The Answer to Anxiety | Judah Smith

All right, tonight we're going to um I want to tackle a a subject. I want to tackle a question that um tackle like football's on the brain clearly. Um that is to me a a really a really significant question. And even if you've never asked this question or thought about this question, I'd like to kind of show you why I think it's important and why it could possibly per chance matter to you and and maybe it should matter.

We've been talking about anxiety now for approximately 4 weeks. I want to talk about that subject again tonight. These fears, these worries. It's often times anxiety is the result of when the unknowable and the uncontrollable seem to collide and you're it's like is things going to work out?

Am I going to be okay? What's going to happen? Um and there's so many things that are fragile in our world today. Do you guys hear music or is that just me? You do hear it? Okay, I was like, man, I'm I'll tell you what, 40's been rough, you know?

I'm starting to hear music. It's like classical too. Like in my mind it's like it's like classical ballroom dancing. I'm like, are we are we doing ballroom dancing in the lobby before church? That's weird. Um Here's the question I want to address tonight. Um when is God going to fix my anxiety?

When's that going to happen? Um I think a lot of people in this room, let's just take the last 4 weeks. Maybe for you it's been 4 years. Maybe for you it's been 4 months. Maybe for you it's been 40 years. You have had something like anxiety, something like fear and tear that has been a significant part of your human experience for an extended period of time and you're starting to ask the important question, why doesn't God fix it?

Why doesn't God take it away? I had an extended breakfast with a friend today who's gone through some physical ailments and I looked at him and I'm I mean have you asked the question, why doesn't God just fix you? You know, you got to get surgeries, you got to go to doctors.

Have you ever you just Yeah, why doesn't God just fix me? And maybe we started a series like this and if you're like me, I'm like I'm kind of hoping when we do a collection of talks on a topic that it actually produces change, progress, transformation in your life, particularly in the area that we're talking about.

And so um yeah, yeah, make no mistake about it. When we tackle a subject, the idea is that we would find traction and progress and growth and that there would be some significant adjustment at least in our life and and maybe by now, maybe just maybe um 4 weeks later, the fear that seems to be crippling you has only doubled down and gotten worse.

So if you're a very normal person, you got to ask the question, what why? Why if God is so big and so powerful and so good and so gracious and loving and kind and caring and considerate, why doesn't he just take it away? When is God going to fix it?

When is God going to fix me? Now again, you can apply this to anything in your life. Maybe you always wanted to be 6 ft, right? And you're like, why? Why God? Why 5'8? Why? Why? You know? I know I'm 28, Lord, but you can still give me those last few inches.

You know, whatever it is, it could be it could be your height, it could be your eye color, it could be your career, it could be a gig, it could be a a a relationship, it could be the dad you never knew. Why? Why God couldn't you have fixed that?

Now I want to say this and this may not be incredibly pleasing or fulfilling, but ultimately ultimately a question like this has a lot to do with mystery. Mystery of course is what allows us to admit that we are not God. And much of God we we do not understand.

Um we will understand someday, but we do not understand on this day. But I do believe that there are some extraordinary answers in the story of God that we're going to find tonight. I'm not going to guarantee that you'll entirely love them, but I'm going to give them to you for your own consideration.

Why? Why has God not fixed my anxiety? That's where we're going. This is I think part four. My cousin, my redheaded cousin from Idaho was last week. I don't know if you were here for Chris Wild who is the smartest Christian I have ever known. Scratch that, the smartest human being I have ever known.

Still uses words that I just nod and go, yeah, for sure that's what I was thinking. I don't you know, but I don't really know what he's talking about. Go Hawks. Okay. Philippians chapter 4 verses 6 and 7. Then we're going to go to 1 Peter 5:7. Don't worry if you don't have a Bible, it's going to be up on the screen.

I'm going to read two passages we've already covered and I'd like to read them again and um in an effort to understand why. Why has God not fixed my anxiety? This is uh Philippians. This is written by Paul. Paul is writing to a church in living in the ancient city called Philippi and he says this about anxiety.

He says, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And this is what will happen as a result. If you give your anxiety to God, the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Jesus.

So here's Paul's take on anxiety. Why is Paul an important figure? He's probably the smartest Christian we've ever had other than Jesus who is the Christ. Um Paul like I had to clarify that. He is the Christ. Um I don't know where my tempo's coming from tonight. Uh Jesus who is the Christ.

But Paul writes more than half of the New Testament. The next writer we're going to go to is Peter. Peter was one of the 12 disciples, the oldest of the 12. Peter and Paul end up becoming the two most considerable leaders in the very first church. So these two men are very very significant writers and voices in early Christendom and Peter has also statements to say about anxiety.

Peter says this, cast all your anxieties on God because he cares for you. Cast all your anxieties on God because he cares you. That's where we're going to start tonight, but here's where I want to draw your attention. Both Paul and Peter when when when given their most direct writings on the subject of paralyzing fear known as anxiety, the same anxiety that is evidently existed for thousands of years, their their most prominent passages, you should notice, as I should notice, they never say, give God your anxiety and he will fix them.

Now, that's where we've got to say why. Like I would really prefer if Paul said, hey, in prayer and supplication, bring your worries and your anxieties to God and he'll take them all away. Doesn't say that. Can't say that. Peter like Paul, all right? Paul says give God your anxieties and you'll get peace.

Oh. Does that mean you're going to fix my fears? No, you're just going to have peace in the middle of them. And Peter says, give God your anxieties cuz he cares. So he cares about them, but is he going to erase them? And of course it's not entirely clear.

It becomes it becomes obvious to me that both Peter and Paul when speaking about anxiety aren't speaking so much about fixing, but thinking they're thinking about caring and peace. And and I want to explain why I think this is because I think it is directly in relationship to a very important question we might have here tonight and that is why won't God just take my fears away.

Why can't he just fix my anxiety? And by the way, he can do that. Often times he does do that, but what if he doesn't do that? So that's where we're going to go tonight. Will you join me in prayer? God bless the moments. Bless this microphone and all that is within it.

Jesus, uh thank you for the moments that we share. Lord, we we we love you. Um thank you that tomorrow night your football team will play the other team from LA and I pray that you would make our our our young men faster and stronger and and and better.

Thank you for that. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. I got three babies. Um you may know this. Zion is now 15. L dog is 12 and Grace is eight. Uh my kids and I am obsessed with them and I've learned a lot from them. Anybody have kids?

How many people have kids here? Kids, okay. Oh, a little concentration of parents right here. This is wonderful. This cuz parents need to be nice and close. They're in need of help. I got babies, get up front. Go go go go go go. Closer closer closer. We need this.

Right? So parenting is real. All right? Like if you if you're like a carefree person, you should have some babies. Cuz they're going to challenge your carefreeness, right? Like when you start having babies, man, the fragility of life is like front and center and you're like, I got I got so much invested into this this fragile little frame and and I'm in love and I'll get For instance, this morning my little girl came and said, "Daddy, I love you." three different times and and she's riding her bike to school and she's Dad, Dad, can you come help me find my helmet?

Went in the garage, we found her her little helmet and put it on her head. I was like, "I love you." She's like, "I love you, Daddy." and I just kissed her and prayed for her for a second. And you know what I was thinking about? I was like, Lord, protect her from the cars, protect her from the dogs, people with these dogs, people with these dogs who love them more than their kids.

Anyways, Lord, protect them. I don't I'm not embittered. Protect them because my my my my little girl got in a bike wreck because somebody one OF YOU HAD A DOG AND THAT DOG YOU CAN'T CONTROL YOUR DOG AND WENT BITING AFTER MY GIRL and she fell down. So, I'm mad at your dog, if you can't tell.

Swear man, I felt She came but she was, "Daddy, I fell. Somebody had a dog and the dog was barking at me." And I was like, "I am going to Lord Jesus." I know it's not popular. I should be like somewhere else talking about people's dogs. But, anyways, that is my baby and your dog is not your baby.

But, anyways, anyways, I'm going to get emails, but I'm going to deal with it. When a dog goes after your daughter and she falls down and has to come back and she's late to school and she's scared, you like, "SHOW ME THAT DOG." ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN.

LET'S HELP THEM GO FAST. That's how I felt. Case you were wondering how I felt. Kick your dog to heaven. Touch my girl one more time and see what happens. Anyways, oh man, God is so good. >> [laughter] >> Oh man, some of you getting anxious about your dog because I'm like you're like, "This is not helping my anxiety."

But, um you know you got you you know you got you got babies, right? And you like you kiss them and then it's like I'm like I know she it's okay, the school isn't far, but I'm like she's riding bike her bike, right? And your brain just kind of goes to all the things, right?

That could happen and you're like, "Oh God, protect her." And I'm like, "I'm good. No, I'm good. She's fine." You know? And I'm definitely not that type of a person, but when you start having babies, right? Now, another interesting observation I made about kids is that when you start raising them, um the definition of taking good care of them is drastically different between how they define it and how the parents define it.

You know what I mean? Like, if you ask little kids. Now, my kids are getting a little bit older and in fact the other day they said, "Dad, thanks for disciplining us." And I was like, "Say Say Say that again. Say that again. I'm going to record that.

Say it again. What'd you say?" You know? You They see, you know, kids in the supermarket losing their mind and like, "Dad, thank you for, you know, disciplining us." And it's it's it's wonderful moments. But, but growing up, you know, having babies and the toddlers and the adolescents and taking good care.

They'd be like, "Dad, can I have candy?" No. He's a bad dad. "Dad, can I have a donut? Carbs?" No. He's a bad dad. "Dad, can I watch cartoons?" Not all day. No, you can't. Right? The definition for a child, like, right? I mean, my dad's a good dad cuz he gives me candy, carbs, and cartoons.

But, of course, a good parent replaces candy with cauliflower. I'm actually in love with cauliflower right now. Cauliflower rice, cauliflower crust. Cauliflower has changed my life. Shout out to all companies producing cauliflower concoctions. I'm dead serious. It was like I could dedicate this sermon to cauliflower. >> [laughter] >> You think I'm joking?

Right? Like, a parent's definition of care is like, "I gave YOU CLOTHES, A TOOTHBRUSH, a bed, a pillow, and a curfew." Right? Like, and the roles that right the classic roles of parents and kids is the kids moping around like, "My parents don't take care of me." And when in reality the parents are like, "Actually, we take such good care of you.

We don't allow you to have all the candy you want. You can't have all the toys in the whole wide world. You can't just go to bed whenever you want." Once again, kids can teach us a lot. I think something similar is happening here when and let's go to Peter's writing first.

He says, "I want you to give God these crippling fears." Comma, the reason for that is because he cares. Because he cares. Because he cares. I wonder if we define care a lot like my kids define care. And God defines care a lot like parents define care. And I wonder if sometimes we're like, "Well, if God cared, he would give me cartoons and candy and carbs."

And God's like, "Oh, I care. That's why I'm giving you a curfew and giving you some clothes and giving you all the cauliflower you want in the world." I wonder if our definitions are different. Let me That's not try to wonder. I know they're different. Like, for instance, when you hear when you hear the word care, like if I told you, "You know, God cares for you."

What's the first thing you think about? Well, a lot of us probably it's like, "He does? Am I going to have the career I want? He cares for me? Oh, God cares about every And And what I'm telling you is true. God cares about everything in your life.

And you're thinking, "He does? So, I'm going to marry that special someone?" You think like me, right? Cuz I've been talking to them in church and they still haven't asked me out. But, he cares? You promise he cares? Yeah. [groaning] And care, if we kind of shake it out and settle it down, what we mean when we say God cares is God will fix it.

And God will He'll give me comfortability. All right. All right. Here's what I mean. When I pray, "God, take care of me." Here's what I actually mean. Let me put that prayer in a different word. Now, you can't do this publicly in church because people be like, "Whoa, that is a selfish prayer."

Okay? But, we can pray prayers like, "God, take care of me." Right? You can be You can be somebody's home like, "Hey, would you pray to God just take care of me?" "Oh, he's going to take care of you, sister. I'm telling you, brother, he's going to take care of you.

God is faithful. God is true. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. You better know he's going to take care of you. Give me some oil. I'm going to put you on the forehead right there in the name of Jesus. I tell you God's GOING TO TAKE CARE OF YOU."

BUT, WHAT WE MEAN WHEN WE SAY GOD TAKE CARE of me is, "Lord, would you help maintain AND EVEN IMPROVE MY QUALITY OF LIFE AND MATCH IT WITH ANNUAL INFLATION?" Am I lying? God, when I say take care of me, what I mean is I need my income to go up.

WHEN I SAY TAKE CARE of me, I mean TAKE ALL THE STUFF I DON'T LIKE IN MY LIFE AWAY. Take care of me. And then God doesn't fix it. Right? Fix it, Jesus. Won't he do it? And then we're like, what >> [sighs] >> Why won't he just fix it?

I asked him. Then I asked him again. Then I told my prayer group. We prayed about it and my income isn't even matching annual inflation. I am so uncomfortable. I have so many things that are not taken care of. Where's God? You know what? Let's go to that one church.

I think they'll explain it to us. Where is and I'm going to be honest with you now. If we're not careful, what we want from stages like this is for pastors to make promises the Bible doesn't make. And we want preachers to tell us he's going to take care of you.

And preachers like me don't want to define to you what that actually means. Because it's just nice to hear somebody say, "Oh, God's going to take care of you." And you're like, "Oh, thanks. I'm getting married soon. Praise the Lord." [laughter] Right? Like, "I'm going to lose those 15 lbs.

Preacher said God's taking care OF ME." WOO! GOT RIGHT? I MEAN, THAT'S WHAT we mean if we're if we're honest. So, like, we know what we mean when we say care. What does God mean when he say care when he says care? CUZ I WONDER if like A LIKE A CHILD, YOU EVER HAD ONE OF THESE CONVERSATIONS WITH YOUR friends in the neighborhood?

Man, my dad, I can't stand my dad. I can't stand him. He is so They never let me do anything. I got to brush my teeth three times a day. That's ridiculous. My friend down the street doesn't even brush his teeth. You know what I mean? You're like, "Isn't that just gross?"

But, when you're a child, you equate care WITH WHAT I WANT. MY DAD DOESN'T GIVE ME WHAT I WANT. REALLY? My dad does. He does. You have the best dad. And then you both 40 and you're like, "You had the worst dad. You out of control." Because we define care in our childish stage as fix it and give me what I want.

And the parent goes, "Actually, I'm going to not do that because that's I'm trying to see you in the big picture." All right. I'm going to tell you something you're not going to like, but it's the truth. Okay? It's the truth. It's a metaphor. The The truth is underlined in the metaphor.

Let's say you're going to live 100 years. Okay? You're going to live 100 years. Congratulations. That's That's exciting. 100 years. Now, I want you to think of 1 second within that 100 years. Just 1 second within that 100 years. My brothers and sisters, the discrepancy between 1 second and 100 years does not even begin to describe the discrepancy between your short stay on Earth and eternity.

Now we'll give you a little bit of perspective here. Um I I heard a psychologist recently say uh someone consumed with ego can never get the big picture. Can never get because ego is now. Now. Right? An ego is an inflated view of yourself that you can't see past yourself.

You can't see nobody nothing. It's just now. And and here's what happens. We become 1 second people. When God sees 100 years. And we living in 1 second. The Bible says life is a it's a vapor. But in the We're like God take care of me. You better MAKE THIS 1 SECOND THE BEST.

HE'S LIKE I'M KIND OF DOING A 100 year thing. WHAT? I DON'T CARE. In fact BECAUSE YOU HAVEN'T BEEN GOOD IN THE 1 SECOND, I DON'T BELIEVE in you anymore. Uh because my first like like the 25% of the 1 second so far it's not been good. I don't trust you with the next 25% of my second.

So at 22 I decided I don't believe in God. Wow. Why? Cuz I know. 25% of 1 second and you know the God who thinks in 100 years. Yeah. Yeah, I got him. Don't need that crutch anymore. O- okay. So we we are relating and have been designed by our lips, hips, and fingertips were given to us by A BEING THAT HAS ALWAYS EXISTED.

HE IS ETERNAL and forever. WE ARE FINITE. WE are living in a finite place, time and space, and it is a second compared to eternity. And yet and yet we have decided to define God in a second. God I need you to fix me. The second means everything.

No, son, the second doesn't mean everything. Forever means everything. So we have to get perspective for a moment. Now that there's much mystery in there. And by the way, I'm not mad at your questions. I got them, too. I got them, too. I sat with my friend at breakfast this morning and I was like I don't know why he doesn't fix it.

It's ridiculous. And it is frustrating. But I want us to ask the question for this 1 second life which is short, but it also feels long sometimes. Some long days and some long seasons. Nothing compared to forever. We get we understand that to a degree. But while we are here and God cares about the second by the way.

I'm not trying to let I'm just trying to put it in in scale, but he cares about the second. He cares about the second. He cares that you're losing your hair, okay? He cares that that that that you need Invisalign and you don't wear it at all, okay?

That's that's what I've been I don't even know why I got these nodules on here. What a waste. I never wear it. It's just the fact that it's there if I ever get disciplined. But the point is he cares about your Invisalign, all right? He does. But but he also cares.

He's eternal. He's eternal. He thinks eternally. You understand me? He thinks in eternally. We do not naturally think eternally. We think very temporary. So back to the 1 second life we live, we're like I need you to fix this. And he's like I'm going to take care of you.

And you're like all right, that means you're going to fix it. I'm going to take care of you. Now it's imperative for us to remember that the whole reason we exist is one primary reason and it's a big R word and it's called relationship. Let me say this about God.

He values relationship. Please hear me above all. You are designed for him to be near him. You are designed for his enjoyment. Now that may sound sadistic to you cuz like well there's a bunch of bad stuff so he enjoys the bad stuff. No, no, that was never God's design, but he gave us free will and free will complicates the destiny design of God and in sovereignty he allows free will to an extent and it's very mysterious, but nonetheless God has no intention of creating calamity, but he has to allow not Pinocchios, but free will free will free willed beings who well, we've quite complicated things haven't we?

But you are here for relationship. Now we tell ourselves we are here for career. We're here for income. We're here for prominence. We're here for renown. Ironically science tells us that none of these things are fulfilling us. That's ironic. And yet we persist. The proverbial gerbil on the wheel, we persist telling ourselves I will be the one exception to the rule.

More money will not mean more problems, Biggie. It will mean more money, more pleasure, more happy, more awesome, more everything. More houses I'm going to get, the better I'm going to feel in my soul, right? It's going to be awesome. I'm going to I'm not going to get married.

I'm just going to have just just just girlfriends and boyfriends everywhere, right? I'm going to live the dream. Right? The same dream we've been trying to live for thousands of years. And everybody just gets lean in their soul and gets emptier and emptier. You were made for relationship.

Deep committed affectionate relationship that starts first with your heavenly creator and designer. That's what you were made for. Not career. Not career. Yes, purpose. But your purpose is relationship first and foremost. Here's what I'd like to do. I'd like to now we've looked at Peter's writings. I want to look at Paul's writings in an effort to define how God would define care.

Here's how I think God cares. And this is why I think we continue to say take my crippling fear. Notice what Paul says again to the church in Philippi. He says I want you to don't make issues about anything, but I in everything in everything in everything drop anything at any time anywhere in everything pray pray say talk to God.

You can do it with intensity. Supplication means intensity and you can do it with Thanksgiving. So he's like be intense about it and thank God for a ton of stuff and and and and tell them what you want. Tell them what you need and and here's what you're going to get.

You're going to get the peace of God. Now notice it's not peace, it's the peace of God. The definition of peace of God is simply this. It is a it is the person of peace. So again Paul does not say God will fix your fears as you define fixing.

He says God will give you himself in the middle of your pain and in the middle of your problems and in the middle of the fears that want to you as you kiss your little girl out the door and she rides her bike down the street with people with a bunch of dogs.

He doesn't promise he'll take all the dogs away. He doesn't promise he'll remove all the cars from the road. He doesn't promise that her little skull will be fine so don't put on a helmet. He says I'll give you myself. I'll be with you. Evidently when we define care, we define fix and comfortability.

When God defines care, he defines it as himself. I'm going to God, I need you to fix it. Okay, here I am. No, I appreciate you being here. I need you to fix this. Right here. Here I am. Oh, I know you're ever present help in time of need.

That's amazing. Uh I need you to help me pay my taxes. Right? Yeah, I'm here. Giving you giving you peace. Cool. I feel really restful and at ease about my unpaid taxes. I'm going to need you to go ahead and give me some money. And all we can think about is taxes.

And all God can think about is your heart and the eternity you're going to live in. Just know what his value is. Your value is pay my taxes. God's value is be with me forever. That's just the facts. Does Does that mean he doesn't care about your taxes?

Oh, he cares about your taxes, but he does not care about your taxes as much as he cares about your eternal soul. He does not devalue your need to pay your taxes. Jesus ironically spoke to his disciples about paying taxes. BUT WHAT DOES HE VALUE MUCH MORE? RELATIONSHIP.

FOREVER. GOD, I need you to take this sickness away. Okay, here I am. Okay, uh what what does that mean? I'm I'm going to give you I'm going to give you peace. I'm I'm right here. Let me show you let me show you scripture in an effort to define peace a little bit.

Um John chapter 14 I believe it is, guys. Uh John chapter 14 verse 27. Words of Jesus now. Listen to Jesus. He says he's he's leaving soon. He goes peace I leave WITH YOU. MY MY PEACE I GIVE TO YOU NOT AS THE WORLD GIVES TO YOU. LET NOT YOUR HEARTS BE TROUBLED.

Neither let them be afraid. Talk about anxiety. He says, "I'm leaving you with my peace." Now, when I say peace of God, what I do not necessarily mean is circumstantial ease and rest in your mind. Okay? The peace that God gives is not a shift in circumstance as much as it is a sense of his person with you in it with you.

Okay? By definition, it's the Hebrew word root word is shalom. Now, shalom is a state of being. Shalom is a way of life. Shalom is how you relate to one another. Shalom is how God relates to you. And it is a unique peace. Now, let me let me do this comparison.

When right when saying this, Jesus is in an he's living with with and around under the power of Rome. Rome in this historical season is in a in the most unparalleled extended season of peace it has ever known. Rome. It is so peaceful. Well, at least for Rome it was peaceful.

And bear with me there. Not necessarily the most peaceful for the Jewish people, but for Rome. Do you know how Rome achieved that peace? Torture, oppression, and bloodshed. That's how Rome. So, Jesus in this context says, "I'm going to give you peace. It will not come about by torture and oppression and bloodshed."

You know what? No, it will. It'll be my torture. It'll be my bloodshed. And by that I will grant you peace. And my torture and my bloodshed will set free those who would otherwise be tortured and bloodshed for their air and for their Rome. Jesus says, "I'm not going to give you peace like Rome."

This is not circumstantial peace brought about by world powers or governmental structures. Now, my brothers AND SISTERS, THIS HAS TO BE TRUE because when Peter says give your anxieties to God because God cares for you, THAT ENTIRE LETTER IS WRITTEN TO CHRISTIANS WHO ARE ON THE RUN FOR THEIR LIFE BECAUSE THEIR BABIES AND THEIR HUSBANDS AND WIVES ARE BEING KILLED FOR CLAIMING THE NAME OF JESUS.

AND PETER SAYS, "GIVE THOSE FEARS TO GOD BECAUSE HE CARES." AND IF I GOT THAT LETTER, I WOULD SAY, "OH, GOD CARES? WHERE WAS HE WHEN THEY WERE KILLING MY WIFE?" WHAT DO YOU MEAN GOD CARES? WHY DIDN'T HE SAVE MY LOVED ONES? First of all, I don't totally know.

But what I do know, and I don't live by what I don't know, I live by what I know. And what I do know is 1 second does not compare to 100 years. What I do know is this light momentary affliction is but for a moment, it's it's preparing us for a far exceeding weight of glory which we will experience in eternity.

WHAT I KNOW IS THIS LIFE is broken. WHAT I KNOW IS THIS LIFE is is caught up in calamity. WHAT I KNOW IS GOD DOESN'T KILL PEOPLE. THAT'S NOT THE GOD OF THE NEW COVENANT. JESUS IS THE way of love and grace and peace. BUT GOD DOES TAKE WHAT THE ENEMY MEANS FOR evil and he works it together for good.

AND JUST BECAUSE A LOVED ONE DIES OF CANCER DOESN'T MEAN GOD DOESN'T CARE. HOW CAN YOU TELL THEM GOD CARES? And to not be afraid when people are being killed. God must define care from an eternal place. He doesn't Peace is not like Roman peace. That's gruesome. But do you see how we do that?

When we hear peace, we think United States peace. God's going to give me United States peace. Don't lower God's peace to the United States peace. And I'm grateful for United States peace to the extent that we have it. My brothers and sisters, I'm talking about supernatural peace that comes from the suffering of the perfect savior of the world.

And that peace cannot be matched by any governmental structure. It is a pre Is it a peace that comes from a person and his name is Prince of peace. Listen, I will be the first person in your life to pray that your Invisalign works in 1 night. I swear I will, man.

I'll absolutely I'll be the first person to pray that your career just explodes, whatever that even means anymore. That you go viral, you know, whatever. I seriously will. I'll Dude, I'm down that you that you met You want to MARRY SUPERMODEL? LET'S PRAY. YOU KNOW, like I am cuz sometimes it works.

I don't know exactly why sometimes it does and for other guys it doesn't. Sometimes I do know why, but the point is >> [laughter] >> Oh, man. But I'll end with this story. I'll end with this story. Jesus, you can find this in Luke 17. Jesus um rose into a town and and and 10 10 10 10 lepers We don't know if it's it's all men, but 10 lepers approach Jesus uh which is against the law, by the way.

Jesus broke the law all the time cuz he came to fulfill it. And these 10 lepers approach Jesus and they said, "Can you fix us? Can you fix us?" They said, "Can you fix us?" And I don't know why this time Jesus said, "Yeah, I'mma fix you." And just right there leprosy As they He said, "Just go go to you to your local synagogue.

Go to your priest." And it says as they were on their way, leprosy she started disappearing. They're like, >> [screaming] >> "Right? He did it. Won't he do it? Fix me, Jesus." Right? And it happens. It happens. Instantaneously fixed. NOW, THAT'S THE GOD I WANT. WOO! YES. NOW, OVER THE years preachers will tell you you can have that kind of God if you believe enough.

Then who's God? The person who musters enough faith to get what they want? Or the God who's sovereign and does how he chooses? Now, that's air. If you just believed more, brother, you wouldn't you'd be fixed immediately. We need to stop saying this stuff. Making ourselves the antidote and the healer.

No, he's just a healer and sometimes you just pray and like God take the cancer away, gone. My grandfather, who I'm named after, had a brain tumor. His name was Elwood. He was a preacher. He wasn't the most integral preacher in the world, but he was a preacher nonetheless.

And he uh he had a brain cancer a brain tumor and he went to a Kathryn Kuhlman meeting who used to have meetings here in LA. She prayed for him. His tumor was gone. It's gone for 2 weeks. Went to the doctors, your tumor's gone, you're totally here. 2 weeks later came back worse.

He was dead in a month. People told him, "Elwood, you didn't have enough faith." Nah. Now, a lot of it's mystery, but I will say this about the story. Out of the 10 guys who got what they wanted from Jesus, guess how many came back to Jesus? Maybe that tells us about our nature.

Be careful you get what you want from God and you don't get God. One comes back and he says, "I'm You're unbelievable." Jesus says, "Where's 90% of the guys?" And then he says, "And the only guy that came back isn't even Jewish. You're Samaritan." That tell you something, man?

That tell you something? The Jews expected It was It was as if they were entitled. They were entitled to it. They deserved it. But the Samaritan was like, "I know I don't deserve nothing. I just came back to say, "WHO ARE YOU?"" And Jesus says this. He says, "You are well."

Now, well doesn't got nothing to do with leprosy. WELL DOESN'T GOT NOTHING TO DO with your lips OR YOUR FINGERS OR YOUR TOES WHICH WERE FALLING OFF FROM LEPROSY. THE WORD WELL HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH YOUR ETERNAL SOUL. AND 10 GUYS GOT FIXED, BUT ONLY ONE GOT WELL.

AND I'M NOT TELLING YOU THAT GOD DOESN'T CARE ABOUT A SKIN DISEASE. I'M JUST TELLING YOU HE CARES FAR MORE ABOUT YOUR SOUL DISEASE. AND THAT'S WHERE THE VALUE IS WITH GOD. AND I DON'T KNOW WHY MY FRIEND HASN'T BEEN FIXED. I DON'T KNOW WHY MY DAD'S NOT HERE ANYMORE.

I DON'T KNOW WHY GRANDPA ELWOOD WAS HEALED FOR 2 WEEKS AND THEN HE WASN'T AND HE WAS GONE. I DON'T HAVE THE ANSWERS, BUT WHAT I DO KNOW IS WHAT I WANT IN THIS STORY IS NOT JUST TO BE WHAT I WANT FOR 1 SECOND. I WANT TO BE WHO I'M SUPPOSED TO BE FOR 100 YEARS.

And I KNOW THIS 1 SECOND SEEMS LIKE SUCH A BIG DEAL. WHAT DOES IT PROFIT A MAN TO GIVE UP HIS SOUL FOR THE 1 SECOND LIFE HE ALWAYS WANTED? JESUS SAYS THAT IS NOT A FAIR TRADE. His emphasis points to the eternal you. The eternal you. And that's so hard for us to quantify, but I am urging you by the grace of God that you would consider it.

So, here's my Here's the only practical takeaway I can give you. People always ask me, "Now, Judah, what do you You know that sermon you preached? It It great and everything and I was really inspired but, what am I supposed to do with that? Well, here's the only thing that has really helped me.

I would say the primary thing that has really helped me with this mysterious element of God. God, here's my one second life and I so want you to help me with my career and my spouse and my babies and my house and my taxes and my clothes and my cars and my thing.

Just give me one of those really good lives. Give me one of them good careers. Give me one of them. You know where anxiety is out of out of control, right? In the first world, not the third world. We know that, right? Just food for thought. God, I just want take care of me. >> [snorts] >> If I could just humbly suggest that God might be saying something like, "Son, daughter, I I do care.

But I wonder for a moment if you could see what I value compared to what you value. Maybe you could lift up your eyes a little bit. Lift up your eyes and realize there's so much more than the one second you're pining away for. This is everything. And we all feel like it is cuz it's all we've ever known.

But the day's going to come. This life's going to give way and we're all dying. We're all dying. It's going to come to a close and we're going to see the light or whatever they say. I've got lots of friends and family members who I've been their bedside with people that are passing away and I've had all kinds of experience people seeing the light.

What I do know is that there's another life, there's an afterlife, there's another life, there's an afterlife, it's eternity. The Bible speaks of it, a new heaven and new earth, eternity. We're going to be there in in total forgiveness and utopia and mercy and love and kindness and no sin and no disease and no tears and no pain and no injustice and no oppression and no torture and we're going to be there and I wonder I wonder when we get there, we're going to go, "IF I ONLY WOULD HAVE KNOWN."

MAYBE I WOULD HAVE GIVEN MY ONE SECOND AWAY. MAYBE I WOULD HAVE LIVED IT UP FOR ME BUT FOR OTHERS. AND SCIENCE AS WE SPEAK IS DISCOVERING THAT ONE OF THE GREAT HEALTHIEST BENEFACTORS IN THE WHOLE HUMAN EXPERIENCE IS NOT WHEN YOU LIVE THE ONE SECOND FOR YOURSELF BUT WHEN YOU LIVE IT FOR OTHERS.

WHEN YOU TAKE THIS FORGIVENESS AND YOU TAKE THIS PEACE AND YOU START HANDING IT OUT AND THIS SIDE I'M DONE AND I'M DONE. IT'S 47 MINUTES. I TOLD MY FRIEND I'D GO SHORT TONIGHT. I'm done. Is this short? What am I saying? But this is Jesus says, "Not as the world gives."

And men, I heard that. I heard that. I read that. I should say I read that but then I heard it. You know what I mean? But anyways, not as the world gives. Not as the world gives. Not as the world gives. And I start thinking about a community who who would give to each other not as the world gives.

That I'd be the kind of friend not as a not as the world is a friend. I would give and and by the world it means the broken system that seeks to serve itself. It is insidious. It is selfish. It is ingrown. IT'S ABSCESSED. IT'S NOT HEALTHY. NO ONE'S BENEFITING.

WE'RE ALL ANXIOUS. WE'RE all fearful. WE'RE ALL WORRIED. WE'RE ALL CAUGHT UP IN OURSELVES. WE'RE ALL STRUGGLING WITH NARCISSISM AND IT'S GROWING OUT OF CONTROL. [screaming] JESUS SAYS, "I WANT TO GIVE YOU SOMETHING THAT THIS BROKEN SYSTEM CANNOT GIVE YOU." IT'S BETTER THAN MORE SQUARE FOOTAGE. IT'S BETTER THAN THE CAREER YOU WANT.

IT'S ME. AND I'LL GIVE YOU A SHALOM AT THE CORE OF YOUR BEING. AND THEN, what if we started giving to each other not as the world gives? Not as the world gives. These platitudes and cliches. These these aids we try to give each other to help us in the one second.

What if we just said, "Bro, I don't know but what I do know is this isn't home but we're going someday soon." We're going someday soon. And here's and here's where here's where I I said all that to say, I was just trying to preach a little bit right there but I just this is this is it.

This is I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I promise. Um here's what's changed my life. I I get with other people who are just like the one who came back. You know I'm talking about? They feel like they're outsiders. They feel like they don't deserve nothing. They feel like God forgave them and they're so grateful and they feel like I can't believe I'm just I just know Jesus and I lost people and I feel broken and there's some things in my life I wish he would fix but but I'm I if you just just give me Jesus I just I just I'm love with Jesus and I'm just I'm glad to still be here and I think if I'm still here God's probably got something for me to do and I'm just going to do it with all my might and you know I may not be I may not be somebody to somebody and I I I but what I do know is that God loves me and and I'm I'm I'm I'm worth his love and his affection and so and then what ends up happening is you get a bunch of these people together and they start encouraging each other and they start talking to each other and they start meeting with each other and they start crying with each other and they start praying for each other and they start being there for each other and then um life happens.

Life happens. And when you start experiencing the peace that comes from the person of God, I'm telling you one of the telltale signs is you start wanting to be with others to encourage them, to love them deeply. To be known, to know them. Things like listening to people starts to happen.

You're like, "Judah, this is the same thing you've been saying every week." And I'm going to keep saying it until you listen. I sat with my friend today who's gone through a horrific painful tragedy in his own life and he's like he said, "I got good friends though."

And I about jumped out of my seat. I was like, "That's because these friends are friends on the basis of this ridiculous forgiveness they got from this man named Jesus. And it's like changed their whole social demeanor and dynamic. Instead of what can you give me and how can you help me?

It starts turning into stuff like, "How you doing, man? >> [snorts] >> You okay? Anything I can do for you? Man, you're there's nobody like you in the world. I love you. And I am convinced that is what this world needs tonight. Today. >> ((applause)) >> Today. We're supposed to we're supposed to have a bond that we see in scripture.

Boy, these Christians were running for their life. Underground. Hiding out. There was a bond. There was a bond. We need each other, church. We need each other. In the mystery. We need each other. Let's be those kind of people. That's my short sermon for the night. Let me pray for you.

Jesus, I thank you so much for what you're saying and um just want to stop and consider for a moment how many [snorts] of my friends and people in this room are so tired because anxiety, fear, pain, problems, sickness, disease, tragedy has struck and it seems like you won't fix it.

And it's hard to understand. I'm asking right now that the prince of peace, not as the world gives, but the prince of peace would be more present in that person's brain and body and soul than ever before. God, either you, the prince of peace, the peace of God are real or we are doomed in the day and the age and the culture we live.

We believe that you give shalom. God with us. The God of peace. >> [snorts] >> We may not understand it all but there's going to be assurance because you are near. I love you, Jesus. I love who you are. And I crave more of your nearness. More of your reality.

More of your person. There are people hearing the sound of my voice. You are in so much personal pain. And I believe that the one who cares deeply and affectionately for that pain is nearer to you than your very next breath. Jesus. Jesus. And God, if for a moment you would grant us perspective from eternity to time.

We try to grasp eternity from time but would you give us just even glimpses of our life that we could see time from eternity. Grant us scale and perspective that puts everything in its place. This is my prayer. This is my prayer. Oh God, let this vapor of a life be put in its place.

In Jesus name. If you're here just before we sing together and you say, "Judah, I'd like to become a follower of Jesus." I'd like to receive the free gift of forgiveness that only Jesus offers. On the count of three, I'm going to ask you to lift up your hand and put it right back down wherever you are watching.

Seattle on the app or here in the Saban Theater. The reason I ask you to raise your hand is I believe when you respond on the outside to what's happening on the inside, it just becomes all the more real to you. You know who you are. 1 2 3, if that's you, just shoot up your hand and say, "I want to receive the forgiveness of Jesus."

Thank you, God. I'm forgiven forever and I'm yours. We thank you that forgiveness flows freely here. It has been purchased and paid for in full by the broken body of Jesus. Grace, mercy, acceptance, belonging, righteousness are all yours >> ((music playing)) >> by gift. By gift. You are who you are by the grace of God.

You are his. And once you are in the palm of his hand, nothing can take you from the palm of his hand. Jesus, we thank you for that.