1. What Is Anxiety?
2. How Can I Overcome My Anxiety?

A few months ago, we installed a kiosk in the narthex, with a bunch of booklets. Above the kiosk, we have a sign on the wall that reads, “Biblical Counseling Resources.” That’s what these booklets are. They are resources that counsel you from the Bible. These booklets are super-practical, dealing with common issues of life that we all have. They deal with a variety of topics from forgiveness to conflict to addiction to abuse. And the booklets help to shine a light on these issues from a Biblical Perspective.

Taken as a whole, these booklets show how the various problems you face can be conquered through the power of Christ in your life. Peter said that the power of Christ “has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). In other words, God and his word are the sufficient means available to us to empower us to walk in godliness. How incredibly hope-giving it is to realize that the power of Christ within us, gives us all the resources we need to respond in godliness to the problems of life that we face.

Now, over the past few months of being on display, many of these booklets have been taken. I trust that many of you have been helped by these resources. I’m thankful for that. Our hope and prayer is that you would find help in your walk with Christ through these booklets. If you are so stirred to believe in the value of these booklets, you can always donate to offset the costs. These booklets are only a start. They are designed to be an easy start. You can read each booklet in about 15 minutes.

So I would encourage you, if you have taken a booklet, to consider it as a sign. it’s a sign, a diagnosis of your soul, that you feel a need in your life. That there is some particular concern in your life that you have felt strong enough to take a booklet and read about it and hear from the Lord as to how to overcome it. I would challenge you, if you took a booklet because you felt you needed help in some area of your life, talk to someone about it. talk with me or an elder or find someone who you respect and tell them that you took a booklet because you struggle with depression or anger or loneliness. Talk with them about it. We have plenty of friends around here who are willing to help you in your area of need. If you need further help, I know that for every booklet on that kiosk, I can probably find five full-length books that can help you. Further, I can give counsel to help.

Now, perhaps you have taken a booklet for a friend who is going through some particular hardship in their life. knowing such a small book would be helpful for them. Yvonne and I have done that with several people who have come across our paths in recent days, who are not in our church. We have taken several booklets that have addressed the issues of their lives, and have given them as a sort of challenge to read. In that case, there is already a conversation going on, and the booklet is simply an opportunity to speak Biblical truth into their lives to supplement our own counsel of them.

Now, anyway, when we first put up the kiosk, I took a few close-up pictures of the kiosk. A few weeks ago, I looked at the booklets on the kiosk and noticed that there was an empty slot in the kiosk. So, I went back to the picture I took when we installed the kiosk and discovered that we had a lot of people take this booklet, “Overcoming Anxiety: Relief for Worried People.”Seeing that, I thought to myself, this is a sign: “There are many in our congregation who struggle with anxiety. Perhaps a sermon (or two) on anxiety would be helpful.”

For the next two weeks, on Sunday mornings, I want to look at “Anxiety.”

Please know this, it wasn’t our intention that to put out all of these booklets dealing with life’s issues, to see what is taken, so that we get a pulse on the congregation, so that we can address it on Sunday morning. But that’s what has happened. If you would have asked me when we put out these booklets, I'm not sure that I would have had a guess which booklet would have been taken most. But here we are.

I feel as if guided by Lord to address this issue, as, apparently, it is an issue with our congregation. Now, I don’t know who it is who has taken these booklets on anxiety. I’m not the booklet police, So as I preach, I’m preaching to all of us, not merely those who have identified this as an issue in their lives.

The title of my message this morning is, “Thinking about Anxiety.” because, that’s what I want for us to do this morning. I want for us to think about anxiety. First of all, let's ask the question:

1. What Is Anxiety?

Anxiety is our wrong response we get when we are over-concerned about someone or something in our lives.

Anxiety can take place when we fear something in the future. say, a talk that we need to give in public, or a difficult conversation that we need to have with a friend, or the results of a blood test. Anxiety can take place when we worry about our children, or our finances, or our safety. Anxiety can take place when we are stressed about life, when we take on responsibilities that are too much for us, when we are facing a major decision in our lives, say a move or a job change. All of these things can cause anxiety.

Now, anxiety is not always a bad thing. Anxiety about an upcoming test, can spur you on to study harder. Anxiety about a band concert that you are playing in, can push you to practice more diligently. Anxiety about a big game, can motivate you to train with more intensity.

We even see this in the Bible that anxiety isn’t always a bad thing. The Greek word that we translate, “anxiety” in the New Testament is merimnao, which can easily be translated as “care” or “concern.” Certainly, care and concern are not always bad. Care and concern are often the fruit of love.

For instance, when Paul was describing the burdens he bears as a minister of Christ, he said, ...

2 Corinthians 11:28-29
There is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?

In other words, when difficult things were happening to others in the church, Paul felt such a compassion that he, himself, felt the same things. Such was his love for the churches. Such was his care for the churches. This is translated, "anxiety." I don’t think that Paul was, in any way, saying that this anxiety was wrong. It came from his own love and care for those in the churches. Anxiety is not always wrong.

Another example of this comes in 1 Corinthians 7. In that chapter, Paul is talking about marriage. In that chapter, he councils those in the church not to get married. Now, to be clear, he said, "If you do marry, you have not sinned" (1 Corinthians 7:28). Then he explains, "those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you of that" (1 Corinthians 7:28). Listen to how he describes those troubles.

1 Corinthians 7:32-35
I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.

In other words, if you are married, you have love and concern and care for your spouse. which is translated here, “anxiety.” Such “anxiety” is not sin. We are commanded to love and serve our spouses. We are commanded to care for them. Likewise with the Lord. We are commanded to love and serve the Lord! Paul uses the word that we translated, “anxiety” for the care that we have toward the Lord. Such “anxiety” is not wrong.

There are several other instances of this word, merimnao being used to describe care and concern, which is not wrong or sinful in any way. In 1 Corinthians 12:25, those in the church are to have “anxiety” for one another. That is, a care and a concern for one another, that leads them to serve each other. In Philippians 2:20, we read how genuine Timothy’s heart was for the people. Paul told those in Philippi, how he is “genuinely concerned for [their] welfare.” Literally, he was “anxious” for their welfare. Again such “anxiety” is not wrong.

But there are some times when your care and concern is wrong.

Anxiety is our wrong response we get when we are over-concerned about someone or something in our lives. Anxiety becomes wrong when you develop wrong responses such as a racing heart, sweaty palms, shortness of breath, over-eating, (or under-eating), or sleepless nights. Many of these things can come as a physical response in your body because you are over-concerned about something. If you do experience these things, take them as a sign that you may be experiencing anxiety. Don't shun it. Lean in to it.

Your anxiety can lead to lashing out in anger at others. Your anxiety can lead to uncontrollable tears, or trouble functioning because you are so consumed by the troubles of the world that you are facing.

It is this “over-concern” that turns our anxiety from a good thing to a sinful thing. And yes, I have called anxiety sin, because it is.

We often don’t think of anxiety as a sin, because all of us have concerns in our lives that we are anxious about. Many times, people can think about the external pressures that come upon them as the cause of their anxiety. In other words, their anxiety is caused by something outside them. Yet, anxiety, in the Bible, is our internal response to those things. Anxiety is so common in us all, that we hardly think of it as sin.

I love the book that Jerry Bridges wrote, entitled, “Respectable Sins.” The book talks about those sorts of sins that we all have, so much so that we simply live with them, and we accept them in the lives of others. Bridges writes the following:

The entire concept of sin has virtually disappeared from our American culture and at large and has been softened to accommodate modern sensibilities. Indeed, strong biblical words for sin have been excised from our vocabulary. People no longer commit adultery; instead they have an affair. Corporate executives do not steal; they commit fraud.

But what about our conservative, evangelical churches? Has the idea of sin all but disappeared from us also? No, it has not disappeared, but it has, in many instances, been deflected to those outside our circles who commit flagrant sins such as abortion, homosexuality, and murder, or the notorious white-collar crimes of high-level corporate executives. It’s easy for us to condemn those obvious sins while virtually ignoring our own sins of gossip, pride, envy, bitterness, and lust, or even our lack of those gracious qualities that Paul calls the fruit of the Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23). ...

On the whole, we appear to be more concerned about the sins of society than we are the sins of the saints. In fact, we often indulge in what I call the ‘respectable’ or even ‘acceptable’ sins without any sense of sin. Our gossip or unkind words about a brother or sister in Christ roll easily off our tongues without any awareness of wrongdoing. We harbor hurts over wrongs long past without any effort to forgive as God has forgiven us. We look down our religious noses at ‘sinners’ in society without any sense of a humble "there but for the grace of God go I" spirit.^[1]

One of the sins that Bridges mentions in his book as a "Respectable Sin" is the sin of anxiety (see chapter 8). Regarding anxiety, Bridges writes this:

When you or I say to someone, ‘Don’t be anxious’ or ‘Don’t be afraid,’ we are simply trying to encourage the person, or admonish in a helpful way. But when Jesus (or Paul or Peter, who were writing under divine inspiration) says to us, ‘Don’t be anxious,’ it has the force of a moral command. In other words, it is the moral will of God that we not be anxious. Or to say it more explicitly, anxiety is sin.

Now, at this point, we have a choice. We can either argue with that, or we can embrace it. Now, if we embrace it, we can also embrace the fullness of the gospel, that Jesus died for all of our sins. including the sin of anxiety. We can embrace our weakness. We can see our need for help. We can confess our sins. And we can know and experience the forgiveness of sins that comes through Jesus Christ.

So let us not think, as a church, that we are so righteous, and the world is so wicked. No. Truth be told, we all have plenty of sin that needs forgiving, even if we live with our sin of anxiety, thinking it to be "respectable." And if we accept our anxiety as sin, and if we struggle to rid ourselves of it, the cross of Jesus is large enough to deal with all of our sins.

Colossians 2:13-14
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

Jesus forgives our sins, yes, even the small sins, that the sins that we tolerate, ven the sins that we deem as “respectable” But Jesus didn’t tolerate our smallest of sins. He died for them all! So, to deny you sin of anxiety is to turn away from the very help that you need! You need the Lord to be your help.

We just finished preaching through the Hallelujah Psalms. One of the verses in those Psalms that stirred me most in that series was Psalm 146:5, “Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob.” In other words, when we turn to the Lord for help, even in the smallest of ways, we are blessed! And I don’t want to go alone with my own anxiety. I want the Lord’s help. And when I seek his help, I come to know his blessing!

I have plenty of anxieties in my life.

Preaching is an anxiety in my life. It's not so much now in the moment of speaking to all of you, but in my preparation of seeking to discern what it is that might be most helpful to all of you. And this anxiety grows every week. It’s not so strong on Monday morning. By Thursday, it’s a bit stronger. By Saturday, my anxiety is full force. My family has learned over the years, that I’m often not so pleasant to be around on Saturdays as my preaching anxiety is at its peak.

Now, I can say, “Well, it’s just the pressures of my job. The pressures of preaching give me anxiety, on a weekly basis. It’s the preaching, not me.” Or, I can say, “No. It’s my response to the pressures of weekly preaching. And my response often isn’t good. In fact, it is often sinful. I need the Lord’s help to overcome my anxieties.”

That’s just one anxiety that I deal with. Anther anxiety that I have is dealing with people. As a pastor, this is my work! Every day I seek to serve people and directing them to the Lord. There are times when this means a confrontational conversation. Before we have this conversation, I am often anxious.

Further, I often disappoint people. I’m not everything to them that I want to be, so, they leave the church, in search of another place that can help them spiritually better than I have. There are a few people who have left the church so angry with me that I have anxiety even seeing them in town. Even seeing someone who looks like that person causes my heart to skip a beat. I’m thankful that we don’t live in a small town (that would be difficult for me to deal with as a pastor, as I would see these people often).

Now, I’m not under the assumption at all, that my anxieties about these things are to be excused. They are real. I am very responsible for my sinful response. It’s not the pastoral office that is causing my anxieties. It is my sinful heart not dealing with them rightly. I’m grateful for the cross of Christ to forgive me of my weakness and fear. I’m depending upon the power of Christ to remove such anxieties. That’s why I appreciate such books like Edward Welch, who wrote, “When People are Big and God is Small.”^[3] I need to think well about my tendency to be a people-pleaser.

Well, those are two of my chronic struggles with anxiety. (How ironic that both of them deal with my main activities as a pastor: preaching and people.)

For you, I am certain, that your anxieties are different. You may have financial anxieties. Will we make it until the end of the month? Will I have enough to retire? what if I get laid off from my job. You may have relational anxieties, particularly with some people in your life, with whom you have had some conflict. You may have anxieties about your health, or the health of a loved one. anxieties about how serious the illness is. You may have anxieties about the long-term implications. You may have anxieties about your own safety, of the safety of your children. You may have anxieties about some annual anniversary that comes around every year. You may have anxieties about some political events in our nation. You may have anxieties about some upcoming event in your life.You may be triggered to anxiety by past experiences. Abuse in your upbringing may trigger anxiety. Abuse in your church growing up may trigger anxiety. Certain clothes or smells or lawn furniture can all trigger anxiety.

The title of my message this morning is “Thinking about anxiety.” And that’s just what we have been doing. We have been thinking about what anxiety actually is. So now comes my second question:

2. How Can I Overcome My Anxiety?

Here’s the simple answer: by thinking about it. That’s what Jesus tells us to do. Consider our main text:

Matthew 6:25-34
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

In verse 25, Jesus begins by addressing the source of our anxiety. What’s the source? It’s ourselves. It’s when we focus upon ourselves. Jesus says, ...

Matthew 6:25
Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.

Now, we live in a day and a place, where such matters couldn’t be further from our thoughts. We have plenty of food in the United States of America. If you don’t have enough food, you can find assistance through our government. There is always plenty of food at the food pantry down the street. They are willing to give you whatever food you need.

The problem in America is a lack of food. The problem in America is the abundance of food. As a nation, we are dealing with obesity as a chronic problem, not starvation. But those in the days of Jesus faced this reality. They prayed for their “daily bread.”

Further, we don’t have worries about what to wear. There are plenty of clothes available to us. We have thrift stores that are swamped with cheap clothes for us to wear. (Now, there are some teenagers, who might not like those clothes, which causes them anxiety, perhaps for a different reason that Jesus laid out.) Jesus laid out the situation where you might not even be able to afford to have clothes on your back.

Now, throughout this text, Jesus will deal with these realities, of food and drink and clothing, the basic necessities. I would encourage you, as we work through this text, for you to substitute whatever area of life you experience anxiety. In other words, take the words of Jesus, “Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on,” and think, “Do not be anxious about your life, whether you will have enough to retire, whether your children will be safe when they can drive, whether your child will find a spouse, whether the government will enact immoral laws, ..."

Jesus is telling us, “Don’t be anxious about those things.” Now, it’s not that we don’t act. We will talk about this next week, in how to deal with anxieties. Certainly, you should work hard to have enough to retire. Certainly, you should pray for the safety of your children. Certainly, you should pray for a spouse for your child, Certainly, you should vote and even support good governmental candidates. But these effors should not rise to the level of sweaty palms and shortness of breath and fear of the future.

Jesus was telling those who were facing the reality of those things that might kill you, starvation, If they didn’t get their food and water, they would die. Retirement funds, the future of your children, the future of our government, None of these things will kill you. When faced with such life and death situations in their lives, Jesus said, “Don’t be anxious.”

Then, Jesus begins to reason with his disciples. He tells them to think. That’s my message this morning, “Thinking about Anxiety.” In my first point, we thought about what anxiety was. In my second point here, we are listening to the counsel of Jesus. And he says, “Think about it.”

Jesus says, "Think about the reality of life (verse 25b), the birds (verse 26), the uselessness of worry (verse 27), the flowers (verses 28-30), and our heavenly Father's care (verses 31-32). In all of these things, Jesus is trying to put our anxieties in perspective.

Matthew 6:25
Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

The reality of life is that it’s more than food and clothing. Life consists of breathing and air. Life consists of a brain functioning, and a heart beating. God sustains these things. “In him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). If God sustains the matters of our biological life, will he not sustain us with food and clothing? In other words, Jesus says, “think about your life.”

In verse 26, Jesus continues on to say, “Think about the birds.”

Matthew 6:26
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Birds aren’t farmers. Birds don’t have tractors or planters or combines. Birds don’t have barns. Birds don’t have food pantries. When each morning dawns, they begin with nothing. They go out in to the world and God provides food for them.

Psalm 104:27-28, "[All the animals] look to you, to give them their food in due season. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things." Then, Jesus says this, ...

Matthew 6:26
Are you not of more value than they?

Of course we are! We, as human beings, are the crown of creation. We are made in the image of God. God cares for us more greatly than he cares for the animals. and God provides for them. Think about it: if God provides for them, will he not provide for us?

Then, in verse 27, Jesus goes on to tell us to think about how useless anxiety actually is.

Matthew 6:27
And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

Anxiety can do lots of things, it can cause sleeplessness and ulcers and trouble. But Jesus mentions one thing that anxiety cannot do. Worry cannot add length to your life.

If anything, anxiety may shorten your life, as the physical effects of anxiety wear away our lives.

Think about it, there is not a lot that anxiety will do to change the future. Do you really think that by worrying more about the future, that it will actually change the future? Anxiety about the future will only stir up your fears. So, Jesus says, “Don’t be anxious.”

Then, beginning in verse 28, Jesus says, “Think about the flowers.”

Matthew 6:28-30
And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

In verse 26, Jesus told us to look at the birds. And now, he tells us to look at the flowers. He’s simply telling us to observe life around us. He’s telling us to think deeply about things.

Flowers are some of the most beautiful things in all of creation. Their colors and their variety are breathtaking. The purples and the reds and the yellows are pleasing to look at. It’s no accident that we often decorate with flowers. Their scents and their beauty is beyond what we can create ourselves. There is no human comparison to the beauty of flowers. And yet, the flowers don’t work to get their beauty. God merely gives it to them.

Furthermore, the flowers are temporary. We will see this in a few weeks, as the weather turns cold and the vegetation dies. Yet, we are eternal. Jesus says, “Don’t worry, trust God, he will clothe you” (verse 30). And notice, how Jesus ties anxiety into a lack of faith, "O you of little faith" (verse 30>

Listen to what D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones observes about this passage:

Faith, according to our Lord's teaching in this paragraph is primarily thinking. We must spend more time in studying our Lord's lessons in observation and dedication. The Bible is full of logic, and we must never think of faith as something purely mystical. Christian faith is essentially thinking. Look at the birds, think about them, and draw your deductions. Look at the grass, look at the lilies of the filed, consider them. Faith, if you like, can be defined like this: It is a man insisting upon thinking when everything seems determined to bludgeon and knock him down in an intellectual sense. The trouble with the person of little faith is that, instead of controlling his own thought, his thought is being controlled by something else, and, as we put it, he goes round and round in circles. That is the essence of worry. That is not thought; that is the absence of thought, a failure to think.^[4]

That’s what Jesus is calling us to do. That’s what I’m calling you to do this morning. Think about anxiety. And then, Jesus says, “Think about your God.”

Matthew 6:31-32
Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

Verse 31 is a summary of what Jesus has been saying: “Don’t be anxious.” Verse 32 speaks about those without God, the Gentiles. That is, those who are outside the covenant, without the promises of God. Of course, they are filled with anxieties. Of course, they spend much of their day pursuing the necessities of life. Then, Jesus says, “Think about it: you are different than they are. You have a heavenly Father who loves you and cares for you. He knows all about your needs.”

This is the reality of the gospel. That through faith, we become a child of God. "See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are" (1 John 3:1). And as his children, God will take care of us. He knows our needs. He will provide us our needs. In fact, the Lord knows what we don't need. Have your children ever asked you for things that would not be good for them? You don't bend to give them their desires. So with God. God doesn't give us those things that will hurt us.

In God's sovereign will, there are things that we may be anxious about, but God has it all under control. We don’t need to be anxious about it. Again, Jerry Bridges writes, ...

Suppose someone you love were to say to you, "I don't trust you. I don't believe you love me and will care for me." What an affront that would be to you! Yet that is what we are saying to God by our anxiety..^[5]

When we have anxiety, we say, "I don't trust you." Jesus says, "Seek the Lord."

Matthew 6:33
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Yes, there are matters about this life that give us reason to be anxious. But God wants us to seek him. God wants for us to pursue his righteousness. God wants for us to trust that God will bring us everything that we need.

The story is told of Bulstrode Whitelock, who had been appointed to be Oliver Cromwell’s envoy to Sweden in 1653.

Whitelock “was feeling anxious about the tumultuous state of his nation. England had recently gone through civil war, and –for the first and only time in its history—it executed its own king (Charles I). The army and the government were at odds with each other. [There were religious tensions in the country]. It was difficult enough figuring out which direction the country was headed, let alone representing it to another country.

The night before his journey, Whitelock nervously paced about. A trusted servant, noticing his employer was unable to sleep, approached him after a while. This exchange took place:

‘Pray, sir, will you give me leave to ask a question?’ ‘Certainly.’ ‘Pray, sir, do you not thing that God governed the world very well before you came into it?’ ‘Undoubtedly.’ ‘And pray, sir, do you not think that He will govern it quit as well when you are gone out of it?’ ‘Certainly’ ‘Then, sir, pray excuse me, but do you not think you may trust Him to govern it quiet as well as long as you live?’

And with that confrontation, Whitelock headed straight to bed and fell fast asleep.^[6]

That's thinking about the sovereignty of God. When people are anxious, they often think that it’s because they are thinking too much. They can’t fall asleep, because their minds are racing. The problem isn't that they are thinking. It's that they are thinking about the wrong things. The solution isn’t to think less. It’s to think more about the right things.

So, Jesus finishes his little talk on anxiety with this thought:

Matthew 6:34
Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Next week, I will talk about some practical ways of things to do when facing anxiety. But this morning, I want for us to think about God's sovereignty. Think about the birds. Think about the flowers. Think about how much your worry, in reality, will help you. Think about how much God cares for you.

If you do, you will cease your anxiety.

This sermon was delivered to Rock Valley Bible Church on August 28, 2022 by Steve Brandon.
For more information see www.rockvalleybiblechurch.org.

[1] Jerry Bridges, Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate (NavPress: Colorado Springs, 2007), 18-20 (italics his).

[2] Ibid., 64 (italics his).

[3] Edward T. Welch, When People are Big and God is Small: Overcoming Peer Pressure, Codependency, and the Fear of Man (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1997).

[4] D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1989), 129-30.

[5] Bridges, Ibid., 64.

[6]
Cited in Walter B. Knight, Three Thousand Illustrations for Christian Service (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1947), 740. Cf. John MacArthur, Anxiety Attacked (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1993), 58.