Best of 2020: God's Answer to Fear, Worry, & Anxiety: Let God Take Over

Hey, everybody.

Greg Laurie here. 2020 has been a banner year for us at Harvest Ministries. Listen to this. We have seen 140,000 people make a profession of faith to follow Jesus Christ.

It's incredible. We have shipped over 25,000 new believers' Bibles to those who have said, I want to follow Jesus Christ. And guess what? I want to do more in 2021, but I can't do it alone. I need you to support me with prayer and with your finances. And together, we can reach more people than ever.

Think about that, and thanks for your response. If you don't want to live in fear, anxiety, and worry, put your concerns in the hands of God. Don't be afraid to commit an unknown future to a known God. With all that's gone on this year, it's been easy to let anxiety take over our thoughts. Pastor Greg Laurie says, let God take over instead.

As someone wisely said, when your knees start knocking, kneel on them and turn your panic into prayer. This is the day when the lost are found. This is the day for a new beginning.

Amazing grace how sweet the sound. Again you hear all the angels are singing. This is the day, the day when life begins. Problems often bring worry and fear, and fear and worry make it difficult to solve problems, and that causes more fear and worry.

Many of us have been caught in a downward spiral like that, especially this year. But today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us learn how to end that whirlwind. As he launches our series of best of messages of 2020, we'll go to scripture for God's answer to fear, worry, and anxiety. Help us on the way for your challenges.

All right, I want you to turn to two passages with me, Matthew chapter six and Philippians chapter four. Well, I've spent a lot of time looking at birds. Because I have a bird feeder right in front of my kitchen and I'll sit there at my kitchen counter and have breakfast in the morning and I'll watch the birds come. And I also have a squirrel that's sort of an interloper and he comes in and steals seed from the birds. And by the way, it's a squirrel proof bird feeder, but somehow the squirrel, who is quite an acrobat I have to say, hangs on it, upside down, eating the seed, kind of shaking his tail at us. Just come on.

What do you got? You want some of this? It's a crazy thing. But watch the little birds. There's a lot we can learn from birds. And by the way, Jesus made that point 2,000 years ago. And I want to read to you what he said from Matthew chapter six verse 25. And by the way, I'm reading from the New Living Translation. Here's what Jesus says. I'm telling you, don't worry about everyday life. Whether you have enough food or drink or enough clothes to wear, isn't life more than food in your body, more than clothing? Then Jesus says, look at the birds.

They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more valuable to him than them? So why do you worry about these things?

Can all of your worries add a single moment of time to your life? Why do you worry about clothing? Jesus says, look at the flowers in the field. Look at how they grow. Yet I say to you that Solomon, in all of his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. And if God's going to care so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he'll certainly care for you.

Why do you have such little faith? So don't worry about these things, saying, what shall we eat? What shall we drink?

What shall we wear? These things dominate the thoughts of nonbelievers. But your heavenly Father knows all of your needs.

Now I love the statement Jesus says, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So he concludes, don't worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will bring its own worries.

Today's trouble is enough for today. I have 10 things I want to share with you that will help you to not worry. Point number one, very simple, the believer should not worry. Now Jesus is not saying we shouldn't be concerned about the needs of life. He is not saying we shouldn't be concerned about food on the table, clothes on our back, a roof over our heads. But what he is saying is, don't worry about these things. Listen to this. Worry and anxiety can actually cause deep depression.

Now I know the experts tell us this, but the Bible told us this a long time ago in Proverbs 12 25. It says, anxiety in the heart of man causes depression. So you don't want to be depressed.

A lot of times we're self-absorbed. And I'm going to ask you right now as we're facing this coronavirus together to not be selfish. I'm going to ask you to be selfless. And I'll tell you why that's important. It's important for your own benefit, because you're going to feel better. You know, studies have been done that have determined that when you help others, you feel better yourself. I actually have a 10 step program to cure you of depression. Step number one, do something for someone who has greater needs than you.

Step number two, repeat step number one nine more times. Get it? So there's someone around you that's in need. It's maybe a neighbor, maybe a family member, someone that could really use a helping hand. You know, they've actually called this the helper's hive. And they've determined when you're actually not thinking about yourself, but thinking about someone else, it will elevate your mood.

The helper's hive. So when someone asks you what you did last Sunday, you can say, I got high. Really?

Yes, helping people in the name of Jesus Christ. So focus on that. Worry is not a good thing. I think sometimes you think worry is some kind of a virtue, but let me say something that might surprise you. Worry can actually be a sin.

Why? Because worry is a failure to trust God. Why should we not worry?

Jesus illustrates. He says, birds don't worry. Why do you worry? Have you ever seen a stressed out bird? Have you ever seen a bird popping a valium? No. You ever seen a bird getting therapy, maybe from a squirrel?

I don't know who would give him therapy. But you know, no, of course you haven't. Birds just go out there and live their little bird lives. No bird has ever been promised eternal life.

No bird has a hope of heaven. But what do they do every morning? They wake us up with their singing. And they're happy. And that doesn't mean that birds don't take action to get food. I mentioned I have a bird feeder. They come and get the seed. Or the rest hang out at McDonald's and wait for a fry to get the ground.

But they do their due diligence, but they don't worry about it. There's an old poem, Kathy, I wonder if you remember it. Remember the one about the sparrow and the robin? Do you have it memorized? KATHY MACFARLANE Said the robin to the sparrow, friend, I'd really like to know. Why these anxious human beings rush about and worry so? Said the sparrow to the robin, friend, I think that it must be that they have no Heavenly Father such as cares for you and me.

Wow, that's pretty good. So that's true. So if God's going to take care of birds, He's going to take care of you. Then Jesus illustrates with flowers. Look at flowers, they don't worry. Why should you?

Solomon in all of his glory, in his royal robes and his golden crusted throne wasn't as beautiful as the simple wild flowers of Galilee. So the point that Jesus is making is God takes care of these things. He's going to take care of you. Here's another point. Worry does not make your life longer. It just makes it more miserable.

Listen to this. Worry can actually shorten your life. Medical experts have determined that worry can disease the nervous system, the digestive system. It's really a very bad thing. So we don't want to live that way.

And here's what Jesus is saying in verse 27. Can all of your worries add a single moment to your life? Listen, you're going to live as long as God wants you to live. Nobody changes that. A virus doesn't change that.

A threat against your life doesn't change that. And as I mentioned last time, the Christian is indestructible until God is done with them. And I think in many ways this coronavirus is a national test. In fact, in many ways it's a global test. And for many it's a nightmare, but it should not be for a Christian.

In fact, it should be a challenge to us. Psalm 27 verse 5 says, in the day of trouble, he'll keep me safe in his dwelling. He'll hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock.

You can shelter in place in the Lord, not just in your home or your apartment or wherever you happen to live. And while you're there, redeem the time. The Bible says redeem the time because the days are evil. The word redeem means make sacred and wise use of every opportunity. And one of the things you can do when you're at home is read the Bible.

That brings me to another point. We grow in the faith that we're often lacking, causing us to worry, when we don't read the Bible. But if you want to grow in your faith and have more faith instead of worry, read your Bible and believe what it says.

Because Romans 10, 17 says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Most of you have a Bible in your home. In fact, most of you have more than one copy. 93% of American households have a Bible. In fact, the average American household has four Bibles. I'll be honest, I have even more than four. I have lots of Bibles.

Maybe some of you do as well. And the Center for Bible Engagement did an interesting study. And they came up with this conclusion. If you are not reading your Bible four or more times a week, you will make no significant choices or changes any different than someone who does not read the Bible. So obviously it's very important to read your Bible not once, not twice, not even three times, four times a week.

Better to read it every day. However, the study goes on to show if you read your Bible more than four times a week, your propensity for pornography goes down 61%. Your propensity for substance abuse goes down 57%. Your propensity for gambling goes down 74%. Even your obesity will go down 20%. So if you want to lose weight, read your Bible, right? But the study goes on to show this. Listen to this.

This is cool. If you read your Bible at least four days a week, you will have a 228% greater chance of sharing your faith. If you read your Bible at least four days a week, you will have a 231% chance of discipling others.

And here is a good one. You will have a 407% chance of memorizing Scripture. So if I am reading my Bible four times a week or more, I will have a 400% chance of wanting to memorize verses. Just four scriptural touches can change your life. So let the word of God bolster your faith. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. So many listeners have commented on the help they receive from these daily messages.

God's word ministers to them, and it often gets them through some dark hours. I'm very sorry for the loss of your son, Pastor Greg. I can relate to loss and grief.

I love the Lord, but I struggle with the type of survivor's guilt. My older sister and I are only 11 months apart. We are very close. I spoke with her just hours before her cardiac arrest and she was excitedly waiting for her son's 21st birthday. Her youngest son found her on his bed and he screamed for help. Emergency responders were able to get a pulse and she was rushed to the hospital where drastic measures took place.

Because my sister signed a Do Not Resuscitate order, she was very clear about not wanting to be kept alive with feeding tubes and things. We had to let her go. It's been five years and as I tell you this, you can hear me weeping inside.

I feel like it just happened. Like you've said, you never really get over it, you just get through it. I know the Lord will get me through this obstacle that robs me of fully experiencing peace with God's decision to bring her home. I also know more trials are just around the corner, so I need to learn how to completely trust in the Lord and take myself out of the equation so Satan can't place those kind of strongholds on me. I pray for you that you will continue to preach the importance of having complete faith and peace with God's decision, whether you like his decisions or not. May God continue to bless you and your family, Pastor Greg. Thank you so much for all that you do. We're so moved when we hear from listeners like this knowing that this broadcast is helping. Would you like to share your story with Pastor Greg? Call 1-866-871-1144. Once again, 866-871-1144. Well today, Pastor Greg is offering ten things that will help us avoid fear, anxiety, and worry.

Here's the next on the list. Betrayed your worry for worship. Look at what Jesus says in Matthew 6-33. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Put God first in your life. Put God first in your priorities. Put God first in your marriage. Put God first in your singleness. Put God first in your career. Put God first in your finances. Honor the Lord.

Let him have his way in your life. Jesus taught us to pray in the Lord's Prayer to say, Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. As one preacher said, who's named Alan Redpath, we cannot pray thy kingdom come until we first pray, my kingdom go. And God's plans for you are better than your plans for yourself. Don't be afraid to commit an unknown future to a known God. Put God's kingdom first and turn your panic into prayer. I told you to turn to Philippians 4.

Let's flip over there now. Read a very familiar verse. Philippians 4 6. Paul says, Don't worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

Now this promise. And the peace of God that passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. If you don't want to live in fear, anxiety, and worry, put your concerns in the hands of God.

As someone wisely said, when your knees start knocking, kneel on them. Now our natural inclination is when we face adversity to reach out to people for help and people have their place. But ultimately we must turn to God.

And here's another really important key given to us in Philippians 4 verse 6. In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Don't wait for the answer to the prayer to give thanks.

Give thanks now. I give thanks to the Lord for He is good and His mercy endures forever. I don't give thanks to the Lord because I feel good.

Because maybe you don't feel good right now. I don't give thanks to the Lord because things are good in quotes. I give thanks to the Lord because He is good and His mercy endures forever.

Here's my final thought for you. Replace thoughts of anxiety, worry, and panic with godly thoughts. Philippians 4 8 says this, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just and pure and lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue or anything praiseworthy in these things then meditate on them. Meditate. You know some people say well I meditate to find peace. The Bible talks about meditation but it is different than eastern meditation. In eastern meditation you empty your mind. In biblical meditation you fill your mind with the word of God. And Psalm 1 says blessed is a man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly or stands in the way of sinners or sits in the seat of the scornful. His delight is in God's word. Listen.

In it he meditates day and night. So you think about it. You ponder it and you fill your mind with God's word. Why? Because as a man thinks, Proverbs 23 7 says so is he. You need to train your mind to think biblically.

Why? So a thought reap an act. So an act reap a habit. So a habit reap a character.

So a character reap a destiny. It starts with your mind. Think godly thoughts. So the next time you fly into a panic or you are worrying about something remind yourself of what the word of God says. Quote scripture to yourself. Remind yourself of what is true. Whatsoever things are true and lovely and virtuous and have good rapport think on these things. So fill your mind with God's word.

And I will tell you a good place to do that is at harvest.org. You can come here. We will have inspiring messages for you. Praise and worship for you.

Movies for you to watch and have great Christian themes. But the most important thing is open up the word of God and read it for yourself. And that is how we can spend our time. And so you replace your worry with worship. And as I have said before turn your panic into prayer and turn your fear into faith.

Listen all these things I am sharing with you these truths are for believers only. I don't know some of you might remember this a long time ago. There used to be those jackets we wore called members only. For members only. Remember those? I had one. I don't even know what I was a member of.

But I had a for members only jacket. Listen what I am telling you this is for believers only. You say what do you mean by that? I mean what I am sharing with you is only for people who have put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. I will be honest with you if you are not a Christian right now you are probably freaking out.

Maybe you ought to be. Because what hope do you have? Do you think technology is going to save you? Do you think Hollywood is going to save you with the new blockbuster film?

You can't even go to the theaters right now. Do you think government is going to save you? They are doing what they can. But they can't save you. Only Jesus can save you of your sins. And there is someone watching me right now that does not have this hope I have talked about. I read you the words of the Apostle Paul.

He said don't worry about anything. Pray about everything. And the peace of God that passes all human understanding will guard your heart and mind. I have peace right now. I know things are chaotic. I know that there is uncertainty in the air.

I know these are scary times. But I have peace in the middle of a storm. And that peace comes from my relationship with God.

And I ask you do you have that peace? You are not going to find it in a bottle. You are not going to find it in a drug.

You are not going to find it in helpful little sayings you read on Instagram or Pinterest. You need God's word. You need truth man. And most of all you need Jesus.

And guess what? Jesus is here for you right now. And He is ready to come into your life. Because being a Christian is not just being religious. Being a Christian is having a relationship with God.

Where Jesus comes and lives inside of you. And some of you don't know Him now. You are stressed out. You are agitated. You are afraid. Here is what Jesus says. Come to Me.

All of you that are weary and stressed out. He says come to Me and I will give you rest. Come to Him. You say well don't I need to clean my life up first?

No. You don't clean your life up and come to Christ. You come to Christ, He will clean your life up. Listen I am telling you on the authority of the Bible, which is God's word, that you can be forgiven of all of your sin. You can replace your fear with faith. And you can have hope in a hopeless time. What kind of hope is it? It is the hope of heaven. Because no matter what the Christian knows will go to heaven. You say well no one can know that.

No actually you can't. Because Jesus said for God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son and whosoever believes in Him should not perish but they will have everlasting life. Listen. I know I am going to heaven when I die. You say how do you know that? I have put my faith in Jesus. And the Bible says for as many as received Him He gave them the power to become sons and daughters of God.

And the Bible says these things we write to you that believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. If you don't know that you have eternal life, if you are not sure that your sin is forgiven, if you don't have the confidence that you go to heaven when you die, or if your life is filled with turmoil and fear it can change right now by you asking Jesus to come into your life. He is just a prayer away.

You say how do I do that? You just pray. In fact it would be my honor to lead you in a prayer. A simple prayer.

So simple a child can pray it. Pray these words. Lord Jesus I know that I am a sinner but I know that you are the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. Jesus come into my life. I call out to you. In Jesus name I pray.

Amen. An important prayer from Pastor Greg Laurie with those who are making a change in their relationship with God today here on A New Beginning. And if you've just prayed with Pastor Greg and asked Jesus to be your Savior, we'd like to follow up with you by sending a free resource.

It's our New Believers Growth Packet. We'll send it to help you begin to live this new life. Just ask for it when you write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300. We're here to take your call around the clock seven days a week.

So again call 1-800-821-3300. Or just go online to harvest.org and click the two words, Know God. You know Pastor Greg, there was a lot of talk about voting this year. Our listeners may not realize it, but they vote to keep this study coming their way. They vote by partnering with us. Their support is what helps these programs keep coming their way. And we just want to say the polls are open.

That's right, they are open. And that is a way that we know that we're impacting you. When you write us, when you contact us, when you communicate with us and say, I'm listening, I'm being impacted by what you're offering, and also when you support us financially. Because that enables us to reach even more people.

I know so many of you listen every single day or every other day and it's a part of your life. And you share these broadcasts or our podcasts with other people and we're thankful for that. And we want to continue to be able to come into your home, into your vehicle, wherever it is you're listening to us. And we want to come into other people's lives as well because people need to hear the Word of God.

Don't you think? So I'm going to ask you as we come to the end of 2020 to prayerfully consider making a financial contribution to Harvest Ministries. When you do this, you share in the spiritual fruit of what we're doing. The apostle Paul wrote to the believers and he said, it's not that I want a gift, but I want fruit to abound to your account. So when you give toward this ministry, that's what's going to happen for you too. And we have seen thousands of people come to Christ. Well over 100,000 people have made a profession of faith to follow Christ through our online ministry, through our outreach, through our film, our Rush of Hope, and of course through our radio and television and so forth.

And we're praying that next year will even be greater. So listen, with that gift that you send our way, whatever it can be, I want to say thanks by sending you a copy of a brand new resource that we have never offered before. It is the DVD version of A Rush of Hope. You saw it online and many of you said, oh, I want my own copy. Now you can have one and you can watch it as many times as you want to watch it and you can show it to as many people as you want to show it to and you can do it wherever you want to do it. And you'll have your own copy along with some special resources. We've developed a booklet that's called Answering Life's Most Important Questions that you could give out to a non-believer that you know. Also a piece that we wrote that will show you how to host a watch party.

So we'll send you a copy of this DVD for your gift of any size. And I want to just say in advance, thank you for believing in what we do. And let's pray that next year is our greatest year ever.

Dr. Tom Bilella Amen. And in that regard, your gift couldn't come at a more strategic time. Your gift in the waning moments of 2020 is so very important. So I hope you'll contact us today for your copy of A Rush of Hope along with all the extras. Dr. Darrell Bock Not only are we offering this on a DVD, but there's also a special digital download code we will provide for you. What that means is you'll have the DVD to show to whoever you want to show it to, but you can download it to your phone.

You can download it to your tablet device or to your computer and then watch it or show it whenever you want. Carry it around with you even and you can have an evangelistic crusade in your pocket. Dr. Tom Bilella Yeah, that's right. So contact us today with your generous year-end donation at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or call us at 1-800-821-3300, 1-800-821-3300. And we can take your call 24-7. Or just go online to Harvest.org.

Hey, everybody. Greg Laurie here, personally inviting you to join us for what we call Harvest at Home. It's a Bible study. It's a worship service. It's church in your home. Maybe you're not able to get out to your church right now. If so, join us for Harvest at Home. People are listening in from around the world.

Listen to this. We have seen thousands of people make a commitment to follow Christ. So join us this weekend for Harvest at Home at Harvest.org. Next time, as Pastor Greg continues our series of most popular messages of the year, he brings a powerful step-by-step study on how to follow the Lord's plans for a more successful and rewarding prayer life. Join us next time here on A New Beginning with Pastor Greg Laurie. The preceding message from Greg Laurie was made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for Pastor Greg's free daily email devotions at Harvest.org.