Peacekeepers | Jacob Aranza | City Light Church

Why do we feel worried and afraid? Fear is usually of the unknown. As a matter of fact, what would happen if you went to the doctor and said, "Doc, I'm worried. I'm afraid he would look you and go, "Oh, what?" I'm pretty sure he would not give you any medication. He'd probably tell you that maybe you need a little counseling or maybe you need to face your fears. He was a Christian who might say, "Faith your fears." But if you went to him and said, "I'm feeling very... Say it loud, anxious." You know what they do? They'd write a script for a medication. Do you hear that right now one-fifth of all adults, from young adults to adults, are on some mood-altering medication for anxiety? There's a real reason for that. There is a practical reason that you're going to find out about today. None of this surprise is God. Why are people filled with anxiety? Why are people filled with anxiety when I was about, let's see, good-looking guy right here. What's your name? How do you? Thirty. Thirty, man, you look like you're twenty-two. You look good, man. Are you a Latino? Yeah. Stand up and show them what a good-looking Latino is. Stand up and show them. Is that your wife? Oh, good. He's covered.

All right, ladies, sit down. I don't want any anxiety to come on you. When I was about your age, someone held up a newspaper. I was raised in the body of the Mexican ghetto of Houston until I was nine years old. When I found out I wouldn't... Well, I was actually raised in the black ghetto of Houston. I was nine when I found out I wasn't black. I moved to the Mexican ghetto of Houston. And they gave me, someone gave me when I was about thirty, a newspaper, a Houston Chronicle. It was like that. You might not know what this is, they used to have newspapers. And you would read them and they would have all the advertisements in there. How many of you remember those? And they were about this thick. And someone said to me when I was probably twenty-five or thirty, all the information that's in here is the information your grandparents consumed in their whole life. I want you to think about that. And I want you to think now about how much you consume scrolling five hours a day. We often forget that the tree that God told men not to eat of was not the tree of crack. It wasn't the tree of weed. Oh no, I know y'all beyond that. It's gummies now. I got you. I got glicoma. Back in my day, we had Cheech and Chong. Y'all have glicoma and base and brownies and gummies. Oh yeah, I know you. And when you think about that, and you wonder like all this information, my dad was married five times a woman. Each woman he married. My mom had been married two or three times to the last one. And my mom was married two times a minute.

My dad had been married seven times. And so I was as a child, as a young person. That four sisters got pregnant 13, 14 and 15 as a young person. I was like exposed to a lot of things I never should have been exposed to. What makes you young or old is not your age. It's what you've been exposed to. I was in a child. I was adult in a child's body. So with all the young people and young adults are being exposed to, you don't realize every visual image you see plants a seed. And when you say that you have anxiety, how does anxiety begin? It begins with a thought. You see something and a thought, an image, a thought and it becomes a seed. and that thought then goes from here down into your heart. [BLANK_AUDIO] And when people are filled with anxiety, they don't say it's here. They usually say it's here. Psychologists call your stomach your second brain. And that's where you feel it is actually your spirit. This is where you feel it. Why does that happen? It happens because we are being constantly exposed to things that we should never be exposed to. Images. Listen to me. You shouldn't see someone being killed, even if it's in a 15-second clip on social media. I pastored the governor during Katrina, who was a precious woman of God. And people have often asked me when all the whole crisis happened with Katrina. I mean, didn't she do a good job? I said let me tell you this. I don't think God created any woman to see hundreds of dead bodies floating through the streets of New Orleans. Is that true women?

If you don't believe that, it's true. Those are things that are hard for grown men to handle. And when you realize why this takes place, let me tell you how it flows. Thoughts create beliefs, beliefs create behavior, and what you behave as and believe you ultimately become. But the door to your whole life begins in your inner mind, in the gates of your eyes and of your ears. That's where we begin to sow the seeds that produce anxiety. We actually, through scrolling, begin to feel the emotions and experience of something that hasn't even happened to us. It hasn't even happened to us. So, Pastor, what am I supposed to do with my worries and my fear? Do you know the root word for worry and anxiety are? Does anyone know what the root word is? It means to strangle. Isn't that what anxiety does? When you see someone who has an anxiety attack, they are actually experiencing all of the emotions of something that would happen to him that's horrific that hasn't even happened to them. But they're going through all of the mental and physical emotions. Do you know what that does to your brain? There's two parts of your brain. One part is the amygdala. Say that amygdala. That's the back part of your brain. That's freeze, fight, or flight. You ever get in a wreck or someone runs into you, you're like, do you know what I'm talking about? How many have ever been in an argument on your way to church? About if you're going to get baptized or not. That was prophetic for somebody. And you get through with the argument and you go, five minutes later you go, why didn't I say that? I could have busted them with that. That was so good. How have you ever done that? You thought of what you should have said after.

Do you know why? Because the amygdala is the freeze, fight, or flight part of your brain. And that's what happens when you get filled with anxiety. And the front part of your brain, the front of cortex is where reason is. So I often say to men who are married, how many of you are married? This isn't a marriage conference, but I'm going to give you a lot of help right now. When emotions are high, reason is low. I've been married 44 years in a row. To the same person. And I never regret anything I did not say when I was angry with my wife. I never regret it because that's when this freeze, fight, or flight thing is going on. And you say things that actually, when people go, I didn't mean that, they actually, that's what they felt. It isn't what they thought. It's what they felt. It isn't what they thought. So pastor, what am I supposed to do with my worries and with my anxiety? If this is what it does to my brain, what am I supposed to do? Well, let me encourage you. None of this surprise is God. None of this surprise is God. and He has a prescription for... He is a prescription for you. And I want to give it to you today. Would you like the prescription for anxiety today? - Amen, yeah, yeah. - A Mexican doctor is going to give it to you. (audience laughs) Philippians chapter four, verse four says this. Read it with me.

Rejoice in the Lord. - Amen. - And again, I say let your reasonableness be known to everyone, for the Lord is at hand. What he's saying is, watch the way you act because God's watching. Do not be anxious about... - Amen. - About what? - Amen. - Pastor, you don't know my husband. If you knew my husband, is his name anything? If you knew my wife, if you knew my child, if you knew it was the environment that I have to work in every day, that's the place that I live, do not be anxious about anything. It's an absolute but in, another absolute, by prayer and with, here is the prescription, prayer, supplication and thanksgiving. Let your request be made known to God and something will happen to you. And the peace of God which surpasses frees fight or flight, reason, it passes at all. We'll do something, it will, you're what? And your mouth. Some of you need to know it guards your heart, but some of you need to let it... (congregation laughing) Ladies, come on, help me.

Come on. Guard your, say it loud. (congregation laughing) Okay, you know, if you lie in church, you go straight to hell, you know? Like they, I don't believe purgatory nothing. This is like from here, straight to cleansing, and another one bites the dust. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your heart, your mind, your mouth in Jesus Christ. In this passage, Paul is telling us how we can gain peace over anxiety in every situation in the book of Matthew, Jesus says over and over again, where people are worried about what they're gonna eat and where they're gonna sleep and what they're gonna have financially. He says, don't be anxious, and he says it repeatedly. How many of you know that God's never gonna ask you to do anything that he won't give you the power to do it? (congregation cheering) He will never ask you to do anything that he will not give you the power to do. So he gives us the antidote. Here's what the Apostle Paul says. He says, number one, rejoice. Say that, ree. What does a ree mean? And because some people went to Paul,

you don't know what I'm talking about. He said rejoice in the Lord always. Yeah, and again, I say to you. And again, I say, rejoice. He says it twice. How can you be joyful in everything? Pastor, you don't know what my situation is. If you knew what the hell it is, if you knew what the fine is, Pastor, you don't know. Listen to me, joy is not an emotion, it's a decision. (congregation cheering) Say that with me, joy is not, it's a decision. A decision for what? A decision to trust that the person that has the final word hasn't had the final word yet, regardless of what it looks like. The source of joy is Christ. Not our circumstances. The word happiness comes from the word happenstance. It means when things are good, I'm happy. When they're not, I'm not. We have to live life with emotions, but we can't live life by our emotions. You know why they're calling emotions? 'Cause they're always in motion. That was good. (congregation laughing) The second thing is he tells us is, do not be anxious about anything,

but pray about everything. He tells us that when anxiety comes onto us and our amygdala gets lit up and we're in freeze fighter flag mode, that God's answer is to move from here and to begin to acknowledge, oh, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. I'm not the leader, I'm not the art powerful. I'm not the ruler of the universe. I'm not the one that has to be in control. I'm not to, wait, wait, wait a minute. And do you know that God made your mind in such a way that when you begin to pray, it moves from here. and moves into reason. Now I'm gonna show you scientifically and let a doctor tell you how it happens, watch. - What happens to your brain when you pray? Prayer can calm the brain's fear center. The brain contains a region called the amygdala. When the amygdala is highly active, you may feel overwhelmed, fearful, restless, or on edge. But studies have found that prayer and meditation can help reduce activity in this fear center of the brain, allowing you to feel calmer, more peaceful, and less burdened by anxiety. Thousands of years before the modern science ever discovered the amygdala. God already revealed this truth in his word. Philippians 4, 6 through 7 says, do not be anxious about anything,

but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your request to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. When you pray God's peace stands watch over your thoughts like a soldier guarding a city. Prayer reminds your mind that God is still in control. (audience applauding) Aren't you glad science is finally catching up with scripture? (audience cheering) It took it a while, but they're so smart they might even discover the New Testament. He's saying don't be anxious about anything, but instead pray about everything. Pray about everything. Paul is telling us that we should pray instead of panic, that we should worship instead of worry. Do you know that worship does the same thing when your amygdala is fired up? When you begin to worship it takes you from your amygdala freeze fighter flight to reason. And the peace of God starts passing over the amygdala and over the reason into another level and giving him the ultimate authority in our lives. Paul then gives us the three steps, practical steps, when we deal with anxiety. Number one, pray about what? Pray about everything. Yeah, but pastor, I mean, I'm not good at prayer. How many of you here married?

I'm gonna give you some love right now, you ready? Well, those who wouldn't want to just stay afterwards and I'm gonna give it to y'all. Do you want it? - Yes. Pray with your wife every night. I've been married 44 years and in 44 years and maybe 50 nights, I've not prayed with my wife. We prayed when we dated, okay? You said, pastor, well, but I'm not good at prayer. Can I share something with you? The most effective prayer ever answered was one word. It was a friend of Jesus named Peter and he was trying to walk and meet Jesus on the water. And he took his eyes off of Jesus, do you ever do that? And he went into freeze fight or flight mode and began to sink and he yelled out something. What was it? Say it loud. Say it loud. We'll say it louder. Scream it. And it got immediately answered. Can you just say, help God? You see, it's not the prayer, it's the presence. It's not the prayer, it's the presence. Now, how many of you love your pastors? How many would love to take them out to a nice restaurant? Okay, look at me.

They would like you too, as well. Let me ask you a question. Those of you that are married, if you took pastor out to a nice dinner, he and Pastor Shannon, and they're at this nice dinner with you. Do you think you might start arguing with each other? Would you? Why? It's the presence. It's the presence. You remember when you were a little kid and your older siblings would pick on you and all of a sudden you'd go, daddy's coming. Everything I quiet, everybody got peaceful, everybody got their church face on. (congregation laughing) It's not the prayer, it's the presence you find in. (congregation clapping) Shh. Here's the second thing. He says pray. Here's the second thing he says, and then he says with supplication. Say that with me, supplication. - Supplication. - Now, I want to give you a question. Prayer is this, and God answers. Don't you love it when God answers your prayers?

You get saved, every prayer gets answered. God, my boss is a jerk. Boom, your boss gets fired. You come in, I'm powerful. You know, God, my girlfriend's treating me ugly. She calls you the next morning, I've been convicted, I've been ugly to you. You're such a good man. That hasn't happened yet, well, I'm sorry. Every prayer gets answered, but as you mature in the Lord, you find out that every prayer also has a calendar and a clock attached to it. And we don't know the calendar nor the clock. We don't. My oldest son was away from the Lord for 17 years. With some of my children, it was, God, meet them. And he did. And with my oldest son, it was. Jesus talks about this type of prayer. Listen to what he says in Luke chapter 11, verse five. Jesus then gave this illustration. Imagine what would happen if you were to go to one of your friends in the middle of the night and pound on the door and shout, "Please, do you have some food that you can spare? A friend of mine has arrived in my house unexpectedly and I've nothing to serve him." But your friend says, "Why are you bothering me? The door's locked and my family's all in bed. Do you expect me to get up and give you our food?

I tell you, read this with me, because of your, even though it's the middle of the night, your friend will get up out of his bed and give you all so it is with ask, seek, knock, and it will be, now read this with me, every persistent person, every persistent seeker. And everyone who knocks persistently with one day. Listen to me, it took 17 years, but the moment he called two and a half years ago, and said, "Daddy, are you and mama having coffee "and reading the Bible and praying together like y'all do "every morning," he said, "Yes, could you put the phone "on speakerphone?" I said, "Sure." And he began to weep, he said, "Daddy, I'm so sorry." I can't imagine what it's like to see y'all have a front row seat to me losing my marriage, losing my home, walking away from God. But I'm turning my life over to the one that made me for himself, and I'm no longer running from everything that I ever needed. (audience applauds) Listen to me, 17 years shrunk away in an instant. In an instant. Here's the third thing he says, "With thanksgiving," say that with me, "With thanksgiving." Well, what does that mean with thanksgiving? During Bible times, when you went out toward, if you've ever been to Israel or seen videos of the Middle East, you understand, it's primarily mountains and desert areas.

And so the way they protected themselves is they built wall cities. So when a battle would happen, an army would come to attack a city that had a wall city around it, and the city doors would open up, and the wars would go out. And they would go out to battle, to fight those who wanted to take over their family, their children, and their possessions. And while they were going, the enemy to steal the heart of the people that were coming out to battle with them, is they would take arrows, dip them in tar, and they would shoot them at the soldiers, and then they would shoot them into the city so that their heart would turn and begin to think, not about the battle, but about their loved ones. And in Ephesians chapter six, Paul talks about a shield that God gives us. He said, it's called a shield up. Okay, does pastor preach the book of Ephesians here? It's called a shield up. It's called the shield of faith. Now, let me tell you what the shield of faith is, because every one of you have one. How many of you ever had God answer prayer for you? How many of you have many answered prayers, okay? When you were growing up in school, how many of you were good at art? Like you could draw things, and you could put things together.

How many of you were good at that? Come on, raise your hand. I hate you in a Jesus kind of a way. I was that kid, they would give you a blank piece of paper and say, draw a dog, and people go, your elephant looks really good. Okay, but they would say, hey, and bring them and all you gotta do is take some Elmer's glue and paste them on there and you make a board. Let me remember collages. Do you know what your shield of faith is? It is a collage of every time God's ever answered your prayer. And when you are in the middle of a battle, you pray and then you hold up that shield and go, God, you met me here, you met me here, you answered here, you healed me here, you brought my husband home here, you changed my child here and by the grace of God, I'm gonna hold this up and the God who met me in the past is gonna meet me one more time. And then Paul tells us, he tells us that as we do that, how we can keep our peace, how we can keep our peace. So there would be, keep peace. Here's how you can keep your peace. Philippians 4 8 says this, finally brothers, whatever is, whatever is, whatever is, whatever is, whatever is, whatever is, man, this sounds like Instagram. Oh, it doesn't. Then why would you constantly sow images and seeds that you would think about? Remember, everything you hear and see is a seed

that knocks at the door of your heart and your mind. Guard your eyes, guard your eyes, guard your ears, their gates, their gates, anxiety can't come unless you open it to them. Don't eat of a tree of the knowledge of good and evil and be surprised when you feel death coming on you. (congregation cheering) Whatever is commendable and whatever is excellent, if there's anything praiseworthy, what's those last words? Say it loud. Think on these things. Come on, say it with me. Think on these things. Can I take you something? You need to think about what you think about. You need to think about what you think about. (gentle music) Anxiety comes as a thief, as a thief. Some of your rejoicing going, man, yeah, pastor, but a thought came to my mind and I dwelled on it, but pastor praised God. I didn't do it. The enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy. He didn't send that thought to kill you. He just sent it to rob you of your joy and of your peace. (congregation applauding) Prayer gives me peace. His promises give me peace. His presence, you know why some of you love worship?

It's the only time you feel the presence of God. Do you know you can practice this at home? You know what I do? The first thing every morning of my life, every morning of my whole life, since I'm 14 and a half years old, when I got to say, living in my mother's bar, serving beer every day when I came home from school, looking at pictures of naked women, centerfolds on the walls. I would wake up every morning. I set my alarm across the room, so I would have to get up to go, and I made a prayer list. And I would wake up in the morning, and the first thing that I'd do, I'd begin to worship. Show it up, God, up, up, up. I just, I would literally turn on it, just begin to worship. Why? Because in His presence, His fullness of joy, and life ever more. Why? Because the heels melt like wax in the presence of the Lord. All my problems, they start melting. Why? Because I get out of my freeze fight or flight, and my worries, and I begin to experience the presence of the living God, and that peace that surpasses all understanding. How is this going to work out?

I don't know, but I have something that tells me it will be on my understanding. Prayer gives me peace. His promises give me peace. His His presence. Look at me. Church never replaces intimacy with God. Intimacy with God wants to know you. He loves you. He's crazy about you. He wants to spend time with you. He hears your sighs. He knows your cries. He knows every one of your disappointments. Isaiah 26, 3, says this. "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is another translation says set on you." Because now I've been saying this. a nice, enormous citizen? Two years ago at Christmas, I have five boys and I got all my boys this same watch. And when my second son got married Christian, he came to me as a pastor and used to church about a thousand that he and his wife planted ten years ago and we went to go get his ring at the jewelry and he's looking at all these rings and finally looked down at mine and he goes, "Daddy, I like your ring, it's worked good for over thirty years, let's just make a replica of it." So then he made a replica of it and he wears that and a few years later Joseph, a second son is a pastor that's in transition taking over all of our ministry. So daddy, you've been married thirty-five years and that rings work really good, I want to wear it too. So I got a picture and it's all of us on Christmas morning and those of us that are married all are wearing the same ring and the same watch. Now don't tell him this, this watch cost four hundred and fifty dollars retail but I bought

it for two fifty on Amazon. Don't tell him that, block this off. But do you know it wouldn't matter if it was a ten dollar time X or a ten thousand dollar Rolex if you don't set it, it doesn't work. He gives perfect peace to those who keep their minds set. Stayed, everything around me is trying to pull it off of him. But I'm keeping my mind set. Stayed. Secure. Why? Because he will keep me in perfect. What? Say it loud. Yeah. Yeah. Has anybody here ever been to Israel? Okay. I was in Israel a few years ago. My wife spent two or three times. When you go to Israel and you meet people that you get to know and they're endeared to you. When they see you, you know what the first words they say is? You know? Say it loud. Say it louder. Do you know what the word Shalom means? It means peace and prosperity, spirit, soul and body in every area of your life. So when they see you, they're saying peace, Shalom, body, soul and spirit and prosperity to every area of your life. So when Paul says, he will keep you in perfect peace. If you have the peace of God, we'll surpass all understanding. When he says that, he's saying the Shalom. Shalom. And as I prayed today, the Lord promised me that the spirit of Shalom was going to come to some of you that have walked in anxiety and fear and worry. You think that's who you are. That's a lie of the enemy. It's not who you are. It's not who you are. And finally, you know where Paul was when he wrote this? Who's closing out the service? Whoever's coming to come, come, come over here. Give her a big hand. Do you know where Paul was when he wrote this? He was in a prison cell chained up to a guard guarding him. And he said this, the Shalom that is on me is greater than the person that's chained up next to him. Who are you chained up to? What child? What mate? What job? What else care are you chained up to? Because God wants to give you a Shalom inside of you that's greater than anything that's chained up on you. to pray this with me, Heavenly Father. I repent for allowing seeds to come in my eye gate and my ear gate that have brought a harvest in my heart and mind that I don't want and that you don't want for me. You promised you would give me shalom, shalom, if I keep my mind set on you. I surrender to your shalom.

I surrender my fears, my worries, my cares, my finances, my children, my mate, my extended family, that Jesus breathed on his disciples and he said, "My peace, I give to you," and he spoke that shalom over them and he breathed on them and that's what I'm going to do right now. Receive now, shalom, receive it now, shalom, just take a deep breath right now, just receive that right now, the shalom of God right now and I want you to say this, I receive shalom, I receive shalom in every of my life, in Jesus' name, amen.