 Amen. Alright, keep your place in Matthew chapter six. We're going to get back to Matthew chapter six later in the sermon. So we're talking about emotions and in this sermon series. We're talking about you know different emotions that we will experience in our lives and how do we handle those emotions. This morning I want to talk to you about an emotion that many people suffer from men and women in the United States today and that emotion is anxiety. I want to talk about anxiety this morning. So what is anxiety? The definition of anxiety is actually the body's response to worry and fear. So it's basically what your body does to you when you know you worry or you are scared or you're fearful of things. There's a lot of real-life problems that anxiety can cause people. Some real-life facts for you about anxiety. Anxiety disorders are huge today. First of all, anxiety disorders differ from normal feelings of nervousness or anxiousness because they involve excessive fear and typically cause reactions out of proportion to the circumstances. Meaning that people, this is a scientific quote that I'm reading you here, not something that I made up, is basically they cause, it's basically something you're fearful of something and then you get anxiety and it causes you to overreact to things. Basically is what they're saying here. Anxiety disorders can interfere with job performance, schoolwork and relationships. So basically there's all sorts of disorders or diseases or whatever they call them and I'm not saying I advocate naming all those different things, but this is what psychology will tell you today. Another quote here, anxiety can produce both physical and emotional symptoms. This is obviously true. People with generalized anxiety disorder experience restlessness, irritability, difficulty concentrating, chronic fatigue, nausea, dizziness, worsening, worry or fear over extended periods of time. Once again, people just overreacting and they get even more worrisome and more fearful as anxiety steps in. So look, anxiety is something that has actual physical health effects and you can see that with people. It's not just a feeling. And some shocking statistics, nearly 50% of Americans are diagnosed with depression are also diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. So it's closely tied with this depression pandemic that's going on today in the United States. It's been going on for years. So it leads into depression, basically. We're going to talk about depression later. This sermon is not about depression. But look, anxiety can cause you actual sickness is what I'm trying to get you to understand. It can, I don't want to get too far into it, but it can cause you, you know, actual illness that can attack you and you can get sick. It can cause heart problems, which is huge in the United States. So we see that, you know, even from a secular standpoint, anxiety is something that is serious today. So can you experience anxiety as a Christian is the question? And the answer to that is obviously yes. Okay. But should you? You know, plenty of people in the Bible were afraid. You know, David was afraid. Turn to Psalm chapter 23 and I'll just read for you Psalm 56.3. The Bible says, What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. So David here says in Psalm 56, he says, When I'm afraid, I'll trust in the Lord. So that's how he, you know, alleviates his anxiety. When he gets afraid of something, he just trusts in the Lord. Look at Psalm 23.4. The Bible says, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why? For thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Turn to 1 Samuel chapter 4. So he's saying, you know, David seems like he had, you know, a pretty decent handle, at least, you know, mentally on anxiety and how to control it by just trusting in the Lord. All right. Now the Philistine army even got fearful in the Bible. The Philistine army, the Philistines were known for war. They were known for having the most, you know, powerful, the strongest army in, you know, the entire, you know, holy land, the promised land. And they even got afraid in the Bible. In 1 Samuel 4, look at verse number 6. And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What meaneth the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of the Lord was come into the camp. And the Philistines were afraid. And they said, God has come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us, for there hath not been such a thing here to fore. Woe unto us, who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues and the wilderness. Be strong and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Quit yourselves like men and fight. That, of course, they're captain, telling them to quit being afraid. So, look, it's not hard to find examples in the Bible of people being fearful. Christians and non-Christians. So, how can we solve this? Since Christians in the Bible, you know, we see that believers can even be fearful. You know, what does the Bible say? Does it have an answer for us that is better than a pill? Because today, you know, if you go to a doctor and you say, Hey, I just am experiencing a lot of anxiety. I'm experiencing a lot of, you know, of these, you know, fearful feelings that are causing me to overreact to things and be an anxious person in my life. Then it's causing me health problems. You know, they'll just give you a pill. They will not explore any of the root causes of your anxiety. Nothing. They will just give you something to take that will just calm you down, right? So, look, let's start at the beginning. The body's response to worry and fear. That's what anxiety is, right? So, the root cause is worry. It's fear. So, what's the main fear that we see that people have today that we're dealing with today? It's the actual fear of physically dying, right? That's what everybody is worried about today. Turn to Matthew chapter 10. I mean, that's what we've been dealing with for almost a year now is just people worried about physically dying in their life. Turn to Matthew chapter 10 and look at verse number 28. So, how should we handle this? How should we handle the thought, the fear of physically dying in our life? Now, I mean, this, you say, this might, maybe this answer is more easier said than done, but this is what the Bible says. Okay? Look at Matthew 10, 28. The Bible says, and fear not them which kill the body, but are able to kill the soul, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body and hell. So, look, I mean, ultimately the answer is this. Your salvation should comfort you. Your salvation should, you know, the only thing that we should fear is God. Because God is the one that can destroy your soul in hell. But if you're saved, you don't even have to worry about that anymore. But we are to fear the Lord, right? So, you're to fear no man bodily. You're to fear no man physically. No physical harm should scare you. If it does, it's a faith issue. It's a faith issue. So, look, I mean, I don't want to be killed. You know, we're all soul winning yesterday and there's like some kind of gang thing. I mean, I thought it was a little bit funny. Maybe I shouldn't have thought it was funny, but there was like these cars chasing each other and like some kind of weird stuff was going on this block, right? And I told my wife at the end of the block, I'm like, yeah, we should probably move out of this block as fast as possible. She's like, why? What's going on? There's like cars doing cookies in the streets and people chasing each other angrily and all this kind of stuff. But look, I mean, I don't want to die, right? I don't want to like be physically killed. I mean, it's not something I'm trying to do, right? I'm not trying to go out and get killed. But, you know, we do have a biblical right to self-defense, by the way. Okay, I'll just read you a few verses. Turn to Exodus chapter 22. No, turn to Luke 22. I'll just read you Luke 11 21. The Bible says, That's it. All right. I mean, that's that's the bottom line. The Bible teaches very clearly. Look at Luke 26 36. The Bible teaches very clearly the right to self-defense, which is why we have that right. Well, for the most part, well, maybe not so much anymore, actually. But look at Luke 22 36. The Bible says again, it says, Then he said unto them, But now he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his script, and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one. Why? Because he's got, you know, you got to be able to defend yourself. You got to be able to defend, you know, the property that you have, your purse, your money, whatever. So, but look, on the bottom line is the point of the sermon is you have the complete biblical right to defend yourself and your family against being killed, against being attacked. But the bottom line is should that fight go bad, you know, we shouldn't worry about it. We shouldn't worry about it. I mean, it's actually turned to Proverbs Chapter 21 or just look at the front of your bulletin. It's actually a sin to be fearful for your life. The Bible says Proverbs 21 31. The horse is prepared against the day of battle, but safety is of the Lord. I mean, I love both parts of that verse where it says, you know, look, safety is of the Lord. How many times have we said that verse? Safety is of the Lord, safety is of the Lord. I think about that in situations like yesterday. Safety is of the Lord. And I mean, I believe it. I believe it. But I mean, should I get killed soul winning? I mean, you know, that's a pretty good way to get killed, I'd say. You know, I mean, that's a pretty good way to go out. I mean, I don't want to go out tomorrow. But I mean, the point is, safety is of the Lord, but look, the horse is prepared for battle too. So, you know, you should have a sword. You should be able to defend yourself. You shouldn't just be some weakling, you know, that has no way to possibly defend himself or his family. I mean, the horse is supposed to be prepared for the day of battle, the Bible says. But in the end, safety is of the Lord. So you ultimately don't have to worry about it. You don't have to be anxious about physically dying. Turn to Romans chapter 8. Look at verse 15. Romans chapter 8 and with verse number 15, the Bible says, Free have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption. Whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Turn to Revelation 21-8. Very familiar verse for any of you that go soul winning. The Bible says in Revelation 21-8, but the fearful, it's the first one. But the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers. When I go out soul winning, I'm like, look at this horrible list. Abominable and murderers and sorcerers and whoremongers. I mean, there's some pretty bad things in this list, but the very first one listed is the fearful. So if you're just this fearful person, you know, I mean, the Bible says that's an actual sin. It's a lack of faith. You're not trusting in the Lord to be a Christian, to be saved and to be fearful. It's a lack of faith. Look at Proverbs 9 and verse number 10. What should we fear? I mean, it's really simple as a Christian on what we should fear. And the Bible says in Proverbs 9-10, it says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And the knowledge of the Holy is understanding. Psalms 33-8, I'll just read it for you. The Bible says, Let all the earth fear the Lord. If only all the earth feared the Lord. I mean, if only all the earth feared the Lord, then we just, I wouldn't even have to continue with the sermon. But if only all the earth feared the Lord, let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. Now look, so we see that, you know, really, here's the thing. You don't have to be fearful. I mean, have you noticed the trend? I love trends. There is a definite trend on how godless someone is and how worried about coronavirus they are. If you haven't recognized that trend, you're not paying attention. So look, as a saved believer, I'm not saying be stupid and not, you know, take anything seriously or whatever. But look, as a saved believer, you can definitely tell that people who have faith in God are less afraid today than everybody else. And look, if you have no idea where you're going or you think you just die and go in the dirt or whatever, then you might be afraid of dying too. Like I said, nobody wants to, I mean, I don't want to physically die, but I mean, I'm not afraid to. I mean, that's the bottom line. You can definitely tell that there's a difference in how fearful people are and how, you know, overreaching people want to be and how forceful they want to be on just making sure that nobody ever gets sick no matter what. And it's the godless that are doing that because they're afraid. They're fearful of everything. And I mean, for good reason when you think about it, I mean, they don't know where they're going, they're just going to go on the ground. Who knows what they really believe and not what they're just saying in a Starbucks philosophy conversation, you know? I mean, who knows what they really believe? But look, we could ultimately, the bottom line is you, all you have to do is fear the Lord. End of sermon. Let's go have coffee. But no, we're not going to end here. So look, fear of dying is an easy one. We should only fear the Lord is the easy overall answer here. Okay, but just a little bit of application this morning. I want to look at what Americans are anxious over. What are Americans worried about? So I went and actually looked up the top two things that Americans, people that we see every day, you're Americans, right? What are we worried about in this country? What causes the most anxiety for Americans? Obviously, fear of dying is one of them. We got that one out of the way. You don't have to worry about dying if you're saved. If you're not saved, see us after the service and we will get you saved. And then you don't have to worry about dying. Okay, so that one solved. But the two main things is what I want to talk about this morning. The two main things that Americans have anxiety over. And the first one is pretty obvious. The first one is money. The first one is money. Here's a quote from BusinessWire. I've been doing this for a long time because you'll hear this stat for decades and decades. I think this stat has been the same. But the number one leading cause of divorce other than infidelity is money. Is money problems. From BusinessWire, here's a quote. The number one issue couples fight about is also a topic many couples avoid discussing. Money. According to a new survey, money fights are the second leading cause of divorce behind infidelity. So it's basically someone's been unfaithful. That's item number one. But arguments over money or, you know, anxiety over money actually ends marriages. A lot of them. Turn to Matthew chapter six. This is where we just read. Matthew chapter six. So Jesus here pretty much gives us in Matthew chapter six. Jesus here pretty much gives us, you know, the philosophy that we should take towards money. Look at Matthew six verse number 24. So he's talking about things that you shouldn't worry about, but he's kind of talking about this in the context of loving money too. So he's talking about these things in the context of people who are just, you know, they just love money and they can't get enough of it. So in Matthew 26, 24 the Bible says, No man can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. So he's like, look, you can't love me and money. So you can't just, you know, be obsessed with money in your life. So look, there's a balance here and there's a philosophy to this that you have to understand. And I'm going to try to get that across to you this morning. Therefore I say to you, take no thought for your life or what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor yet for your body what you shall put on is not the life more than meat and the body more than raiment. Behold the fowls of the air for they so not neither do they reap nor gather into barns yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much more than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? Verse 28. And why take ye thought for your raiment? So he's talking about first, he's like, what you're going to eat? People are being stressed out about not having enough to eat. And he's like, look, God feeds the birds. I mean, he loves you obviously way more than the birds. Why would he not make sure that you are provided for as far as having something to eat? Verse 28, he starts talking about clothing. I mean, these are the two main things that you need. I mean, you're saying clothing, really? I mean, you don't need that much clothing to live in California. But look, come in from where I came from. If you don't have clothes, you're going to die. So I mean, clothing is very important, right? Look at verse number 28. And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field. How they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? So he's saying, look, God's going to provide food and clothing for you. He said, for after these things do the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly Father knoweth what that you have need of these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. So verse 33 is kind of important, right? So basically God is saying in Matthew chapter 6, he's saying, look, he's like, you don't have to worry. He's like, don't love money because I will make sure that you have enough to eat and I will make sure that you have clothes to wear. That's what he says. He's like, I took care of the lilies of the field as far as what they look like. He's like, I took care of the birds as far as what they eat. He's like, I love you way more than that. He's like, don't worry about it. But then verse 33 says, seek ye first the kingdom of God. So this is saying, but look, you just can't just sit back and just lay down and go to sleep every day and think that everything's going to be fine. It says, seek the kingdom of God. So you say, okay, you're telling me that I'm not supposed to worry about money. You're telling me that just don't worry about it. But life is tough without any money. I mean, I can remember times when we were struggling financially and first of all, those are good times because I always relate back to those times. But what is the answer? Can I just lay around and not worry about money? No, I need to seek first the kingdom of God. Turn to 1 Timothy 5a. 1 Timothy 5a. The Bible says, but if any person died not for his own, especially of those of his own house, he had denied the faith and is worse than an infidel. So there are things that we should be doing. There are things that we are supposed to be doing. You know, you're supposed to be going out and you're supposed to be working in 2 Thessalonians 3.10. The Bible says again, he says, I'll just read it for you. For even when we were with you, this we commanded you that if any would not work, neither should he eat. So the Bible says, look, God's going to provide for you. God's going to provide your food. He's going to provide your clothing. But you better be doing what he told you to do. You better be out there working or, you know, all bets are off, basically. You better be doing what you're supposed to be doing. You better be seeking that kingdom of God. You better be following what the Bible says. You know, but the bottom line is you say, well, you know, I am working. I am doing what I'm supposed to do, but there's just no money. There's just not enough money. Well, look, first of all, let me point out that in Matthew chapter 6, there's not a Mercedes in there. Okay, it doesn't say, you know, hey, you know, I guarantee you a Mercedes. That's not what it says. It says, you know what, you'll have enough food and you will have clothing as long as, you know, you do these things that I tell you in the Bible. That's what he tells you. So look, if you feel that you're struggling, you know, the bottom line is maybe you just need to do more. Maybe you need to do more. You know, here's the thing, and I did a little exercise on this, but here's the thing and I've been dealing with this for years and you guys and families with small children are going to deal with this for years as you raise your family. But here's the bottom line. Raising a family on a single income is not easy today. It's not easy. It's not easy, especially when everything is priced and basically the economy is priced at two people working at this point. I mean, house prices, car prices, all these things, they are priced for two people to be able to work and have an income and afford these things. So that means, you know, look, I went to the Chevy website and I figured, hey, I'm going to, I've never had a new car ever and I'm sure I never will because I would never want to do this. I mean, who would ever want to waste this much money on anything no matter how much money you have. But I went and I built my own brand new pickup on the Chevy website. And you can spend, I got to the final price and I was picking all the options. Every good option, the 3500 duly with the diesel motor and I was just, I was shopping, right? $82,000. You can spend $82,000 on a vehicle and my dad told me years ago, he's like vehicle prices double every 12 to 15 years and I'm like, no way, don't believe you. $82,000, he was right. That means in 15 years, a new pickup's going to cost you $165,000. I mean, look, it is not easy but you'll still be able to buy a $4,000 vehicle, by the way. Right, so who's smart? All right, but that's another series for another time. Okay, all right, now, here's the bottom line. It is difficult, it is not easy in the country today because of the fact that things are just priced to be affordable because look, people are buying that $82,000 pickup. If nobody could afford that $82,000 pickup, it wouldn't be $82,000, it would be $40,000. Okay, but people are buying it because they can afford it because they're both working. So it's harder for you if you're going to have your wife stay home and raise your children and you're going to homeschool your kids, it's going to be difficult. So here's the thing, do what you're supposed to do and if you don't have enough, do it harder. That's the bottom line. Look, the 40-hour work week, I know some of you guys are just getting into your careers and you're just getting started and you're working 40 hours a week and that's your first full-time job and that's awesome, but look, that's just the beginning for you I haven't worked 40 hours a week in 20 years and look, it's just, if I worked 40 hours a week and that was it, I'd be bored out of my skull at this point. I don't know what I'd do with all the extra time. That's where you're going to have to get. That's where you're going to have to be because that's what it takes. You're just going to have to do it harder and it's possible. So look, after you do that, after you do it harder and you're working hard just don't worry about it. Don't have anxiety about it. God's going to take care of it. If you're doing what you're supposed to be doing as hard as you're supposed to be doing it, you don't have to worry about it at all. That's the answer for money. That's the bottom line. You're not to be worried about it. You're not to be obsessed about it. You're not to start to love it. Maybe when you get a little bit extra and you just start to just become obsessed with it, that's going the other way. That's the other side of the spectrum. So just work hard. If it's not good enough, work harder. God's going to take care of you. Don't worry about it. Leave the rest up to faith. That's the bottom line with money. Here's the second thing that Americans are most stressed about. I was a little bit surprised about this one. Maybe not that surprised. I'm going to try not to rabbit trail this one too much because there's a lot of different trails we could go down here. But here's the thing. The second thing that Americans are stressed and have anxiety over besides money is politics and leadership in Washington. That's the second thing. So you say, I mean, why? Why are people so stressed? I guess I see it. I see it with a lot of people, mostly secular people. I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why it can go too far. So let me just rabbit trail it for just a few minutes and tell you why people are so stressed about it. Here's my view on this whole thing, on politics and where the country is going and we talk about this here and we fellowship about this all the time. Look, I love this country. I appreciate the fact that I grew up in this country. But look, what's happening to it upsets me. And you know, usually I'm pretty good about it. Brother Jim really got me worked up yesterday. But normally, I'm pretty good about it and I don't have much anxiety about it and I'm going to tell you why. But look, the reason that it upsets me so much is because I know what it was supposed to be. I know where it started and what it was supposed to be. I know what it was designed to be. It's like a machine, right? It was a nicely designed machine and it was supposed to be used for this very specialty purpose of doing this job over here and then somebody is just wrecking the machine. And it was an awesome machine. I mean, it was really cool and it got that job done really well and it was really, you know, well thought out and then you got, you know, stupid people took the machine and they just ruined it and they put a bunch of parts in there that weren't supposed to be in there. It doesn't even run right anymore without doing a completely different job that the machine is not even good at. I mean, I don't know where that analogy came from but that's really what it is. It's I know what it was supposed to be and what it was supposed to do and so it upsets me when I see it ruined. I mean, so, I mean, look, that's normal. I mean, the worst thing about it is the men that founded this country, whatever you think about them, they warned us about this very thing. I mean, hundreds of years ago they warned us about they warned us about the immorality about that specific thing. They warned us, you know, the biggest concern that they had government control. They warned us about all of these things. As a matter of fact, you know, if you remember, you know, from school or whatever, you know, in 1776 when the Revolutionary War was over we didn't have the Constitution at that point. We had this thing called Confederation. It was a much less it favored the states more than the current Constitution does. So it was a much less overreaching document than even the Constitution that we don't follow today. But look, so there was this big argument that we needed a more powerful centralizing document to unite the states. So this argument went on for almost ten years. And it was this big debate in the country over the Articles of Confederation that eventually translated into the Constitution being ratified in 1789, you know, more than ten years after the war was over. Okay, but look, in these papers, there was something called the Federalist Papers where James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton they made an argument towards the Constitution and against the Articles Confederation. So they were trying to get people to adopt the Constitution because people were very skeptical of giving the federal government any control. All these states are like, no, no, no, so that's where these three men wrote these Federalist Papers. Now if you've ever read the Federalist Papers, first of all you should, but the bottom line is, in those Federalist Papers you see some of the arguments about some of the best arguments about what our country is supposed to be and how it was designed to operate. Now look, I would guess most school students today could not even comprehend the Federalist Papers. Okay, because public education has put our country in such a point where we literally do not have the aptitude to understand our own problems. I mean, the reading level that you have to have has to be higher than third grade. Fourth grade and fifth grade. So if you can't comprehend your own problems, what are the odds that you'll be able to fix them? I'm trying to get you frustrated this morning. I'm trying to show you where this anxiety over the state of our country is coming from. So look, as it went from, to finish the story, as it went from the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution in 1789, the number one concern was an overreaching government. Was it too much power would be in the hands of a centralized Federal government? You say, ah, nobody could have seen that coming. Let me read you some things here. Article 1, Section 8, Clause 1 of the current Constitution says this. The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises to pay the debts and to provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States. Okay, now, people were freaking out over that statement. That was one of the biggest problems that people had with the Constitution, those two words, general welfare. But the government can just provide for the general welfare of the people. But then James Madison and these three men, they explained that general welfare in that statement, it just meant that all the states were to be treated fairly. It did not mean that the Federal Government was to have any more control than the Constitution allows it to have. Okay, so look, it's exactly what happened today is what everybody was worried about. Right, it was simply to state that Congress had to treat each state fairly and not favor one state over the other. That's what that statement meant. And according to James Madison, the father of the Constitution, the powers delegated to the central government, quote, are few and defined and those that remain are in the states. Those rights that are in the states' hands are numerous and indefinite. Federalist number 45. So he's convincing people that, hey, that's not what it means. James Madison in 1792 listened very carefully to this statement. Listened very carefully. He says, he made the following statement, if Congress can employ money indefinitely, he's again explaining away the concerns over this statement. He's like, if Congress can employ money indefinitely to the general welfare and are the soul and supreme judges to the general welfare, they may take the care of religion into their own hands. They may appoint teachers in every state, county and parish, and pay them out of the public treasury. He's saying, there could be such a thing as a public school teacher. He's like, that's the kind of a horrible thing that could happen if this statement is mistrued. Is what he's saying. They may take into their, he continues, they may take into their hands the education children establishing in like manner schools throughout the union. He's warning people. He's saying, hey, that's not what it means because if it did mean this, this is what could happen. The government could create schools. He says. They, he continues, they may assume provision for the poor. They may undertake the regulation of all roads. In short, everything from the highest object of state legislation down to the most minute object of police would be thrown under the power of Congress. For every object I have mentioned would admit the application of money and might be called if Congress please provisions for the general welfare of the people. Is this guy a prophet? No, they weren't prophets but they understood what the Constitution was and was not. That's why, look, basically they were saying, hey, anything they could be called good for the people, Congress could spend money on and regulate because listen, folks, if the government gives it to you, they can control what you do with it. They can dead sure tell you what to do with it. Like, I don't know, you go to public school, you got to get these shots. I don't know, like public school, here's what we're actually going to teach you. Listen, public school is the state church. That's exactly what it is. Public school is the state religion of the United States. Why? Because they're teaching a worldview. They're not teaching math and history and, you know, how to read. Like, the kids can't even read. They don't want you to know how to read. It's like the Catholic church. Why would we want you to learn how to read? Because then you're going to realize that what we're teaching you is all wrong if you actually read a book. I mean, because all these things can be defined with the actual words of the men who didn't want this to happen, who warned us about this. So, look, as soon as the government can pay for your general welfare folks through health care education, they can control your life. They're like, hey, man, we're paying the bill, you do what we say. I saw this coming years ago with the government health care thing. Good luck. They're going to tell you exactly what to do. They're going to tell you what's healthy. It's like you can get your guns, too. That's my opinion. They're like, you know what? We found that it's not healthy to have guns in the home. So, thus, everyone's on government health care. So, thus, if you do have guns in the home, you know, have fun providing your own health care. And there'll be no private insurance anymore because they've driven them out of the market. But anyway, that's another rabbit trail in itself. Alright. So, look, you should be educated about these things. You should be educated. Let me bring it back around to the point of the sermon. You should be educated about what the machine was supposed to be. Get off YouTube and read some books about where we came from. Get off the Internet about the Illuminati and all the stupid garbage on the Internet and just read some writings from the actual men that founded the country and what it was supposed to be. Look, we are the ones that ruined it. Not them. I'm not saying they were all saved or they were all Christians. That's not what I'm saying at all. What I'm saying is, we took it and broke it. Not them. I mean, they tried to warn us. So, what's the point? What's the point? Should we be... I mean, I'm stressed out right now. Should we be stressed and have anxiety about it? The bottom line is, look, I mean, I'll give you another example. I went to Costco a couple days ago with Garrett and there's some like Booth out there. It's like Recall Governor Newsom. And I'm like, okay, you know, so I stopped and, you know, we signed the thing or whatever Garrett had signed months ago. I'm like, what? When did you sign this thing? But anyway, so anyway, we signed the thing about Recall Governor Newsom and all this and I gave them some church invites and all this kind of stuff. But look, it's the same thing. It's the same thing. You go to gun shows. I've been going to gun shows my whole life. Look, you're going to find some good, you know, like-minded sort of people there that, you know, are kind of fighting for freedoms and things like that. You know, the political rally this summer, you know, my wife and I stopped down there, you know, for, you know, against businesses being forcefully shut down and all this, just to show a body to the news kind of thing. So show support, yes, good people there, yes, but these are mostly misguided people, misdirected people. All right. You know, let's go back to third grade again and talk about cause and effect. Here's why they're misguided. Because everyone is fighting the effects. You see what I'm saying? There's a cause and effect, right? I mean, John got fired because he didn't go to work, right? So the effect is that he got fired, the cause was he didn't go to work, right? So look, everyone's fighting the effects, gun control, government overreach, wicked governors, turn to Proverbs chapter 28. These are all effects. These are all the effects of what's going on. Look at Proverbs 28 2. Proverbs 28 2. This is just great. This describes us so well here. Proverbs 28 2. I'm going to wait for everybody to get there. Because this describes our country to a T right here. Proverbs 28 2. For the transgression of a land, many are the princes thereof. You know what that means? That means when the land has many transgressions you're just going to have an overreaching government. It's like there's going to be many princes. There's going to be police everywhere, government control everywhere. Look, the land is a mess. That's just going to happen, right? I mean John Adams said we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. They simply didn't give us a government that was able to control the people that we have today. So what's the cause? The cause is the people. The cause is the morality of the people is gone. So as, I mean the Bible is the same thing. You know the Bible shows the same thing in the Old Testament again and again and again. When the people forget the Lord when the people go against the statutes of the Lord they go into bondage. When the people love the Lord and they're following the law of the Lord they become free. I mean it's so look at Hosea chapter 4 or turn to Isaiah 5. I'll read you Hosea 4. Hosea 4 6 says my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge because that was rejected my knowledge. I will also reject thee. That thou shalt be no priest to me seeing that thou has forgotten the law of thy God. I will also forget thy children. It's like you forget me, I'm going to forget you. Have a nice day. Good luck running a country like that. I'm going to need many princes to run that country. Many princes. So complaining about you know and making that your cause you're misunderstanding the problem. See so I'm trying to make your anxiety go away by understanding the problem first of all. The problem is the people they've forgotten the Lord. Look at Isaiah 5.13. Therefore, I mean here it is right here therefore my people are gone into captivity because they have no knowledge and their honorable men are famished and their multitude dried up with thirst. They forgot the Lord. They forgot the Lord and they went into captivity. So look don't miss the theme folks. It's the exact thing happening to us today with obedience to the Lord comes a free nation. That's the bottom line. Without it comes bondage and I don't care who defunds who or what happens with the riots and all this kind of stuff. As we forget the Lord we will go into bondage. It's going to happen because that's what the Bible says. We will have many princes. This is the effect and the cause is that we forgot the statutes of the Lord. That's the bottom line. So that's the problem. We understand it. We understand it. So what you say I'm still stressed. I still have anxiety. Well now I'm going to give you some action. I'm going to give you action what you should do. So you don't have to have anxiety. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 6. I'm going to give you two steps to have zero anxiety about the disaster that I just told you about. And it's a disaster. It's a travesty. I mean we had this beautiful thing. We ruined it. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 6. Here's the first step. Here's the first thing that you need to do. You're like there's no hope. No, there is hope for you. There's always plan B in the Bible. Always. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 6. Verse number 17. The Bible says, Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you. Here's the bottom line. Here's step one. Get out of it. Get out of it. Detach from it. Oh, they control me because they give me out. Take nothing from them. Take nothing from them. Get out. That's why. Get out of the public church system. Get out of it. There's no chance for success if you're in it because the government can control your life. They can control your kids. Look. Here's the thing. Here's some hope. It's not illegal to separate in this country. I mean, we here, and here's the thing. You can still homeschool. You can still give your kids a godly education. That's not illegal. Even in California, the laws here are very open to homeschooling. I'm thankful for that. The laws in North Dakota were worse and more overreaching than they are here. Does that surprise you? You have the right and the laws they do not touch you. Detach from it. Separate. Now look. Here's the thing. It's hard to separate alone. Look. We've done it. It's hard to do that. It's hard to separate alone. It's not hard to separate with a group like this. I mean, do you feel separate today? Do you feel separated today? Do you feel isolated today? No. I mean, you look forward to coming here because you get to see all your brothers and sisters, and we get to fellowship together. And I mean, it's great. Look. It's not hard when you're part of a good church. It's not hard to separate. You know, you here have more friends and better friends and more like-minded friends than, like, 99% of the rest of the people in this city, country, whatever. Guaranteed. Guaranteed. But hey, you know, I mean, we're like-minded. We see the problem. We understand the problem. Separate. Separate. That's the first thing. And look, you can pay attention to what's going on and not get anxiety over it. It's possible. You can pay attention. But just remember, we're not a political action committee here. So what is our action? But we are an action committee. We're just not a political action committee. But we are an action committee. Step two is this. Get involved. Now that we understand the problem, change the people. What's change the people? Because that's where the problem lies. You see, okay, you know, we recall Governor Newsom. Yeah, that would be cool if we could get that done. But guess what? The problem is still there. The wicked people that put him in office are still there. They're just going to put another wicked person in office. I mean, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she died. Thank God. No, I've been waiting my whole life to be weighed overturned. But the problem is the people. The problem is the people. I mean, Republican Governors have put in conservative justices for 30 years. And then they vote for abortion. I mean, so, look, like I said, Newsom getting thrown out of office would be great, you know? I mean, if the conservatives in this country can get that done, whatever. But that's not a political action committee, right? So, look, wicked leaders understood, but we are to focus on the spirituality problem with the people. That's the bottom line. Look at Proverbs chapter 4. Proverbs chapter 4. Proverbs chapter 4, look at verse number 7. The Bible says, Wisdom is the principal thing. Therefore, get wisdom. This is wisdom right here. And with all thy getting, get understanding. We talked about that raising your kids. You know, if you get, you know, you teach your kids to be obedient and you teach them the Bible, pretty soon they're going to get that understanding of the Bible. So, people need wisdom. Turn to 2 Peter chapter 3. So, they need the gospel first. That's what people need first, right? They need the gospel. And then, after they get the gospel, they need the same thing that you need. In 2 Peter chapter 3, look at verse 18. The Bible says, But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. After people get saved, after we go out and we get somebody saved, they need to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord. They need to come to church. They need to learn the Bible. I mean, that's what will make them change their life and make a difference in this country. So, I mean, that's our action. You know, it's that spiritual battle. I mean, sitting around, you know, watching Fox whipped up with all this anxiety, it will do nothing but damage you. It will change nothing in the country. And like I said, it can actually harm you physically. I mean, it can actually harm you physically. Get separated, get involved and make an actual difference. I mean, you can do it. Look, I mean, here's some math. You know, if we started with a group of 100 people and each one of those 100 people got one person saved every single year. Just think about that. Think about Soul Winner, how many people you end up getting saved every year. Just think if you started with 100 people and you got one person saved every year and then those people came and they got one person saved every year. Within like 30 years, you'd have over a billion people saved. I mean, that's how that works. A billion. There's only 7 billion people on the planet. I mean, that's how that works. That's how it should work. I mean, good churches could literally save the nation. That's what could happen. So, it's just like money. It's just like money. Yep, understand the problem. Understand the problem. That's good to understand the problem. But your action is to go to the people and bring the gospel to the people. That is our action. Our action is not to just be this big political thing or whatever. So, it's just basically do your part and then you don't have to worry about it. You're doing your part. You're being a watchman even if people don't listen. We talked Wednesday. You're being a watchman. You're being a warning. You're blowing the trumpet. It's when you don't blow the trumpet. It's when you have blood on your hands. That's what the Bible says. So, look. Fear the Lord. Fear the Lord. That's what we're supposed to be afraid of. Fear the Lord. But draw lines on the things that you worry about in this country. Our action, just remember is with the people. So, look, don't worry about your physical life, but defend your physical life if you have to and that of your family. I mean, this is what we talk. Money, take no thought about it but make sure you're doing what you need to be doing and if you're not doing it hard enough, do it harder. That's the bottom line with money. Politics, understand the problem, separate and then help us work to fix the people. That's the whole thing. And then you don't have to have anxiety about anything. I mean, you can pay attention but you don't have to have anxiety about anything if you think about it that way. Alright? Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.