see the snake wrapped around that. As you know, that course points to Moses himself when he talked about that in the first five books of the Bible, and Jesus picks that up, too. So that's just talking about World Health Organization, probably no surprise there. And then the third thing I want us to see is just isolation and lack of community. And again, it was already going on pre COVID. But But COVID sort of sped this up. And I am telling you the reason why I'm so glad that we're gathered here today, and that we try to do more and more things, whether it's having meals together. And I know we had communion together. But even serving together and having, you know, fellowship around Bible study or life groups, whatever we want to call them, or even things that we're doing at Western Playland. All of this is to push us towards community because nothing is going to push us towards community right now, with the rise of some technological things, but we know we need it desperately. Everything is showing that church attendance and community involvement and civic organizations are in a freefall downward. And so one of the things we have to tell ourselves is, we need it, it's good for us even when we don't want to do it. So I'm so glad that you're here today. But but we have to tell ourselves when I don't feel like being around other people, when I don't feel like going to church, I don't feel like serving out of a empty tank or whatever it is, we tell ourselves, do it. Especially so right. I mean, even as even as your pastor, there's times that I don't want to get up and do something, whether it's worked out or you know, come to church or come to worship or whatever. But I do because I know it's good for me. And we've got to get back to just some healthy sort of seeking out community and in pushing away from isolation, no matter how much we want to just kind of go get in a corner and put our head down it is killing us and of course, adding to our fear, worry and anxiety. Well, let's get to some scripture. Psalm 56 Is, is really, really good at sort of helping set a base and a foundation. I love this psalm. I've been looking at this Psalm and thinking about it for years in terms of this issue of fear, worry and anxiety. We'll begin in verse one again, chapter 56 of the book of Psalms. Oh, God have mercy on me. For people are hounding me, my foes attack me. All day long. I am constantly hounded by those who slander me, and many are boldly attacking me. So just think about that again. Just you just don't have you ever been there where you felt this at work or at school or in your own home? Verse three, but when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. I praise God for what He has promised I trust in God. So why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me? Now, there are some verses in scripture that are worth highlighting worth underlining, worth writing down on through a five card or sticking out and putting on your mirror or putting on the dash of your car? This would definitely be two verses that would be when I'm afraid I will put my trusty You praise God for what He has promised, I trust in God. Why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me? They're always twisting what I say they spend their days plotting to harm me. They come together to spy on me watching my every step, eager to kill me. Don't let them get away with their wickedness in your anger, oh, God, bring them down. You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle, you have recorded each one in your book, my enemies will retreat when I call to you for help. This I know God is on my side, I praise God for what He has promised. Yes, I praise the Lord for what he has promised. I trust in God. So why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me, I will fulfill my vows to you, oh, God, and will offer a sacrifice of thanks for your help. For you, you have rescued me from death, you have kept my feet from slipping. So now I can walk in your presence, oh God in your life, giving light, just beautiful psalm that we can just kind of roll over our hearts. And oftentimes, we don't like to think about the idea of of us and them or enemies and all that. But it's very real in the Scriptures. And if you've ever been surrounded, or in an unjust situation, verses like this have new meaning in your heart. But let's get to our first point this morning that when I am afraid, I will trust in you many of us just need to just to start there, that we understand that that there are things coming our way that we can't control. We're giving our teenager keys where we're fearful that we're not going to have a check next month that we're fearful of not having a significant other or whatever it is fearful that dad's going to go off the rocker get me whatever it is, but that we find ourselves saying, Lord, when I am fearful, and I'm fearful, and I'm scared, I'm worried, I have anxiety. I'm just going to do this, I'm going to trust in you. I'm gonna have faith in you that you think well, this is a Somis psalm of David, he needs some sort of super Christian we just got done talking about him in First Samuel? No, no think about this, that when this was written, they didn't even have the full scriptures, not just the rest of the Old Testament. But of course, no, none of the New Testament. And really, more importantly, there's no indwelling of the Holy Spirit when this was written, says we look back on this, there are ways in which the Lord could use these truths of verses like this. To really let these things kind of sink in Jesus all the time talks about fear not, don't be afraid, God Himself, fear not, do not be afraid. My favorite verses from the book of Luke chapter 12, verse 32. So don't be afraid, little flock, I think about that. Just the the intimacy, the care the love that Jesus has for us. It says, Don't be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure, or he gives your father great happiness to give you an idea of the kingdom. It's the same thing that we do when we say, you know, don't run with scissors to our little kids, it's that care that we have, we're not trying to come down on them, we're not trying to punish them. We're saying these things because we care about them. And this is exactly what our Father in heaven is doing. Now, when it comes to these kinds of things, fear, worry and anxiety, there's all kinds of opportunities for it to creep up. And one of the things that we don't like, is we often and I'll just speak for myself, and our natural tendency, we don't like it that God waits to the last minute to come through for us. I don't know if you're like this, but when I think about my prayer life, and I think about my own personal life, I think God, could you just come through a little bit earlier. And whatever it is, maybe it's a job, maybe it's a financial situation, maybe it's a relational situation. And so you and I are thinking, can you just go ahead and fill up? You know the storehouse? Can you go ahead and just make up the bank account, get it, get it quite large, and then I'll be ready to step out God, I'llbe ready to do what you have for me. We've already referenced in communion, the story of Moses, and I think about the Israelites when they were coming out. And you remember that, again, they were going out to worship on Mount Sinai. And if you remember the story, in Exodus 14, they're leaving quite quickly in and there's ways that they could have gone around the Red Sea, but God called them to go straight towards the Red Sea. So then it would be a trap for Pharaoh to come after them. So we're gonna pick up the story today, in verse 11 of chapter 14. And this is what the people are beginning to say when they realize that Moses has led them to a place right in front of the Red Sea, and that Pharaoh and his chariots are coming after them. They said to Moses, why did you bring us here to die in the wilderness? Weren't there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt? Didn't we tell you this would happen while we're still in Egypt? We said Leave us alone. Let us be slaves to the Egyptians. It's better to be a slave in Egypt tend to be a corpse in the wilderness. But Moses told the people don't be afraid. Just stand still. And watch the Lord rest. You you today. Just just one of those things where the Lord is just using Moses. And he goes on he says that the Egyptians go in the Egyptians you see today will never be seen again, the Lord himself will fight for you. Again, this, this idea of just stay calm. If you know this story at all, God Himself parts, the Red Sea, they go through on dry land, and then what happens afterwards what happens after the people of God escaped through the Red Sea, the chariots of Pharaoh go after them. And what ends up happening is that even though the people of God are able to go through on dry land, that God in His mighty power, unleashes his judgment on the Egyptians. And it says, At the end of this chapter, in verse in chapter 14, the people were filled with all and they put their faith in the Lord and in His servant, Moses. The second point I wants to see this one is that the Lord will come through. Man, I am telling you, I have testimony after my life over and over again, when I felt like my back was up against the wall. And I felt like I couldn't take one more step forward. And the people of God, same thing the Lord will come through. Oftentimes, though, we think we got to help God out. We think we got to grumble and complain, we think we got to, you know, have fear, worry and anxiety, and the Lord is telling us, just wait, calm down, have faith in me. And I'll take care of you. Do you believe me? Do you believe I'll take care of you. That's what God's saying to me and to you. He's saying, I'm gonna do it. And I can tell you, this has been true in my life. I have asked, Lord, why don't you just make it a lot easier for me and my family? Why don't you just just make a lot lot easier so that I don't have to depend on the last moment for you to come through for me, and Lord has just told me over and over, it's okay. It's enough. I've got you. And I will come through. I go on a little bit later in the book of Exodus 16. And the people feel like, man, God, you've abandoned me again. And so you get to Exodus 16. And beginning in verse one, it says this right here, that the whole community of Israel set out this is a couple of chapters later, from Elam and journeyed into the wilderness is sin between Elam and Mount Sinai. So this is kind of the wilderness wondering if you know that about the story. They arrived there on the 15th day of the second month, one month, so just one month after leaving the land of Egypt, there to the whole community of Israel complained about Moses and Aaron, if only the Lord had killed us back in Egypt, they mound there, we sat around pots filled with meat, and we ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into the wilderness to starve us all to death. Then the Lord said to Moses, look, I'm going to rain down food from heaven for you each day that people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day. I will test them in this to see whether or not they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day, they will gather food, and when they prepare it, there'll be twice as much as usual again, because it's the Sabbath day, and they're not to work on what they put on the Sabbath or not to work on the Sabbath day, in the Jewish Old Testament here. And this is amazing that God already is saying yes, even in their grumbling or complaining or what worried pneus I mean, they're straight up worried they're straight up saying we'd be better off back, you know, under slavery or dead. But here we are in God in His kindness. He says, this is important, though, you're going to trust me and how I bring this down. Because we often say no, this is how I want it. Lord, I've already told you some of the things I've thought when I talk to God, Hey, God, this has been nice this kind of this month, this amount this way. And he's saying no, no, you trusted me and all this. And I want to make sure you know how to follow my instructions. And he gives them bread. And that would have been enough that would have sustained them enough. But I want you to know that the Israelites still combined some more. Because they're still thinking about well, oh, yeah, now I've got bread. Well, what about some meat, and I love this about the Lord. And He does this over and over again in lives of Israelites and he'll do it again in our lives, is that he hears our cry, and he comes through with things that are even sweeter. He does this at the bitter water and Mora when he takes water, and not only makes it drinkable, but he makes it sweet and he does it right here with the people of God. When he says okay, you want to meet I'll make sure to have quail for you as well. So you'll have the morning dew and this this morning dew will be these these wafers, these flakes, these bread that are sweet like honey, and I'll make sure that quail come in the evening. But listen, you don't need to gather too much because it's only gonna be good for a day and some of you who didn't listen and it spoiled or you give you enough to make sure on the last day that that you'll have enough for the day after that. And guess how long the Lord does this. You think he does this just for a couple of weeks? Couple months? That would be really cool. No, he does this for 40 years. The Scripture say that their whole wilderness wandering he wants to teach the people of God I got you like that. You can really trust me, even when you freak out even when you're afraid. Even when What does fear worry and anxiety, do fear worry. And anxiety says it's really bad over there. Like, like, if you step out, it's gonna be really bad over there. That's what the spies did when they came back in and told those lies. Or even if they were truth, it didn't matter. They're telling you something that is contrary to God's word, or they're telling you something to get you riled up to get you fearful to get you anxious to get you worrisome. That's what fear worry and anxiety always does for your life in a mind, doesn't it? It tells you that what is over the horizon, you should dread so much. And even though God's taking care of you in the past, there's no guarantee that God will take care of you in the future. And that's just not true about our God at all. Is it? So here's my third and final question that we have to ask ourselves when we get into this sort of series, who holds the future? What do we really believe Life Church? What do we really believe at this question? Who holds the future we've already seen a classic him and amazing grace. There's one that's a little bit newer than that, but still before I was born, called because he lives. And this is the chorus. And because he lives this is because he lives I can face tomorrow, because he lives all fear is gone. Because I know he holds the future. Life is worth living just because he lives. And guys, I'm telling you, when we get into a series like this, and we get into the Bible, and we think about things, yes, I'm, I'm not going to promise you the moon that you and I will never have fear, worry and anxiety or question God again. But there is a real way that we can break the cycle in our lives and the lives of those under our care our loved ones. In this issue of fear, worry and anxiety, I want to throw up another image for you and or put up another image. And this is one of a spiral. I introduced this three or four years ago when I did a one off series on fear, worry and anxiety, but the think about how this happens for you and me. We desire to be in control. And we're going to tell ourselves, this is a good thing. Like I need to make sure my child doesn't get an accident. So I'm gonna lock the keys down and not you know, do the permanent thing and not do you know, the driving thing because I just can't handle I want to make sure so I'm gonna, I'm gonna desire to be in control, I'm gonna lock things down. Then what do you realize quite quickly in this world, and in this life, you aren't in control, then something happens, something goes wrong, something goes awry. And anything that we sort of try to try to clamp down, try to hold on to, then what do we do we experience fear. And so what do we do, then? None of this is turning to God, by the way, then we experience fear, then what do we do we try to control it again. Try a different way. Oh, I think I need to do it this way. Then what does this lead to? It leads to those three things I sort of introduced in the first part, anger, isolation, depression, we've all been there, we've all felt this, then all of a sudden, we find ourselves spiraling out of control. And so then we try to clamp down with more efforts of control. God has a better way for us.I think about the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. This is in the book of Daniel. Well, I think of Daniel and Daniel in the lion's den. But there were other figures in that book and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had Hebrew names. And it says in the scriptures that, that they were given the best education and the best things that the land of Babylon would have had to offer in its day. Yet they found themselves believers in the one true God, if you remember that story, that, that when they refuse to bow down to the idol, they're thrown into the fiery furnace. But before they're thrown in, do you remember what they say? They say, you know, our God is able to save us. But if he does not, we we will not serve your god or bow down to your idols. And I think that that's what we have to have whatever life throws at us, we have to have that kind of faith that says, I know it's gonna get rough. I know it's gonna get bad. And guys, we've done everything. We've been there when people get that cancer diagnosis. And we realize this is the end, my days are numbered, how are we going to process that? And we don't have a lot of choice other than to trust in the sovereign God, or rely on our own strength. And I'm telling you, Shadrach, Masonic and Bendigo. They give us great models here to say that, even if God doesn't heal me from this, even if God doesn't save me from the fire or this cancer yet, I will praise him. What are the choices that you and I have? You want to go down that that deep, dark hole of nothingness, or secularism or no belief at all. God reigns over the world, and it gives grace to people when they need it. That's also true. It's not just that God gives good things. He literally gives the grace in our hearts and in our hands and feet, right when we need it. He will deliver his people. But sometimes it's more sophisticated than we I understand. And I have testimony. And some of y'all may have testimony in the room where you thought it was really bad, because you got a bad performance review. And so now you're out on the street, or you got a pink slip or a boss, unrighteous Lee or unjustly ran you off of the job site, or you got in a bad accident and you lost your arm, or you lost your ability for whatever, or you saw a loved one die, or you have a bad marriage or a bad job. And what ends up happening is that when we trust God, and we hang with him long enough, it has shown for it that he had purposes and all that he had purposes and all that, and he will make it plain, and He will deliver us in ways that we don't fully understand. So it was that testimony on this side of heaven. We're like, I can't believe it, it was an awful situation. And God delivered me not have even better job. It was just awful situation. But God used the losing of my arm to bring me to faith. It was this awful situation. But God use that to really humble me to bring me to him to wake me up in my life or in my marriage. I think about Jeremiah 2911. We know that maybe as a believer if I know the plans I have for you. And it was possible to give you a hope and a future. And we often kind of, if we're not careful, we turn that on and says I got I know the plans I have for me, I know how to give myself a hope and a future. So I need you to bless this or I need you to do this for me. But God is always saying I'm gonna bring about my purpose, and it is going to be for your good for my good. And it's also gonna be about his glory, won't kind of end here and how I hope to help us in this series. And when I say us, I really do mean us when things you may not realize about biblical communicators, preachers, whatever you want to call us, is that we are getting the help that we need as well. We don't come up here as experts were people who are processing this, and God is working on us in these issues as well. And that's true for me in a series like this. But here's how here's how I think we'd get help in this series, I think we can hone our spiritual instincts that when we're anxious, we're going to be able to turn to Jesus rather than trusting our ability to solve or even deny those problems. I think we're also gonna get help in this series, when we want those promises His promises to go deep in our hearts, like that Psalm 56, that we can just we can begin to feel that not just know that but begin to feel it and begin to believe it true. When his promises go deep in our hearts. That's what's gonna help us through anything in this world, that we're gonna be less fearful and less anxious. And we're gonna be more content. Contentment is a great gift and hopeful. Right? Because when we're not content, and we're not full of hope, what are we come on? What are we, we're bitter. We're honoree we're really anxious, or depressed, angry when all these things were really fearful. And then finally, I think it'd be more confident. And I want this to be true for all of our lives and all these issues. But we're gonna be more confident that the Bible speaks meaningfully meaningfully to all the struggles of our life. Do we believe that church, we can hold on to these kinds of things, and we can walk through this life with real meaning real purpose. He doesn't make everything plain on this side of heaven. I get that. But that we can know that because he lives we can face tomorrow. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you that you didn't leave us wandering or wandering in the desert. But just like you fed the people of God for 40 years and provided for them as they trusted in you that you would provide for us as well. Father, we ask that you give us enough to have our daily bread. Give us enough grace to be able to have that difficult conversation. Give us enough grace and mercy to be able to bear up under whatever trial or temptation that we have. Father, we ask these things. We ask these things in your name and for your glory. Amen. He would just stand and sing with us before we head out today.

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