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. . . . Well, good morning, everyone. Welcome to Mountain Baptist Church. Take your song books and turn to song 212. Song 212. We'll sing Oh Happy Day. If you would stand. We'll sing song 212. Oh happy day Oh happy day Oh happy day Oh happy day Oh happy day Oh happy day Oh happy day Oh happy day That fixed my choice On thee my Savior And my God Well may this glowing Heart rejoice And tell its raptures All abroad Happy day Happy day When Jesus washed my sins away He taught me how To watch and pray And live rejoicing Every day Happy day Happy day When Jesus washed my sins away Oh happy bond That seals my vows To him who merits All my love Let cheerful anthems Fill this house While to that sacred Shrine I move Happy day Happy day When Jesus washed my sins away He taught me how To watch and pray And live rejoicing Every day Happy day Happy day When Jesus washed My sins away Tis done the great Transaction done I am my Lord's And he is mine He drew me and Wrote on Charmed to confess The voice divine Happy day Happy day When Jesus washed my sins away He taught me how To watch and pray And live rejoicing Every day Happy day Happy day When Jesus washed My sins away He taught me how To watch and pray And live rejoicing Every day Happy day When Jesus washed My sins away He taught me how To watch and pray And live rejoicing Every day Happy day When Jesus washed My sins away Happy day Happy day When Jesus washed My sins away Alright, let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, we just want to thank you, God, for today. I pray, Lord, that you would just bless everything that's done in the service. I pray for the families that are heading back today at the flight. I pray, Lord, that you'd give them safety. And thank you, Lord, for just the hard work that they did and all the souls that were saved over there. I pray, Lord, for so many this afternoon. I pray all of us in Jesus' name, Amen. Alright, you may be seated. We just sang that song, and I didn't notice until we started singing it like usual. So, take your songbooks and turn to song 215. It's Heaven Came Down and Gloria Filled My Soul. Have we done that one lately? Okay. I just wanted to make sure before I start singing. I'm like, yeah, we just did this last week. Alright, so we'll sing song 215. Heaven Came Down and Gloria Filled My Soul. Oh, what a wonderful, wonderful day. Day I will never forget. After I wandered in darkness away, Jesus my Savior I met. Oh, what a tender, compassionate friend. He met the need of my heart. Shadows dispelling with joy I am telling ye, made all the darkness depart. Heaven came down and Gloria Filled My Soul. When at the cross the Savior made me whole. My sins were washed away and my night was turned to day. Heaven came down and Gloria Filled My Soul. Born of a spirit with life from above into God's family divine. Justified fully through Calvary's love. Oh, what a standing is mine. And the transaction so quickly was made when as a sinner I came. Took of the offer of grace I did pauper. He saved me. Oh, praise His dear name. Heaven came down and Gloria Filled My Soul. When at the cross the Savior made me whole. My sins were washed away and my night was turned to day. Heaven came down and Gloria Filled My Soul. Now I have hope that will surely endure after the passing of time. I have a future in Heaven for sure there in those mansions sublime. And it's because of that wonderful day when at the cross I believed riches eternal and blessings supernal from His precious hand I received. Heaven came down and Gloria Filled My Soul. When at the cross the Savior made me whole. My sins were washed away and my night was turned to day. Heaven came down and Gloria Filled My Soul. And so who knows I appealed it but it is what it is so I kind of knew that was going to happen eventually. So what it is what it is. And upcoming events or basically just being prayer for those that are still traveling in from the Belize mission trip and so that was a huge success I think 70 saved was the total number so huge number so very receptive out there but definitely you know they did a great job but just being prayer for them as they're returning and then our upcoming events we just have the prayer meetings that are on the list here but we will be doing a soul winning marathon in September I think it's the 11th or 12th it's where we're going to be doing our anniversary service. Let me just make sure it will be the 11th. So the 11th will be when we do the soul winning marathon we're going to do it in Moundsville so that's near Wheeling so we'll meet up in the same area where we meet up at the Cabela's Drive and all that but just kind of put that on your calendar that we're going to be doing a soul winning marathon and then for the service we'll be doing like a celebration type of lunch in type thing or whatever we normally do there. Bible memory we have Galatians chapter 3 so Galatians chapter 3 is our chapter for the month and then Philippians 4 7 is our memory verse for the week and I'm going to I'm like I know this verse but I'm trying to think how it starts. And the peace of God that passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. I think it's and that's what I'm always trying to figure out is it for and or but I think it's and the peace of God that passes all understanding which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. So Philippians 4 7 that's our memory verse for the week and our church times all that's the same nothing's changing there. Our soul winning time our main soul winning time is going to be this afternoon at 1 p.m. so if you can go out soul winning this afternoon just meet up here before 1 and we'll make sure we're all teamed up for that. As far as the regional soul winning times I'm not sure the men that lead those up they may want a break so I'm not going to hold them to that this week so just kind of be on look out on the WhatsApp see if they're going to be going out but they just spend a whole week out in Belize soul winning so they may want to take a little break as soon as they get back so and so anyway that being said if you want to go out soul winning you know just get on the WhatsApp and say hey I'm free at this time I'd like to go soul winning and see if anybody's free and all that to go and if I'm free I can go all that so and then try if there's anything else as far as what's coming up I don't think there's any this month or next month we're going to get the Lord's Supper on the list here probably in August so we just need to pick a Sunday that we're going to do there for the Lord's Supper and then birthdays do we have any birthdays that are coming up none that are here anniversaries that's not yet is it that's next week for mine we'll have to get Richie later yeah so brother Richie remember that next week we'll get all of us so both that are on here the signs and Holly and I so our anniversary is on Monday so that's next week and then the pregnancies be in prayer for all the ladies on the pregnancy list here and so just obviously different stages of pregnancy and all this but be in prayer for them for the babies for the delivery for the recovery all that fun stuff that's pretty much all I got for announcements brother Anthony you're reading this morning right so brother Anthony is going to be reading 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and brother Dave is going to sing one more song and then we'll get started alright take your song books and turn to song 219 song 219 in your song books we'll sing My Burdens Rolled Away song 219 I remember when my burdens rolled away I had carried them for years night and day when I sought the blessed Lord and I took him at his word then at once all my burdens rolled away rolled away rolled away I am happy since my burdens rolled away rolled away rolled away I am happy since my burdens rolled away I remember when my burdens rolled away that I feared would never leave night and day Jesus showed to me the lost so I left them at the cross I was glad when my burdens rolled away rolled away rolled away rolled away I am happy since my burdens rolled away rolled away rolled away I am happy since my burdens rolled away I remember when my burdens rolled away that had entered me for years night and day as I sought the throne of grace just a glimpse of Jesus' face and I knew that my burdens rolled away rolled away rolled away I am happy since my burdens rolled away rolled away rolled away rolled away I am happy since my burdens rolled away I am singing since my burdens rolled away song within my heart night and day I am living for my King and with joy I'll shout and sing hallelujah all my burdens rolled away rolled away rolled away I am happy since my burdens rolled away rolled away rolled away I am happy since my burdens rolled away Alright, if you would take your Bibles and turn to 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians 4 2 Corinthians 4, we'll have brother Anthony read that for us 2 Corinthians 4 Bible reads Therefore seeing we have this ministry as we have received mercy we faint not but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. But if our gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves your servants for Jesus sake. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shine in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. We are troubled on every side yet not distressed. We are perplexed but not in despair persecuted but not forsaken cast down but not destroyed always bearing about in the body of the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus sake. That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us but life in you. We having the same spirit of faith according as it is written I believed and therefore have I spoken we also believe and therefore speak. Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and shall present us with you. For all things are for your sakes that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not but through our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things which are seen but that the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal. Let's pray. Dear Lord thank you for your word thank you for this morning we can gather here continue to learn from the Bible and I pray God should be with Pastor Robinson and help him fill in with your Holy Spirit and help us all to learn this morning. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. Amen. So you're there in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and I want you to look down at verse 8 there. So 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 8 it says we are troubled on every side yet not distressed we are perplexed but not in despair persecuted but not forsaken cast down but not destroyed always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body and so I want to preach a sermon actually on stress and anxiety so some of you may deal with that I deal with that so this sermon is really for me so you know dealing with a lot of stress and just things that are going on the Bible doesn't use the word stress but it uses the term distress okay and in this in this passage here it says in verse 8 we are troubled on every side yet not distressed so God doesn't want us to be stressed out or anxious or anything like that not a biblical but dictionary.com is not the biblical definition but but if you go to dictionary.com or just to a dictionary as far as what distress means it means great pain anxiety or sorrow acute physical or mental suffering affliction trouble so stress is not fun okay just as much as like fear had torment you know he that fearth is not made perfect in love because fear had torment you know perfect love casts without fear so obviously being afraid is is not fun you know and it's obviously painful and all that stuff but stress and anxiety is a real thing and you know when it comes to life there's a lot of stress there's a lot of things that you can be stressed about now obviously in this case we're dealing with stress dealing with persecutions right you're dealing with you know persecutions on on Paul or just Christians you know yea and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution so the idea is that you're going to go through persecutions and troubles but not to be stressed out about it not to be in distress right and it's kind of interesting because you know distress kind of means to be troubled but it's basically like we're troubled but we're not right we're stressed but we're not right we're and the idea there is the fact that obviously there's going to be a lot of things that could stress you out or could make you anxious or whatever and you know that's that's just life but go to Ecclesiastes chapter 9 Ecclesiastes chapter 9 and these past couple of weeks have just been really I mean I'm always kind of this is something that I've dealt with for a while just with school with work just other things just dealing with stress and trying to you know not be stressed out and you know just the mentality that I don't I never feel like I'm accomplishing anything right it's just one of those things where I'm always feel like I'm behind like I could be doing more and it's funny because people in church will actually be like I don't know how you're doing what you're doing and a lot of people will say you know I don't know how you're accomplishing what you're accomplishing how you're trying to do all this stuff and to me I'm like I'm failing everywhere you know like I'm failing I'm not getting my job done at work I'm not getting what I need to get done here I'm failing at like learning the language I'm failing you know like I'm just constantly in this mode of like I'm failing at something I'm not doing enough right and it's a mental state of like I want to be the best I want to do the best but you got to like step back and just let go of it sometimes so and the thing is with stress is that it actually has a physical effect on your body to the point where actually you can hurt yourself physically dealing with a lot of stress but the first thing that when you're dealing with stress in life is that you got to let go of things you can't control okay and one rule I have when it comes to worrying about anything or fretting about something is not to worry about things I have no control over okay look at Ecclesiastes chapter 9 and verse 11 Ecclesiastes chapter 9 and verse 11 it says I returned and saw unto the sun that the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong neither yet bred to the wise nor yet riches to men of understanding nor yet favor to men of skill but time and chance happened to them all and the thing I wanted you to get across here is that there's just things that happen and you have no control over it there's things that happen and it's not like God's putting it there for that reason it's just time and chance happen with everybody there's certain things that happen you know that they're just it's just time and chance you're in this system of like this world and things happen someone drops some screws on the road you run over it you get a flat tire and it's not like God put the screws there or the devil put the screws there now could he? sure could the devil do that? sure but the bible says that time and chance happen to every man okay or everyone and the thing is that when it comes to things that you can't control you gotta let it go you know when it comes to like you say well are you stressed out because your channel got removed? no first of all I can't control that but second of all you know what I kind of knew that was happening eventually anyway so it's just inevitable and so I'm not stressed about that there's other things that that stresses me out or that basically I'm just trying to get accomplished and I just don't have enough time and all that the last couple of weeks have just been really stressful I've been working my secular job I've been working 8 to 9 hours there then leaving there and just working until 10 o'clock at night now my older brother knows exactly what we've been doing and from going from doing that job to physical labor all day and you know what things need to get done and it is what it is but it's just stressful okay and to the point where it takes a toll on your body and go to 2 John chapter 1 2 John chapter 1 and but the thing is that with everything that's going on in your life you've got to let go of the things you can't control okay, you'd be like oh the world's going to hell in a hand basket you know Biden's in office he's printing all this money everything's going the economy's going to crash, the dollar's going to crash all these different things are going to happen let me ask you a question, can you do anything about it? then why are you worrying about it? because you know and obviously there's a lot of this you just need to trust in the Lord and I'm going to be getting to that how do you I'm really showing you what causes stress okay, what can really just amp up stress in your life but also like how do you deal with it and like I said this sermon's more for me but if you have problems with stress then hopefully this helps you out too and so in 3 John in verse 1 here in 3 John verse 1 it says notice that John is writing to Gaius and he's not just saying like you know spiritually speaking I hope you're good okay, he's saying I hope you're good physically in health and this is something actually you'll see with Paul writing to the Philippians and talking about you know I sent him to Epaphroditus and you know the idea that he longed after you because you heard that he'd been sick and that he was nigh unto death and you know the idea of you know the fact that physical ailments physical infirmities you know Paul dealt with physical infirmities you know the thorn in the flesh that he had and there's just physical things that are going on and you can see that John Paul and other people are praying for people when it comes to just their physical infirmities and being in health and that is very important you know I preached a whole sermon on bodily exercise profiteth but obviously we know the verse that says bodily exercise profiteth little in comparison to godliness which is profitable unto all things right and the idea is that you know what your physical health is important your physical well being if you don't have your physical health you can't do all those spiritual things ok so you always have to keep that in check go to Ecclesiastes chapter 12 I should have had to stay in Ecclesiastes but Ecclesiastes chapter 12 there are certain things that are just a weariness to the flesh you know when you think of like being stressed you think of being weary being faint right and you know when I get stressed out and you know maybe you guys if anybody gets stressed out or just deals with a lot of that it's you find yourself and I find myself like taking a deep breath and being like I feel like I haven't breathed for a whole day like I'm just like I'll breathe in and I'm just like I feel like I've been holding my breath all day and your body clinches up your body is just in the state of being clinched up you're on edge you're just like I need to get this done you're stressed out and then you breathe and you're just like oh man I've been like I feel like I've been underwater all day and you know that's the type of feeling that stress and anxiety gives you and a lot of it is just from being overworked a lot of it is just dealing and I'm going to be getting into like what causes it or how you can get into a lot of stress but in Ecclesiastes chapter 12 here's one way it says in verse 12 so Ecclesiastes 12 verse 12 it says and further by these my son being modest of making many books there is no end and much study is a weariness of the flesh and the idea is that you know even studying and reading and you know trying to learn more your flesh is weak okay and in life you know just even studying or learning or mental uh you know things will basically wear you out you know this from soul winning right you may just go up to one door you didn't physically like do a lot of moving but you let's say you have like a 40 minute or an hour conversation with somebody right you're you're done you're just mentally fatigued and that's a real thing and the idea is that intellectually even even if you're not doing like some major like uh you know hands on type of stuff you know what that can be a weariness to the flesh and what stress does stress is a mental thing that's going on right it's something where you're thinking about things you're trying to fix things in your mind you're trying to figure out how you're going to deal with certain situations and you're just mentally just like constructing this plan or how I'm going to do this you're at work and you got five different things you got to do and you're like how am I going to do it all in one day and you're like well I'm going to start on this one but then you start on that one you got to go over to this one then you got to do this one and you got to figure out how you're going to get it all done and that alone just in your mind will literally like wear you out and you know there are just things like that that you know will stress you out but in the end you know what there's ways to deal with it there's ways to get through it um but Matthew chapter 26 you don't have to turn there because I want you to stay in Ecclesiastes okay just because we've been going back and forth on that but Matthew 26 it's a very famous verse but in verse 41 it says watch and pray that you enter not into temptation the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak and the idea here is that a lot of us we have this spirit are like we're going to do this we're going to get this done you know and you're spiritually speaking you know even outside of like things in the Bible but even with work you're just like I'm going to get it done you have the will power to do it but your flesh is like no not doing it you know or you're just like I'm going to work 14 hours today and your body's like no not doing it you know or you may do it that day but then the next day your body's just telling you like what did you do to me I hate you and like it's just against you the whole rest of the day right and so you know your flesh is weak and the thing is that spiritually speaking you know mentally speaking you may be there and you're just like I'm ready to get it and the thing is is that I'm not always in this stressed out mode I want you to know this okay I don't want you to think your pastor's just like on the brink at every moment just like ready to snap okay because there's days or weeks where I'm just like I'm wanting to take the bull by the horns I'm like bring it then there's other times I just feel like the whole weight of the world is on my shoulders and I'm ready to just fall over you know and you get into these modes but here's the thing you got to be stable with it meaning that it's not like it's not like the responsibilities have changed okay it's just the fact that there's going to be times where you're going to feel really really like overburdened and then other times where you're just like I'm ready to go and I'm like I'm like Eliezer with David and I'm holding that sword and I'm just going to keep swinging until I can't even let go of the sword you know until the hand cleaves to the sword and you're just like let's get it let's go you know and then other times it's just like I'm just going to go pass out over here you know wake me up when I need to do something right but go to Ecclesiastes 1 and verse 18 it says in verse 18 for in much wisdom is much greed and he that increases knowledge increases sorrow well what is this talking about you ever heard the term ignorance is bliss the less you know sometimes the better off you are you know if you think about like especially the haters you know there's a lot of people that hate me you know because I preach the bible there's a lot of things that I don't even know exist out there like that there's like people that hate me or wish ill upon me and I have no idea and that's good you know like I don't have to deal with that but the more you know about what's going on it's just like the world right the more you know what's going on in the world the more depressed you're going to be the more stressed you're going to be so sometimes you know the less you know is the better when it comes to certain things that are going on right and you know ignorance is bliss in some cases and you know that's just something you got to deal with it comes with the territory okay if you want to have a lot of knowledge you got to know that there's going to come a lot of sorrow that comes with that okay you want to know everything that's going on just know that you know it's not going to be all rainbows and butterflies and you know but like I said when you're dealing with stress you're dealing with the idea of being mentally you know weary mentally faint you know it's basically just it's just like you know something's like kind of like trying to strangle you mentally you know and that affects your body it affects your flesh because your body is connected to your mind and what your mind is thinking about affects how your body feels everything that's going on there and all that now go to Isaiah chapter 32 Isaiah chapter 32 and when it comes to being weary we really need to lean on the Lord you know if we're faint if we're weary we need to lean on the Lord and like I said you know there's things that we can't control but here's where stress really comes in in my life there's a lot of things I can control right there's a lot of things that are up to what I do and the choices I make okay so I try to let go of the things that I can't control and just don't worry about those I don't worry about who's the president I don't worry about like what's going on in political offices I don't worry about what's going on in other states I don't worry about what's going on in other churches does that make sense like there's things I can't control it anyway so what would it matter I don't worry about drama that's going on over here can't control it not my problem right but there are things that are my problem there are things that are my control and those are the things that can definitely stress you out so you can't just like say well nothing I have nothing in my control right and just be stress free and just be like alright now kids can do that kind of you know because they don't have that many responsibilities besides cleaning their room or something like that but as a parent as an adult listen you have responsibilities and that can take a toll on you and you know you do have choices you have to make there's choices you have to make every single day now in Isaiah chapter 32 and verse 1 notice what it says here it says behold a king shall reign in righteousness and princes shall rule in judgment and a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind and a covert from the tempest as rivers of water and a dry place as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land and we have that song that hymn you know a rock in a weary land and I'm gonna I can't you know a dry place or a rock in a weary land and I can't I'm not gonna sing it because I'll mess that up okay but the idea is that God is our rock in a weary land you think about God in the wilderness and all that and the idea is that we're in a weary land I mean you think of like the world that we live in it is a weary land it's a land that's gonna bring you down right it's going to try to take you down and it's funny because you know people are being taught in school that you know basically they want everything to be equal opportunity equal outcome you know and basically they don't have to work for anything and they want this safe space type of environment in their workplace listen the workplace is cut throat get over it okay if you don't do your job good or right you're gonna lose your job okay this safe space garbage is just not reality okay this isn't you know play place work that you're going to to where you can just do whatever you want and not worry about anything not worry about getting offended listen if you work a job people are going to be angry with you for not for no reason people are gonna yell at you for no reason you're going to mess up and you're gonna get yelled at for good reason and you're gonna deal with problems you're gonna mess up you're gonna do right you're gonna do all these different things and that's just life that you're dealing with and this world is a weary world that we're living in and you gotta deal with it okay so everybody deals with this to a certain extent you know you deal with your job your job can be stressful you have a family that can be stressful you have other things that are going on that can be stressful okay now Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 28 and I'll say this you know this past week you know I've been working a lot but I'll say this there's something cathartic about taking an excavator and ripping roots out of the ground okay so I'll say this out of my day you're like man you worked like till 10 o'clock at night yeah but you know what that was actually therapeutic okay so not necessarily cutting down the trees and everything but like the idea of just ripping roots out and just moving earth there's something really fun about that I mean that's a guy thing you know using heavy equipment but anyway all that to say is that in Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 28 there's a famous verse here but I want to read this passage here in verse 28 it says Hast thou not known hast thou not heard that the everlasting God the Lord created at the ends of the earth fainteth not neither is weary there is no searching of his understanding and what you have to understand is that our God doesn't get weary or faint okay so when you're going to go lean on somebody or if you need help really the person that you want to get help from is the person that doesn't get weary right the one that doesn't faint and that's God verse 29 it says he giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might he increases strength even the youths shall faint and be weary now you can say that I'm a youth but I don't know about that I'd say I'm an adult you know because I'm 36 years old right but as far as like being a young man I would say that I'm a man now you know like I don't think that you can call me a young man it depends on who you are you know but the idea here is that even young men even like younger people get weary and faint okay I know we look back and be like man I wish I was still in my 20s and some of you are like I'm still in my 20s you know I wish I was still in my teens you know be like when I could lift and didn't worry about anything listen when I was in my 20s in college I still got weary and faint I still got tired I still you know hurt you know after doing certain things and you don't think you do you know you look back and you're like I was invincible you know I could just keep going I never had any problems no you still have problems but the idea here is that he's basically saying that God he can give power to the faint and to those that don't have might he can increase their strength and he's making a point that even young people get weary and faint it's not just older people it's not just young men or middle aged or whatever the case may be it says and young men shall utterly fall but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as eagles they shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint okay now obviously you know in this life you know obviously in the regeneration we're not going to be fainting at all we're not going to be weary at all but listen God can give you strength in this life in the flesh that you have right now he can increase your strength he can give you might when you don't have it and he can take away that weariness that you have and you got to lean on him when it comes to all this so go to James chapter three James chapter three and I'm going to give you one way that can cause a lot of stress okay and to be honest this is probably what causes a lot of stress in my life okay and again you know I'm doing all right you know but I'm just it's just it's interesting how like certain things will actually take a toll where you actually just need to step back a little bit it'll take a toll physically on your body and some of you know what I'm talking about others you don't need to know it's nothing like serious but it's something that obviously you know I got to like step back and be like hey I need to not like destroy my body trying to get things done and James chapter three and verse one it says my brethren be not many masters knowing that they that we shall receive the greater condemnation for many things we offend all if any man offend not in word the same as a perfect man and able also to bridle the whole body now this verse is kind of one that people maybe perplex people and I'm just going to tell you what I believe this is talking about I believe this is basically talking about you don't want to be a master over a lot of things okay that's what I believe this is talking about because if you're a master over something meaning like if you're the leader okay that means what decisions you make trickles down to a lot of people meaning that you offend a lot of people let's say you mess up you just messed up over a lot of people and the idea is that you don't want to just be like heading up like a million things okay and you know that means like you know I'm leading a church right so that's being a master if you will over something meaning that I am leading that up and if I make a mistake listen that affects a lot of people if I do something wrong or make the wrong decision that affects a lot of people same thing with a job right if you're high up in a position in a job or if you're heading up a company listen that is being a master over something and guess what if you mess up that affects a lot of people if you don't make the right decisions or you lose clients or you do this or that a lot of people could lose jobs lose their incomes or you could lose work whatever the case may be and so there's an idea here is not to put yourself head over a lot of things and I think this is one where I try to lead up too many things and in my mind I'm like I'm not doing enough but then I try to do too much stuff at the same time and that's where I get in trouble as far as like trying to do so you know I think every preacher has a weakness at some point of like something they struggle with that is something they are dealing with on a daily basis. Mind is being stressed out and trying to like head up too many things trying to accomplish too many things at one time and that is something that and certain things I just have to put on the back burner you know there's certain things I want to do and I'm just like not going to happen right now you know I just got to like put it out of my mind but the problem is that my mind doesn't like me and my mind is constantly bringing it back up like you're not getting this done you're supposed to be doing this you're supposed to be getting that done you're supposed to be working on your Greek how are you going to go to Greece and do this if you're not like learning this and keeping up on this and doing this how are you going to do that and then over here you're just like well you're supposed to be doing this you're supposed to be memorizing more Bible why aren't you memorizing that chapter why aren't you doing this you know and then this is like your mind even though like I'm like telling myself no that's on the back burner in my mind I'm like I'm failing I'm missing something right and that stress will get to you and go to Ecclesiastes chapter 7 Ecclesiastes chapter 7 I believe this passage is actually talking about the same thing to a certain extent meaning that um you know in this passage it's more so I think talking about trying to be doing too many good things at the same time you know you just have to basically do what you can do and in Ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse 15 it says all things have I seen in the days of my vanity there is a just man that perishes in his righteousness and there is a wicked man that prolongs his life in his wickedness so you see the dichotomy you have a righteous man and a wicked man but it says in verse 16 be not righteous over much neither make thyself over wise why shouldest thou destroy thyself then it goes on to being not over much wicked you know that's obvious right you know shouldn't be over wicked things but it's even saying like being over righteous meaning like you're trying to do too many things that are even good meaning that you can destroy yourself trying to just over do it so you don't want to be over too many things to where the stress level gets to you right now maybe you can lead up something and you don't give a rip about what happens to everybody underneath you but that means you probably shouldn't be a leader because you know what if you're a leader that cares that's a big deal right meaning that you know Paul would even say that he was talking about all these things that he was dealing with but he says above all is the care of the churches you know the love for the churches and that was his overall like thing that would that would basically get at him where he's just like I care about what's going on here and so if you're a leader and you don't give a rip I guess you wouldn't be stressed but you're probably not the best leader okay because a leader should care what happens to those that are under them okay now go to Exodus chapter 18 because Moses actually dealt with this and I'm not comparing myself to Moses so don't get on me and be like you're not Moses I know I'm not Moses but Moses dealt with this and one thing that I've had to learn both with church and work is delegation delegating of work because my mindset is I know how to do it I know how to do it right I'm going to do it myself right because when you delegate it you know that they're probably not going to do it right the first time or the second time or maybe even the third time but I've learned through experience that that is a life saver okay I'll give you one example when we first started the church we were doing pretty much everything like Holly and I were doing everything as far as I mean even the services obviously when we first started I was leading singing I was doing everything right but then I was you know even cleaning like Holly and I would come on like a Saturday we'd clean we'd do all this stuff and we just did everything and then the one I think we we decided okay we're going to make a cleaning list okay meaning like we're going to have families take turns to clean and that alone was a life saver like if there's anything that I did with this church that was a good decision it was delegating cleaning the church and you say well that's silly it's not that much yeah but when you have a lot of other stuff on your plate that one little thing like just took this weight off of me that I didn't have anymore and so that's just an example but notice in Exodus chapter 18, Exodus chapter 18 notice what it says in verse 13 it says and it came to pass on the morrow that Moses sat to judge the people and the people stood by Moses from the morning unto the evening and Moses, Moses father-in-law saw all that he did to the people and he he said what is this thing that thou doest to the people why sittest thou thyself alone and all the people stand by thee from morning unto even and Moses said unto his father-in-law because the people come unto me to inquire of God when they have a matter they come unto me and I judge between one and another and I do make them know the statutes of God and his laws so what Moses is doing is not a bad thing right you know he's basically helping everybody else but notice what his father-in-law says here in verse 17 and Moses father-in-law said unto him the thing that thou doest is not good thou wilt surely wear away both thou and this people that is with thee for this thing is too heavy for thee that thou are not able to perform it thyself alone now I'm not going to read the rest of the story but in the story basically what he did and what his father-in-law told him to do is like any big matters right any huge matters yes bring that to you bring that to Moses but anything that's like that's not that big of an issue he basically he basically had different groups of people he'd have like a hundred people do this many you know people and then like fifties for this and tens for this basically it had to come up this chain and if it gets up to Moses it must be a big deal does that make sense and you have and any company has this type of structure usually right you have you have the president you know and even in companies you have like CEO, CFO COO and then you have president vice president you come down to like you know the managers you know then you go all the way down to the peasants no I'm just kidding the grunts you know the interns you know they're all the way down at the bottom here the ones that you know are doing it for free or something like that just so they can have a reference on their resume so anyway but you have this chain of command right so you don't have the intern bringing everything to the CEO of the company right or the president of the company does that make sense like that person is not like bringing up like where's the toilet paper at you know like how do I change this you know now if you're in a small company then you know what we all change the toilet paper we all do this we all change the you know we all do you know it's not that big of a deal but if you're in a big company right you have this chain of command but can you imagine if the CEO tried to deal with everything like just try to talk to everybody and I mean think of like how many people were in Israel I mean when they took the number of just the people that were ready to go forth to war it was 600,000 over 600,000 men that were able to go forth to war that doesn't count women and children that doesn't count people that were older or younger that couldn't go forth to war right and so that's a lot of people to deal with and basically Jethro his father-in-law you know basically told him you can't do this you're going to wear away you can't do this alone okay and so sometimes you have you just need help you need help dealing with certain things and there are you know certain times where I've told the men in the church I'm like listen have a sermon ready just in case have this ready just in case and you know this last week you know then brother David goes and has to get his tooth pulled you know and he can't like speak and all this other stuff but things happen you know I'm not like against that but I'm just saying and it was fine you know I preached it was fine you know all that but what I'm saying is that there's certain times where you just have to like listen I'm sick you know I can't deal with it and you know what I'm just going to be honest with you and you may not have liked this but I preached not feeling good before especially at the beginning of the church I was sick right I was like ready to just collapse where I was at but I preached anyway because who was going to do it right and especially at the beginning of the church because there wasn't anybody that maybe not that they weren't qualified to like be able to preach a good message they just you know don't like doing that they don't like getting up in front of people and there's nothing wrong with that it's just that no one that was ready to do that at the very beginning okay and you know what there's nice and it's nice to have delegation for that it's nice that I can go on a vacation and then I know that there's men that can step up and that can fill that gap and do those different things and I can take a break for a second right it's nice to have that but I'm also the type of person that when I go on vacation I still can't completely wind down you know I try to and there's times where I do but then there's times where I'm just stressed out and I'm just thinking about what's going on thinking about what's going on work and all that go to Romans chapter 8 Romans chapter 8 I know the sermon is more so bringing up me but I don't know any of your stories I guarantee you that there's people that are sitting here today that have been stressed out that have dealt with certain things that have dealt with like what decisions should I make is this the right decision to make is this a bad decision to make and just been worried about those type of things or it just in general just trying to get things done but just don't feel like they have the time to do it or whatever the case may be well when it comes to this one don't put yourself over too much stuff ok there's a lot of things I want to do there's a lot of things I'd like to accomplish especially with the church I just don't have the time to do it you know when it comes to our channel I know that a lot of people would like me to get those sermons back up you know like people that watch and everything else and I'm not against it but I'm just going to tell you right now I don't have time to do it right I have them all saved but I just don't have time to do it if anybody in the church wants to do it that's great but I just can't do it I can't put that on my plate I can't do certain things that I would like to do I'd like to make some documentaries I'd like to do a lot of different things I'd like to do a lot of stuff that I just don't have time to do it and you just got to let go you know because you'll see the problem is you'll see other people doing those type of things and you're like man that's cool I'd like to do that too or I feel like I could do that I could put something together like that and you're just kind of like looking at like things that they're accomplishing and you're like man I wish I want to do that too and it's not bad things there's nothing like wrong with wanting to like do more stuff and everything else don't be righteous over much don't make yourself a master over many things it says be not many masters ok and you have to keep that in the back of your mind that listen you only have so much time and you don't want your family to suffer for it you don't want the church to suffer for it you know in the end if I wear away what's the point what would that accomplish you know steady is the race you know you need to run with patience the race that is set before you and not sprint right you just got to it's a steady run and you just got to keep going on that path ok but in Romans chapter 8 and verse 39 that's what it says here Romans chapter 8 and verse 35 it says who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword as is written for thy sake we are killed all the day long we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter nay in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us for I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord and when it comes to stress or being in distress listen we're more than conquerors through Christ meaning this is that I'm not going to take some pill for anxiety or stress ok now there are people that have to take medicine for physical ailments and I'm not against that but when it comes to mental things there is like a small percentage of people that have like a chemical imbalance ok and I'm not a doctor so don't take me on this you know but from what I've heard from doctors I know and that deal with medicine there is a small percentage of people that have like a chemical imbalance where they need that certain chemical to deal with you know some type of mental like type of depression or different things like that most cases no most cases it's only going to make it worse you know the side effects of most of these anti-depressants and I'm not depressed by the way I'm just saying like I'm just using this as an example most of the side effects on you know like you'll see for an anti-depressant is depression and suicide it's like uh that seems counter productive I don't know about you but that being said is that listen when it comes to stress and anxiety the answer is not to take some Xanax and I don't even know if that's the right drug I could be completely wrong on that I don't know what the drug is for anxiety but I'm just taking a guess I've heard that before so like I said I'm not a doctor but that's not the answer okay the answer is God right the answer is the fact that listen in any type of distress that you have listen to the love of Christ will get you through that and we're more than conquerors in Christ and we really need to tap into the new man we really need to tap into God go to first Peter chapter 5 and this is one of my favorite verses in the whole Bible can't really tell you why but it's just one of those ones that hit you but in first Peter chapter 5 verse 6 first Peter chapter 5 verse 6 it says humble yourselves therefore into the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time casting all your care upon him for he careth for you and that verse right there I don't know why it sticks out to me but it always has casting all your care upon him for he careth for you and you say why is this coupled with being humble because you know what it takes a humble person to realize you can't do it yourself and you know what leadership when it comes to leadership it takes a humble leader sometimes to say you know what I can't do this myself I can't do all these like let's say you had a certain thing of things you had to get accomplished and sometimes it takes some humility to say you know what I can't do this on my own and you know what it comes to like things and honestly the things that I'm stressed out about right now has nothing to do with church it has to do with things that with work and just things I'm trying to get accomplished you know outside of that okay and I'll say this that there's certain things that there's no way I could get it done without my family you know you know when it comes to like what I'm trying to get accomplished this past week you know if I didn't have my older brother there's no way it would have happened you know and my younger brother helped me out and all this other stuff too but but really my older brother was there like and he's doing the same thing I'm doing he's working a job that he has got a lot of responsibilities in he's working all day we're both getting off work and we're just hitting it you know and you know the Bible says a friend loveth at all times and a brother is born for adversity and you know that's been true this week for sure but you know what there's a lot of things that you can lean on your family and that definitely helps and friends you know there's a friend that's sticking closer than a brother there's friends there's family there's church family that you can lean on and you know that's why it's good to be in church because you know what every single time we come to church we're getting that rejuvenation of like fellowship right you're kind of getting punched down into the ground at work or you're getting punched down into the ground with other things that are in your life and you can come here and you can just you know vent if you have to right and everybody's dealt with different things when it comes to like houses to you know just cars and different things like that and you're just like ah and we're just like yeah we're with you and you know that just the idea of just being able to talk to each other about it talk about our troubles and just get through that you know that's better than going to some psychiatrist anyway but the idea there is that you know what people in this church help each other out people in this church will you know do different things for each other and you know what that helps a lot ultimately though we need to put it on the Lord we need to put we need to cast that upon him and say Lord I can't handle this myself you've got to help me with this and you know what cast all your care upon him for you and you need to remember that he does care but you've got to humble yourself to do that you know because in your mind you're just like I got this I'm going to I'm going to pick myself out of my own bootstraps I'm going after this it's all me you know and you don't want to lean on anybody else and I think in general that's a good attitude to have meaning like you don't want to just be throwing your burdens on other people all the time right you know you're known for that person that's just throwing all your things at other people you don't want to be that person but there are certain points where you just have to say you know what I need some help you know I need some help dealing with certain things and I just can't I can't do it myself and that's okay the Bible talks about the fact that you know we need to bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ it says in Galatians chapter 6 but then it says that we need to bear our own burden okay and we haven't got to that contradiction yet but that's one of their contradictions but it really comes down to this but you know mentally speaking you need to be like I'm bearing my own burden I'm not going to be putting my burdens on other people but on the outside what you should be thinking is that I need to help other people with their burdens okay and the problem I think with a lot of people in our church and this isn't a bad problem but it's a problem meaning that a lot of people in our church don't want to ask for help right when they need it okay meaning like there's there's people in our church that that they just you want to help them but they just don't want to ask for it and you know that I'm not going to force no one's going to force that on anybody but at the same time like there's certain times where we just need to let go and be like you know it would definitely be a help in this area or that area okay but you don't want to just be like throwing your problems on the people okay so don't be that person go to Matthew chapter 14 Matthew chapter 14 and this is a famous story of Jesus walking on the water but there's a certain part of this story that I want to focus on here because the idea here is how do you deal with stress well first of all don't put yourself in a position where you're you got too much to deal with okay that's that's probably the first key there is that now when it comes to persecution because of the word of God it is what it is okay really that's out of control that's what that's at the very beginning of the sermon where you can't control that right because what are you going to do to control that stop preaching the Bible stop being a Christian stop standing up for truth well that's not an option so you know what the way I look at you know when people come at me and they're persecuting me for the cause of Christ or for preaching the Bible I can't control them you know and to me preaching the gospel or preaching the word of God or preaching the Bible isn't something that I'm willing to ever change on so you know they're just going to have to put that in their pipe and smoke it because that's not changing so but so when it comes to the persecution I just look at that as like well you know can't change that it is what it is when it comes to other things though when you put yourself over like your certain things in jobs certain things that you're trying to get accomplished outside of that you know what you do have some control over that as far as how much you put on yourself and that's where you need to really you know work on that or try to keep that not as crazy. Matthew chapter 14 and verse 22 it says straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship and to go before him unto the other side while he sent the multitudes away and when he had sent the multitudes away he went up into a mountain apart to pray and when the evening was come he was there alone but the ship was now in the midst of the sea tossed with waves for the wind was contrary okay so get the picture Jesus goes up into a mountain his disciples go into a ship and they're in the middle of the sea and now like the wind is going crazy right then it goes on to say here in verse 25 it says in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them walking on the sea so this is where Jesus was walking on the water and when the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were troubled saying it is the spirit and they cried out for fear but straightway Jesus spake unto them saying be of good cheer it is it is I be not afraid and Peter answered him and said Lord if it be thou bid me come unto thee on the water and he said come and when Peter was come down out of the ship he walked on the water to go to Jesus so this is the story where Jesus was walking on the water but then Peter actually gets out of the boat right he gets out of the boat he says if it's you then let me come out there to you and so he he's like yeah come out here and he starts walking on the water so Peter actually walked on water just like Jesus did in this story now keep reading there verse 30 it says but when he saw the wind boisterous he was afraid and beginning to sink he cried saying Lord save me and immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto him O thou of little faith wherefore didst thou doubt and when they were come into the ship the wind ceased then they that were in the ship came and worshiped him saying of a truth thou art the son of God now there's a lot of things to see here but the first thing I want you to see here is the fact that Peter was walking on the water he was doing fine what caused him to sink it was what he was focusing on wasn't it he was focusing because at the beginning he sees Jesus right he's like if it's you let me come out to you and what's he see he sees Jesus he's looking at him and he's walking on this water now mind you if the wind is boisterous that means the waves are going like crazy right so he's focusing on him he's walking on the water he's doing fine but what did he see he saw the wind being boisterous and he was afraid so his focus changed didn't it nothing else changed in this whole circumstance besides what he was focusing on he was focusing on Jesus and his focus left to storm and when it comes to life in general you got to keep your focus on Jesus you got to keep your focus on the word of God you got to keep your focus on the things of God and if your focus is on that then everything can be going to hell and you're good right because the idea here is that what are you thinking about remember stress is what you think about what you're worried about what you're trying to fix what you're trying to figure out and I'm very analytical hence why I'm an engineer but I'm very analytical so I want to be like 2 plus 2 equals 4 like I need to fit like I need to figure out I'm like calculating things all the time trying to figure out what I'm going to do and how I'm going to fit this time in there how I'm going to do this and so I'm just like trying to figure out this puzzle in my mind at all times and that wears you out okay and that's where stress will wear you out and the idea here though is that if you keep your mind focused on Jesus and on the things of God and just and not saying that you're not dealing with other things okay it doesn't say like well you can only do this if the wind isn't boisterous okay it's not saying because the wind was boisterous that's why he sank it's no he saw it and was afraid okay so the idea is that we're in this boisterous world with a lot of problems with a lot of things that are going on everything goes wrong you know it seems that could go wrong you know it's just like everything just falls apart and you're just like ah you know but in the end that's just life that's just how things go you know time and chance happen to every man and there's just things that go wrong and there's things that don't work out right but you know what it's the attitude of how you look at that and what you're looking at okay go to Philippians chapter 4 Philippians chapter 4 so don't change your focus okay realize that you're in this boisterous like turmoil of a world that's like waves crashing all over you realize that you're in that world okay obviously I'm not saying to just imagine that you're like somewhere else know that you're there but you're not focusing on it okay and this is what the problem is a lot a lot of Christians they focus too much on the news they focus actually they focus on the news at all I mean that's the problem right you know just don't focus on the news at all because listen by the way anything that comes out of the mouth of Fox News CNN or any of these other stations just mark it down that what they're telling you is biased garbage and lies and just say whatever they're saying it must be the opposite okay that's pretty much how I look at the news okay and the thing is that if that's all you're looking at you're gonna be depressed and you're gonna be stressed out because all they're marketing to you is fear and depression and stress that's their market that's how they get you to come back because they have a bunch of you know stupid commercials they want to show you which is all garbage anyway so but the thing is don't focus on that you know half the time I don't even know what's going on you know there's some kind of COVID variant or something like that and they're talking about masks coming back I have no idea and don't care don't give a rip listen we're not wearing masks in this church unless you want to we're not gonna close down this church if there's some stupid variant out there you know what that's over in my opinion they can all go pound salt and I don't care I don't care if there's a scare that's gonna come back I don't care if there's a scare that they're gonna try to lock things down again I don't care I'm just do what I'm doing and get out of my way that's how I look at this whole thing just get out of my way I'm going to the store and if any Karen comes up to me about some mask wearing garbage then it's gonna be the last thing she's gonna regret because I just don't give a rip I don't give a rip about what's going on in the world right now I don't care okay you know what I care about I care about this church I care about preaching the gospel I care about learning more about the Bible I care about preaching the word of God to my congregation I don't care if YouTube goes to hell in a hand basket and we can't you know show it to anybody I care about this town this area this church that's my focus you know what nothing whatsoever happens to some other state or West Virginia okay Pennsylvania can go to hell in a hand basket and listen I'm all for winning people in Christ and all that stuff but I'm not gonna worry about a place that I'm not even reaching right now I'm not gonna worry about a place that I don't even have an influence in right now to where I'm even gonna you know we'll maybe go soul winning up there every once in a while but at the same time I'm not going to worry about it notice what it says in Philippians chapter 4 and verse 4 Philippians chapter 4 and verse 4 it says rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice let your moderation be known unto all men the Lord is at hand notice this be careful for nothing now this is different than being like saying be careful on the roads out there okay be careful for nothing is basically being full of care okay meaning that you're caring about too many things right you're being caring for the things of this life if you will right and it's basically saying be careful for nothing meaning like don't just be overcome with all this care about everything that's going on okay be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God meaning this is that if you need something just ask for it ask God for it in a supplication in a prayer ask him for it notice what it says this is our memory verse in verse 7 and the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus this goes back to casting all your care upon him for he cares for you listen if you have problems and you have stress you know what put it on the Lord put it on the Lord and say I need help with this I need you to take care of this and let the care go out the window right let the cares of the world go out the window and not worry about it and then go on in verse uh verse 8 there it says finally brethren whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are holy I'm sorry are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any virtue and if there be any praise think on these things those things which you have both learned and received and heard and seen of me do and the God of peace shall be with you notice it says all the things that you should be thinking on things that are true things that are honest things that are just things that are pure things that are lovely things that are of good report and you know what that means the news is out to lunch on that one good report honest true give me a break that means that the things that people the world is funneling to you should not be the things you're thinking about you don't want to know something that's true just pure of good report this right here that's what you should be thinking about think about these things and listen I don't know what it is about the word of God but reading the word of God just gives you peace and comfort I don't care what story you're reading I could be reading Genesis 19 or Judges 19 and those are some rough passages but you know what there's comfort in the word of God you know what I get comfort in the fact that God judges wicked people I mean it's a rough passage but you're just like yeah well I mean even in the New Testament it says that he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and turned them into ashes and condemned them with an overthrow and it talks about the fact that he did it so that it was an example unto those that it should live after ungodly I'm like praise the Lord you know it's a rough passage but I love it and it gives me comfort and it gives me you know just peace great peace have those which love thy law and nothing shall offend them and the idea is that the word of God will give you that peace of God that passes all understanding and sometimes you just have to sit down and listen and just listen to what God has to say to you and just let that resonate there now this sermon isn't to say that you're not going to ever have stress again okay this sermon is more so to deal with stress okay and first of all how you don't put too much stress on yourself I believe everybody in this world is just going to deal with stress I mean that's just life okay you're going to have stress but you don't want to get to the point where it's overbearing or where you're going to wear away as like Moses right like how Jethro said you're going to wear away so what's a way to deal with that well don't put yourself over too many things at once and if you already have then you know what after you get through with that don't do it again okay don't do too many things at once don't try to accomplish too many things at once you know basically delegate things to other people that can help if you really need to get something done you know those type of things will help you not to get into those stressful situations when it comes to the word of God and being persecuted that just is what it is you can't control it so don't worry about things you can't control why stress about something you can't control you know just put that in the Lord's hands and all of these put it into the Lord's hands but you know what these are just some guidelines and honestly this sermon is more for me to know to like hey you know what I'm human I can only do so much but you know a lot of times when I'm dealing with something I think well maybe other people will deal with it right I preach the whole sermon on depression which is more so like heaviness you know the Bible talks about heaviness and I'm not like depressed but I dealt with that back when I was younger and you know what there's things that I'm sure people deal with depression I'm sure people deal with anxiety they deal with stress they deal with fear right I preach the whole sermon on fear because there was actually someone in the church at the time that was dealing with fear and just being afraid of things all the time and those type of things are real things that everybody deals with you all deal with it to a certain extent everybody gets afraid everybody has stress everybody deals with these type of things and but some people deal with it more than others okay and some people have a lot more stress than others some people have a lot more fear than others and you know what the Bible the answer is always God okay and focusing on the word of God looking at Jesus focusing on him and listen when you do that you can walk on water through a storm you know that's what Peter did but when you take your eyes off that's when you're going to sink and not that Jesus can't help you in that because he can and he did remember we were talking about what do you need to do cast all your care upon him be careful for nothing but in prayers and supplications let the requests be made known to God what did Peter do as soon as he started sinking Lord save me and what was it immediately he took him by the hand okay so in those times that you get in over your head guess what Jesus can help you in that but don't lose the focus don't lose that keep the eye on the prize press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus but know this everybody that's pressing toward the mark sometimes you need to take a break sometimes you need to slow down maybe not stop all together but just kind of slow down and you know what sometimes when you're in a race you just need to walk for a little bit and then you can start running but you know what if you run too fast and you burn yourself out then the race is over right just keep going keep moving but you have to slow down sometimes so let's end with a word prayer to Heavenly Father we thank you for today thank you for your word and just pray that you be with us throughout the rest of the day we pray that you be with us as we go out soul winning and I pray that we can see many people saved we thank you for all the souls that were saved out in Belize and pray that you give all those families safe travels back today and Lord just thank you for everything that you've done through us and we just pray that everything we do will be glorifying to you help us to keep our eyes on you and Lord we love you in prayer in Jesus Christ's name Amen so brother Dave will come and sing one more song and that one will be dismissed alright song 223 in your song books song 223 and if you would stand we'll sing Springs of Living Water song 223 I thirsted in the barren land of sin and shame and nothing satisfying there I found but to the blessed cross of Christ one day I came where springs of living water did abound drinking at the springs of living water happy now am I my soul is satisfied drinking at the springs of living water oh wonderful and bountiful supply oh sweet the living water from the hills of God it makes me glad and happy all the way now glory grace and blessing part the path I've trod I'm shouting hallelujah everyday drinking at the springs of living water happy now am I my soul is satisfied drinking at the springs of living water oh wonderful and bountiful supply oh sinner won't you come today to Calvary a fountain there is flowing deep and wide the savior now invites you to the water free where thirsting spirits can be satisfied drinking at the springs of living water happy now am I my soul is satisfied drinking at the springs of living water oh wonderful and bountiful supply you are dismissed