Be Happy, Don't Worry, Part 2

Every time you are prone to worry, that is a call from God that it's time to pray. Dr. Tony Evans says our proper response to life's concerns has the power to transform anxious thoughts into an abiding peace. He says, if you rejoice and if you pray, I will share with you my peace. I'll bring you calm in the midst of your case.

This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. Even in good times, there never seems to be a shortage of things to be anxious about. Well, in today's message, Dr. Evans points out that worry does nothing but eat us up from the inside. And God has a better plan for us when anxiety begins to take hold of our thoughts.

Let's listen in as he explains. Paul says in Philippians chapter 4, verse 6, be anxious for nothing. You cannot say, well, you don't know what I'm going through. You don't know how bad this is. You don't know how deep it is.

You don't know how long it's gone. Paul says be anxious for nothing. It is not a request.

It is a command. The book of Philippians is a book about joy. He says in chapter 1, for example, verse 4, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all. Verse 29, receive him then in the Lord with all joy.

But notice the context in which he is consumed with joy. That context is given to us in chapter 1, verse 12. Now, I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole Proterian God and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from Indian strife, but some are from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment.

He's not in a good situation. His circumstances are not in his favor, and yet he writes about joy. He says, be happy, don't worry.

I want to walk you through now, step by step, how to get over your worry. The first thing he says in verse 4 of chapter 4 is to rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say, in case you didn't hear me the first time, rejoice. There is worldly happiness and godly happiness. Godly happiness is called joy. From God's point of view, it's not tied to circumstances, which is why Paul, who's in a bad situation, can talk about his joy and can tell these folk to be joyful because his definition of joy has nothing to do with what's happening around you. The way to get joy, even if things are not joyful right now, is in the Word.

He says, rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice. So the way, watch this, you get joy is by rejoicing. If you're not rejoicing, then don't expect to have joy because joy is in the rejoicing. Rejoicing is celebrating God. Paul and Silas were in jail at midnight, and midnight is a dark time.

They're in jail and it's dark. They praise God in the midst of their problem. What the enemy wants you to do is so focus on how bad it was, how bad it is, and how bad it could be that it gets your full attention and you never get around to building a playground in your soul, a place of celebration, because you want joy while refusing to rejoice. But God says in the middle of your pain and imprisonment, in the middle of your discomfort, I want you to make a big celebration about me.

And that's something you must choose to do. It will not happen out of nowhere. So number one, if you want to get victory over worry because you've been commanded to worry about absolutely nothing, you must decide to rejoice in the Lord. Secondly, be anxious for nothing, verse six, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. While rejoicing, pray. Every time you are prone to worry, that is a call from God that it's time to pray.

So watch this. That means the more you're worrying, the more you're praying. Instead of the more you're worrying, the less you're praying. Because every time you are prone to be anxious, God is inviting you to pray.

And then he says, and when you do it, watch this now, you do it with thanksgiving. He says, when you come to me, because something is worrying you, I told you don't worry. And no matter what your problem is, it's not an exception because you worry about nothing.

But when you're prone to worry, that's an invitation to pray. I want you to be specific. And while you're being specific, give thanks.

What exactly am I giving thanks for? One day, Jesus was faced with a problem. The problem was that all he had was sardines and crackers, two fish and five barley loaves. There were 5,000 men, not counting women and children.

So you could have 20,000 people out there. All he got is a little boy with some lunch. Jesus said, bring it to me. Jesus says, let us pray. He's praying over a problem.

Because he wants the people fed, but he doesn't have near enough money to feed them. He only has the sardines and crackers, and he needs Moby Dick on the beach. You know, he needs, you know. The Bible says when Jesus bowed his head over the sardines and crackers, the two fish and five barley loaves, he gave thanks. Which means, watch this, he gave thanks over not enough.

He gave thanks over his problem. God, I have sardines and crackers. There's a need out there. I have a problem. There are 20,000 people out here who are hungry. I am obligated to feed them within your will. I want to now give you thanks for the sardines and crackers you have provided to solve this problem. How you gonna give thanks for that? What Paul is saying is, when you are tempted to be anxious, go to God in prayer about the problem. Because he ends the verse by saying, let your requests be made known to him.

So be specific. I got a problem. I got sardines and crackers. I got 20,000 people, and I want to just bless your name right now. I want to give you thanks that you're the provider. I want to give you thanks that you know where the solution comes from, even though I don't.

I want to give you thanks even though I have a problem. When he says with thanksgiving, he's not talking about vague thanksgiving. He's talking about giving thanks in the midst of your requests about the problem that you're bringing to him. Now we're not talking about some vague general prayer.

We're talking about requests and thanksgiving relating to the anxiety. When is the last time you've given him thanks in the midst of the request about the thing that's driving you nuts? He's actually telling you to give thanks, not for the problem itself, but give thanks for the God who you are inviting into that specific problem. Dr. Evans will present some practical ideas on how to express that thanks when he continues this lesson in just a moment.

Don't go away. The thing about serving an infinite God is that no matter how much you know about him, there's always more to learn. So whether you're brand new to scripture or an experienced ministry professional, there's something for you at the Tony Evans Training Center.

You'll find online courses covering core concepts of the faith. Working at your own pace and schedule, you'll dig deep into the historical context of the book, uncover the key teachings, and learn how to apply them in real world situations. There's lots of exclusive content from Dr. Evans to keep you interested and motivated, and an online forum where you can ask questions, get answers, and collaborate with other students. The more you learn, the more you'll want to learn.

Give it a try. The Tony Evans Training Center, a world of discovery anytime, anywhere. You can find out more about the Tony Evans Training Center when you visit our website at tonyevans.org. Now today's lesson from Dr. Evans is the final installment in a powerful sermon collection we've been presenting over the last couple of weeks called Having Faith During Fear. This series is packed with the encouragement we can all use to help us look to God's provision and timing, giving us the ability to hang on even when we feel like giving up.

The good news of the gospel is good news indeed, and if you missed any of these messages or want to have them on hand to listen to again, we'd like to send you the full-length messages from this series on CD or digital download along with a special bonus, our Hope for the Hurting Leader Kit. The kit presents practical insights for navigating life's deep hurt and trials and includes a book, a study guide, teaching videos from Dr. Evans, and more. Whether you use it for a small group study or simply for your own personal growth, this is a valuable resource to help in times of hurt and pain. We'll send you this kit as well as all the audio messages in Tony's Having Faith During Fear sermon series, and thanks for your donation to the Alternative Broadcast Ministry. But this is the final day we'll be offering this special package, so be sure to contact us right away at tonyevans.org to make your contribution and request. Or you can call 1-800-800-3222, where members of our resource team are ready any time to help with your request. Again, that's tonyevans.org or 1-800-800-3222.

I'll repeat that contact information for you after part two of today's lesson. Here's Dr. Evans once again talking about giving God thanks even as you wait for his answer to your prayers. The first thing is you must choose to get your praise on. You are then to pray when the anxiety is sucking in on you, and you are to be specific with thanksgiving. To keep this peace operating so anxiety can't sneak up on you, he says you must operate or function in a praiseworthy manner. You see the end of verse eight?

End of verse eight summarizes the whole verse. It says, anything worthy of praise dwell on it. To dwell on it means stay with that. One of the reasons we don't keep peace is we go dwelling on the things that are against the peace we're asking for.

Many of us kill the peace we have because we dwell on the things we shouldn't. So the question you got to ask is, can I give praise for what I'm focusing on? Because if I can't give praise for it, it's killing my peace that I said to God I needed to deal with the anxiety that I don't want to have.

To get rid of your anxiety, it starts with rejoicing. When it shows up, you go to a specific prayer. You retain it by your dwelling, your mental dwelling. Think on these things. And then verse nine, the things you have heard and received, learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things and the God of peace will be with you. The things you've learned and heard from me, seen in me, practice these things and the God of peace will be with you.

But wait a minute, what is he talking about? He's talking about anxiety. A lot of us stay worried because we're dealing with worrisome people. If you're dealing with people who don't know how to praise in trouble, don't know how to pray in trouble, don't know how to dwell in the right spot in trouble, and they're your posse, your running buddy, and your girlfriend. Don't be surprised that your anxiety gets worse and not better.

You gotta hang out with the folk who practice this themselves. He says the things you've seen about how I deal with prison, the things you see, well how I deal with people talking about me, because I've been buked and I've been scorned and I've been talked about. When you see me learn from me and then use it for you, you can't be praising God in here, getting peace. See, I know right now, right now, a lot of y'all who came in here worried feel peaceful right now. Right now you feel, whoo, oh boy, this is encouraging me. I feel, boy, I feel calm. I feel like I can float out of here this morning. Boy, I feel like I got it going on right now.

Tip toe through the tulips, you know. I'm feeling good. Anybody feel better who came in a little worried this morning? You know, you feel better. You feel better. But here's what's gonna happen. Some of y'all gonna leave here and go pick up the telephone, get on social media, talk to that friend, and they're gonna give you just the opposite to everything you heard here and it's gonna kill the sermon, kill your peace, kill your joy, and bring back your anxiety. Yeah, girl, I was in that situation too.

It worried me to death. Let me tell you the pills I'm on. I think you ought to go to the doctor and try these pills.

These pills are working for me. You're gonna talk to somebody who will not bring the spiritual, who will give you the kernel, but because you like them, because you have the personality, because they make the same money you make, work in the same career you work, drive the same car you drive, live in the same neighborhood you live in, you think they're spiritual. You better find somebody who's been through something and seen God lead them through something.

You better find somebody who can connect with God. And that's why he writes the church because one of the purposes of the church is to connect people with other spiritual people, women who can mentor other women, men who can mentor other men, couples with other girls, who can walk you through stuff because they themselves are using it. He says practice these things. He's not just talking about some general practice. Interesting thing, the thing he's telling you to practice is not so much external doing.

It's internal perspective that affects external doing because you can do the external, but if you don't have this internal straight, it becomes a performance and it won't last. But if you're changing your perspective on how you dwell and when you pray and how you rejoice, if you're getting the spiritual thing situated in here, then it will bleed out into your actions which changes your reality. And then he closes with a phrase that'll blow your mind. He closes verse 9 and says, and the God of peace will be with you.

Wait a minute, that's different than what he said earlier. He said earlier when you pray, the peace of God will be with you. But he says when you're thinking and dwelling and you're hanging out with the right people who influence you, you don't just have the peace of God, you have the God of peace. He switches it. In the first half, you get his peace. In the last half, you get his person. The peace of God will be with you, but if you do this second half, the person who gave you the peace will be with you. You see, that's a whole different ball game there. Dr. Tony Evans reminding us we can replace our worry and anxiety with God's peace and joy.

Here's a word right now on how to start. A lot of people exist but don't feel like they're living. The good news of the gospel is Jesus came to give you life. That is, the experience of God's reality operating within you. That's what the Bible calls eternal life. So he gives you heaven as a location, but eternal life is an experience. And he gives it to you for free.

That's what grace is about. It's a gift. You can't earn it.

You can't buy it. You can't be religious enough to get it, but you can receive it. And so God offers the opportunity for you right now to receive the forgiveness of sins and the free gift of eternal life, which will set in motion a whole life long experience of growing in the knowledge of God. So let's get this thing started right now by you going to Jesus Christ and saying to him, Lord Jesus, I believe you died on the cross in my place for my sin. I now accept you as my personal substitute.

Come into my life. I receive you now as my only Savior. I receive the gift of eternal life that you promised to give me if I came to you for it. Thank you for your salvation. In Jesus' name, amen. If you prayed that prayer for the first time today, we invite you to visit tonyevans.org and follow the link at the top of the home page that says Jesus. You'll find helpful videos and other resources there to help get your new life in Christ headed in the right direction. Now Dr. Evans will come back in just a moment to wrap up today's message, but first I wanted to encourage you to pick up the audio collection that today's message was drawn from. The series is called Having Faith During Fear, and as I mentioned earlier, all six full-length messages in this collection are yours as our thank you gift when you make a contribution to help keep the alternative coming your way. Included with this offer is our Hope for the Hurting Leader Kit, perfect for both group or personal study and learning how to face life's pains and hurts with the Lord's help. Just contact us at tonyevans.org to request this special package or give us a call at 1-800-800-3222 where a resource team member will be happy to help with your request. But a reminder that this is the final day we're offering this package, so contact us right away.

Again, that's tonyevans.org or by phone at 1-800-800-3222. Well next time, Dr. Evans shows how the success or failure we experience in this world is determined by what goes on in a different world. Be sure to join us tomorrow as we begin a powerful teaching series exploring the reality of spiritual warfare.

Right now though, he's back with a final thought to close today. I was on a plane one day, I was on a plane one day and we hit this turbulence and this turbulence was wicked. This is wicked turbulence. This is people screaming on the plane because it was one of their monster situations.

In the midst of the terror, the pilot comes on the loudspeaker and says, ladies and gentlemen, as you can see we've hit some severe turbulence. We're working our way through it. We're trying to find some easier air. We're talking to to control and we're trying to find some air.

We're hoping to get you out of this hopefully within the next 15 or 20 minutes. Now, when he said that you could feel the peace, simply because we heard his voice. We heard his voice. We didn't see him, but we heard him. And because we heard him, even though the turbulence was still there, there was a calm in the midst of the storm because we heard him. See, when we didn't hear him and all we had to do was conjure up in our own mind what was going on with the plane, we increased our own anxiety.

But when we heard him, he spoke peace to our situation. But then a few minutes later, homeboy come walking out the cockpit. Now this plane is dancing all over the sky and homeboy is coming out the cockpit, walking down the aisle, touching folk, telling folk, do you have any questions, anything, you know, anything you want to know. Homeboy is all out up in the mix of the stuff. I mean, you know, you're feeling, well, you better get back there and control this thing. But homeboy, homeboy was out there talking to folk.

Wait a minute. When he told us over the loudspeaker, it's gonna be okay. We had peace. We were calm on the inside. But when homeboy came out, folk are laughing and joking with him and high-fiving him and bumping him and all of a sudden, because now we didn't have his voice, we had his presence. God says, I want to give you my voice and calm you down, but I really want to give you my presence so that you can experience what it is when I am with you along with my peace.