La Serie: Bendecidos en el Estrés | Deja a un lado el miedo | Pastor Jeremy DeWeerdt

Hello, City First. Thank you for being here in the church today. Keep applauding to all the localities. Cape Coral, Janesville, God behind the bars, we love you. Harvey, Dickson, and everyone who is watching through the Pando app anywhere in the world. And well, we are excited that you are part of the City First family. We started with this new series. It's only going to be two weeks, but it's going to be important. What we are calling it is Blessed in Stress. Blessed in Stress. And about a year ago, on Easter, we did a survey of the people who came. And we said, what topics would you like us to talk about that are relevant to where you and your family are? And the two topics, this weekend and next weekend, were the four top topics of this survey. And so we're talking about this. And next week, we're going to talk about worry. Now, of course, you could say that these two mentalities are rising all the time, especially in our culture. You may have heard that there are people who have been talking about this, about worry, about fear, your family, your friends, your family. You may be having anxiety. And well, we hear the statistics that all of us have to know that many things in the world are causing us anxiety. You can't say amen to that, right? Well, maybe we've talked about this, but this is still going on. Even since COVID. And we want to talk today about anxiety. And what does the Bible say about anxiety? Next week, I will talk about worry. And well, here's the thing. So, we're going on a war in Iran right now. We have an economy that is challenging inflation and stuff like that. Our culture is very polarized, more than ever, at least in recent history.

I was even reading about AI, the artificial intelligence. It has some good things, but it has some dark things, too. I was reading an article in Forbes, in the Forbes magazine, and the author says that the best is that in the next five years, 50% of jobs are going to be taken away by artificial intelligence. And that's causing anxiety, especially for some university students. We're all going through some kind of challenges, right? We're all going through some kind of battle, financial stress at work, with our relationships, our marriage, relationships at work, maybe raising kids. All the things, right? And those things are heavy on us. They're heavy on our hearts, on our minds, and sometimes the result is anxiety. In 2001, many years ago, I was a young pastor in a church, and recently I was promoted, you could say. And now I said, well, I wasn't doing what I was doing, but my description doubled, and I was leader of the young people in the university that we have here. And I had new employees, right? They doubled from one day to the next. And all of this happened, and this weekend happened that our second son was also born. And for those of you who have multiple children, when you go from one to two kids,

it's not an addition, it's multiplication. And that was creating stress. And so that church was in an interesting season. There wasn't necessarily a lead pastor. There wasn't necessarily a lead pastor. Jen and I were young. We were six years married. And we were trying to take care of our kids, to be healthy. We had a little house. We were one night watching TV, and we were watching this show called ER, E-R. I don't know if you remember. But we liked this show. And maybe if you're very young to remember this show, the ER, E-R, it was people who worked in a hospital emergency room. And it was like crazy, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. People were talking about it in the desert and they were running like crazy. It was like an intense show. And so it's kind of like an intense show. And I remember I was watching it and I was sitting on the couch and I was sitting on the couch and I couldn't breathe. And all of a sudden, I literally couldn't breathe. And the room began to feel smaller and smaller. And the room never had this happen to me in my whole life. Never had this happen to me. And all of a sudden, I started claustrophobic

and I didn't deal with panic. And it began to radiate and all of a sudden I felt anxious. And I turned to my wife, Jen, and I said, turn that TV off. And she said, why? And I said, turn it off, turn it off. And she said, why? And I'm like, for some reason, I'm like, I'm going to die. Literally, I couldn't breathe. And for the first time in my life, at the age of 32 years, I went through a panic attack, a panic attack. I didn't know what it was. And I honestly, I didn't know what it was. Because I didn't feel like it was for panic. I was always a leader, like, ah, I've always been ready for action, we're going to go up the mountain without fear. We're going to take risks. My life has been like this, but nevertheless, I'm sitting in my living room and all of a sudden I began to feel suffocated, literally suffocated. And this was not the first time I've done it like this, where my work expanded or where I had to be a leader of many people. I've had pressure since I was 23, since the first day. Literally, since I was, I've been skiing since that day. God has put me in situations that I wasn't ready to overcome. And although I was slowly climbing up in my responsibilities, you could say, it was different at that moment. The weight, the pressure, the expectation, the responsibility, I don't know,

but it was silently doing something within me. And at that moment, watching that show, I was aware of, and it broke, it all broke. And internally, I began to panic. And I began to have, in the next season, several attacks of panic. I remember thinking, I said, hey, I'm going crazy, what's going on here? This is not me. And maybe I say, well, I'm starting to, I don't know, I was sitting in my office, or lying in my bed, and I felt a claustrophobia. You know, as I start to say it, you realize what's going on. And as the next year went by, I had to see what was going on. And I said, well, the solution is not what the culture says to attack anxiety. The culture says, look for a life that is safe and easy. And the next year of my life, my life actually became more complex. It became heavier. My responsibility became lighter. My life became more complex, but I found out how to put aside the fear and how to attack anxiety. It doesn't mean it's gone forever, or there's no moments where I'm scared. Yes, but my point is, is that I found a way through the word

and through the help of some other people. I'm going to tell you that with you too. I'm going to tell you analytically what's going on. Those of you who are afraid or anxious, take notes today. Get on your phone, take pictures of the points that I'm going to say today. And I'm going to say that if you're not anxious today, do it anyway, because you might know someone who's going to need these notes, and you can help them. The stress, the stress is costing us three billion, with a B in Burro, three billion in medical bills and loss of productivity. It's a thing. In fact, a psychologist said in his report that generally the student right now in high school has the same type of anxiety as the average student in the early-middle school. the same anxiety as a patient, a patient in the 1950s, a psychiatric patient. Wow, so life is tough. And you say, it's tough. Have you seen the news? Have you seen what's happening? People are tired before they get out of bed. All day, all night, they've been fighting in their anxiety, in their fear. They can't sleep, and anxiety has become so common

in our community, especially after COVID. And you say, well, that was a lot of fun. And it's become so common that people say, wow, it's very normal, right? They think it's normal. But today, I want to give you a different vision. I want to offer you a biblical vision. The apostle Saint Paul in Philippians, and the Philippian church was under pressure. And he says the following in Philippians, he says, don't worry about anything, right? And you say, oh, it's very easy, right, Paul, Pablo? And he says, well, he says, don't worry about anything. And this doesn't come from, he had a weight. Yes, he was a global leader. He wasn't just anyone. And he says, don't worry about anything. Instead, pray for everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for everything he's done. And you will experience God's peace that goes beyond everything we can understand. God's peace will take care of your heart and mind while you live in Christ Jesus. There's going to be anxiety. There's going to be problems. But he's saying that he's not allowing the anxiety to control the narrative of his life. The reality is that the feelings, the feeling of anxiety is human.

And to live enslaved to anxiety, in the Bible, that's optional. So today I want to give you a key to get rid of that pressure that you're in, anxiety. And the Bible says it in Psalm 37. It says, don't worry, don't be afraid. This word, fret, in English, don't be afraid, because it only causes pain. How are we going to talk today? Keep the anxiety calm. I'm not saying get rid of it, because we live in a broken world. And there's going to be moments where fear is going to attack you. It's going to happen. It's going to happen in life, where you're going to face fear. And anxiety is the symptom. And how do you keep it there? Well, the kingdom of God works with faith. And the kingdom of hell is based on fear. So, well, I'm not saying that anxiety is going to disappear from your life with a sermon or just a prayer. For most people, including me, it's a journey. So here are some biblical and practical steps for fear. Number one, redirect your focus. When anxiety starts to attack you, our natural response many times is to focus on that fear or that situation. We start to analyze it, we become more obsessed with it,

we magnify it, we say, well, here's the problem. The more attention we give to it, the bigger the fear becomes. And the more energy we give it, the bigger it becomes. So we illustrated this in the story, even in the construction or in the throwing. And Jesus illustrated it with a story. Maybe you don't know it, it's this story of Jesus. Or maybe the disciples are in the Sea of Galilee, on the boat, they're at three in the morning, trying to cross. And a storm starts, and the waves start to be strong. And the water is entering the boat, and they're taking out the water. And Jesus starts to walk on the water at three in the morning. And they think he's a ghost, and he says, it's me. It's me, Jesus. And then Peter says, it's very interesting, interesting in Matthew 14, he says, God, if it's you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water. And he says, come. And Peter must have said, why would I volunteer for this? So Peter got out of the boat, walked on the water, like a circle. Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water. Look, miraculously, it was a miracle. Jesus is doing a miracle here. Peter walks on the water, and he sees Jesus. But he's not a ghost, he's not a ghost. But when he saw the storm, He's not a ghost, he's not a ghost.

He's not a ghost, he's not a ghost. when he saw the result, the waves, when he saw the storm, what happened? He was afraid. And he began to sink, and he said, God, save me. Well, he kept his eyes on Jesus. The man was walking in the water and he kept his eyes on Jesus. When he saw the storm, he kept his eyes on Jesus. When he saw the storm, he began to fixate on the storm. He began to sink. But in the same way, you and I, when we are fixed in the storm, well, it's easy to do, we're human. And we begin to feel like we're sinking and that's the problem that we're going through. When we see the focus on Jesus and we keep our eyes on him, it gives us the ability to move forward and change our focus from the storm to the Savior. The environment didn't change. There was the storm, but the focus of Peter changed. Many of you, of us, we feel like we're sinking in all areas of our lives. And it's not that the storm isn't real. What you're in right now, you're in a storm. It's not a product of your imagination. The problem is that our eyes are there,

focused on the storm instead of faith and our Savior. And faith doesn't deny reality, but faith chooses where to look for Jesus in the middle of this reality. And of course, you can give him a big round of applause. It's not easy to do this. I'm not trying to say that this is easy or that this is a walk in the park. No, I had to focus over and over again to do this instead of being worried about the problem again and again and again. Start declaring the biblical truth in your life, which is that he has been faithful before. He's going to be faithful again. God is in the middle of your situation. He hasn't forgotten about you. He hasn't gone away. He hasn't fallen asleep on the wheel. And God knows what to do because the fear grows when we see the storm, but the faith grows when we see Jesus. The other one, examine your inner world. These thoughts, I'm talking about what's here, what's going on in your eyes here. Many people assume that anxiety is a circumstance, right, the source of their anxiety, the circumstance. Yes, it can be a trigger, but generally, it starts in our mind. And this is the psalm, right? It says,

Look for me, Jesus. You know my heart. Reveal my anxious thoughts. What is this psalmist saying? He says, Oh, sometimes I don't understand what's going on inside me. Reveal it to me. No, reveal what's going on in my soul. This is the problem. The problem is that sometimes anxiety is an indicator, an indication of what's going on inside. And sometimes it's what we're feeding in our mind and we have to take care of it. And we have to take care of our heart, our soul. We have to be aware of what's going on in our mind every day. Or what's going on in the world. You know why there's so much anxiety in our culture? It's because those phones, that now we know everything that's going on. We didn't know what was going on all the time in our culture because we didn't know what was going on in other parts of the world. Now we know everything. This tragedy that happened 20,000 miles ago, right? I'm exaggerating a little bit, but the tragedy that just happened. And I say, well, if that happened to that person in other parts of the world, it could happen to me too.

There's negative conversations. We start to see people with negativity, with social comparison. Or sometimes we see, like Jen continues, I'm an expert in really feeling like the worst is coming. Jen can tell you, it's the bad side of my strength. I'm a leader, but the dark side of my leadership is that I can tell you where all my problems are. And what fills our mind really shapes our emotions. There with that, that point. So what fills your mind eventually shapes your emotions. If garbage comes in, garbage will come out. What are you eating? What are you seeing? Now also check your imbalance. Sometimes we give more weight to our emotions. that our faith, and we probably want to give greater importance to things that maybe won't be of any importance in a year's time, or in a year's time. That opinion of the people you work with, the people you go to school with, that situation that you're going through, well, maybe in a year's time, you won't even remember what happened. But right now, it's heavy on you, and it's heavy, and those temporary problems, you start to imagine things. But when we really give weight to God's promises, those perspectives start to change,

you try to control every situation. So instead of control freaks in here, we can't do it. The goal is not to try to control every situation. We can't control everything, but what we can do is to take care of your mind and your spirit, and another thing we have to do is to take care of our mind. We have to look for integrity, and maybe anxiety grows when life is divided. And what do I mean by that? Well, we're a public person at work, but we're different at home. We're a different person online. And that kind of fragmentation, you get tired over time, and it creates anxiety because you're trying to be different in everything. And you don't want people to see who you really are. And you don't want people to see who you really are. And look, understand that peace is in honesty. We have to be honest with ourselves, primarily inside of God, in front of God, right? When our peace is in looking for honesty, and he says, Santiago, confess your sins to each other. You have to be honest to each other because anxiety is present in all of his ways. Santiago said it, a person who is doubly unstable. We just studied it in the last sermons. And this is a great practice of isolation in moderation. Many of us, we're alone in our thoughts. We're alone in our thoughts.

We're alone maybe even for a long time. We're alone in our thoughts. And we say, well, I'm introverted. And you know, we don't want to be with a lot of people. We say, I'm introverted. But that kind of personality is an indicator, not a personality. In the same way that someone who is extroverted is an indicator of your personality, but it does not dictate who you are in your life. Many of us need to join a life group. You have to do it because it's good for your soul. Many of us have to go out of the computer and have to be there all day. And you have to go have a cup of coffee with someone because it's good for our souls. Being alone for a long time, that's not good. That's why in prisons, it's a punishment when you're put alone. Because they put you alone for a long time. It's a punishment. The enemy doesn't like it when you're alone, you're the only one with problems. And the enemy tries to convince you of that. And the healing, the healing comes when you understand this, that you're not alone. And as a pastor, there are people who trust me and they're very honest with me from time to time. Not always. But a lot of people are struggling.

And a lot of people are having problems and they're very lonely. And you're not alone in your problem. In fact, I'll tell you, I can throw a ball at you and it's going to hit you. And I think the other person is dealing with the same thing. So we have to look for people to help us to be whole. Number three, you have to see anxiety as a sign, not as a sentence of life. I want to move away from the culture for a moment. My way of thinking is based on scripture. It's that your anxiety doesn't have to be your problem. It doesn't have to be your life. It doesn't have to be your identity. It is something that you're dealing with now. It's something that God is helping you with right now, but God is going to help you move forward. And anxiety, sometimes we treat it as an enemy. And this is what I want to see. Sometimes anxiety is a signal that something deeper needs attention. It's a sign. It's not the problem. It's like in the picture on your car, right? You're bringing your life, like you're driving your car. All the stupid lights are on. And you say,

oh, I already know that light. Watch out for the machine. But, oh, it's okay. I'm going to keep driving. Oh, that oil light. Oh, I can go another 10,000 without changing the oil. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. The lights, and many of us are ignoring the lights, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. the anxiety, it's a light in your car. And he says, hey, you need to open, right? You need to open the hood of the car, right? The hood of the car and see what's happening under the hood. And you say, well, I feel anxiety at this point because there's something inside of me that needs attention. Because that situation at work made me feel like this, so strong about it. Because the fear, because what's there? What's there? This fear that I'm going through, the X fear, why? What truth do I need to tell myself to fight the lie that I'm believing? That's a very, very, very important question to ask because you know, when you suppress emotions, you can't grow.

But when you process those realities before God, there's growth. Number two, imagine the future. And it's not just something to think about. Our minds are powerful. And that's important. That's maybe the second reason you're here, is that your emotions dictate, right? But he says, the pictures we upload about the future build the way we go through during the present. How you begin to see what you're seeing right now or in your future dictates how you think about what you're going through. And it essentially builds your reality. And we constantly imagine disasters. We begin to see the worst, to feel the worst. And we begin to live it like that. But when we allow God's promises to shape our imaginations, when we allow God's promises to change and build our growth, our imagination, there's hope. In Philippians, it says, now, dear brothers and sisters, put your thoughts, let's say it together, one, two, three, you don't answer three, right? I say it all the time. And you say, no, it was just a test. One, two, three. Concentrate your thoughts. Concentrate.

Concentrate. One, two, three. Concentrate on what is true, what is right, what is honorable, what is just, what is pure, what is beautiful, what is admirable. Think of things that are excellent and worthy of praise. This is a choice. Your mind, left out, if you leave it alone, it's always going to be pathological. It's always going to drift to worse cases. Your brain is going to drift to worse cases. Your brain is going to drift to worse cases. You have to put a limit, a wall of contention, to keep your mind focused on the right things. So, the one-draw. So, it means, you know, how do we like to fix things? Well, like you have a spiritual recipe. You have to grab and you have to fix our thinking, which means we have to focus on this. So, right back. So, a lot of times, a lot of times,

it's kind of a double-edged sword. But look, we have to train the spiritual mind. Instead of imagining the worst, we have to imagine what God is doing. Imagine that there is progress in your life, that there is healing, that there is a future where you are free from what you're going through right now. And you realize that God can take you through it. Let me give you an example. You're going to love that. Look, imagine right now, think of what it was that you have battled, maybe recently or 10 years ago. Something that you thought was going to take you down. What was it? You thought it was going to take you down. Maybe you broke with NAR in a relationship you didn't love. Maybe it was a situation in your career and you didn't expect it. Maybe it was a disease. I don't know what it was, but what it was, it was going to take you down. You felt like it was going to take you down. Look, I have a truth for you. You're still here. No, no. I know you're like, go get me more.

No, go get me more. And you said, wow. You thought you were done and you're still here. You thought it was going to take you down. And yet, okay, so that means God has taken you out of this moment. You might still be battling what you have, but the fact that you're here presently is that the lie that the enemy tried to tell you that you were going to be dead, that it was all going to end. It's a lie, because you're still here. Many of you say, wow, I've never seen it this way. It was a year ago, five minutes ago, five years. Whatever it was you thought was going to happen, you got through it. You know, you continue to do that. Last point, the last point I left it here. Okay, I didn't put it at the beginning, why? Because maybe you're going to forget the last important point. The last point is that in your anxiety and in your fear, praise and worship. It sounds like it's church, right? But it's revolutionary. I know you expect me to say it, but I'm saying it, right? I'm not saying it just because I'm a pastor,

I'm saying it because it works. Praise and worship, praise and worship. Paul says it this way, he says, rejoice sometimes. Rejoice in God always. And he says this again, he says, in old literature, if the author was repeating something, it meant that it was like, like much more important. So, Paul is telling the Filipinos, hey, rejoice, even in the pressure, or when you're under attack, whatever the enemy is trying to do, praise, praise, and rejoice in this. And sometimes you praise because you've won, and sometimes you praise because you need victory. So, here's the thing, when you're there, when you're like, wow, I'm going to drive in my car, enter and praise, when you're in your car, praise. And you know, I don't like secular music, but I'm not against it, some people do. Maybe the first thing you shoot, what you need to get in your soul, you need to worship if you've won or if you need a victory. And then the prayer is to declare who God is and what he's going to do. And he says this, pray the scriptures. And he says this over and over again, I'm going to tell you how. Right now, in the next 60 seconds, in Psalm 27, where it says, read the scriptures.

God is my light and my salvation. So, why am I going to be afraid? He says, God, you are my light, you are my salvation. I'm not going to be afraid, you are my protection. So, you protect me from fear. I have the God of the universe that is protecting me. So, why should I be worried? Did you see how I just personalized it? Psalm 23, have you heard it? Even when I'm on my way through the darkness, I'm not going to be afraid. What I'm going through right now, God, I'm not going to be afraid because you're not going to leave me, because you're close. You're there with me, your high rod protects me and you give me comfort. Psalm 46, you are my refuge and my strength. You are always ready to help me. You are not far from me, sitting in a cloud, angry, with a white beard. No, you are always ready to help me when I'm in trouble. Psalm 91, your faithful promises are my armor and protection. I am standing in your word, not in the cultural thoughts or in mine. I stand in the truth of God and I declare that truth about my circumstances. Psalm 57, I'm going to hide under your wings until fear passes through me.

I'm going to cry to you, Lord. And most times, even in this season, I hate it, I don't like it, but you are going to fulfill your purpose in me. You are going to ascend from heaven to rescue me. You are my rescue. Psalm 16, I will keep my eyes on you, Lord, in the middle of this storm. You are right by my side and I will not be shaken. I will not be shaken. You know, I took those verses and I made them into prayers. And you know what? Look for this verse, this verse of what you are going through and begin to pray in this prayer over and over again, over and over again. Declare it, declare the word of God over your circumstances. For some of us, we have unfollowed. Leave the fear behind. On social media, we have to stop following other people. And it could be that we do. We have to stop following other people. You always see the first, it's the day where we stop following the fear. The fear keeps on showing up. And fear keeps on showing us messages that are causing us anxiety. The fear is trying to put something dark in us, or that we're going to have a dark future. It's time not to follow that.

We're going to follow that. We're going to apply these truths. Today, take these truths with you, in your work, in your school, in your business, in your neighborhood, in the situations you're in. And say, God, I'm going to stop in you. And say, God, I'm going to leave the fear behind. Father, I thank you because you didn't give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a correct and healthy mind. And I ask for health, a healthy mind for all of us. God, many of us here today, anxiety is making us feel crazy. And today, Lord, we have hope that you're going to help us move forward. And we're going to have a healthy mind. May our thoughts be fixed. If they're broken, fix them. Lord, if our thoughts are broken, help us to focus on the right things. God, thank you that you're with us, that you care about us. Even when the world is stupid and crazy, we can have peace that goes beyond all understanding. Why? Because your trust, our trust is in you. We love you in the name of Jesus. And we all say, amen, amen. Let's give a big round of applause to God.