Finding Peace: Overcoming Stress Through Faith and Trust

### Bible Reading
1. **Philippians 4:4-7 (NIV)**: "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
2. **John 16:33 (NIV)**: "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
3. **Psalm 34:19 (NIV)**: "The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all."

### Observation Questions
1. What are some common sources of stress mentioned in the sermon? ([38:22])
2. How did the Apostle Paul demonstrate joy and peace despite his circumstances? ([47:13])
3. According to Philippians 4:6, what should be our response to anxiety and stress?
4. What does Jesus promise in John 16:33 about the troubles we face in this world?

### Interpretation Questions
1. How does Paul's instruction to "not be anxious about anything" challenge our typical responses to stress? ([49:29])
2. What does it mean for the peace of God to "transcend all understanding," and how can this peace guard our hearts and minds? ([48:59])
3. In what ways can unresolved sin contribute to stress, and how does forgiveness play a role in relieving this stress? ([41:53])
4. How does trusting God, as described in the sermon, compare to the trust we place in everyday objects like a chair? ([01:10:57])

### Application Questions
1. Reflect on a recent stressful situation. How did you handle it, and how might you apply the principle of "not worrying about tomorrow" in a similar future situation? ([49:29])
2. Think about your current prayer life. How can you make prayer your first response rather than your last resort? ([54:59])
3. Identify one negative influence in your life (e.g., media, relationships). What steps can you take to guard your mind against this influence? ([58:37])
4. Consider a time when you felt discontent. How can you practice contentment in your current circumstances, focusing on what God has provided? ([01:05:51])
5. Trusting God can be challenging. What specific experiences or practices can help you build a deeper trust in God? ([01:10:57])
6. How can you live more in the moment and avoid borrowing trouble from the future? Share a practical step you can take this week to focus on today. ([51:18])
7. Reflect on the concept of forgiveness as the ultimate stress relief. Is there someone you need to forgive or seek forgiveness from? How can you take a step towards that this week? ([01:15:08])

Day 1: Contentment in Every Circumstance
Contentment is not about having everything but finding satisfaction in what God has provided. Apostle Paul, even in prison, demonstrated that peace doesn't come from external circumstances but from a state of mind anchored in God's promises. This perspective shifts our focus from what we lack to the blessings we possess, reducing stress and increasing gratitude. In a world that constantly pushes us towards wanting more, understanding and embracing contentment can profoundly impact our mental and spiritual health. By recognizing and being grateful for what we have, we can maintain a peaceful and joyful heart even in challenging times. [01:05:51](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9H7LSWowOI&t=3936s)

1 Timothy 6:6-8 - "But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content."

Reflection: What are three things you are grateful for today, and how can they help you cultivate a heart of contentment?

Day 2: The Transformative Power of Prayer
Prayer should be our first response, not our last resort. By praying about everything, we acknowledge God's sovereignty over our lives and invite His peace to replace our anxieties. This act of surrender prevents stress from escalating and keeps our minds focused on God's presence and power in our lives. When we turn our worries into prayers, we open the door for God to work in our hearts and situations, bringing peace that surpasses all understanding. [55:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9H7LSWowOI&t=3330s)

James 5:13 - "Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise."

Reflection: What is one worry you can turn into a prayer today, and how can you remind yourself to make prayer your first response?

Day 3: Guarding Your Mind for Peace
Our thoughts shape our lives. By filtering what we consume and focusing on what is true, noble, right, and pure, we align our minds with God's truth. This discipline protects us from the negativity that can lead to stress and instead fosters a mindset that appreciates and celebrates the goodness of God. Being mindful of what we allow into our minds is crucial for maintaining spiritual health and peace. [58:37](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9H7LSWowOI&t=3502s)

Philippians 4:8 - "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

Reflection: What is one change you can make this week to guard your mind from negative influences?

Day 4: Building Trust Through Relationship
Trust in God is fundamental to overcoming stress. Like sitting in a chair without fear, trusting God should be a natural response, born from a history of His faithfulness. Building a history of trust with God through consistent relationship and experience allows us to rely on Him more naturally during stressful times. This trust is cultivated through daily interactions with God, learning about His character, and recalling His faithfulness in our lives. [01:10:57](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9H7LSWowOI&t=4242s)

Psalm 9:10 - "And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you."

Reflection: Reflect on a past situation where God has been faithful. How does remembering this help you trust Him with your current challenges?

Day 5: Embracing the Present Moment
Worrying about the future is a common source of stress. However, Jesus taught us to focus on today and trust Him for our daily needs. By living in the moment and not borrowing trouble from tomorrow, we can experience the fullness of life that God intends for us each day, free from the burdens of what might never happen. This approach helps us to live more fully in the present, appreciating and responding to God's gifts and challenges today. [49:29](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9H7LSWowOI&t=2954s)

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

Reflection: What is one step you can take today to focus more on the present and less on the future?

Good morning, Father's House. How's everybody doing this morning? So good to see you all here. My name's Pastor Chris. I'm the next-gen pastor here at the Father's House. And... And... I just appreciate you all being here this morning.

Today, I'm just going to kind of just jump right into it. I don't have a lot of time to waste today. So when I first started preparing for this message today, I ran across this list of some major, major causes of stress. And I was going to include them in your outline, but it became too stressful. So I'm just going to show you a few things instead.

And... And I can pretty much guarantee you that most of us are dealing with at least one and probably maybe even more things today. So here's one now. It's the death of a loved one. That's a major, major cause of stress.

Confrontations. I mean, some of us are involved in conflict right now, whether it be relational or work or home, something like that.

Marriage. Marriage is a huge source of stress for a lot of people.

Deadlines. Some of us are already thinking about tomorrow. You know, the paper that's due. The to-do list that's spilling over from last week into next week. So that can be very, very stressful.

Legal problems. I know a lot of us are involved with legal problems right now. I mean, I'm no stranger to those either. So those are very, very huge points of stress in our life.

Job loss. Listen, it's a big deal. We pray for cards every week that people are looking for jobs, you know. It's just an ongoing thing. So that's huge. That's huge when it comes to stress.

Divorce. I'm sure that more than half of us in this room today are affected somehow or another.

The next one is new job. Well, old job. Even current job, I guess. All jobs can be stressful at times.

And this one kind of took me by surprise. I really wasn't expecting it. And it was retirement. I would never have guessed that. I mean, you know, everybody's always talking about how they can't wait to retire. But I've come to find out that that's actually a major source of stress for a lot of people right now.

This next one's money problems. Man, we all go through that. Nobody's getting out of that. And some of us right now today are just having difficulty in our finances.

Has anybody stressed yet? Okay. Well, if you're not, let's keep going.

Illness. Illness is a huge source of stress. You know, when you're not feeling good. When you're down and out. Like with a sickness, a disease. It's stressful. It's stressful. It's terrible.

Parenting. Don't need to say anything else about that. I think we all get the point there. So we'll just move on.

This one's pretty stressful to me that I've seen in a lot of people also. And it's just the pace of life. Just the pace of life. We're too busy. And we're going to talk about that one a little later on today.

This next one's really huge. And it's the expectations. Expectations of other people. I mean, that's a big one. You know, what do they want me to act like? Be like? Dress like? Look like? I mean, perform like? It's just, I'm not sure I can do this. So it just becomes really stressful.

And this next one. This one's really been a problem for most of the country over the last couple of decades. And for you here in Florida, I know it really affects you. And it's a major source of stress. And that's Alabama football. I know that hurts a lot of people's feelings when I bring that up. But it's okay. Y'all are getting better. You're going to be okay.

But back on a more serious note. This one that I'm convinced that this next one is probably the biggest source of stress. And that's unresolved sin. Because you all know if you ever tried to hide your sin. Or if you tried to live that divided life. You know you really want to be godly. But you're kind of still struggling with something in this area. You're kind of living life, you know, in both lanes. Two lanes, two ways. It's hard. It's really hard. It's really stressful.

One person said this: that if you're straddling a fence, it's not a comfortable position to be in. And I thought somebody would laugh about that one. But that's okay. We'll move on from that one. I'll try something else in a minute. We'll get going.

Well, I've got some good news for you today, guys. If you are struggling with that. You are struggling with intense stress. And it's piled on you. I've got good news for you. But I'm not going to give it to you. I'll give you the bad news first.

And the bad news is I can't make any of this stop. None of this list that you see today. Can't make any of it stop. In fact, the bad news is this is what you call life. This is life. And God never obligated himself to make this list not happen. Okay? And a lot of people don't know that. They don't understand that. A lot of people think that God obligates himself for every day to be great and happy. But he never did that.

What God actually obligates himself to do is something that's very, very cool. And you need to know about it. And it's that in the middle of your list. In the middle of everything. He can help you rise above it. He can help you rise above it. In the middle of it. When everything is going sideways. And you know everything on the outside is just incredibly difficult. Something on the inside can be taking place.

You may not be able to stop your circumstances. But he can give you this word. That's found all throughout scripture. And that word is peace. He is Jehovah Shalom. He has this unique ability. Just in the middle of the mess. To cause you to have this enormous, enormous amount of peace in your life. On the inside. It's internal. It's non-circumstantial. It's kind of, it's the kind of peace like I said. It's just all in the inside.

But the big question for today is how do we get it? Well, let's talk about that. But first I want to show you this verse. It's John 16:33. And in this, Jesus says, "I've told you these things." I've told you these things. And by the way, let me encourage you guys to go back and read 14, 15, and 16. Because it's actually a discussion. The discussion around the table at the Last Supper. Okay?

So he goes back. He says, "I've told you these things." So when he says that, he's basically saying, look guys, I've already told you. Things are fixing to get really bad. I mean, it's fixing to be incredibly bad. Even though the circumstances are, they're fixing to get crazy. I already told you that you may have peace in me. And in this world, you got, you have trouble coming.

But little did they know that the trouble that's coming for them was incredible. Man, it was enormous. Just for every one of their lives. And you can read about the rest of their life another time. But I just go ahead and tell you, their life, honestly. The disciples, their life didn't turn out very well, circumstantially. I mean, they were always in some kind of trouble. Right? But they lived through it all with this enormous amount of just peace and joy throughout their whole entire life.

And then he said, "Take heart." And here's the beauty. We can't get things to stop. But we can rise above it. Okay? Because why? Because he has overcome the world. Amen?

This is one of my favorite verses. And everyone should memorize this. It's one that helps keep me grounded personally. And it's in Psalms chapter 34. "Many are the afflictions of the righteous. But the Lord delivers him out of them all." You get that? Many are the afflictions. On the outside. But you can get delivered from it all.

The list is still going to happen. But you can rise above it. And if you study the word affliction, it's really pretty cool. The closest word to that in the Hebrew is a word that comes from an Assyrian form of torture. And what they do is they tie you to a pole. And they just start piling rocks on you. Stacking rocks. Stacking rocks. Stacking rocks. Until you look like this huge teepee. And then they just keep going. And they just keep on piling the rocks until the weight of everything around you crushes you.

Man, isn't that a picture of what life can feel like sometimes? You know? The job. The kids. The sickness. The money. Oh God. Now that death in the family has happened. And you just feel all this pressure. And all of a sudden it's like if one more thing comes your way, you're going to be crushed.

"Many are the afflictions of the righteous. But the Lord delivers him out of them all." And I want to show you how. Because, listen guys. It's not just an empty promise. It's not just a promise. It's a promise by God. He delivers on him. He follows through when you take the steps to deal with stress.

And these aren't just my thoughts. I didn't just come up with some thoughts and try to back them up with scripture today. The paper that you have in your hand is an actual outline that's straight out of the Bible. Out of one particular chapter. Chapter 4 of Philippians. And this book was actually a letter that was written by the Apostle Paul while he was in prison.

So listen. He'd already been beaten. He's bleeding, hurting. All his plans have been dashed. And they're getting ready to kill him. Just for following Jesus. He's just waiting to die. But while he's waiting to die this horrible death, he writes this little book where he mentions joy over and over and over. Joy, joy, joy, joy, joy, joy, joy.

In fact, he starts chapter 4 this way. He says, "Rejoice in the Lord. And again, I say rejoice." Now this is the question here. How does he do that? How does he do this when he's in prison? Awaiting execution. What causes a man to do that?

Well, here's what he did. And he gives us the five things that he did. And I want you to... I just want to submit to you today that they're going to not just work for Paul in his day, but they work for all of us today. We just have to implement these things in our life. Every time you face something. You just got to follow the recipe.

Okay. Five things. Five things. Here are two promises that you get if you put them into practice. Or one promise that's mentioned actually twice in that chapter. And it's that the peace of God which transcends understanding. The peace of God that transcends understanding.

Basically what he's saying is, in other words, we just can't figure it out. We don't know how it works. We don't know why it works. It's completely illogical. The peace of God that transcends understanding will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus.

So here's step number one to this recipe. And it's very simple. Any of us can do it. And it's simply: Worry about nothing. How simple is that? I mean come on. Really?

Listen guys. Honestly though. We really have to get past the point that we worry about every little thing. And actually in chapter 6, it starts off. He says, "Do not be anxious." And the word anxious in the Greek is actually synonymous with the word worry. It's the anxious heart that says, "I wonder if this is going to happen."

Listen guys. Worrying is borrowing from the future. Something that's probably never going to happen. Never going to happen. It's being concerned about something that's happened that you can't undo. Or worrying about something that might happen that you're not even sure will.

Honestly, honestly it's robbing us. We're being robbed every day by stress and by worry. The word worry originally comes from the same word that means to choke or to strangle. How interesting is that? And this morning, probably a lot of us in here would feel like we're being choked or we're being strangled.

The Greek word actually means a divided mind. A divided mind. You know you probably shouldn't, but you still find yourself doing it anyway. That's a divided mind.

So what do we do about this? Because sometimes Paul, not worrying and not being anxious, is a lot easier said than done. Right? Well, Jesus even gives us a clue. And it's in Matthew chapter 6. He said this: "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?"

In other words, Jesus is just saying part of your problem is you're always thinking outside of the moment. You're going ahead to something that's likely not even going to be an issue in your life. You're borrowing from the future when you should be living in the now.

And he ends the discussion. If you jump ahead to 34, he says, "Therefore, do not worry." And here's the secret. Here's the secret. Don't worry about tomorrow. That's what Jesus is saying. That's the secret. Don't worry about tomorrow.

Basically what he's saying is just back it up. Come on back to right here, right now. And don't worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will worry about itself. It will worry about itself.

I heard someone say one time that today is the tomorrow that you worried about yesterday. And here you are. God brought you through it. You made it. You're okay. So don't worry. Don't pick that up. Don't worry about tomorrow.

So what would it be like? Think about it. What would it be like if you just stayed in the moment? Because each day has enough right here, right now. It's got enough trouble of its own. Right? So just stay right here, right now.

Just listen guys. Just live right here. Just one day at a time. Enjoy this moment. Enjoy this right here, right now. Don't think about after service. Don't think about tomorrow. Man, you can grab tomorrow in the morning when it gets here, you know.

And notice, even when Jesus says, get this, this is an important part of prayer that a lot of people just skip over and don't think about it. But when Jesus tells us to pray, what does he say? "Give us this day our daily bread."

Listen, he never said, "Supply all my needs every day moving forward. I need this. This." No. He said, "Give us our daily bread." This day. It's important. And we have to recognize that.

True story. There was this man that he got this cancer diagnosis. I won't mention his name. But the doctor said, "It's very slow growing. They're going to treat it. You got plenty of time." You know, so much. But when he got that news, he checked out. He just completely checked out of life.

And he never even felt the effects of cancer for three years. But he never left his house again when he got the news. Because he kept thinking and dwelling. He just, it stayed in his mind. He never left his house again.

His golfing buddy, he was a big golfer. And they would go by and be like, "Hey man, come on. Let’s go play." And he'd be like, "Oh man, I can't. I got cancer."

"Well, do you feel bad?" "Well, I mean, no, not yet."

Listen, this man let the thought of tomorrow ruin five years of his life that he could have been enjoying that whole time.

Hey everybody, we got to live one day at a time. Right? Amen.

The second step is pray about everything. In the middle of any situation. And this is a discipline, everybody. Discipline.

Actually, if you've sat under Pastor Terry for any amount of time, he's always tried to drill and get us to do. And it's to teach us to pray in the moment. Right then and right there. Pray. Grab them by the hand. When somebody comes with a need, grab them right then. "Hey, we're going to pray right now. Right now. Right now."

Listen, my staff next door, we don't ever tell a child, "Hey, I'm going to put you on a prayer list and everything's going to be okay, little buddy." That's not what we do. When they come to us with a need, we lift them up right then, right there in the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. We pray with and for them.

It's a discipline. It's a discipline. We have to learn to pray in the moment. Listen guys, if you're not careful, you'll let your last resort be prayer. Prayer will become your last resort instead of your first response. It happens so easily.

Look, let's look at Philippians 4:6. It says, "In everything." In everything. Well, we pray before meals. Well, that's great. Okay. What about before you make that phone call? What about before you send that email? Yeah. What about before you make that purchase?

Do you pray when you're leaving home? When you're coming home? Do... What? You guys, we just got to put the prayer in the moment back in our life.

And it goes on to say, "By prayer and petition." That's basically just getting into the habit of, "Hey, we're going to seek God. We're going to know God. And we're going to include God by prayer and petition in everything with thanksgiving."

It's just an attitude of, "God, thank you. So thankful for you. So thankful for everything that you're doing for me." And my... I'm just grateful. Just understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

So I want you to try that today. Let's try doing that. Let's try the discipline of just saying, "I'm not going to borrow from tomorrow. I'm going to live right here, right now. I'm going to enjoy this service. I'm going to enjoy that meal, my family. I'm going to enjoy the afternoon, Jesus. I'm going to enjoy the day. I'm going to enjoy the day. And I'm going to worry about Monday when Monday comes."

Because, look, there really isn't anything we can do about it. Right? There's nothing we can do about it. So let's just pray anytime something comes up. That's the net. This is just pray.

Let's just pray. 1 Peter chapter five, the Bible says this: "Cast all your anxiety on him because..." Say the next two words with me. "He cares." Because he cares for you.

Think about this. Why do you know why we should pray about everything? Who's paying attention? He cares. That's right. That's why we should pray about everything.

Listen, write it down. He cares. There's no problem too big for God's power. There's no problem too small for his concern. There's no problem that's too big for his ability. He can do all things. And there's no problem that's too small that he doesn't care. No, he cares.

Whatever you're facing today, whatever you're going through, man, these are the steps. Follow these steps to deal with stress. We all have it. So let's follow this recipe and let's just see how this week turns out.

All right, so the next step, step number three. Paul said this: think about the right things. I'd like to submit to you today that you will find relief from the first two things. But this third step is actually going to help you maintain it.

All right? Because if ever made a great decision, you prayed about it, and it was God, and man, you walk away and a few minutes later you get inside your own head and it just... that peace leaves. That peace leaves immediately.

Why? Why do we lose our peace so easy? It's because of what we allow in our minds, right? Look what he said in verse eight. "Finally, my brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, this is your new filter."

Think about it. What would it be like if you didn't just make great decisions, cast all your cares on the Lord, you decided to live in the moment? Man, when you said, "I'm not more. I'm not on top of the world. Nothing can stop us. Man, we're gonna go out and kick the devil in the face."

Go home, turn on the news, any channel you want to turn on, and immediately five minutes you're into it. "My God, the world's gonna end tomorrow." You lose it. You lose it that quick because of what you allow in your mind.

Listen, I made a conscious decision, good Lord, had to have been four or more years ago. I quit watching the news. I watch it. I actually rely on Pastor Anita to tell me what I need to know. I really do. She'll hear her talk about something that's going on about me. And does that... listen, don't ask me about nothing. Ask her because if I don't know it, I don't know it.

Listen, just think about how much more amazing your life will be. I know it's impacted my life greatly. Man, I'm rolling into work now. Good God, it's a beautiful day. The world's in a great place. You know? Because I don't know any different. I'm not in that expectation.

You know, so now I know, guys, I know that now we all go through the stressful times. But I'm convinced of it one hundred percent that a lot of it is from what we listen to and what we see. Some major, what we let in that way.

Look, think about all the pollution that comes out of movies and the music that we listen to. Man, if you're listening to country music, I'm praying for you. You gotta be depressed. Think about it. Good Lord, my dog's left me, truck broke down while I was out running, jogging. She was out running around. I mean, good Lord, gloom, despair, and agony on me.

For those of you that watch Hee Haw, listen, that's funny. But you know, sometimes if you're doing that, do you not get the feeling? My Lord, just throw your hands up. I mean, gotta give it all up.

The whatever you're thinking about, that's what you're becoming. That's what you're becoming. So what do you gotta do? Put a filter on that. Philippians filter from chapter 4 that we're going over. You've got to put it around your TV. You've got to put it around your internet. You've got to put it around the news.

And maybe most important, you've got to put it around negative people. And be careful what you let enter your ears. Why? Why do we need to do that? Because our life is shaped by our thoughts.

Hey guys, I'm just trying to help you out here, okay? I can't make the stress go away because in this world, we're going to have trouble. That's just what you call life. But what are you going to do about it? What are you going to start doing in the middle of that trouble?

I'll tell you what you're going to do. You're going to start living today, right? We're going to start living today.

Hey guys, the sun is shining in Leesburg, Florida. Daggum that old light that comes on at Krispy Kreme. It's on right now, man. It's a beautiful day, you know? That's what we're going to do. That's right. I'm going to live today. I'm going to pray about everything because, guys, you can either carry it or you can bring it. That's your two choices.

The world wants to unload, unload, unload all these things. Well, I'm going to start offloading. We need to start offloading, man. Just get it off. Just get off of it, man. Let it go. You know why? You know why we can give things to God? Because He cares.

And when you do that offloading, man, you've got to maintain it by guarding your mind, okay? Y'all getting anything out of this today? Is it making sense? I'm telling you guys, just try it. Just try it. Put it into practice and see what happens. Man, you're going to have a great week if you do that.

All right, so let's move on. Here's the fourth step. Paul wasn't done quite yet. He says, now I need to be content with my things. Good Lord, especially in America. I mean, you get all these steps down, you start working it, got that recipe together, things are going great, and then here comes the world.

Well, you don't have this. And you don't have that. And you start, you just, you put on these expectations. You put on these expectations. And before you know it, you're competing with the Joneses. Matter of fact, the Joneses were locked in the third row right here in this session.

So you're competing with... By the way, listen, listen to this. Listen, this is important. Listen, Philippians chapter four, verse 11 says, "I'm not saying this because I'm in need. I've learned to be content." I've learned to be content, whatever the circumstances.

Listen, see if this makes sense to you, okay? Some of the stress in our life is actually coming from unrealized expectations. So what would it be like if you lowered your expectations?

I saw people cringe when I said that. I didn't say lower your standards. I said lower your expectations. What would it be like? We put an expectation on everything. So now we're all disappointed.

"Well, I deserve better than that." What if you didn't think you did? Really, what if you didn't think you did deserve that? I know a lot of people that say, and I'm like, "No, you don't." You know, not in reality, you know?

But God's good to us. He still gives us stuff anyway, you know? But in reality, we really don't deserve a lot of stuff. We just feel like we do for some reason.

In fact, I heard this one time that anger actually comes from unrealized expectations. So now I'm angry, you know? So what? What if you just lowered those expectations a little bit?

Listen, if you have the expectation of everything turning out great all the time, you're going to constantly be disappointed all the time. But if you don't have that expectation, well, my God, it's a beautiful day outside. You know, what a great day. Everything is a blessing. Praise the Lord, the sun shines.

I mean, everything. Simple things become blessings in your life. But if you thought it was supposed to shine every day, if the sun's supposed to shine every day, well, my God, it's raining again. I mean, you just tense up, you get stressed, you know?

Always something happening when you have these high expectations of how everything is supposed to turn out and how everything is supposed to be.

Listen, be content with your circumstances. Look at what he says next. "I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty. I've learned the secret, the secret of being content." That's the secret. Being content.

Being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. And jot this one down if you're taking notes. I don't remember if I put it in there. It's Ecclesiastes chapter 4. It's better to have only a tiny little bit with peace of mind than to be busy all the time.

It's better to be just to have a little than it is to be busy all the time. Think about it. What would it be like if parents, if we were content with one sport, one sport a year instead of four? How much stress would that relieve on you and your family?

People, what would it be like if we were content with going out and doing something one night a week instead of seven? I'm just saying, sometimes you just gotta slow it down. We just gotta slow down.

And we cannot fall into the trap of more. Because if you fall into that, stress is coming back your way. It's a boomerang effect. I mean, you get rid of it, you fall into the trap of more, take your eyes off the ball, and it comes right back to you.

If it comes right back, stress hits you in the face. It comes right back on you. So just slow it down. Just slow it down.

Listen, 1 Timothy says this: "But godliness with great contentment is great gain." Godliness with contentment is great gain.

Here's a thought. What if you stop ask, ask, ask, ask, asking, "I need, I need, I need, I need," and simply just made this statement: "Christ is enough for me." Christ is enough for me.

Listen, guys, I'm just trying to help you out with your stress today. We all have it. We all go through it. So let's get ready.

Here's step number five. Step number five to your recipe is this. It's pretty simple too. It's just trust God. Two words: trust God.

You know, today, not many people trust anything anymore. We really don't. We all live in an age now where people question everything. Got people questioning God.

Look, guys, at some point, if you want God, people ask you, "Do you have anything for yourself?" There's no way for you to just let go of the stress in your life to be reduced. You're gonna have to come to a place of trust.

There's no way around it. You're gonna have to come to that place where you can begin to trust again. That was one of the most amazing things to me about Paul, man. He was, golly. He was incredible. He was an incredible guy.

He wasn't afraid to get his head cut off. He really wasn't. You know why? Because he trusted God. He trusted God for the outcome. He trusted God for the outcome of whatever happens to him. He didn't care.

In fact, if you go back and read the first chapter of Philippians, they were threatening to cut his head off then. You know what he said? "Hey, bro, that works for me. You know, if I die, I get to see him. If I live, I get to serve him. Get to chopping. Let's go."

He didn't care. He had no fear. What do you do with somebody that has that amount of trust in the Lord? What do you do with them? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. There's nothing you can do to them.

Man, in that verse, all he's saying is, "I'm content with the Lord, and I trust him." Two points he was stressing. "I'm content with the Lord, and I trust him."

Verse 13, he said, "I can do all things through him who gives me strength." And in verse 19, he says it this way, "And my God will supply all your needs." Are you hearing that? This guy's in prison writing this stuff. In prison. In prison. Awaiting a gruesome death.

And he goes on to say this: "According to his glorious riches." And really, guys, the key to this whole verse. The key to the whole verse is the last three words: "In Christ Jesus."

He's simply saying, "I have confidence in this relationship." And it got me to thinking, do you ever wonder and seriously think about what builds trust? Does that ever really cross your mind?

Well, it did me. And honestly, I think, myself, I personally feel like what helps us build trust is to have this enough experience with something to know that it's always going to be there. Every time. Every time.

Look, let me give you an example. Every one of y'all walked in here today, and you know what you did? You didn't give a second thought to that chair you sat in. You just plopped down. Because you knew. You sat in these chairs enough to know. It ain't going nowhere. You didn't move it. It's going to hold me up. I'm going to be fine.

You didn't give that chair a second thought. You didn't think anything about it. You didn't question it. You didn't check it. You didn't look underneath. You didn't do any of these things. You know why? Because you had enough trust based on previous experience with sitting in chairs. You had a confidence level.

And maybe, just maybe, that's what is missing with some of us today. That we're not close enough to God that we have that confidence level. Because, listen, the more you know Him, the more you'll trust Him. Amen, everybody?

The more you know Him, the more you'll trust Him. And I love this next verse. "Those who know your name will trust in you. For you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you." Never.

Listen, guys. This church is all about people. We're all about people. Real relationship with a real God that is just so close to Him. Just this so closeness, the intimate relationship. Where you get to the point that you just know. That you know, that you know, that you know, that you know that He is faithful for everything that you're ever going to face in life. You just know.

And I want to leave this thought with you. And I want you to write this down if it's not in your notes. Trust is born out of relationship. Real relationship. Trust is born out of real relationship.

And I'm not, no, church, this morning, I just, I'm urging you. I'm pleading with you. I'm begging you. Please, please, please, please. Get as close to God as you possibly can. Amen, everybody?

I hope you got something from that today. But I just want everybody just to be real still for a minute. Put everything down. Put it in the chair beside you. Just be quiet. And just be very, very quiet.

And no moving around. Every head bowed. Eyes are closed. I want to pray for you guys today. Listen, I know a lot of the stuff that y'all are facing this morning is difficult. And I know the stress levels can get to where they're just unbearable at times.

But I'm praying for you today that in the name of Jesus, that this church would not be anxious or worried about something that may never happen. But you'll be able to stay right here, right now. In this moment. And live this day. And just be able to take in all that God has for you.

Lord, I pray for every person. That they would just learn the discipline of praying about everything. In the moment. When that need comes. In the moment.

And God, help us to offload. When that world's trying to put stuff on us. God, help us to offload. Because you care for us. Because you care for us.

And Lord, give us wisdom. Give us the wisdom we need, Lord. To put that filter. To put that filter around our minds. So that we're not allowing pollution to come in anymore, Father.

And Lord, from now on, we're going to think about good thoughts, Lord. Because we understand now. And we know that our life is shaped by our thoughts.

God, forgive us. Forgive us, Lord. Forgive us, Father, for being discontent. Lord, I pray right now that we would know and believe that you're more than enough for us.

Church, whatever you're facing today. Just open your hands. Just open your hands and give it to God. You can trust him. He loves you. He cares for you. You can trust him more than that chair you're sitting in this morning.

And I pray right now, Father, that every person who's dealing with stress and emotional despair. God, you're setting them free this morning, Lord. And I just thank you, Father, for calming the storm in their minds. And bringing into them, Lord, the peace that transcends all understanding, Father.

And as we close this morning, Lord. As we close today, I want to pray with all the people in here this morning that may tell me, you know, Pastor Chris, I have a kind of relationship with God. But it's not the relationship that it should be. I'm not where I should be with him.

I mean, obviously, I'm in church. But even still, I want to be closer to him. And maybe you're here today and you're carrying the weight of what I truly believe is the greatest stress that there ever is, ever will be. And that's just the weight of your sin. The shame of secrets. Shame, secrets, sin. It's such a heavy burden.

And let me tell you this morning, church. There's no greater stress relief than to be forgiven. So if you're here today and you want to come into that real relationship with Jesus. With God, his Father, your Father.

Listen. God is here today and he's here to forgive you. He's here to cleanse you. He's here to make you brand new. And all your role is is to just surrender control of your life over to him.

So if you're here this morning or you're online and you say to me, Chris, I need to get right with God. I'm ready to surrender my life over to God. I'm ready to give my life. And maybe you're rededicating this morning. Maybe you're just trying to get life back on track so you're rededicating. Maybe it's the first time you're ever making this decision.

I want to pray for you. But I need you to be bold. I need you to be real bold first. And I just need you all over this room just to shoot your hand up. Just shoot your hand up and let God know, hey, that's me. I want to be close to you.

I see that hand. Thank you. All over the room. See that hand. Yes, I see that hand. Thank you. Thank you. See this hand up front. Thank you. Yes.

Anybody else? Right here. Yes, I see you. Thank you. Yes. See you in the back over there. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Anybody else? Shoot that hand up. Let God know. Let God know. Yes. See you back over there. More and more people. More and more people. Come on, Lord. Come on, Lord. Back in the back. Back here. See you again. Yes.

In the back over here. Yes. Amen. Amen. Very good. Very good.

Anybody else before I pray this? Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else? Anybody else? Last call, guys. Anybody? Oh, we got another one right here. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Amen. Amen.

So, if you've lifted your hand, why don't you say this prayer with me today? As a matter of fact, I want everybody, I want everybody to say it. Nobody should say it alone.

Say, "Jesus, forgive me. I've gone my own way. I've lived my own life and I realize today I can't do it without you. So, forgive me. Come be the Lord of my life. Change me. I surrender everything to you in your name I pray."

Amen. Everybody give a hand clap for everyone that made that decision today. How awesome is that?

So everyone just thank you. Thank you so much. Hands went up all over the room. Such a great day today. Thank you so much for doing that, being vulnerable.

Listen, while the ushers are coming forward, they're going to go ahead and start passing out the buckets. I'm just wondering if anybody in here would like to know a little bit of an update from the quarter auction.

Anybody want to hear some quarter auction news? Listen, there's three or four of you guys that left early and you didn't get your basket and you haven't paid in yet. So this is not the final number. We're still gaining momentum. We still have money coming in.

But as of right now, as of right now, we're sitting at just about $27,000. Amen. Isn't that great? Man, what a great time it was.

So listen, don't go anywhere. Hang out with us for just a minute. Listen, if you made that decision today, please, please, please go see... We got people at the first step tables on the left at your right. If you made that decision, go see them.

Listen, we don't want anything from you. We want to give you something, okay? We want to give you the next step. You take the first step, but we're fixing to give you the next step. Amen.

Listen, I hope you guys got something from that today. I love you all so much. Thank you for being here with us in the house. Go enjoy it. Enjoy the rest of your day. Enjoy next week.

Let's everybody stand and we're going to end out with a worship song today. Thank you guys.

1. "Whatever. Is. Lovely. Whatever. Is. Admirable. If. Anything. Is. Excellent. Or. Praiseworthy. This. Is. Your. New. Filter. Think. About. It." [58:37](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)



2. "From. Chapter. 4. that we're going over. You've got to put it around your TV. You've got to put it around your internet. You've got to put it around the news. And maybe most important, you've got to put it around negative people. And be careful what you let enter your ears." [01:01:43](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)



3. "I don't remember if I put it in there. It's Ecclesiastes chapter 4. It's better to have only a tiny little bit with peace of mind than to be busy all the time. It's better to be, just to have a little than it is to be busy all the time." [01:06:27](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)



4. "And before you know it, you're competing with the Joneses. Matter of fact, the Joneses were locked in the third row right here in this session. So you're competing with, by the way. Listen, listen to this. Listen, this is important. Listen, Philippians chapter four, verse 11 says, I'm not saying this because I'm in need." [01:04:02](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)



5. "Those who know your name will trust in you. For you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you. Never. Listen, guys. This church is all about people. We're all about people. Real relationship with a real God that is just so close to Him. Just this so closeness, the intimate relationship." [01:12:33](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)



6. "I got. I got cancer. Well. Do you feel bad? Well. I mean. No. Not yet. Listen. This man let. The thought. Of tomorrow. Ruin. Five. Years. Of his life. That he could have been enjoying. That whole time. Hey everybody. We got to live. One day at a time." [53:48](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)



7. "You're borrowing from the future. When you should be living in the now. And he ends the discussion. If you jump. Jump ahead to 34. He says. Therefore. Do not worry. And here's the secret. Here's the secret. Don't worry about tomorrow. That's what Jesus is saying." [51:18](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)



8. "And what they do is they tie you to a pole. And they just start piling rocks on you. Stacking rocks. Stacking rocks. Stacking rocks. Until you look like this huge teepee. And then they just keep going. And they just keep on piling the rocks until the weight of everything around you crushes you." [46:38](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)



9. "He trusted God for the outcome. of whatever happens to him. He didn't care. In fact, if you go back and read the first chapter of Philippians, they were threatening to cut his head off then. You know what he said? Hey, bro, that works for me. You know, if I die, I get to see him." [01:09:03](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)



10. "Good morning, Father's House. How's everybody doing this morning? So good to see you all here. My name's Pastor Chris. I'm the next-gen pastor here at the Father's House. And... And... I just appreciate you all being here this morning. Today, I'm just going to kind of just jump right into it." [38:22](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)