What Do You Do When Anxiety Won’t Let Go? | Crossroads Young Adults

Two steps from the flesh. I'll be holy book being king for the best. I'll be holy I'll be holy book being king for the best. I'll be holy Everything I need, everything I need, my Father has it, my Father has it. Every single time the Lord will provide, my Father has it, my Father has it. Everything I need, everything I need, my Father has it, my Father has it. Every single time the Lord will provide, my Father has it, my Father has it. Well, hey everybody. My name is Jordan. I'm the director for Young Adults here at Crossroads, and you're currently at Collective Night. Over the past few months here in this room, we've been talking about emotions. Over the past few months here in this room, we've been singing this song, and this song comes straight from a verse in the Bible. Maybe you've heard it before, maybe you haven't. The verse is Matthew 6, 33. This is what it says. It says, Seek the kingdom of God above all else and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. I understand that this verse sounds really nice. It looks good on a screen. You're like, man, that looks really nice and beautiful and clean and neat and easy on a piece of paper. But that verse at times for me seems incredibly difficult to actually believe and latch onto. And that's why tonight we're talking about anxiety. Some of you over the last few minutes, your conversations died down as the screen and the video caught your attention, and y'all grabbed that fidget cube and you were like, I am not okay right now. The alarm going off, the crowds moving, the traffic, people all over the place. It stressed you out. And some of you, you feel like you've just been in a hurry. You feel like life's been moving a million miles an hour. You come into the space tonight just feeling a little heavy, maybe feeling a little bit anxious, and you're actually wondering, is it even possible to be a non-anxious person? Like, is that even possible to be a non-anxious person? I believe that it actually is. Here's the verse that comes after the verse that I just read. It says this, Matthew 6, 34. So don't worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today. I want to invite you to stand to your feet, and I want to pray for us tonight as we move throughout the rest of the night, getting after this topic of anxiety. Getting after this topic of anxiety. So let's pray. God, I thank you for tonight. God, I thank you that we get to be here together in your presence. And God, if it's really possible to be a non-anxious person, would you show me tonight that I can do it? God,

would you show me tonight that with you, it's possible? I can move different. I can operate different. I can walk different. I can live different. God, would you show me tonight that you really are a good father who wants to provide for me, who wants to care for me, who wants to give me good things? God, if that's available to me tonight, I want it. Amen. Amen. Let's sing. Everything I need, my Father has it. My Father has it. Every single time, every single time, the Lord will provide. My Father has it. My Father has it. My Father has it. Oh, hazy day. So look at the flowers and all of their beauty. They don't have to want it. They don't have to wonder. You know what you're doing. Know what you're doing. So why would I worry? So why would I worry? Don't worry at all, cause you're faithful to supply. I'll sing everything I need, everything I need. My Father has it, my Father has it. Every single time the Lord will provide. My Father has it, my Father has it. My Father has it. Oh, ain't he good? So look at the sparrow. He's like king for nothing. With no fear of tomorrow. Oh, I want that. And what it will bring. And if I have you, I have enough. Cause your love will satisfy. Sing everything I need, everything I need. I know my Father has it, my Father has it. Every single time the Lord will provide. My Father has it, my Father has it. Come on, this is a promise. So seek first the kingdom and its treasures.

Everything else will be added. All that I'm needed. Yes, I know. Every time he does. Cause he's good like that. I know my God's not empty handed. Cause he gives us blessings upon blessings. I'm still believing that what? That I know the Lord will provide. I know he will. And I know the kingdom and its treasures. Everything else it will be added. All that I'm needed. I know the Lord will provide. Cause I know my God's not empty handed. Cause he gives us blessings upon blessings. I'm still believing that I know the Lord will provide. So sing it with faith now. Sing everything I need, everything I need. I know my Father has it, my Father has it. Every single time the Lord will provide. My Father has it, my Father has it. Everything I need, everything I need. I know my Father has it, my Father has it. Every single time the Lord will provide. My Father has it, my Father has it. Sing first the kingdom and its treasures. Everything else it will be added. All that I'm needed. And I know, I know the Lord will provide.

Cause I know my God's not empty handed. Cause he gives us blessings upon blessings. I'm still believing that I know the Lord will provide. Yes, I know the Lord will provide. And I know the Lord will provide. Yes, he will. He'll do it tonight, hey. Yes, he will. All right, come on, hands up. We're going to teach you a new song today. It goes like this. Alleluia, alleluia. You get all the praise, we say, Alleluia. You get all the praise. You got it. Try it with me. Alleluia. Come on. Alleluia. You get all the praise, we say, Alleluia. You get all the praise. Oh, I've got a God who is for me, and He's known for making way. And He fought the battle so I wouldn't have to. All glory belongs to His name. And I've got a God who's been faithful, far more than I could explain. And through every season, in spite of my weakness, He gave me a song I could sing. And I came to pray.

Come on. I came to pray. That's why I woke up today. I came to pray. Come on, let's sing together. Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia. You get all the praise, we say, Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia. You get all the praise, always. Oh, I've got a King who is risen, and He put my shame in the grave. Went to hell and back, and now I never have to. And He did it all in three days. I came to pray. Come on. I came to pray. Yes, I did. That's why I woke up today. Hey, I came to pray. Everybody say, Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia. You get all the praise, we say, Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia.

You get all the praise, always. I'll sing it in the morning. I'll sing it at night. I'll sing it in the battle. That's how I fight. I'm singing, He's holy. I'm singing it twice. I'm singing, He's holy the rest of my life. I'm singing in the morning. I'm singing at night. I'm singing in the battle. That's how I fight. I'm singing, He's holy. I'm singing it twice. I'm singing, He's holy the rest of my life. He's holy. I'm singing, He's holy the rest of my life. Alle . . . Alle . . . Allelujah You get all the praise. We say, Alle . . . Alle . . . Alleluia You get all the praise. Come on say! Alle . . . Alle . . . Alleluia

You get all the praise. But we say, Alle . . . Alle . . . Alleluia You get all the praise. I'm singing in the morning. I'm singing in the morning. I'm singing at night. I'm singing in the battle. That's how I fight. I'm singing it's holy. I'm singing it twice. I'm singing it's holy the rest of my life. Alle . . . Alle . . . Alleluia You get all the praise. Oh hey . . . I came to praise. Oh everybody say, I came to praise. Yeah, yeah, yeah, out of my way. I came. I came to praise. Jesus is what we're here for tonight. We've come here to praise you because you're the only one who deserves it. You're the only one worthy of the glory that we have to give you tonight. So we say, Alleluia. We say, praise the Lord because you alone

are worthy, Lord. Thank you for bringing us into this place tonight. And would you move us somewhere deeper with you? We love you. It's in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Come on, y'all. You guys came ready. Hey, find somebody around you. Give them a high five. Maybe dance your way back to your seat. I don't know. Tell them it's good to see them. Then go ahead and have a seat. All right. Well, hey, as I mentioned just a few moments ago, my name is Jordan. I have the honor of serving as the Young Adults Director here at YA. And you are at Collective Night. If you don't know, Collective is a monthly immersive citywide experience just for young adults and our heart in it is that you would be able to find community and also explore faith. Now it's crazy that we only actually officially launched Collective Night I think like four months ago and the thing has grown very quickly which is incredible. Here's what that now means. We don't actually know who you are. We don't know who's in the room right now. We know that it's 18 to 29 year olds but we don't know where you're coming from. We don't know where you live and if you've even been sitting in some of the seats before maybe you've actually wondered who are these people. Well tonight we are gonna do something a little bit different that we've never done before. Anybody have test anxiety

out there? A few of you bold people. Well tonight we're gonna take a test. I got good news. There's no grades and it's gonna be anonymous. So that's my promise to you. There's no grade and it's anonymous. Tonight we are going to actually do a little survey and the really cool thing about this survey is that we're gonna get responses in real time on these screens about who you are, where you're from, what life stage you're in and I believe that it is going to allow us to continue to build the future of collective night with more intentionality so that we can serve you better but also so that you can actually feel like you're connecting to people and understanding that you're not alone even in a sea of people. So I know you guys are young adults. You don't really need me to explain to you how a QR code works but if you want to get into the survey I'm gonna ask that you do so and I'm asking for full audience engagement here. This is gonna work the best the more people that we have who opt in to the survey. So if you want to participate you can do one of two things. You can scan the code. If you're not a QR code person I understand you can go to menti.com and enter this code right here this eight digit code and that'll get you in as well. If you've made it to the waiting screen you've done it right. So just hang out there for just a second. When we officially start the survey it'll move you along and it's gonna give you instructions on how to follow. Okay we got like 440 people and and growing right now. Last call if you're just now joining us we're gonna take a little demographic survey. I'm actually really excited about it to see who's in the room and if you want to get in you can scan QR code. You can opt in menti.com and I'm really looking forward to this. This is not you signing up for anything. Your name's not on it. We're not gonna text you like weird stuff after this. You're not gonna get any of that from us. It's really just for us to figure out what's going on and lastly I'll say this. If you don't feel comfortable answering a question even though it's anonymous just skip it. That's totally fine. You can skip any question that you want. Are y'all ready for this? I think it's gonna be a good time. Okay how many we got in here? Okay over 450 and we got a lot of people showing love in the I don't know

the chat or whatever that is with the hearts right there. Thank you. I think we're ready to officially begin. So if you're trying to get in, get in. We got to do a starter question real quick. A starter question. So let's go. One sauce rules them all. Which one is taking the throne? We got Chick-fil-a, ranch, barbecue, honey mustard, hot sauce. I thought we had yum yum sauce. Did that one go away? Okay we got like 40 people that still got to vote and get in right here. What are we working with? Maybe ranch in the lead right now? Alright we're waiting on like 30 responses. Let's go. Let's get them in. What sauce is taking the throne? We're gonna tell a lot about who's in the room by how we answer this question collectively. Okay look I think ranch is gonna win. I need to be honest with you. That's that's crazy behavior as an adult to put ranch as the answer to this question on here. Wild to me. Alright let's keep it moving. For real this time. Here we go. Before tonight, how many collective nights have you attended so far? Maybe it's your first one. One, two, or all three? Go ahead and put it in there. I'm gonna try to give like maybe 30 seconds per question. So select your answer. Don't forget to hit the submit button. That's very important. This is showing we've got over 20% of people in the room for the very first time. I feel like we can show them some love right now, yeah. Thank you for being here. Okay, okay. All right, I think we got it here. Moving on. What was the biggest reason that you came to your first Collective Night? Biggest reason you came to your first one. Maybe a friend invited you, you saw it on social media, you got something in the mail, you heard about it at Crossroads, you were just looking for young adult community, or it's your first one, and you can be honest, you're just here to hang out with Dante Bo. That's totally fine. That's totally fine, if that's your answer.

My man up here said it's all of them at the same time. Looks like a friend invited me is going to win here, that's amazing. That's awesome. Okay, I think we can keep it moving. All right, let's go. Again, there's no wrong answers here. Where do you attend church outside of Collective Night? Maybe you don't attend church at all, that's totally okay. You go to a different church than Crossroads, I'm not going to list all the Crossroads locations that you may attend, but those are all options up there as well. All right, we got one more question about weekend church attendance. Out of curiosity, before coming to Collective Night, how often were you attending weekend church services? Not at all? Only on special occasions, occasionally, or regularly? All right, here we go, we're moving. Let's talk about some topics that we could talk about here at Collective Night. We want to know what's helpful for you. What topics would make Collective Night the most helpful to you right now? Purpose and direction, growing in your faith, relationships and dating, mental health, building real community, identity and life pressures. Oh, we got a lot going on here. All right, we're going to pick up the speed, we're going to pick up the speed a little bit, so get in on this one while you still can. We're moving on. All right, which best describes what most of your week looks like right now? Life stages, in college, trade or technical school, grad or professional school? Are you working full-time, part-time, staying at home, figuring out what's next? Maybe something else. All right, that's looking good.

All right, we're going to keep it moving. What's your zip code? Don't be weird about it. We just want to know where you're coming from. Next up. How old are you? This is a nice little split we got going on. I like it. I like it. All right, let's keep it going. How would you describe yourself for this question? Male, female, transgender or other? It looks like the females are going to take this one. Next question. What is your race or ethnicity? I want to highlight here you are able to select more than one answer for this question right here. Asian, black or African-American, Hispanic or Latino, white or Caucasian or other? This is beautiful and I just want to acknowledge this. I think that this is great. I want to grow in diversity. I want to grow in diversity over the next few months, over the next few years at Collective Night. This is a great start but how many of you out here want to grow in diversity at Collective Night? I think that'd be a beautiful thing. So thank you for your answers. Guys, we got a few questions left. Let's lock in. Let's move it here and I think we can get this thing done. Okay, your relationship status right now. Come on. No looking at somebody else's phone for this one. Single people. Do I even need to say anything? Almost 60%. All right, moving on. These next few questions are about faith. They're about beliefs. So maybe you're going to resonate with one of these statements here. Maybe you're not. That's okay. If you want to skip, you can skip but also just answer whichever one seems to be most appropriate for you. How open are you to learning about the God of the Bible? That's great. Okay, next question. When it comes to Jesus, do you believe that you need him to save you from your sin or your brokenness? All right, the next question is about money. Now, I understand money is a little bit of a sensitive topic. Your answer is not going to show up on the screen. So you can answer hopefully with confidence. Have you given financially to a church or for God's work over the past year? All right, we're getting close y'all. I promise we're getting close. Next question. When it comes to money, relationships, sex, other life decisions, how willing are you to align your choices with what

Jesus and the Bible teach? So all right, the next question is are you intentionally sharing your faith story, inviting others to know more about Jesus and teaching them how to know more about him? All right, friends, I have four questions left. Now, we hear a lot about the loneliness epidemic in our society, in our nation. It's a very real thing, and we're asking for your honesty and transparency here when we ask, how often do you feel lonely? Thank you, that's great. Thank you for answering. Thank you for being honest. The next question is specifically about Collective Night, specifically about Collective Night. How much do you feel like you belong here, here at Collective Night? Looks like we're getting an overall score right here. This is great. A 4.0, it's good. But there's some room for improvement there. Great, thank you, thank you for sharing. Next question is, how comfortable would you feel inviting a friend here to Collective Night? That's great. Last question, you've made it to the end. What is one word to describe how life feels for you right now? One word to describe how life feels right now.

We got a lot going on up here, but I appreciate your honesty. Give yourselves a round of applause. You made it. Thank you. Maybe grab that fidget thing and just squeeze it real good a few times, just so we're like, all right, we're done with that. We're moving on. Really, thank you, though. Thank you for participating. Here's what I believe, that Collective Night moving forward is going to be a lot better, and a lot bigger, and a lot more inclusive to people all over the world, and specifically our city, because of how you have responded and answered. So thank you. Thank you very much. Tonight's just getting started. My good friend Chuck Mingo is here to bring the word for us. Yes. And he's here to talk about anxiety. So I'm going to pray, and then let's move into it. Jesus, thank you for tonight. God, we're ready to hear from you. We love you. We thank you. Amen. [♪ upbeat music ♪ All right. Wow.

Man, hey, I gotta tell you, it is so good to be with all of you tonight at Collective Night. If this is your first one or if you've been to all three, give yourselves a hand. This is an amazing opportunity for us to connect and be together at a time when it's so important to do so. I want to start with a question. We're talking about anxiety, talking about anxiety, and I'm just looking at that last question, right? What word did we use? Did you notice the word that popped up in the middle and just continued to be the king of the mountain? Busy. And on the side, it was like chaotic, confused, stressed. So I know that this is resonating with a lot of us tonight. Here's a question for you. Have you ever been in some place physically, but your mind was someplace else entirely? Anybody ever had that experience? It happens to me way too often at my house with the people that I live with, my wife and my kids, and it's really not good, it's really not good. My kids are telling me a story, my wife is asking me a question, and they're talking and I'm looking at them and I'm nodding, but I am like replaying a difficult conversation at work while that's happening, I'm stressing about something that's happening tomorrow, and then there's that killer point in the conversation when my wife looks at me and says, and so babe, what do you think? But I'm not stupid, I've been married for almost 24 years, so you know what I say? Yes, dear, yes. But sometimes that is tricky, because my kids tried that on me and I wasn't paying attention, and I didn't realize that the question was, dad, can we get a dog? So that didn't work out too well for me,

but I just think there's this thing that's happening in that moment, which is actually when I am in another place and not where my feet are planted, it's because my anxiety is getting the best of me, again. And it happens far often than I wish. Now we're talking about anxiety, that can mean a lot of things, so I wanna define it right out of the gate. When I'm talking about anxiety tonight, here's the definition we're using. I'm talking about persistent worry about things we can't control. Anybody relate to that definition? Anybody experience that in their lives? Or maybe you can't hear me right now because your body is here and your mind is somewhere else right now, right? It happens to all of us. And so tonight, we wanna talk about what God has to say about anxiety. Here's what tonight is not about. Tonight is not about talking about medicine and therapy, although I am a proponent of both of those things. I have been a participant and a partaker in both of those things as it relates to anxiety, so I'm not anti that at all. I just want you to hear that right out of the bat. But I wanna talk about the thing underneath our anxiety. You could call it the transcendent reason

or maybe the deeper presenting problem that I think is behind a lot of anxiety, and it's why we have anxious hearts. To be clear, the opposite of anxiety is peace, and I have found this peace with God. Now, is it perfect? Yes, his peace is perfect. I haven't perfectly experienced yet, but I can tell you what I'm talking about today, it works. It works, and so I wanna just encourage you. You can be a non-anxious person. That question was raised earlier. Is it possible to be a non-anxious person? I'm telling you emphatically, because of what I know in my own life, the answer is yes, and tonight, you're gonna have a chance to take a powerful step in that direction. Jordan already prayed, so I'm not gonna pray for us. I'm just gonna keep going. We're in this series, all the feels, right? You know, we talked about love. We're gonna be talking about anger, and tonight, we're talking about anxiety, but here's the premise of the series just to ground us in this again. God has given you and I emotions. Emotions are not a problem, they're a gift from God. He's given us our emotions, and God wants to meet you through your emotions. God expresses emotion, and he wants to meet you and I

through our emotions, but our emotions, like everything else about this human experience in a broken world, get damaged, and the best thing tonight that I want you to hear, and what I hope you hear over and over again in this series, is that God can heal your emotions. When you bring it to him, and you don't have to clean up before you come to God with your emotions. You can bring to him your raw, honest emotions, and know this, that you have a God who is pursuing you, and will heal you through your emotions. This idea of anxiety was kind of crystallized for me in a conversation that happened between a Christian philosopher named Dallas Willard, and a pastor named John Ortberg. John Ortberg looked to Dallas Willard as a mentor, and he went to him one day and said, hey, I wanna be spiritually mature. If you could give me one piece of advice on how to be more spiritually mature, what would it be? And maybe like me, you would think Dallas Willard would have told him, man, get in your Bible, read your Bible, which is good, you should read your Bible. Or maybe you would say, hey, you gotta have a prayer life, you gotta cultivate a prayer life, and absolutely, yes, cultivate a prayer life. Maybe you would think he would say, hey, you gotta be in community, you gotta have a place where people who are following Jesus are a part of your life, also very good.

But none of those are the number one thing Dallas Willard said to him. The number one thing Dallas Willard said, he said, if you wanna be mature, you have to ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life. The ruthless elimination of hurry. And I wanna talk about that tonight because I believe that's the thing underneath the thing for us. There's a book by that title. If you haven't read it, it's a great book by a guy named John Mark Comer. And in it, he says this. He's thinking about his life and projecting out. And he says, I started to envision myself at 40, 50, 60, and it's not pretty. I see a man who is successful, but by all the wrong metrics, church size, book sales, speaking invites, social stats, this guy is a pastor. And for you, it might be all the stats like a new business or a new role, I got a promotion, I graduated school, I got the job that I wanted. And what he's saying is you can have all of those things and the new American dream. in your own Wikipedia page. Despite all that, talk about Jesus, though. I see a man, again, he's talking about himself, who is emotionally unhealthy and spiritually shallow. Oh, and always in a hurry. Why am I in such a rush to become somebody

I don't even like? It hits me like a freight train. In America, you can be a success as a pastor or a teacher or a doctor or a lawyer or as a student and fail as an apprentice of Jesus. You can gain a church or the success that you're looking for and lose your soul. And he said, and I hope we would all say, I don't want this to be my life. And so here's the main thought I have for you today, that our way out of anxiety is the ruthless elimination of hurry. Because what causes anxiety in our life? Yes, chemical imbalance causes anxiety in some of us. Our sin can cause anxiety in us. Certainly the brokenness of this world, trauma. All of us have experienced some level of trauma. That can cause anxiety. But here's the good news tonight, y'all. Jesus can heal you. He can forgive you of your sin. He can heal you from that trauma. He can even help rewire your brain. But what I want you to see tonight is there's one thing that you have to cooperate with him on. And that is, we are the only ones, in cooperation with Jesus, who can address the unsustainable speed at which we try to live our lives. I read a great book called Three Mile an Hour God.

Three Mile an Hour God by Kosuke Koyama. Let me read it to you if you're gonna look it up. His name is Kosuke Koyama. And the basic premise of the book is that God moves at three miles an hour. Which, if you didn't know, is the average pace of a human walking. And so the whole idea of the book is that from Genesis to Revelation, if you look in the Bible, you see God doing a lot of actions, but you never see God running. You never see God hurrying. In Genesis, he's walking in the cool of the garden with Adam and Eve. Jesus did a lot in 33 years, but he was never hurried. You see Jesus walking from village to village. You see Jesus walking with the hurting. You see Jesus literally walking with the cross on his back to bear the sins of the world. So my question is, what if anxiety is an epidemic? Because living hurried lives is an epidemic. If it was an epidemic, then let's analyze it like a disease, right? We would have to look for some signs and some symptoms to know if we've been infected with our anxious hearts because of a hurried life that we're living. Here's one of the signs that would tell us we're living hurried lives. Our lives are full of noise.

Can anybody relate to that? Am I the only one that actually even needs noise to fall asleep at night? Am I the only one that like I put on my AirPods and I'm listening to something at night because I need that to kind of stop my brain from working? Am I the only broken person in here? I can't see your hands, so I don't know. Maybe it's just me. Maybe it's just me. I'm gonna go ahead and just be all the way real with you guys. This is so true for me that literally I sleep with this on every night. This is called a music cozy. And it's a wireless headband that has speakers in it so that I can keep my phone downstairs, but I can play my whatever I'm listening to to fall asleep upstairs. This is so strange, but it works. In fact, it works so well, I've got three of them to give away right now. Would anybody like to have a music cozy? I'm telling you, this thing will change your life. You will be thanking me tomorrow for this music cozy. This thing works. This thing works. But we gotta stop. In fact, if you just caught that, come see me afterwards and I will give you

some care instructions. I am bought in to this music cozy thing. I'm totally telling you, it has changed my sleep. It's amazing. But here's the thing. I need that because my life is so full of noise. That's one of the symptoms. Another one is our lives are so full. Our schedules are so full. As embarrassing as it is to tell you about the weird thing I wear when I fall asleep, I'd be more embarrassed to show you what my calendar looks like on a weekly basis because my schedule is so very full. We also have escapist behaviors, don't we? We binge or we overwork or we scroll or we have addictions. And the reason we have those things is because we're hurried and we're hurting. And we're going to those things just for a little bit of relief because our lives are so full. Or here's another sign. We're spread so thin and we're not rooted very deeply. As the old heads used to say, you can be a jack of all trades and a master of none. And so that's what we are. We're into all kinds of hobbies. We've got all kinds of new things. How many people have many? Unwatched series on your streaming platform of choice because you just got so wide of an entertainment that you're looking for

We're wide in relationships, but we're not necessarily deep And here's the thing the resulting weight of living that way is too heavy for you to carry you and I Weren't meant to live lives this way We were not meant to live these hurried lives and Jesus saw this in his disciples He saw this in the 12 people that he chose to invest in such to the point that at one point When he's with them, he realized they were so busy. They hadn't even stopped to eat and so Jesus calls timeout and His words to his followers then I believe are his invitation to us today He says this in Mark 6 31 come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while Can I just be honest with you if someone were to come to you today and tell you everything has been taken care of for the next seven days of your life and All you have to do is rest a while how many people would do this in your spirit? Can we just do that together come on one two, three man, the invitation to rest is so Attractive and it's what Jesus wants for you and for me and I'm not talking about just the daily quiet time. That's great But what Jesus is talking about is the kind of life where your entire life every aspect of your life is slowed down and sustainable It's the kind of life that keeps you from anxiety because it's the kind of life that has rhythms That more match who you were created and how you were created to be the ruthless elimination of hurry is What stands in the way of our experiencing that kind of peace and this is a natural principle that plays out all over the place I'm just gonna give you a couple examples Work performance. There's all kinds of work psychologists They look at like what does what's most effective in the workplace? Did you know that the elite workers work in 90 to 120 minutes sprints and then they rest? That there's actually research that says that employees who take regular breaks are more focused They make fewer errors and they sustain higher output over their career Because the brain doesn't recharge by pushing harder the brain recharges by stopping Let's look at it in the physical realm if you exercise aerobic capacity when you train at high intensity You're actually stressing your cardiovascular system But the adaptation that helps your heart get stronger doesn't happen during the workout. It happens when you rest

If you lift weights, you know this that the process of lifting weights actually does damage to your muscle micro tears to your muscle And where the power comes is when you allow those muscles to recover and that happens through sleep This is even true when it comes to how we are with food It's why fasting is such a powerful principle because when you fast after about 14 or 16 hours your body enters into a phase Called autophagy. It literally means self-eating your body has the ability to regenerate itself To eat up and destroy bad cells that you no longer lead need and to literally regenerate itself When you fast it's a rebuilding process and here's what I want you to know We need spiritual autophagy We need emotional autophagy There's got to be some rhythms in our lives that fight against hurry And let me be honest with you. You have a spiritual enemy and he knows this a Teacher said this and I'll never forget it He said the devil doesn't have to make you bad as long as he can keep you busy. I Want to say that again the devil doesn't have to make you bad if he can keep you busy So, you know what he does he keeps us busy he keeps us busy with a 24-hour news cycle anybody watch the news lately Anybody listen to the news or capture the news nothing to stress about there guys World is a wonderful place right now right now. Of course, it's stressful You know what? The same thing can happen when we're doing scrolling it Speeds us up because we're looking at somebody else's highlight reels and comparing it to our real lives You know what the devil does he deceives us with FOMO Fear of missing out or the fear of better options He deceives us with FOLO the fear of losing out the fact that if I'm not on the grind, I'm losing something He tells us that we can have FSOS a false sense of security that we can actually live at an unsustainable pace and we can be fooled by the world that we can actually live at this pace and if you try all of that you Get to a point where all you can say is WTF Because this life isn't working. Am I right this life isn't working and it's eating away at us Here's how deceptive he is He will even convince you to be busy doing too much stuff for God That's right

I'm a pastor and I'm telling you one of the ways that the enemy wants to increase your anxiety is make you feel like You gotta sign up for every freaking thing at Crossroads. I said that I You I go on record saying that okay We have to recognize that all of these things all of these things are ways He deceives us and keeps us anxious because he doesn't have to make you bad If he can make you busy And here's a core lie that he tells us and I think this is particularly true When you're in the season that many of you guys are in when you're in your kind of 18 and 30 like man He tells you this. Okay, you gotta hustle now though because once you get to the next phase then you can rest Man once I graduate Then I'll be okay. Once I get that first job, then I'll be okay What once I get the promotion I've been grinding for then I'll be okay What's not once I get the house, then I'll be okay. What's that? What's not get this business off the ground then I'll be okay guys. It's a lie It is a lie. There will always be something else. There'll be another treadmill. He wants to keep you busy He wants to keep you anxious He wants to keep you from the life that God has for you and I know this because I bought it. I bought that life. Let me tell you I had a schedule. I Had a plan and I was working my plan in my 20s Until I hit a wall I'll never forget the day. I was working at Procter & Gamble. Maybe some of you are PNGers in here I was doing really well I was on the fast track getting promotions in my 20s managing a sales team in three states And I was driving from Toledo, Ohio, Akron, Ohio Driving back to Cincinnati having had a full week and all the things right not sleeping as well as I could all that stuff I'm hustling. I'm grinding. I'm doing my thing and I'm driving on 71 South I get right to Polaris Parkway if you're from Columbus right where the Columbus Campuses I'm driving by there and I blacked out

For a quick second thankfully or else I wouldn't be on this stage talking to you today And when I came to I was drenched in sweat Heart felt like it was gonna beat out of my chest. I had no idea what happened and I thought okay, man Maybe maybe I just need to get some food So I pulled over and I went to this place and I got something to eat and I called my wife and I'm like, oh Babe, I don't know what happened. I like I almost blacked out and and then my heart was breathing. I was sweating real bad I don't know what to do and my wife god bless her. She says Chuck call the doctor We call me for call the doctor go to the doctor so I go to the doctor I got myself together I calmed down enough that I could get back in the car and I went to the doctor and when I'm at the doctor The doctor is telling me Well, you're african-american You have a risk of cholesterol and high blood pressure. So the first thing we need to do is check your heart And so he put a Holter monitor on my heart kind of wear this thing and it tracks your heart And he did that for a couple days and he came back to me after the test He said dude, I got to tell you good news. Your heart is fine And they went on to do all these other tests only to find out that what I had is a panic attack And it was the first of many Panic attacks that I would have over the next several years. I remember one times in Somerset, Kentucky I am the manager Working with one of my reps and I was convinced in a moment's notice that I was gonna die I made my rep take me to this country hospital so I could check into the emergency room and I know that my life I just knew I was gonna die. My heart was beating out of my chest. This would happen all the time And I'm telling you I got to a point where I was so broken down But I was like God, I don't know if I can keep living this way I don't know if I can put my wife through this again. I don't know What am I to do? And I will tell you that was one of the lowest points of my life But it actually was one of the best things that happened to me Because what I realized and if you're in here and you struggle with anxiety, I want you to realize this tonight Anxiety is actually a doorway to experiencing God

Yes, that thing that you wish you could just wave a magic wand and it would go away is a doorway to God There is an invitation in your anxiety to a better way to a better way And I'm gonna skip guys down to this scripture because if I could just give you one scripture tonight To kind of wrap your heart around what Jesus is inviting you into I would take you to Matthew 11 28 through 30 This for me has been a scripture that's become a North Star. It's been a true north It pulls me back to center when the anxiety comes and it's powerful. Let me read it to you Jesus says these words. He says come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest again everybody He says take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you Will find rest for your souls. Do you hear the promise in that? It's not a suggestion. Jesus isn't suggesting suggesting that you might find rest Jesus says when you come to me with your anxiety you will find rest for your souls He says for my yoke is easy and my burden is light You know, maybe you're in here and you have said yes to following Jesus. Maybe you're wrestling with what that means. Let me give you a metaphor of what Jesus invites us into. This is why he came. He uses that word yoke. And the way that a yoke would work is you would have two animals, typically oxen, and they would be yoked together. They both would be under a yoke. And if it was a younger oxen, you can imagine that they didn't have the calluses and the strength to hold that yoke up. And so it was a harder effort for them to do that. And so what the good farmers would do is they would take a seasoned oxen, they would take an oxen that has a little bit more strength, and they would match that oxen up with another young oxen to help them shoulder the yoke, to help them mature and to be able to carry the yoke. And so what Jesus is saying is this, Jesus is saying we are all under a yoke. There is something that is driving your life. It could be ambition, it could be fear, it could be apathy, it could be jealousy.

There is something driving your life, and here's what I want you to know tonight, that is not the yoke that you're designed for. You're not designed for that yoke. It's breaking you. It's too heavy for you. It's not the way that God wants you to live. But he loved you so much, and he loved me so much, that he sent his son Jesus to live a perfect life that you and I could never live, and to actually say I'm gonna come next to you and help you shoulder a different yoke. Jesus has a different yoke for you tonight. He has a different yoke, and he says that his yoke is easy, and his burden is light. When you receive Jesus, yes, you are receiving eternal rescue. Your soul is made right with God. But I want you to know that Jesus also wants to give you some real, light, right now rescue, and help you walk a different yoke, three mile an hour yoke, a yoke that is peaceful, a yoke that is wholesome, a yoke that will heal, a yoke that will rescue, a yoke that you can sustain, a yoke that is to the places that God has called you to. And the question is, will you receive it, or will you walk out of here with the same burden that you brought in here? You're gonna walk out of here with a yoke that you know is giving you calluses on your back? Why would you do that? Why would you walk out of here with a yoke that you know is killing you, when there is a Jesus who died for you, so you and I could have life? But you gotta be willing to ruthlessly eliminate hurry, because guess what? Jesus isn't gonna run. He's not running. He's walking. But his arms are open, and he's receiving. So I want to get super practical, and then we're gonna do something together, we're gonna

pray. How do you take this, and then not just be like, oh, I like that, that sounded good in the moment. How do you actually live this out? I'm gonna teach you something to help you live this out. It's called a rule of life. Not rules of life, but a rule of life. That word means structure, order, rhythm, way to live your life. And this is an ancient practice in the church. We see this idea of a rule of life all throughout the Bible. Let me give you a definition for it. It's a set of practices to guard our habits and guide our lives. That's what a rule of life is. And we see this, for instance, when Daniel, in the Old Testament, says to Babylon and to the leaders there, I'm not gonna eat the food that you eat, and I'm gonna pray to my God three times a day. Daniel had a rhythm of living his life, and we see how that rhythm allowed him to prosper and flourish in Babylon. We see this in monastic communities. Monks and nuns have a rule of life. They gather seven times for prayer. There's a rhythm to their lives, there's a way in which they live, in the seasons even. We see this also in groups of Christians like the early Wesleyan church, where John Wesley had the way that these groups would operate. It's a set of practices that help us to guard our lives and guide our practices, guide our lives. So I wanna give you three places where I think you can start practicing a rule of life. I think one of the places to start is in the area of people, in the area of people. And really, you gotta start with yourself. What I found is a lot of my anxiety happens when I'm trying to be someone that other people

want me to be, rather than being the person that God has created me to be. When I'm trying to live up to your expectations, or parents' expectations, or trying to keep up with your peers, you get anxious because it's not necessarily what you are called to be. Do you know who you are in Jesus? Do you know the identity you have as a son or a daughter of God? If you don't, tonight, there's people who can pray, and one of the things you can go to them and ask for is, like, God, would you tell me who I am? And they would be happy to come alongside you and pray that you would walk out here knowing more of who you are. And I wanna challenge you to do this. I want to challenge you to write a one-sentence identity statement. Who are you? Who are you? Here's mine. I read this every day to myself. I am a beloved and purposed son of God, and my mission is to wake up, to choose life, and be free so I can leave a legacy of blessing, first to my family, and then to others. That's who I'm called to be. And it's important for me to anchor in that. Man, I would love for you to think about that as a practice, something that you do. Another one is another practice is around relationships. You need a team of three. If you don't have this already, I pray that this would be a place where you could establish a team of three. What do I mean? You need at least three people in your life who know you completely, who can encourage you in your identity, and could also pull you away from the things that are robbing you of the life that God has for you. Maybe you already know who those people are, but you just need to make it official. You need to give them an invitation and say, I invite you to speak into my life what you see. So that's people. Another category is places. Places. Some practices around places. Number one is prioritize where you're going to pour out. Like I said, it's easy to get involved in too many things. What's the most important area for you to invest in in this season? It might be right on this campus if you're a UC student. And I don't mean investing in, like, volunteering. I mean, like, get your freaking degree. Get it done. You know? For some of you who are in trade school, finish that. That's the place where you need to invest. Maybe for you it is your job. Maybe for you it's your roommates. Maybe it's your family. Maybe you're married and it's that. Maybe you

have a young child and it's that. But just be clear on, like, what is my priority in this season of my life? Because guess what? Seasons will change, and priorities will change, and that's okay. But do you know the primary place where you're meant to pour out in this season? And here's the flip side of that. Where is the place where you fill up? I think there's power in place. And so one of the things that I have is I have a weekly rhythm. If I'm in town, and even if I'm not, I do it somewhere else, but if I'm in town, Saturday and Sunday morning I start at my local coffee shop because I love it there. And that's the place where I can go and remind myself of who I am. Read. Not just the Bible. Sometimes I'm reading stuff I want to read. Sometimes that's where I catch up on my fun YouTube videos. Like, it's okay. When I walk into that place and I order the same thing, black tea, a little bit of honey, when I do that I am settled into a place where I know it's about filling my soul, filling my heart, filling my mind. Do you have that? If not, I encourage you to do that. And then one other category for you, and then we're going to do something together, is things. Things. I think we need to wrestle with our relationship to time if we're going to wrestle with this beast of anxiety. It's really important that you create at least one non-negotiable daily rhythm, and I would encourage you that that rhythm includes God. And sometimes that rhythm can include movement, too. I do a lot of time with God while I'm walking, while I'm on my Peloton. It doesn't have to be like, okay, I'm on my knees, and I'm gonna—that's great, do that if you want to, but like, it can also be like, hey, I'm gonna exercise, but I'm gonna make this a time when I'm having conversation with God. What is your daily non-negotiable? And then I think you need a weekly non-negotiable, and I would encourage you to make that taking a day of rest. Take Jesus up on the offer that he gave the disciples to come away by yourself to a desolate place and rest. One day in seven, make it a rest day. Make it a day that looks different than the others. And then I think the final one is our relationship to stuff, because sometimes our anxiety is rooted in our desire for more stuff, the stuff we're trying to obtain, the stuff we want to purchase and buy. And I am as guilty as you. Here's a practice I'm doing right now, and I think it's healthy, but it's hard. When there's a purchase I want to make, once I have the resources to obtain it, I'm giving myself a 30-day period to just not buy it, just to wait. And guys, it is so hard. Let me tell you, it's so hard. Right now, here's what it is for me. Does anybody have a haven tent? It's like a lay flat hammock set up. I don't know if anybody—you guys could not care less about this haven tent. All I can think about is this haven tent, and I have a birthday coming up. This is

going to be my birthday present to myself, and I so want to buy it early. I want to buy it now. Shouldn't I be like sleeping on it on my birthday? You know, like, no, no. I just feel like God is like, just wait. Just wait, because it's a way to not be hurried. And so I just want to give you those practical handholds. I don't know what they are for you, but I want to encourage you to do something, to try something, to make a commitment in these areas, and see what it does to your heart. See if it doesn't allow you to rest a while, to have a different perspective than you have right now, because I believe Jesus wants to meet you in your anxiety. He's not judging you. He's not hating you for being an anxious person. He's not saying you should have this together by now. He loves you. He's for you. And he wants you to experience him in this place. And actually, I think he wants that for you right now. So here's what we're gonna do for the next eight or so minutes. We're gonna have an opportunity to use this space to have a quiet reflection and experience of Jesus. And I believe you're going to encounter him in the midst of what we're about to do. I believe you're gonna encounter him. So here's what I'm gonna ask you to do. First of all, I'm gonna ask you to trust me. I'm not gonna have you do anything weird. It's gonna be okay. But I wanna invite you right where you are to close your eyes. I think we'll have some music play just to kind of have a bed to maybe drown out some of the distracting noise beside you.

Sit comfortably. Get your feet firmly on the floor. Just open up your hands. Take a couple breaths. Just breathe in and breathe out. If you wanna squeeze the fidget, if that's a way for you to kind of ground yourself in this moment, go ahead and do that. Because what Jesus is saying to you is, come to me. Be okay with the silence that we're gonna experience because I think that's part of what we need. Jesus says, come to me all who labor and are heavy-laden. What feels heavy in your life right now? I want you to name it, just in your heart. You don't have to say it out loud, but I want you to name what feels heavy. I want you to name what feels heavy. I want you to name it, just in your heart. You don't have to say it out loud, but I want you to name what feels heavy. And I want you to sit with that heaviness for just a moment. Because it's real. Jesus says, come to me. I want you to picture Jesus meeting you right where you are. Look for Jesus. Maybe he's standing. Maybe he's sitting. Just notice the expression on his face.

He's unhurried. He's gentle. He's open. And I want you to take that heavy object, whatever the thing is that feels heavy to you, I want you to turn it into a physical object that would represent it. Maybe it's a bowling ball, because it feels really heavy. Maybe it's a globe, because you feel like you have the weight of the world. Maybe it's a person, and you just turn them into maybe a little doll. Maybe it's a wallet, because it's a financial stress. Whatever feels heavy, turn it into an object. And I want you to take it over to Jesus and lay it at his feet. You don't have to explain anything. Just lay it down. And as you do, does the expression on his face change? Do you sense Jesus saying anything to you? Just linger in that vision for a moment. Just linger in that vision for a moment. And if your mind drifts, just say, Jesus, I come back to you, that's all, just returning your heart to Jesus. Jesus says, take my yoke upon you, and he asks you an honest question, what has been driving your pace in life, why are you so hurried, is it the drive for achievement, is it because you're seeking approval, is it fear, jealousy, apathy? Jesus says, give that to me, because my yoke is easy. Sometimes it helps to just open your hands as a symbol of releasing that to Jesus and turning your hands upside down, just as a way of saying, I give it, palms down, I give

it to you, Jesus. Jesus says, learn from me, for I am gentle. If you walk at the pace of Jesus, if you walk at his speed, what needs to change? Just ask him. You're listening for a still, small voice, something that sounds kind and gentle, maybe something you wouldn't think of your own, but feels right, might be challenging, but that's right, let Jesus speak to you. Here's his promise to you, Jesus says, you will find rest for your soul. You will find rest for your soul. Just in the quiet of your heart, just invite Jesus to give you rest, just say, Jesus, give me rest. Jesus, give me rest. Just continue to invite Jesus into your heart. Jesus, give me rest. Just linger in this place with Jesus for a little while. Linger in this place with Jesus for a little bit longer. What's next can wait. Opening your eyes can wait. Just enjoy these final few moments and linger with Jesus. Let me pray for us. Jesus, I know you really mean it when you invite us to come to you. You really mean it. You really promise us a life that is not anxious. You can really change our hearts, and I pray that we would believe that, and I pray that we would pursue. through that. I pray for every person under the sound of my voice to know how dearly loved they are by you, to know that you have come to give them life to the full, and to know that you have come

so that they can experience your rest and your peace. I bless them with your peace, in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. You can open your eyes when you're ready. Amen. Amen. Amen. Praise God. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. So I'm gonna invite you to stand. We're gonna get an opportunity to respond, and there's two ways that you can respond tonight, and I'd encourage you to lean into both of these. One is, one of the ways that we lay down anxiety is when we're willing to get honest with someone else and ask for prayer, and along all the sides, we've got prayer volunteers, they've got glow sticks. Some of them I see are already in place. They have glow sticks. You can just leave your seat at any time while we're singing and get in a space with one of them, and they would love to pray for you, and I would encourage you that if the thing that you're bringing in here is anxiety,

ask them to pray and agree with you that you would walk out of here differently. I believe Jesus wants to do that for you tonight, and while we have the opportunity to pray and be prayed for, we're gonna worship. We're gonna worship. We're gonna sing to a God who is good. We're gonna sing to a God who keeps every promise he makes. We're gonna sing to him because it warms his heart, and it makes him smile, but even if you don't sing a note, let me tell you, there's nothing you can do to make him love you any more than he already does, and there's nothing you can do to make him love you less, so let's worship this good God, and let's receive his rest together. ["All I Love Is You"] ♪ I've been moving ♪ ♪ All of the things that would move me ♪ ♪ Further from you ♪ ♪ I think you cannot be enough ♪ ♪ It's not lost on me what you saved me from ♪ ♪ I'm running, stumbling I know but I'm coming ♪ ♪ To give you this offering my worship I'll never withhold ♪ ♪ Broken but you call it beautiful ♪ ♪ Where the tears of the desperate ♪ ♪ Reach the feet of the savior ♪ ♪ Nothing I wouldn't offer ♪ ♪ There's no waste at the altar ♪

♪ Where the heart of surrender ♪ ♪ Meets the hands of the maker ♪ ♪ Nothing I wouldn't offer ♪ ♪ There's no waste at the altar ♪ ♪ Thank you Lord, thank you Lord ♪ ♪ Things I've treasured all couldn't come close to your presence ♪ ♪ Grace upon grace you could measure ♪ ♪ No nothing could measure ♪ ♪ And I'm returning, oh back to the one I am running ♪ ♪ To give him my love, cause he took a sinner like me ♪ ♪ He washed me with grace and he set me free, oh ♪ ♪ Where the tears of the desperate ♪ ♪ Reach the feet of the Savior ♪ ♪ Nothing I wouldn't offer ♪ ♪ There's no waste at the altar ♪ ♪ Where the heart of surrender ♪ ♪ Meets the hands of the maker ♪ ♪ Nothing I wouldn't offer ♪ ♪ There's no waste at the altar ♪ There's no waste with you Lord, we'll give it all to you, sing come lay, so come lay your broken dreams at the altar, and every victory at the altar, fear and anxiety, and I live here, there's no waste at the altar, let your heart sing out and tell him you love him, don't make it perfect, just let it be honest, he can use anything, sit back and watch him, there's no waste, come on sing that again, come lay your broken dreams at the altar, and every victory at the altar, fear and anxiety, and I live here, there's no waste at the altar, let your heart sing out and tell him you love him, don't make it perfect, just let it be honest, he can use anything, sit back and watch him, there's no waste, come lay your broken dreams at the altar, and every victory at the altar, fear and anxiety, and I live here, there's no waste at the altar, let your heart sing out and tell him you love him, don't make it perfect, just let it be honest, he can use anything,

sit back and watch him, there's no waste at the altar, there's no waste at the altar, there's no waste at the altar, there's no waste at the altar, there's no waste, no waste, there's no waste at the altar, there's no waste at the altar, there's no waste at the altar, there's no waste at the altar, there's no waste at the altar, no waste at, we come before you Lord, we give you everything, we lay it all down, lay it all down, lay it all down, lay it all down, lay it all down, lay it all down, there's no waste, come on sing that again, we lay it all down, lay it all down, we lay it all down, lay it all down, lay it all down, lay it all down, there's no waste at the altar, lay it all down, lay it all down, give him all, he can handle it, he can handle it, whatever it is, lay it down, lay it down, there's no waste at the altar, lay it all down, lay it all down, lay it all down, lay it all down, lay it all down, lay it all down, there's no waste at the altar, so come lay your broken dreams at the altar, and every victory at the altar, cause fear and anxiety cannot live here, there's no waste at the altar, let your heart sing out and tell him you love him, don't make it perfect, just let it be yours, he can use anything, sit back and watch him, there's no waste at the altar, there's no waste at the altar, there's no waste at the altar, no, there's no waste, there's no waste at the altar, there's no waste at the altar there's no waste at the altar There's no waste at the altar. Where the tears of the desperate Reach the feet of the Savior There's nothing I wouldn't offer There's no waste at the altar Where the heart of surrender Meets the hands of the Maker There's nothing I wouldn't offer There's no waste at the altar So a minute ago Chuck invited you to to find some folks around the room to go and receive prayer and we do this every time that we come into this room and gather together here but I believe that there are some people in the room tonight I believe that there are some people in the room tonight that it's more than just anxiety for you you feel like your life is out of control and you're just trying to hold on to everything

and the invitation like Chuck said is that you don't have to do that the invitation is that Jesus says my yoke is easy my burden is light and he invites you to come and be joined to him where he can carry the weight for you but if you've never said yes for the very first time to saying Jesus I need you I need you my whole life I give my whole life to you that's the very first place that you have to start and I believe there's probably some folks in the room that maybe as Chuck was talking earlier that Jesus is stirring something inside of you maybe you can't explain it right now and that's okay we don't do this alone we do this together and so we're going to keep singing together but if it's you tonight don't worry about your friend next to you don't worry about the people around you if you're sitting in the middle of a row climb over people they're not going to care it doesn't matter find somebody on the side of the room with a glow stick and just ask them even if you don't know how to put the words to it tonight just ask them just say I need you to pray with me Jesus will you do something

because I want to say yes to you whatever that is don't leave here tonight without the opportunity to respond in that because I know that God loves you and I know that he cares about how you feel let's keep singing together you don't have to leave the same way you came you don't have to hold it all together there's power still there's power in his name he's walking hand in hand like a brother whatever you're dealing with tonight there's a man in the room and he heals scars and restores souls and minds and hearts and he's here for you tonight lay it down lay it down lay it down lay it down lay it down lay it down Give it to Him tonight, give it to Him, give it to Him tonight, give it to Him, give it to Him tonight, give it to Him, give it to Him, give it all to Him, give it all to Him, give it to Him. Everything changed, it's getting harder to recognize the person I was before I encountered Christ. I don't walk like I used to, don't talk like I used to, I've been watched from the inside, I've been watched from the inside out, hallelujah, hallelujah, I know it was the blood, could have only been the blood, hallelujah, hallelujah, I know it was the blood, could have only been the blood, give it all to Him, give it all to Him, oh, I cannot explain, but nothing's more real than this, in the presence of God, what my heart experienced, when my shame hit the wayside, and my sins met the most high, I was watched from the inside, I was watched from the inside out, hallelujah, hallelujah, I know it was the blood, could have only been

the blood, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I know that the blood still works, Jesus, oh, it's never been about performance, or perfection, or striving for acceptance, let me tell you, it's only by the blood, it's never been about deserving, or earning, it's the gift that's freely given, let me tell you, it's only by the blood, oh, does anybody wanna be holy, righteous, purified and spotless, let me tell you, it's only by the blood, hey, does anybody wanna be worthy, forgiven, justified, really given, let me tell you, it's only by the blood, hallelujah, hallelujah, I know it was the blood, could have only been the blood, hallelujah, hey, hallelujah, I know it was the blood, could have only been, say hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, I know it was the blood, could have only been the blood, hallelujah, Hallelujah. I know it was the blood. It could have only been the blood. The sweet, sweet, precious blood of Jesus. It was the precious blood. The precious blood of Jesus. The precious blood of Jesus. The precious blood. Oh, it saves. It really saves. It really heals. It really sets the captives free. The blood. The blood. Over our families. The blood. Over depression. The blood. Over anxiety. The blood. We plead the blood. We plead the blood. It still works. The precious blood of Jesus. Still washes as white as snow. I know. I know. I know. I know it was the blood. I know. The precious blood of Jesus. It still heals. It still sets free. It still calms all anxiety. Whatever it is. Whatever it is. I know that the blood still works. It's never been about performance or perfection. Striving for acceptance. Let me tell you. It's only by the blood. It's never been about deserving or earning. It's a gift that's freely given. Let me tell you. It's only by the blood. Does anybody want to be holy? Righteous? Purified? Spotless? Let me tell you. It's only by the blood.

Does anybody want to be worthy? Forgiven? Justified? Really living? Let me tell you. It's only by the blood. Thank you. I pray to the healer, the savior and redeemer. He alone can make me whole again. I pray to the father, protector and provider. The only one who hasn't failed me yet. The only one who hasn't failed me yet. He has power to heal. Power to save. Power that rises when we start to pray. That's who my... Come on, pray church. Pray. And I believe. He has power to move. Power to change. Bring in the beauty. Come on, pray to your father. That's who my God is. That's who my God is. I'll trust in the process. He's faithful to his promise. I promise my God will do what only He can do. And He's never failed. My God will do what only He can do. I know He can. He has power to, come on, power to save. Power that rises when we start to pray. That's who my God is. And I believe He has power to move, power to change, bringing the beauty from all of the pain.

That's who my God is. That's who my God is. Yes. Oh. Just let Him hold you together. Just let Him hold you together. Oh. He has all authority over everything. He holds the victory. Oh, yes, He does. Oh, peace is what He promised me. Beyond what I can see, above anxiety. Oh, He has all power. Oh, He has all authority. Yes, He does. Over everything. He holds the victory. He holds it in His hands. Oh, peace is what He promised me. Oh, yeah. Beyond what I can see, above anxiety. Oh, yeah. He has power to heal, power to save. Power that rises when we start to pray. That's who my God is. And I believe He has power to move, power to change, bringing the beauty from all of the pain. That's who my God is. That's who He is. Oh, He has all authority.

Oh, don't you know? Over everything. Yes, He does. He holds the victory. Oh, let Him hold you together. Oh, peace is what He promised me. Beyond what I can see. Oh, He's above, He's above anxiety. He's above fear. Yes, He is. Oh, He has all authority. Over everything. He holds the victory. Oh, yes, He does. Peace is what He promised me. Beyond what I can see. Above anxiety. Oh, He has power to heal. Come on. Power to save. Power that rises when we start to pray. That's who my God is. That's who He's always been. And I believe He has power to move, power to change, bringing the beauty from all of the pain. That's who my God is. Come on. Oh, He has power to heal. Power to save. Power that rises when we start to pray.

That's who my God is. And I believe He has power to move, power to change, bringing the beauty from all of the pain. That's who my God is. That's who my God is. Come on, celebrate our God. That's all power. Yes, He does. Yes, He does. All my words fall short, I've got nothing new, How could I express all my gratitude, I could sing these songs as I often do, Every song must end, but you never do, So I throw my hands, praise you again and again, Cause all that I have is a hallelujah, hallelujah, say it, And I know it's not much, I'm nothing else fit for a king, Except for a heart singing hallelujah, hallelujah, I've got one response, I've got just one move, With my arms stretched wide, I will worship you, Sing again, I've got one response, I've got just one move, With my arms stretched wide, I will worship you, Sing it again, I've got one response, I've got just one move, Let me see you, come on, With my arms stretched wide, I will, Come on, real big, come on, let's worship Jesus, So I throw my hands, praise you again and again, Cause all that I have is a hallelujah, hallelujah, I know it's not much, I'm nothing else fit for a king, Except for a heart singing hallelujah, hallelujah, Come on my soul, oh don't you get shy on me, Lift up your song, You've got a lion inside of those lungs, Get up and praise the Lord, Be confident in what he said, Come on my soul, oh don't you get shy on me, Lift up your song, you've got a lion inside of those lungs, Get up and praise the Lord, Be confident in everything he said,

Come on my soul, oh don't you get shy on me, Lift up your song, You've got a lion inside of those lungs, Get up and praise the Lord, Be confident in what he said, Come on my soul, oh don't you get shy on me, Lift up your song, you've got a lion inside of those lungs, Get up and praise the Lord, ♪♪ Be confident in everything He says. Oh, oh. So I throw up my hands and I praise You again and again. All that I have is a hallelujah, hallelujah. And I know it's not much, I'm nothing else but for a king. Sing it to them, sing. Send for a heart singing hallelujah, hallelujah. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Sing it to them again. Come on, soul. Speak to yourself. Come on. Oh, come on, my soul. Oh, don't you get... Come on, come on, come on. Come on, my soul. Oh, come on, my soul. No, don't you get shy on me. Lift up your soul. You're stronger than you think. You're stronger than you think. Hey, oh, come on, my soul. Oh, don't you get shy on me.

Lift up your soul. You've got a lion inside of those lungs. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. And oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Last time. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. I love you, Jesus. Thank you for the victory. Thank you for the victory. Oh. Why, is there anybody feeling a little bit lighter? A little bit more peace? A little bit more joy? Maybe some of you feel like you have a little bit more purpose than you did even two hours ago. What a night. What a night. I'm a little speechless right now, to be honest with you. I know I'm leaving tonight with all of those things. I also need you to know the night's not done. We got some donuts for you out in the atrium. We want you to stay and meet a friend.

But before you do all of that, I need you to know that if you're new around here, I think my thing up here said like 22 or something percent of people that had never been here before, we actually have an area out in the atrium. It's called the New Here Area. If you have questions about what just happened, if you have questions about making a decision to follow Jesus, questions about baptism, getting into a group, question about anything, I just want you to stop there on your way to get a donut or on your way back to your car. You do not have to get out of here right now by any means. Stay and hang out. We love you so much. We'll see you back in a few weeks for Collective Night. We're talking about anger, talking about anger. We love you. Get out of here.