God's Kingdom and Your Anxiety

Lord, you're worthy of every tribe, of every tongue, of every nation, of every people group. Lord, you're worthy of every soul, of every crown, of every song, of every tear. Lord, you're worthy of it. You're worthy of it. You're worthy of it forever and ever. Forever and ever. What we're doing right now, today, we're going to be doing forever in eternity. Around your throne, God, worshiping you in spirit and in truth, pouring out our hearts in adoration to you, King of Kings. Worthy. Worthy. Worthy is the lamb that was slain. Worthy. Worthy is the lamb that takes away the sins of the world. Worthy. Worthy. Oh, what else can we say, God? What else can we say, God? When we see you rightly, what else can we confess? We must say that you are worthy. We must say that you are holy. We must say that you are wonderful. This may sound like a strange request, but could all the sisters in the room just lead us in that chorus? Just the ladies. Will y'all lead us? Son of God, Son of Man, worthy, worthy to receive all the glory, all the glory of the Son of God, Son of Man, worthy, worthy to receive all the glory, all the glory, worthy, worthy is the name of the Son of God. This is what heaven is going to be like.

Every tribe, every tongue, men and women from every background, every nation. Worthy, worthy to receive all the glory, all the glory. Now how about all the men? Come on men, let me hear you worship. Worthy, worthy is the name of the Son of God. I think y'all can do a little bit better than that. Come on, lift your voice to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Come on, come on, maybe it's been a little bit since you've sang in church. Worthy, worthy to receive all the glory, all the glory. One more time with everything you've got, with everything you've got. Come on men of God. Worthy, worthy is the name of the Son of God, Son of Man. Worthy, worthy to receive all the glory, all the glory. Come on. I think we got hell scared this morning, I believe that. I believe that. Ha ha. Worship is warfare. It's an opportunity for us to bless our Savior, but it's also an opportunity for us to encourage ourselves in the Lord. When all hell is breaking loose, when nothing is going in the direction that we want it to, I'm reminded of that story. Whenever David came back from fighting, and he had to have been worn out, only to find that everything that he carried about had been carried off. And the Bible says that rather than sit down in the dirt and feel sorry for himself, that he went into his tent. He said, I know where the solution is. It's in the secret place. I know where my answer is. It's in worship. I know where the battle is won. It's in my song being lifted to the only one that can. Could fight my battle for me And the bible says that he went into his tent and he began to encourage himself in the lord

Now we don't know what he prayed we have no idea what he's saying But it's possible he said worthy worthy Yeah, he said if I die die i'm singing i'm worshiping If I don't get any any of them back i'm still gonna worship I may go down with the ship, but i'm still gonna worship. It may never turn for me, but i'm still gonna worship It may not come back But i'm still gonna bless the lord. I will bless the lord at all times his praises shall continually be in my mouth Is Me The joy of the lord is my strength We thank you god that in your presence Is the fullness of joy? And at your right hand Our pleasures forevermore Thank you for saving us Thank you for delivering us From the slavery of our sins so that we might see your face And be rescued by your right arm, thank you Lord jesus for your victory upon the cross Thank you for your blood that has bought us You've saved us for yourself And we give you praise today Yes in your presence and we bless you god There's no place like the presence of god Culture would look at our times in prayer and say what a waste of time And you know, maybe it is But But like the woman with the alabaster jar, I want to take everything that I know is precious Wasted at the feet of jesus Every treasure

Everything I hold near and dear and put it at the feet of jesus And say you're worthy of it god Worthy of it god all my time All of my affections all of my dreams all of my ideas All of my relationships everything that I desire god and just pour it out at your feet Because you're worthy of it Today is a day of freedom Jesus today is a day of freedom. I want you to know that today is a day of freedom He said he who the son is set free is free indeed He who the son is set free is free indeed my prayer for you today is that the holy spirit Has increased your freedom in worship today, you know, I think sometimes when we have Just moments of worship where we sense god's nearness in his presence We wonder if we'll ever be able to make it back to that place And what I want to say to you today if you're in an unfamiliar place in god's presence that you have simply set a brand new standard For your time in god's presence Amen Psalm 84 the bible says that we go from strength to strength as many as appear before the lord god in zion This is the place where strength is found to search god this is the place Where virtue is purchased, but it doesn't cost any money. That's the thing, Isaiah said, come and buy. With no money, come and get fresh bread. With no money, come and get nourishment. This is the place where your soul is refreshed. This is the place where your spirit is renewed. This is the place where God can set a brand new standard for your relationship with him and say, you don't have to go back to the way it used to be. You don't have to go back to the way it once was.

But I believe that God is setting a new standard. And even as we worship today, I saw this picture of just like chains falling off of people's arms, chains, bondage coming off. I believe that today is a day of freedom. Do you believe that? Today is a day of freedom. I want you to find about five or six people around you and tell them that, say, today is a day of freedom. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Well, welcome to church. We're glad that you're here. If you are — okay, I don't thank anybody standing in the lobby, so you don't have to move. But we're glad you're here. Welcome to Legacy. If you've never been here before, my name is Lyle. My wife, Allison, and I have the privilege of serving this church as lead pastors. Our baby boy of three months is here this morning, Ezra. Have you guys met him yet? Might as well bring him to me.

He's got the cutest little onesie on. Sorry, I'll get to preaching in a minute. His onesie says, God. What does it say? God loves you. You? What does it say in French? In tongues? This is Ezra. Sweet boy. All right, you can have him back. If you haven't met him, he's also one of the pastors here, so I wanted to make sure that you were able to meet him. But we're glad you're here. Such an honor to have you here in God's house. What a blessing it is to be here today. I've got a few other friends that are here today. Some friends all the way from Texas. The Turriellos are here. What's up, y'all? Y'all probably don't know them, but at least you know Gianna if you are a part of staff or you served alongside her. She's back for today, so welcome back. Glad you're here. Super glad you guys are here. Thanks for hanging out with us on Sunday morning. These are my friends, and it's always a joy whenever your friends worship alongside you, isn't it? I hope you know the person next to you. If you don't, now's a great time to introduce yourself.

But we're a church of 10 years, and we keep it pretty simple around here, to be honest. When people ask me, what kind of church is Legacy? I say, well, we're nice, and we're fun. So let's start there. And then also, we're a Bible-based, Spirit-filled church. So there's a, yeah, I mean, I think that's enough. Centered around Jesus, and if you're here for the first time, just want to welcome you. What I want to do today is go to Matthew chapter 6. I don't have a long time to preach, which is fine. I don't actually care too much, and that's not because I don't want to read the Bible. Obviously, I do. But I wanted to make as much space as possible for the Holy Spirit to move, because I really believe today that God's got a theme on his heart, and that is freedom. I really believe that. So in Matthew chapter 6, we're gonna read a very familiar verse, if you've quoted from Matthew chapter 6. You've probably quoted verse 33 about seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and everything Will then be added to you. Well, we are gonna read that verse, but I want to read it in context Matthew chapter 6 we're gonna start actually with verse 25 and then we're gonna read all the way to verse 34 so Matthew chapter 6 verse 25 through 34 I've had you standing for a long time so you can stay seated. I'll read it to you But in verse 25, it starts out Jesus preaching here saying therefore I tell you do not be Anxious about your life what you will eat or what you will drink nor about your body What you will put on is not life more than food and the body more than clothing

Look at the birds of the air They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them Are you not of more value than they and which of you by being there's that word again Anxious can add a single hour to his lifespan. And why are you? Anxious about clothing consider the lilies of the field how they grow they neither toil nor spin yet I tell you even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these But if God so clothes the grass of the field which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven Will he not much more clothed you? Oh you of little faith? Therefore do not be Anxious saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink? What shall we wear for the Gentiles seek after all these things and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness we're going to get into what that means in a minute and All these things what things the things that you've been anxious about will be added to you therefore do not be Anxious about tomorrow for tomorrow will be Anxious for itself sufficient for the day is its own trouble so what I want to talk to you about for just a little bit is God's kingdom and Your anxiety alright God's kingdom and Your anxiety. I really believe this church that today is a day of freedom So Lord, we pray and we say thank you that you said he who the Sun sets free is free indeed We say thank you by the power of the Holy Spirit. Every chain will be severed today in Jesus mighty name God I pray you would go beyond a message and I pray you would perform a move I pray you would operate upon us today God I pray that you would remove anything that needs to be cut out and I pray that you would supplant any seed that needs to Be sown God. I declare we're leaving this sanctuary different than the way that we walked in in Jesus name We pray and everybody said Amen. Amen. Amen

Awesome. Well six times in this verse of Scripture Jesus mentions this word Anxiety or anxious and I don't know about you But I have struggled with anxiety a few times in my life anybody else in here So when I read this verse of Scripture Matthew chapter 6 verse 25, for instance Therefore I tell you do not be anxious about your life. I received that and then I think okay Well, I'm trying not to be Right you ever have somebody tell you like don't be sad you're like I would like not to be sad Thank you for that. That doesn't help at all But Jesus does more than just say don't be anxious he actually gives us instructions as to how not to suffer from the debilitating weight of Anxiety in our lives and we're gonna get to that in just a moment But what I know about anxiety is that a lot of people are wrestling with it I was unsure of how many exactly so what I did this week was I looked up and I said, okay How many Americans are dealing with some form of an anxiety disorder? It's called GAD General anxiety disorder believe it or not. It's actually almost 19% of all Americans deal with general anxiety Disorder in some way shape and form that is actually about 40 million Americans that are wrestling often in silence with anxiety Because as I studied a little bit further, I learned that two-thirds of adults. So right at 66% Two-thirds of adults that wrestle with anxiety do not receive any sort of treatment That wrestle with anxiety do not receive any sort of treatment so they're not honest about it for one reason or the other Or they are looking for treatment just not from the doctor's office Maybe they're looking for treatment in a liquor bottle Maybe they're looking for treatment in prescription pills that they don't have a prescription for maybe they're looking for treatment in Getting high or maybe they're looking for treatment in pornography or maybe they're looking for treatment and food or entertainment or something else that they're using to fill the void to numb them up enough not to have to feel the sting of Their overwhelming anxiety about all the different cares they have in this life So you never know who is wrestling with it

Honestly, the happiest person that you sit next to at work could be wrestling with crippling anxiety the barista that hands you your latte Every single morning over the counter that smiles in your face and tells you good morning could be silently struggling with an overwhelming crippling weight of Anxiety because it would seem that a lot of people have it and not everybody is honest about it I think one of the groups that are more reluctant about being vulnerable about anxiety are Christians Right, because if you grew up in church, you were taught that Christians don't wrestle with anxiety because Christians are blessed by God Then you grow up and realize hold on wait, I didn't think I could have this and I experienced this a few weeks ago actually because I went to My doctor and my doctor's office hired a new doctor. Who's a guy up until this point? they only had ladies and so it was time for me to do my annual physical with my blood work and and talk to the doctor and He was running me through You know the questionnaire and then he asked me So what do you do? And I said, I'm a pastor and he put his clipboard down and he leaned up he said So, how's your mental health? And I thought that was messed up to be honest. I was like, yo, why are you doing me like that dog? Like you know what I said Man, I'm too blessed to be stressed You know, I gave him a spiritual answer He said well Yeah, but you I'm looking through your chart here your medical history It looks like you've wrestled with some different things throughout your life and I'm wondering how you're doing and I was like, dang it We're really doing this So we sat and we talked and after about 30 minutes I Almost teared up on the guy because I felt so much care And so much compassion from the dude that he was just willing to sit there and give me some space to be honest about how I was really doing and I think if we're real today a lot of us come to church with that same energy

We're going through some stuff the other six days of the week dealing with crippling Anxiety or depression or fear and we come into church and somebody asked us how we're doing and we're like, oh my gosh Somebody asked us how we're doing and we're like blessed and highly favored But if we could take a peek under the hood You know, you've been dealing with some heart palpitations all week long trying to pack practice your box breathing Just to bring you down to normal so that you could get through your workweek because somebody got you stressing I Line Emma, so when I left the doctor's office, I did what you know, good husbands do and I called my wife and I confessed Yeah, the doctor asked me about my stress levels and I deflected by spiritualizing it And I realized that's what we do a lot of Christians, you know We deflect and then we spiritualize what we're going through like now I'm too anointed to experience any measure of anxiety. Thank you very much. Go ahead. Let's lead a worship song So I was telling my wife I said I did my physical but for some reason it felt like therapy And I realized when I was leaving I said, you know, I need to just let the walls down and Be a little bit more honest Before God and before other people especially people who love me who are trying to help me and I think that's what church should be. I think when this should be the safest place to be honest about how you're really doing I think this should be the place that you can come in and say man. I am struggling, bro I'm wrestling with crippling anxiety. I am Struggling with the weight of depression. I don't know what to do next, but I know Know I feel so overwhelmed and oftentimes late at night I'm up unable to sleep because I'm dealing with fear of The future and I don't know what's gonna happen to me and I don't know what's gonna happen with my kids and I don't know what's gonna happen with my business and I've got all of these competing cares and I don't know what to do. What that is is Anxiety and so if you are wrestling with anxiety today My simple encouragement to you is be honest about it in a culture that loves to say I'm just keeping it real man. We sure do

Fake it all the time We got to be honest because when we deny our pain we delay our healing When You deny your pain you delay your healing in the book of Jeremiah the Prophet said it like this You can't heal a wound by saying it's not there And Here's what's crazy to me is that he goes on to say yet the priest and the prophets. That's the anointed people That's the people that show up every Sunday, that's the people that run to the front and lift their hands and worship That's the people that when you greet them, they ain't never got a problem They're always happy the priest and the prophets give assurances of peace when on the inside of their soul, man. It's a battlefield Are you with me? It's time to be honest because when we deny our pain we delay our healing Whenever Jesus is talking to this group in Matthew chapter 6. He's not talking to the world. He's not talking to culture He's talking to his followers The reason why he said don't be anxious is because they were anxious So if we're trying to deflect and be Overly spiritual about our fears and say Jesus is not talking to me I want you to recognize that Jesus was speaking to his church and Anxiety can affect anybody so don't be embarrassed about it Don't wear shame about it actually be vulnerable and honest about it and bring it into the light because what we refuse to reveal God can't heal We need to bring it out and say here it is Here it is Now God can do what he wants when he wants. He's sovereign. But what he wants from us is Authenticity so much so that we let him into every aspect of our lives God I'm holding nothing back from you. I'm not hiding anything from you I'm an open book before you whatever you point to I know that you don't point to it to expose me or embarrass me But you point to it because you're ready to heal it

Listen I think that even our triggers are just signals of stuff that God wants to heal in our hearts So when you're saying man, I'm so triggered man. I'm so rest. You know, I'm wrestling with this Okay, why is that coming to the surface now because the Holy Spirit is ready to do business with that thing So Rather than suppress it and stuff it and hide it and say man if they ever really found out that I dealt with anxiety They wouldn't promote me at work if they ever found out that I dealt with depression. They wouldn't empower me in ministry You're not gonna get healed hiding Whenever the Bible defines anxiety it defines it like this it's actually a Word that is rooted in another word that's rooted in another word and I'll give you all definitions and then a summation But the Bible says it like this to be anxious to worry to care for To be anxious to worry to care for it. That's the word. Jesus is using here that comes from the word meaning care Anxiety or worry and I want you to notice that in both words the definition includes care You cannot be anxious about What you don't care about So sometimes I know we just want our anxiety to leave. I just want to get rid of it I don't want to care about it, but that's not possible because we cannot We can't have anxiety about something that we don't care about and so oftentimes what anxiety is is all of these competing Affections and we just don't know how to organize them We don't know how to order them and we're caring about so much stuff simultaneously that we're feeling overwhelmed by it does that make sense and Then lastly it is to divide to distribute into a portion meaning our heart starts getting pulled apart Our attention starts getting pulled apart. Well, I got to take care of the business. No, I got to take care of the family No, I got to take care of the kids. No, I got to take care of my wife No, I got it. You see what I'm saying? We're spinning all of these plates and that right there is the biblical definition of what anxiety looks like. So here's my definition. Anxiety, according to Bible, is a worried mind

crowded with competing fears that pulls your heart in different directions. A worried mind crowded with competing fears that pulls your heart in different directions. So whenever Jesus shows up and he points to anxiety and he tells them not to be anxious, what he is doing is giving them a prescription. And I wanna share that prescription with you in closing. God's prescription for your anxiety is this. You ready? Prioritization. God's prescription for your anxiety is this. It is prioritization. So when he gets ready to write the prescription as the great physician, here's what he says. Seek first. Prioritization. The reason why you're struggling with anxiety is because your whole life is disorganized. You love this and you love that, which is okay and wonderful but you're not actually prioritizing the things that are most appropriate as a follower of Jesus. Seek first. The word seek means to search for. It means to have a passion. It means to have a desire. It means to have a drive. And first doesn't necessarily always mean first in a sequence but it does mean first as in your priorities.

There's certain days you wake up, you're not gonna be able to pray first but every single day that you wake up, you shouldn't be able to wait until you can get into prayer and seek first God's kingdom. And he said, you wanna heal anxiety? It's a matter of priority. Reprioritize your love. See, this is what Augustine prayed in the fourth century. He said, God, teach me to reorder my loves. Yes. Because he understood anxiety is just a byproduct of a lack of prioritization. I'm seeking other things before I'm seeking God. I'm looking for answers in other things before I'm looking for answers in God. I'm hoping that something else will heal me rather than speaking to the great physician. My priorities are out of whack. I'm calling everybody on my friends list before I step into the secret place and call on God. I'm looking for advice. We'll go to the counselor. So he's saying, seek first the kingdom of God. Now, I don't know about you, but every time I've heard the kingdom of God talked about, I've always thought of it like Narnia. You know, like one day I'm gonna be so deep in the presence of Jesus that I'm just gonna step through a wardrobe

and be in eternity, you know, like Enoch, just caught up, you know. But whenever Jesus says, I want you to seek first the kingdom, here's what he's talking about. The kingdom, any kingdom has to have a king. It is about lordship. So when he's saying, seek first the kingdom, he is saying, here's what I want you to do. I want you to relentlessly search for every opportunity that you have to submit yourself to the lordship of Jesus. Seek first the kingdom. Seek first the kingdom. God, I'm not in charge of my life. You're in charge of my life. God, I'm not in charge of my time. You're in charge of my time. God, I'm not in charge of the way I spend this month. You're in charge of the way I spend this month. Whatever you want me to do, God, I surrender. Wherever you want me to go, whatever you want me to say, I am seeking first the kingdom. You are my lord. You know, you cannot call God lord and say no to him simultaneously. He gets to determine the next step. Seek first the kingdom. And then he goes on to say, and not just the lordship, but also the righteousness. Righteousness there just simply means

right standing before God. I got clean hands and a pure heart. Pray in the prayer like David prayed. Search me and know me, oh God, if there be any hidden thing in me, any hidden sin, shine the light of the Holy Spirit upon that thing so that I can repent. Forgive me for the sins that I commit knowingly and unknowingly. Search me and know me, oh God. I am pursuing your lordship and I am pursuing right standing before you and I know that I cannot make myself righteous. I need you to do that for me, Jesus. I know it's only by your blood can I be purified of my disobedience. I need you to do that for me, Jesus. Every day, seeking first your lordship and your righteousness. And as you reorder your life to prioritize those two things as first things. That's what we're talking about all month. First, love. As you reprioritize your life to put those things first, here's what's miraculous about this. Is that God will help you reorder everything else so that it's set up. In a line properly in your life that you can protect your peace and obliterate anxiety In

first Peter The Bible says this cast all of your anxiety on him. Why? Because he cares for you He can handle it. He can take the load. He can deal with the burden and That's what we're here to do, but he can't carry what we won't acknowledge So If you're in here today and you are wrestling with anxiety you're struggling with anxiety, can I tell you Name it Put it out in the open Be honest about it Be real before the Lord, but I'm dealing with crippling anxiety God and it's about this thing Whenever Jesus started talking about anxiety, he said y'all are anxious about what you're gonna eat Now for you, maybe it's not the absence of food. Maybe it's the abundance of food. I don't know You guys are anxious about what you're gonna wear for you. Maybe it's not the absence of clothing but picking the right outfit. I Feel stressed if I don't wear the right thing. I ain't gonna have no favor That may sound silly but hey, I've been to a couple of parties where I showed up and I was like I need to go home So put a name on it He even said he even said this he said, uh your body you're anxious about your body and we know That affects a ton of us the beauty industry in America is almost a 1 trillion dollar industry You know, I hear you Kylie telling me not to be anxious about my fine lines and wrinkles, but I still am I need something more than your natural skincare. Thank you very much. I need the Prince of Peace. And so I'm naming the thing Yeah, you can't tell me you ain't anxious about it because I see you you got them things under your eyes You're all it takes you an hour Dang okay. All right and Then here's what you do after you name it put it under the king Once you name it put it under the king say you must bow your knee Every knee will bow every tongue will confess that includes everything. I'm anxious about Every single thing that I'm anxious about I put it up under the king when I whenever I align all of my cares in life When I organize them when I put them in a row, I'm not putting anything before Jesus

Well, I'm stressed about my kids kids. Don't go before Jesus. Well, I'm stressed about my marriage marriage. Don't go before Jesus Well, I'm stressed about my money money. Don't go before Jesus Put it all up under the king and then return to the thing. We've been talking about all month return to first works Return to obedience Return to submission Return to Lordship. That is the path of peace you can stand If you don't mind just put your hand on your heart I Pray for you right now in Jesus name That every fear of being honest before the Lord Just fall away right now. Just melt away by his power and fire But I pray for every heart that's been anxious all week and wondering how am I ever gonna get free from this crippling Anxiety I pray over you right now and declare the Lord Jesus heals you That he sets you free Lord and I pray against every demonic attack and assignment upon your children today in Jesus name We destroy every single assignment Every single assignment in Jesus name and we reverse every effect of the enemy and we say, thank you God for perfect peace in our hearts in Jesus name we pray in the church said Amen