Worry chokes us. We get anxious because of fear we might lose what we cannot keep. Go out to the deeper waters and find stillness and supply. (Psalm 1:1-3; Proverbs 29:25; Deuteronomy 33:25)

Speaker(s): Thomas Schaller, Zsombor Szük, Avery Powers
Sermon 12252
7:00 PM on 2/16/2022

P. Schaller –

Alright. Good evening. Turn in your Bibles and put up on the screen Deuteronomy 33:25. We have a prayer day today,
and we’ve been walking around in the room here praying and worshiping and anticipating
tonight and also the marriage seminar this weekend, Friday night with the Tanksley family and
myself and then also Saturday, P. Zeke and myself. We’ll have some good words Lord willing.
Deuteronomy 33:25 is a memory verse. I think I’m going to have you read it and think about it for a minute.
It might stick in your heart. That last part is the part that has stuck in my heart for years, “as your
days are, so shall your strength be.” Sometimes we think I am not prepared and God will show
up later and I will have strength later. That’s true. Many times we see God move regardless of
ourselves. But this looks like it has something to do with my everyday living. As your days are,
so your strength will be. Do you see it? Okay.

What if in my days as a habit I live with anxiety and fear? Is that Roger back there? Roger’s
from Turkey. Good to see you, Roger. He came from Turkey just for this meeting tonight. Okay.
Alright. Let’s say every day I live with some deep something in my heart or my mind that
troubles me a lot and I have this kind of like I live with this anxiety. They say in America it is our
primary mental illness today, is anxiety. Worry is another word for it. It happens to us. We’ll
speak about it tonight a little bit later. We’re going to speak tonight about how I can live every
day and I’ll be surprised at the strength I have. It’s true. If I can live without fear and anxiety and
worry, you and I will be amazed at how much strength we’ll have in life.

It’s amazing. Read the verse again with me, the second part of it. Say it. “As thy days.” Let’s say you have
bad days, worrisome days, periods in your life where it’s just not good days. What is your
strength? So shall your strength be as your days. Don’t be introspective because there is a
context here and we’ll learn from this verse. What if the Holy Spirit and by your effort in your
faith, by meditation, by deliberately thinking the right thoughts or thinking truth in your heart as a
way of life, what if as you have those days so it will define for you your life. And you’ll just say,
wow! Life is awesome. Life is awesome.

I heard recently about a teenage girl who was in school and amongst her friends they were
surprised when they asked her, do you have any, are you depressed? And the girl said I don’t
think I’ve ever been depressed and they were like in shock. You’ve never been depressed? I
think we are as a culture like thinking about so many things that we worry about that take our
strength away and bring confusion and stress. Panic attacks. I don’t know if – maybe you’ve had
one of those, but I read a little bit about it recently. How much they are on the increase. Panic.
Anxiety. Fear. How this is like much more common thing than it was earlier.

This service is – we have two brothers from Bible school that are going to share short message,
and then I’m going to wrap it up. Something that just in a word. I know, I know how you can live.
I know. I see it. I know how you live. I know how you can live. I know we are learning how to
live. And we don’t have those things. We can have them but we are applying ourselves. We are
learning and applying ourselves to what we hear. The Holy Spirit is faithful to satisfy us and we
can walk through things. It’s Psalm 18 leap over a wall, run through a troop. Bend a bow of iron
with our arms. Not turn back in the day of battle. Stand. Stand tall. Have conviction. Have peace
in your heart and not be afraid. That’s amazing, isn’t it?

Here’s the last part of this introduction. It’s in the other folder, the blue folder. Is that the recent
one? Okay. Thank you. Bear with me. There it is. “All the water in the world however hard it
tried, could never, never sink a ship unless it got inside. All the hardships of this world, might
wear you pretty thin, but they won’t hurt you one least bit, unless you let them in.” This is our
message tonight. It’s not going to get under my skin. This world and what is happening is not
going to steal from me what I have. What we have is growing and it’s going to grow. As our days
are, so our strength will be. We have started now the battle that we are in for our hearts and our
minds, this way of life. That’s it. Amen. Welcome Jesse Fyers. (Announcements).

Zsombor –

Hello, everyone. It’s such an honor to be here. This afternoon, P. Steve came up to
me and said P. Schaller would love if you would share a little bit about be anxious for nothing. I
really quickly got anxious about it! Oh, my God! Thank God for brothers and sisters that point
you back to God. (prayer). If you look up anxiety on the internet, it says anxiety is a feeling of
fear, dread, and uneasiness. I think I would be hypocritical if I said I was never anxious before. I
think we have all been. We are all familiar with the feeling. It says anxiety is a feeling of fear,
dread.

There’s an amazing paradox in the Bible that just opens our eyes. 1 John. 4:18, if you would turn
there. vs. 19. Wow! If you turn to Revelation 12:11, it seems like maybe love can be the solution to
anxiety. Why am I anxious? I can only be anxious about things I can lose or think I can lose. I’m
not anxious about things I am secure about. Philippians 3 says “I count it all loss for the surpassing
worth knowing Christ.” I count it all loss. I had to realize myself I’m anxious about things I am
proud of in my own little life. We all of things. For me, example, it was my reputation. I have to
perform on a really good level unless everyone will think I’m a failure. My reputation is going
down hill. There’s where anxiety comes in.

Oh, my gosh! I have to perform otherwise it’s gone. I have a fear of losing my good reputation in front of people. I was meditating. I was praying for months. God, what does it mean to count it all as loss? What does this mean? I don’t just have to bring things to the cross that are burdensome to me, but all who I am, my good things too that
I am proud of.

Paul was really – he said if anybody could boast, that could be me. I was really great in the
world. I was Pharisee of all Pharisees. I had lots of knowledge. I can boast about it. I can be
proud about it. He said, no. I count it all as loss. If he took it, who am I? Who am I to be saying,
no. I want to keep this. This is mine. God, don’t touch this. I realize I give it all up for Christ that I
have nothing to lose. I’m not afraid of losing it because I’ve already let it go. It’s not mine. I can’t
lose it because I gave it up. And I think that just takes away the anxiety because I’m not afraid of
losing it. 1 John 4 says not been perfected in love. Romans 5:8, that is love. I am being perfected in
this? Am I being perfected in Christ?

1 Corinthians 13, we all know it’s about love. Love. Love is patient and kind, does not insist on it’s own
way. These three things out of the whole chapter are like wow! I’m really bad at loving. I think I
can love but I don’t. And every time that I pray, God, teach me how to love, he gives me a
person I used to love naturally and it makes it really hard for me, actually impossible for me to
love from my natural self. Because why do I love people in my flesh? Because they give me
something. They’re kind to me. They’re nice to me. I have the feeling, the sensation that I love
them. But do I really? Do I not insist on my own ways. God just changes something. They
become not so kind to me maybe. I’m like, wow! I don’t actually love them. I don’t. But God
helps me grow in love and when I can learn, when I grow in love and I’m perfected in love, my
anxiety just dies out. That’s just my meditation. I hoped it helped you a little bit. It helped me a
lot. God bless.

Avery Powers –

Wow! That was beautiful. I have to follow that. I’m going to expand a little bit on
that thought. It’s a beautiful thought, surrendering. It’s not mine to begin with. I love that thought.
A lot of anxiety is because of what I can lose but there’s a sense of ownership maybe. If I can
lose it, I can own it. But maybe it’s not mine to begin with. It’s God’s to begin with and if he
decides to take it away, it’s his and he can do with it what he pleases. That’s kind of what we
learned in Job.

Also with anxiety, I thought about a desire for controlling things. A lot of anxiety is a result of a
lack of control. You think you have control over something, you don’t have control anymore.
Now you’re anxious because it’s not going the way you anticipated or desired. That’s another
thing we have to give to God. He’s in control. He’s sovereign over situations and that I don’t own
that situation. It could be I feel I own a situation and I feel I can control it but actually it’s God’s. I
can let go and give it to God and I don’t have to necessarily feel anxious. But of course, our
flesh is anxious maybe. Maybe some of us have a problem with anxiety and that could be a
flesh issue. It’s of course God, but it could be a flesh issue and how do we deal with that.

Maybe some of us have problems with it. I think there’s some practical things we can implement.
We learned a little bit about this in Christian Disciplines this past Monday, interestingly enough.
Surrendering it to God, what does that mean? How do I do that? If I’m in a situation and I’m
anxious, how do I surrender that to God. I spoke about this at a rap session one time in a lunch
rap. If you think about waves and shallow water and you have a storm. You have the wind
stirring up the waves. Basically, all the waves if it’s maybe six feet of water, all of that depth is
going to be chaos. The wind and everything is going to cause chaos in that six-feet of water.
And you if you are standing in six foot water maybe it’s 10 foot water and you want to get into a
still water, you can’t go far. You’re in chaos.

But if you go out into the ocean and you have 40 or 50 or 100 or 200 feet of water, and it’s stormy and chaos on the top, on the surface, you have access. You have access to go deep. You have access to go into still water when you go deep That’s similar to our walk with God. We have access to this because of the Word of God and
because of his Holy Spirit. We have access to that deep water. We read that in Psalm 1. It’s a tree
planted by living waters. The roots go out and it’s fed. So even in the year of drought, it’s
secure. It can feed on water. That’s exactly what we have access to.

It’s just taking that moment practically. If you have a situation and you’re faced with kind of
uncontrollable anxiety or sense of dread about whatever, prayer is the most practical thing. I
think it’s something – I’ve had my fair share of anxiety and it’s probably the last thing on my
mind is prayer. But it’s probably the most effective cause when there’s chaos. We see that for
example with Jesus in the Garden of Gethesemane where he’s faced with a serious task and
he’s feeling, his flesh is feeling a little anxious or apprehensive. Maybe my flesh doesn’t want to
do this. My spirit is leading me. My spirit is not anxious. So when we take that time of prayer and
we see in the garden, the angel comes and the angel comforts him.

That’s like a picture for when we are dealing with anxiety. God will send – sure enough, God will send his angel. We
can imagine an angel comforting us in a time of anxiety. I think that these things that are kind of
maybe they might seem like Sunday School or elementary, but they are actually really practical.
Good it be that I take a second and I say Lord, help me. I don’t know. I don’t have control over
my flesh. I can’t control my anxious thoughts. My heart is pounding. My thoughts are racing. We
always have the ability to do that and I think that’s beautiful. So let’s pray.

P. Schaller –

Okay. Turn to Proverbs 29:25. What a beautiful evening here. I sense the Spirit of
peace and concentration as we listen to these brothers minister to our hearts. We rejoice in that
a lot. Thankful. This verse when I was in Bible college back many years ago, we would walk Dr.
Steven’s home. He lived up on the hill. We were in the dorm and in the church and we would
walk a short distance up and say good night to him. We hung around Dr. Stevens a lot. We
would jump in the car. How many know what I’m talking about? We were hanging around him,
listening to him, and sometimes he would leave us with a Bible verse.

This was one that he left with us. Proverbs 29:25, he never explained it to us, but we could think about it. The fear of man. Who was afraid of men? Jeremiah, do not fear their faces, Jeremiah 1:17. Joshua, be very
courageous, Joshua 1:5-8. Hezekiah maybe when the Babylonians came and showed them all – I
read the other day that there were 25 – listen to this. In the holy of holies, in that room, there
was 25 tons of gold on the walls. Wow! Who feared men and how easy it is. The fear of losing
something. Losing my job. Being afraid of my boss. Being afraid of a relative. Being afraid of a
friend or a critic. In the ministry, Spurgeon said that the slanderous reports from the press
against his ministry was actually a kindness. It was a good thing for him to keep him humble and
before God. But the press can be an enemy and powerful.

You might find yourself in situations where you really fear people and it can happen. Elijah in 1
Kings 19 was extremely strong, very courageous, and then he ran away from Jezebel in 1 Kings
19:3. The Bible says we are men of like passion. We also get afraid. We also get emotional. We
also get troubled. Avery said it well. If we can go deeper, it’s quieter there. It’s quieter there
because God is a hiding place. God is truth. It’s in our inner man, Psalm 51:6.
Where we must learn tonight, I want to leave you with this thought that where we are learning it
does take effort and training mentally. We cannot be distracted, but have to take and set aside.

We are very busy. We are Americans, so we are very busy going to three, five, seven different
places. Jump in the car and go. We have children and grandchildren and we have things to do
and bills to pay. Do not dwell in the shallow water where the storms are raging. I identified with
what he was saying. I think we have been battered on the beach. Driven up on the beach by
waves and storm. You go out deeper, and go under water and it’s so quiet. Psalm 1 is a good
psalm for this. Turn there with me, please.

As you turn there, we have a quotation there. Psalm 1:1-3. “The word worry is derived from an old
Anglo-Saxon word meaning to strangle or to choke. How well named the emotion it has been
demonstrated again and again in persons who have lost their effectiveness due to the stultifying effect of
anxiety and apprehension.” I may not be useful because I am driven by my own emotion, my
own fears. And the fear of man means when Moses went to Pharaoh in Exodus 5, Pharaoh was
strong and Moses could be afraid. After he left Pharaoh, and he met the Jewish elders, they
discouraged Moses. Moses, you’re causing more trouble. Now we have to make bricks without
straw because of you, because of you, because of you. It’s the end of Exodus 5.

Moses could say, I quit. I quit. You don’t care about me. I don’t care about you. You think I like
going to Pharaoh. I quit. I’m not going to Pharaoh anymore. I’m done. This is so common and so
easy for us as people. We quit our marriages. We quit our families. We quit our jobs. We quit
our church. We quit God. We quit the trial. We quit so many things because we are in shallow
water.

But Psalm 1 says it this way in vs. 1. My daughter owns a hair dressing business. She’s amazing
by the way. What a great team of people they have and how much they minister to people. It’s
amazing. But I also know it’s so possible that we could get counsel in a hair salon that is
ungodly. What do my girlfriends tell me? Or what do my guy friends tell me? What’s the
newspaper tell me? What’s socially trending? What’s on the social media? What’s everybody
doing. I can’t believe the likes and dislikes are going to affect me emotionally. Are you kidding
me? How deep are you? You’re disliked on social media and you’re upset and you’re distressed
and you have anxiety and worry and fear? That’s just a good indication of a great need that we
have as people and that’s deep water. That’s depth.

That’s God. Make an effort to find God, to relate to God, to worship God. Make an effort to lay those things before him like Hezekiah laid the letter before God and said God, they said you’re going to destroy us. What do you say? And
the Lord said, they’re not even going to shoot an arrow against the walls of this city. They’re
going to be done. They’re done and it happened.

I want to look at vs. 1. here. “All Christians are like that. All Christians are like that. Everybody in
Greater Grace. Nasty. Nasty.” Scournful. Look at the words. We have walking in vs. 1. Walking.
Walking. Next verb standing. Next one sitting. What’s not covered? When you’re sleeping. But
ever other part of your day. When you are walking, when you are standing, when you are sitting,
there is ungodly influences around us. It drives people to fear and worry and anxiety. It’s
ungodly. Jesus said take no thought for what you are going to eat. That’s crazy. Jesus is saying
it with a free spirit. Take no thought. Don’t worry about it what you’re going to eat, what you’re
going to wear. Your heavenly Father knows. That’s radical.

What’s he saying? Our sin nature is so much gravitating to people what they say about us, what
they think about us. We’re so gravitating because of our sin nature to our personal needs, our
reputation that was mentioned and Zsombor said the love of God, the love of God casts out
fear. 1 Corinthians 7:32 says that we are carefree. We have a sense of humor. We can laugh at our
mistakes. We can laugh at ourselves. We’re not worry about things like other people. We have
God.

Many times in the third world, the third world countries don’t have anxiety. They’re fishing for
lunch literally. They’re fishing on a sea shore to eat lunch, literally. That’s how they live. We’re
first world country and we’re worried about many things, you know.
vs. 2. He loves it. He loves the Word of God. He loves it. He’s thinking about it. He sets time aside to study it. It’s starting to work in his body. It works in his soul. It works in his spirit. It’s
starting to work in him. It’s a victory. It’s a victory that he lives in every day. It’s something that
he processes in life. Then when he is hurt, he processes the hurt. I’m not saying this – I don’t
want to sound mechanical, but I want to say that as we pay attention and apply ourselves to
what we are learning and hearing and believing it.

One writer said it’s kind of like learning golf. He said you can see videos of golf. You can read about golf. You can handle a stick, a golf club. You can sit in your chair and you can say whatever you want to about golf, but it doesn’t mean much until you go out there and you hold it and you do it and your body, your muscle memory
and you practice and you practice and you practice. That’s like the Christian life. It’s got to be
more than just an exercise in my living room. It’s got to be a way of life. It’s got to be something
processed in my heart.

It says here in vs. 2 that he delights in it. vs. 3. That has got to be the most incredible verse for
any one of us. If you get this, I don’t care what your job is. It doesn’t matter what your job is. It
doesn’t matter. If you got that going on in your life, you will prosper. You will have a smile. You
will have an attitude. You’ll have a relationship with God. It doesn’t matter what your job is. You
can lose a job. It’s okay. I will prosper. I got God. God is with me. If God is for me, who can be
against me? I will not fear what man will do unto me. I’m not afraid of men. I’m not afraid of my
boss, my company, my country. I’m not afraid of anything. I’m not afraid of people. I’m not afraid
of criminals. I’m not afraid of bad people. I’m not afraid of what will happen to me. I’m not afraid.
Isn’t that amazing.

That’s amazing. How? It’s like practice your faith. Practice your faith. Practice
the prayer. Practice faith. Apply it in your life. Learn to forgive. Learn to meditate. Learn to sing.
Learn to praise God. Learn to go to church. Practice it and keep going and keep going. And
you’re not going to just be knowing about the Christian life but you’re going to be able to play
golf. You’re able to actually – it happens.

You’re playing the game. You’re living the Christian life. You are not anxious, afraid, worried, or
troubled. You are living in the Spirit and the mind of God and it says right here but his delight is
in the law of the Lord and in his law does he meditate day and night. He shall be like a tree
planted by the rivers of water. His leaf will not wither. He will bear fruit in his season, and
whatsoever he does – pumping gas. He ends up owning the gas station. I don’t know how that
happened. Maybe it’s just God’s will. I got God. And if I lost the gas station, I’ve got God. I will
not fear what man can do unto me. Isn’t that amazing. That’s our message tonight. God bless
you.

I had a certain way I wanted to say it, but I can’t remember it now. I like that part in the message
where it goes don’t quit on your family. Don’t quit on your marriage. Don’t quit on your church.
There’s a fear we have and we run away. We run away when there’s a challenge. When your
church has trouble, when your church has trouble, it’s not time to run away. It’s time to go deep
and quiet and be deep and quiet and be there and stand there and be there and stand because
you believe in God. The church needs good people that walk with God. If you have a good
person but they disappear, then we lose something and it’s possible to have troubles, be split,
and churches to disappear because people are afraid. You can’t be afraid.

As your days are, so your strength will be. Watch. I’m practicing golf. I’m practicing golf. My
days are. I’m just doing this. How is my game going to be. I’m going to have a better game. As
my days are. What does it mean? It’s like taking in the truth in my spirit. Having a prayer life.
Another subject is prayer. I know you guys are awesome and I want to finish this. But prayer. I
kind of feel we drift away from it and we get afraid of it even. We are guilty about it. We get
afraid of it. We worry about it. Something that condemns us, our prayerlessness and all of this.
Don’t worry about it. We don’t need any of that. Just calm down and get real quiet before God.
God will help you and he’ll speak to you and lead you. That life of meditation is a practice. It’s a
practice. You cannot be running around day and night, day and night, day and night and end up
being strong. You’re going to be worried and troubled and you might be taken out. That can’t
happen. You have to have a quiet life before God. That was our message tonight, so thank you.