July 17, 2025 • 26 mins
A study on overcoming anxiety.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to K Waves Pastor Spotlight featuring the Bible teaching
of our local Southern California pastors. This week we're pleased
to bring you the Bible teaching ministry of Doctor Mark Ambrose,
senior pastor of Pacific Coast Church, where Mark has been
the pastor for 30 years. Pacific Coast Church has been
a vital part of the San Clemente community for over
(00:20):
60 years, reaching multiple generations for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
A few decades ago, a popular recording artist had a
hit song with the encouraging title Don't Worry Be Happy
and biblically speaking, you know, he was right. Today on
Pastor Spotlight, Dr. Mark Ambrose takes us to Matthew's Gospel
chapter 6 to show us the saviors Jesus Christ's commands
(00:43):
for showing us what to do instead of worrying as
we learn more about how to find relief during anxious times.
Here's Doctor Ambrose with part two of his study.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
We clearly live in anxious at times.
There's a lot of things to be triggered about. There's
a lot of things to be concerned about. There's a
lot of things to fear and worry about, and there's
a lot of things to be anxious about. But Jesus
gives us some guidelines.
on walking through this and, and, and making sure that
we walk through it in a way that's not only
(01:16):
Biblical, but it's stabilizing. It's regulation, it's equilibrium, however, again,
the terms you want to use what you're going through.
Now we're studying the sermon on the Mount. This is
where the topic comes up. Jesus deals with it directly.
He's talking about money, but then in talking about money,
he immediately goes into anxious thinking because the audience he
(01:39):
was speaking to were anxious people.
What are we gonna eat? What are we gonna drink?
What are we gonna wear? Hand to mouth. Call it poor.
So I just want to review a few verses here
that if you weren't here, you'll see the context. If
you were, it'll remind you what we talked about. So
we began our discussion in verse 25. Therefore, I tell you,
(02:00):
this is Jesus speaking.
Do not be anxious about your life. What you will
eat or what you will drink, nor your body, what
you will put on is not life more than food
and body, more than clothing.
And we kind of pause there without getting into the
the clothing and food and and all that. We, we
(02:20):
kind of pause there to, to, to look at the obvious,
but it's not so obvious when you're struggling.
And that's Jesus gave a command to his audience. Do
not be anxious.
It's not the first command either. We'll see later when
we read, he gives it again. And then later he
gives it again. Implication, we have a choice in the matter.
(02:45):
When it comes to our anxiety, we have a choice
whether to be anxious or not. And that, that.
May just as a standalone truth feel like the furthest
thing from the truth.
Because when our anxiety, and especially if you're one of
those that struggles here this morning, you're thinking you don't
got a choice in the matter, man. You just got
to survive it.
I can't just turn it off and say, nope.
(03:09):
Well, maybe you can't.
At this point
But here's the deal, it progresses.
So, uh, an, an anxious thought, a normal concern can fester.
And turn into anxiety if not properly dealt with, if
(03:32):
not properly addressed in the beginning. Now, if you don't
address it, then it can get worse. And if you
don't address it, it can get worse. And then years
of this can turn to actually into a medical condition
that needs to be medicated called GAD, generalized anxiety disorder.
But you just didn't wake up with that.
(03:53):
It's a progression. So it's important to know that yes,
if Jesus says we don't do it, that means we
do have the capacity to not do it.
That's important because a lot of times when we think
of anxiety we think it comes at us and we
have no control. You actually do. We'll talk about that
more in a second.
(04:13):
Continue by way of review.
Look at the birds of the air, Jesus says, they
neither sow nor weep nor gather in barns, and yet
your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more
value than they, and which of you by being anxious
can add a single hour to his lifespan?
In other words, it didn't help in anything.
(04:36):
Because if anxiety solve problems, then you wouldn't be anxious
by definition. The problem would be over.
It's kind of this
Cycle
And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies
of field, how they grow, they neither toil nor spin.
Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these. But if God
(04:57):
so closed the graph of the field, which today is
alive and tomorrow it's thrown into the fire, it turns brown.
Will he not much more clothe you of you of
little faith.
So it's not so much now, your ability to say no,
it requires a focus.
(05:19):
In other words, he's dealing with faith, and he's highlighting
how your faith is in the here and now. Your
faith is in the immediate. Your faith sees something lacking,
so you're projecting forward, and he's saying, don't forget God's
in the equation.
And look at what God does for birds and, you know,
(05:40):
flowers and how he takes care of them. Aren't you
way more important to them? In other words, shift your
thinking from this, oh no, it's never back to God.
And that was our second point last week, how to
find relief during anxious times, refocus on God for stability.
This is about paying attention to your thoughts, bringing them captive.
(06:00):
We unpack that self talk of God's truth in your life.
We unpack that. So that's the context. And then we
keep reading verse 31. Therefore, Jesus said, do not be anxious.
Not the command again.
Saying, what shall we eat? What shall we drink, or
what shall we wear. For the Gentiles seek after all
(06:22):
these things, who are Gentiles.
Non-believers.
And your heavenly Father knows you need them all, need what? Food, drink, lodging, clothing,
roof over your head. But seek first, there's the priority.
The kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these
things will be added to you. All these things, what? Food, clothing,
(06:45):
roof over your head. So there's a promise there.
There's also an order of urgency there. When you're triggered
in your worry, your your fear, your anxious thinking, don't
first seek.
And fill in the blanks, what we do to medicate.
And we have our coping mechanisms that often aren't healthy
(07:08):
and will lead to even more anxiety said seek first,
so it's an order. Turn to God. We talked about
that last week.
And his kingdom, keep your focus on God and the
truth of God. God's not about just here and now.
He's about eternity. It's a broader perspective, cause what happens
when we're anxious, our focus goes into this little myopic
(07:29):
little locket photo and we start focusing and obsessing on
things that aren't real, and he's saying, no, get back
and see the whole picture, cause there's a bigger picture
here and God's involved in painting this picture here. And
the more you focus on the bigger picture, the less
it's kind of like,
I could give a lot of examples, but what is
(07:50):
it that we like to go out on the balcony
of a hotel and look at an ocean view?
Or trade that for just going into the corner of
a room and staring in the corner of a wall.
What's gonna happen after a while? You don't look at
that wall and you're not going, oh, this is beautiful.
(08:11):
There's tension there.
There's, there's friction there.
And what happens over time is it gets worse and
worse and worse. Come out, look at the broad view,
and the ocean is real, it's here and it gives
you a perspective. So so much of this is perspective.
An adjusting perspective, but then there's actions to be taken.
(08:34):
And this is what Jesus is highlighting. He says, seek
first the kingdom of God, OK, refocus on, on God.
But he says,
And his righteousness. Now, what does that mean?
To be righteous means you're doing something. It means you're, you're,
you're stepping forward and doing something in, in a behavioral way.
(08:57):
It's just not, not doing something. So here's his summary.
He's saying, look,
The Gentiles don't have a God perspective. They don't have
the opportunities you have as followers of me to see
a bigger picture. They're limited.
To the latest news report. They're limited to the latest
event that took place. They're limited to the, the only
(09:20):
ideas they can conjure up. You believers.
Have a broader perspective where you can place your faith,
not in the here and now, but in the eternal.
You have a broader perspective because you have the guidance
of God and His Holy Spirit. You have the broader
perspective of His word, who trains us in
(09:43):
Righteousness scripture talks about in Timothy.
Remember Jesus said, go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of Father, Son, and the
Holy Spirit, and teach them to.
Obey
All I've commanded
And then this is, so this is really making the
distinction between being passive.
(10:06):
In how you respond to anxiety or being active. I
put it this way, number one, how to find relief
during anxious times, step into godly obedience.
Step into by godly obedience.
Anxiety is a mental state.
That can be super powerful.
(10:27):
And immobilize you.
If you're not careful.
Kind of like a car with your foot on the
gas and the brake at the same time and just
pushing them down.
And Jesus is saying, don't stay there, put it into
gear and move forward.
(10:47):
In righteousness.
In what I want you to do.
And that's a healthy perspective just in general.
Remember Jesus said a little earlier, he gave the Lord's prayer.
Remember how that begins.
Sorry, I'm not going there.
I want to read a passage first.
(11:08):
Ephesians 4:22, you were taught.
With regard to your former life to put off your
old self, stop doing sinful things.
Which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires to be
made new in the attitude of your minds.
To put on the new self, which is active, doing something,
(11:29):
created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. So,
The Christian life is all about not doing stuff, but
it's also about doing stuff. And so Paul gives us
equates it like getting dressed. You take clothes off.
But don't just walk around naked, put clothes on. Take
(11:50):
off ungodly clothes, put on godly clothes. And this is,
this is the piece, this is the active piece we're
talking about. Last week, we talked about focus, we talked
about not going there, but now, what do you do?
What are the action steps that you can take, and
this becomes now.
The focus.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
You're listening to Kwave's Pastor Spotlight featuring the Bible teaching
ministry of Doctor Mark Ambrose, senior pastor of Pacific Coast
Church in San Clemente. To learn more about PCC, visit
Pacific CoastChurch.org. And now let's continue with today's study in
Matthew chapter 6.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
So we see this in our kids. We don't just say, uh,
don't be afraid of the dark, don't be afraid of
the dark. What do you do in the room? You
flip on the light. Well, there's a boogeyman in the closet. Well,
let's open the closet. You shine light on stuff and
do things differently.
It's no different with us. When we think there's a rat,
it's time to shine light on it.
(12:52):
And do something differently rather than obsess over rats.
So the scripture doesn't really talk about what righteousness is,
but let me give you 3.
It's not exhaustive. It's extra credit. Take it, write it down,
free of charge.
(13:13):
Cause I don't know what you're freaking out about today.
Maybe something's really got you going.
Whatever that is,
Stop the mulling
And stop the start the doing.
One direction and we'll talk about this next week, but
I'll just kind of throw it out there now. It
comes from Philippians 4:6. Do not be anxious about anything.
(13:36):
There's the command again, so you have a choice. But
in everything, here's the action step. By prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God.
So prayer is an action step in righteousness.
Another one, Proverbs 15 12:15.
The way of the fool is right in his own eyes,
but a wise man listens to advice.
(13:59):
Sometimes it's gonna be important that you get counsel because
the mind can just keep going and and you need counsel,
you need godly counsel, godly input to stop it.
So prayer, counsel, that's why at the end of service,
we have prayer partners here at the front of the stage. Why?
(14:21):
Because it's an action step.
Of righteousness and to do and to, and we'll get
insight from God in our prayer time. It'll allow us
to hear other people pray and, and, and then maybe
even there's some council there that takes place. And then
the third one, Psalm 1:1, Blessed is a man who
walks not in the council of the wicked nor stands
in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat
(14:42):
of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of
the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
Open God's word.
Read his word, meditate his on his word, make note
cards of his word, post them where you live on
your mirror in your bathroom, on, on your counter, on whatever,
(15:05):
on your dashboard.
The truth of God's word can adjust us, can change us.
Hebrews talks about it's living and active and sharper than
any two-edged sword, and it, and it gets into our soul.
So prayer, counsel, God's word.
When we talk about stepping into godly obedience, maybe there's
some other things.
(15:26):
And, and there are, and I, and I would just
highlight that there are some other things that are healthy.
The world
We do things like, ah, cognitive therapy. Nothing wrong with that.
Training yourself how to think, understanding the connection between our
physical body and our mental capacity, and changing the way
(15:48):
you think. There's somatic exercises.
That can help bring relief.
There's going for a walk, going for a run.
But the benefit as Christians is we have more than
that because we have God, we have prayer, and we
have His word. Paul told Timothy, physical is of some value,
(16:10):
so I would say step into that stuff too.
But you're a Christian and so you have an advantage. OK.
How are we doing?
We're thinking, I know we're thinking a lot. Last verse.
Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow. Another command, for
(16:31):
tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Interesting. He gives it
like a personality.
Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
So Jesus is dealing with a future perspective versus in
the moment.
Now when you really unpack anxiety.
(16:54):
It's always about the future. If you really think what
you're anxious about today, it's anxious about what's going to happen.
That could be this afternoon, could be tomorrow, it could
be a month from now. It could relate to an appointment.
It could relate to an encounter. Who knows what it is,
but it's always out there somewhere, and Jesus is highlighting
(17:17):
that truth that don't go out there.
Stay here.
How to find relief during anxious times. #2. Practice keeping
a 1 day perspective.
Practice keeping a one day.
Perspective. We try to anticipate.
(17:39):
Project, prepare, predict.
We like 5-year plans, we like 3-year plans, we like
2-year plans. None of those are bad in and of themselves.
None of those are wrong in and of themselves, but
if you're an anxious person, your projections will be anxiety-driven.
(18:05):
Because you want plans because they bring some sense of control,
but it's not true. Nobody knows what's going to happen
in 5 years, 3 years, 2 years, but at least
you've given it thought, and, and it's usually about things
that we can get anxious about. When you think about it,
you don't have a 5 year plan for birthday parties.
You figure them out in the moment. You don't have
(18:25):
a five-year plan for family meals.
It's like, what are we gonna eat tonight?
But you have a 5-year plan over your finances.
You have a 5 year plan over whatever the things
that can be anxiety driven. But if you're an anxious thinker,
then it's gonna be all negative and it's gonna be
a woe is me and Jesus is like, don't go there,
(18:47):
stay here. You don't know about tomorrow anyway. You think
you do but you don't. You wanna think you do,
you don't. You wanna plan for it, but you don't.
So stay right here.
This would be a huge challenge for South Orange County,
I'd say.
Cause the world trained you for that.
Projections, annual reports, anticipations. That's how you meet goals.
(19:13):
You just got to be careful.
Because the anxious peace will kick in.
Don't forget that's our topic. So this isn't a, a
statement against stuff. But if you notice the whole kind
of focus against or with the Christian life is this, right?
The Lord's prayer, which I was gonna refer to. I'll
just refer to it now. Matthew 6:11, our Father in heaven,
(19:35):
hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, Your will be
done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us
this day our daily bread.
Not gonna worry about tomorrow. Does that mean you flake out? No.
It just means you're not gonna worry about tomorrow. You're
not gonna worry about tomorrow. You're gonna think about tomorrow,
(19:56):
but you're not gonna worry about tomorrow. And then if
you're finding yourself, you're gonna worry about tomorrow, then don't
think about tomorrow.
We love this verse, and it's true, and it should
be encouraging, but notice the time frame. Lamentations 3:23. Jeremiah
was lamenting over Jerusalem, etc. The steadfast love of our
Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end.
(20:18):
They are new every morning, every morning, not every week.
Not every month.
Not every year
Every morning, daily.
Mm.
And it's hard. This is a hard one.
It's not logical though. You can't eat for 2 days,
(20:41):
you can't dress for 2 days, you can't shower for
2 days. You can't live 2 days at the same time.
You can only be here and now.
And some things we don't want to. I, I like
to ask this question a lot of people and it's
it's intriguing for me to get the answers and explore
and all that.
Let me ask you the question.
(21:02):
If you could
Would you want to know the day when you will die?
Not how you will die.
Would you want to know? Most people say no.
Then why do you want to know about tomorrow?
Or the next month or the next year, why aren't
you consistent and you're not knowing?
(21:23):
Kind of interesting.
Now, let me ask it a different way. This is
kind of interesting.
How many of you like surprises?
And you'll find that you need a little more information.
Well, is it a good surprise? Then I like it.
If not, in other words, I want to control my surprises. Oh.
(21:46):
Yet
You want your death to be a surprise.
Which is the ultimate, right?
You don't know.
Cause I found that people like surprises, they don't need
a qualification. I love surprises, prizes are great. Odds are
you don't struggle with anxiety.
Because you just bring it on, love surprises, positive ***.
(22:07):
I ain't worrying about it.
So here's where I think the crux of this is,
and it really comes down to Romans 12:2, which actually
Oscar was talking about for the men's breakfast.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed
by the renewal of your mind.
That by testing you may discern.
(22:30):
What is the will of God? What is good and
acceptable and perfect.
We've developed over time, since being youth, a way of thinking.
Patterns
kind of liken them to a, a vinyl record. We
got grooves.
That have been there.
(22:50):
that have been developed over time.
Defaults, however you want to describe them. Now we're talking
about when they get dysfunctional, or maybe they started out
with trauma and they became survival.
That now we have to renew our minds. We gotta,
(23:11):
we gotta put in new grooves cause the ones that
we have aren't healthy.
In fact, they're being destructive.
That doesn't happen overnight.
Just like the original grooves didn't happen overnight.
So I want to encourage you
Be patient with yourself. You can be anxious over the results.
(23:34):
I'm trying this stuff and it still hasn't worked.
And so you're anxious over something that's not immediately taking place.
You gotta be patient with yourself. That's why I use
the word practice very specifically. This takes practice. And think
about it, to be good at anything that you're not
good at takes practice to be good.
If you're terrible at pickle ball,
(23:57):
It's gonna take you a while to be good.
If you're struggling with anxiety, it's gonna take a while.
To not be anxious.
But we have to be intentional. We have to practice.
We have to renew our mind.
Some of this will feel like you're going against the grain.
But keep going because the grain and the groove.
(24:20):
Isn't healthy.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
There's so much more to that passage than just Matthew
chapter 6 verse 33, isn't there? Doctor Mark Ambrose brings
today's study titled How to Find Relief During Anxious Times
Part 2 to a close here on Pastor Spotlight. Doctor
Mark Ambrose will be back tomorrow as he continues on
the same theme from the Gospel of Matthew, so we
(24:43):
invite you to be here with us at the same
time tomorrow. You know, you and your family are invited
to join Pastor Mark at Pacific Coast Church.
Next Sunday morning PCC is conveniently located at 2651 Calle
Frontera in San Clemente. Sunday morning worship service times are
at 8:30 and 10:00 a.m. Pacific Coast Church is here
to help everyone know and follow Jesus in an honest
(25:06):
and transparent way. Their mission is to reach people for Jesus,
grow followers of Jesus, and connect together in Jesus. At
PCC you'll find a safe place to pursue.
Jesus, no matter where you are on your spiritual journey,
for all the ladies, the gathering at Pacific Coast Church
is their Friday morning topical based study for women. The
(25:26):
gathering is for women of all ages and life stages.
It'll be starting back up on Friday, January 31st, and
when they do, they'll be learning together as they study
author Kelly Minter's Esther study. To learn more about the
gathering for women on Fridays at PCC, go to Pacific CoastChurch.org/women.
And we invite you to join us right here at
the same time tomorrow for another time of growing in
(25:49):
the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ right here on
Pastor Spotlight, we'll feature more from the Bible teaching ministry
of Doctor Mark Ambrose, senior pastor of Pacific Coast Church
in San Clemente. We hope you'll join us. Pastor Spotlight
is a production of Kwave Radio sharing life, delivering truth,
giving hope.
Welcome to K Waves Pastor Spotlight featuring the Bible teaching
of our local Southern California pastors. This week we're pleased
to bring you the Bible teaching ministry of Doctor Mark Ambrose,
senior pastor of Pacific Coast Church, where Mark has been
the pastor for 30 years. Pacific Coast Church has been
a vital part of the San Clemente community for over
(00:20):
60 years, reaching multiple generations for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
A few decades ago, a popular recording artist had a
hit song with the encouraging title Don't Worry Be Happy
and biblically speaking, you know, he was right. Today on
Pastor Spotlight, Dr. Mark Ambrose takes us to Matthew's Gospel
chapter 6 to show us the saviors Jesus Christ's commands
(00:43):
for showing us what to do instead of worrying as
we learn more about how to find relief during anxious times.
Here's Doctor Ambrose with part two of his study.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
We clearly live in anxious at times.
There's a lot of things to be triggered about. There's
a lot of things to be concerned about. There's a
lot of things to fear and worry about, and there's
a lot of things to be anxious about. But Jesus
gives us some guidelines.
on walking through this and, and, and making sure that
we walk through it in a way that's not only
(01:16):
Biblical, but it's stabilizing. It's regulation, it's equilibrium, however, again,
the terms you want to use what you're going through.
Now we're studying the sermon on the Mount. This is
where the topic comes up. Jesus deals with it directly.
He's talking about money, but then in talking about money,
he immediately goes into anxious thinking because the audience he
(01:39):
was speaking to were anxious people.
What are we gonna eat? What are we gonna drink?
What are we gonna wear? Hand to mouth. Call it poor.
So I just want to review a few verses here
that if you weren't here, you'll see the context. If
you were, it'll remind you what we talked about. So
we began our discussion in verse 25. Therefore, I tell you,
(02:00):
this is Jesus speaking.
Do not be anxious about your life. What you will
eat or what you will drink, nor your body, what
you will put on is not life more than food
and body, more than clothing.
And we kind of pause there without getting into the
the clothing and food and and all that. We, we
(02:20):
kind of pause there to, to, to look at the obvious,
but it's not so obvious when you're struggling.
And that's Jesus gave a command to his audience. Do
not be anxious.
It's not the first command either. We'll see later when
we read, he gives it again. And then later he
gives it again. Implication, we have a choice in the matter.
(02:45):
When it comes to our anxiety, we have a choice
whether to be anxious or not. And that, that.
May just as a standalone truth feel like the furthest
thing from the truth.
Because when our anxiety, and especially if you're one of
those that struggles here this morning, you're thinking you don't
got a choice in the matter, man. You just got
to survive it.
I can't just turn it off and say, nope.
(03:09):
Well, maybe you can't.
At this point
But here's the deal, it progresses.
So, uh, an, an anxious thought, a normal concern can fester.
And turn into anxiety if not properly dealt with, if
(03:32):
not properly addressed in the beginning. Now, if you don't
address it, then it can get worse. And if you
don't address it, it can get worse. And then years
of this can turn to actually into a medical condition
that needs to be medicated called GAD, generalized anxiety disorder.
But you just didn't wake up with that.
(03:53):
It's a progression. So it's important to know that yes,
if Jesus says we don't do it, that means we
do have the capacity to not do it.
That's important because a lot of times when we think
of anxiety we think it comes at us and we
have no control. You actually do. We'll talk about that
more in a second.
(04:13):
Continue by way of review.
Look at the birds of the air, Jesus says, they
neither sow nor weep nor gather in barns, and yet
your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more
value than they, and which of you by being anxious
can add a single hour to his lifespan?
In other words, it didn't help in anything.
(04:36):
Because if anxiety solve problems, then you wouldn't be anxious
by definition. The problem would be over.
It's kind of this
Cycle
And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies
of field, how they grow, they neither toil nor spin.
Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these. But if God
(04:57):
so closed the graph of the field, which today is
alive and tomorrow it's thrown into the fire, it turns brown.
Will he not much more clothe you of you of
little faith.
So it's not so much now, your ability to say no,
it requires a focus.
(05:19):
In other words, he's dealing with faith, and he's highlighting
how your faith is in the here and now. Your
faith is in the immediate. Your faith sees something lacking,
so you're projecting forward, and he's saying, don't forget God's
in the equation.
And look at what God does for birds and, you know,
(05:40):
flowers and how he takes care of them. Aren't you
way more important to them? In other words, shift your
thinking from this, oh no, it's never back to God.
And that was our second point last week, how to
find relief during anxious times, refocus on God for stability.
This is about paying attention to your thoughts, bringing them captive.
(06:00):
We unpack that self talk of God's truth in your life.
We unpack that. So that's the context. And then we
keep reading verse 31. Therefore, Jesus said, do not be anxious.
Not the command again.
Saying, what shall we eat? What shall we drink, or
what shall we wear. For the Gentiles seek after all
(06:22):
these things, who are Gentiles.
Non-believers.
And your heavenly Father knows you need them all, need what? Food, drink, lodging, clothing,
roof over your head. But seek first, there's the priority.
The kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these
things will be added to you. All these things, what? Food, clothing,
(06:45):
roof over your head. So there's a promise there.
There's also an order of urgency there. When you're triggered
in your worry, your your fear, your anxious thinking, don't
first seek.
And fill in the blanks, what we do to medicate.
And we have our coping mechanisms that often aren't healthy
(07:08):
and will lead to even more anxiety said seek first,
so it's an order. Turn to God. We talked about
that last week.
And his kingdom, keep your focus on God and the
truth of God. God's not about just here and now.
He's about eternity. It's a broader perspective, cause what happens
when we're anxious, our focus goes into this little myopic
(07:29):
little locket photo and we start focusing and obsessing on
things that aren't real, and he's saying, no, get back
and see the whole picture, cause there's a bigger picture
here and God's involved in painting this picture here. And
the more you focus on the bigger picture, the less
it's kind of like,
I could give a lot of examples, but what is
(07:50):
it that we like to go out on the balcony
of a hotel and look at an ocean view?
Or trade that for just going into the corner of
a room and staring in the corner of a wall.
What's gonna happen after a while? You don't look at
that wall and you're not going, oh, this is beautiful.
(08:11):
There's tension there.
There's, there's friction there.
And what happens over time is it gets worse and
worse and worse. Come out, look at the broad view,
and the ocean is real, it's here and it gives
you a perspective. So so much of this is perspective.
An adjusting perspective, but then there's actions to be taken.
(08:34):
And this is what Jesus is highlighting. He says, seek
first the kingdom of God, OK, refocus on, on God.
But he says,
And his righteousness. Now, what does that mean?
To be righteous means you're doing something. It means you're, you're,
you're stepping forward and doing something in, in a behavioral way.
(08:57):
It's just not, not doing something. So here's his summary.
He's saying, look,
The Gentiles don't have a God perspective. They don't have
the opportunities you have as followers of me to see
a bigger picture. They're limited.
To the latest news report. They're limited to the latest
event that took place. They're limited to the, the only
(09:20):
ideas they can conjure up. You believers.
Have a broader perspective where you can place your faith,
not in the here and now, but in the eternal.
You have a broader perspective because you have the guidance
of God and His Holy Spirit. You have the broader
perspective of His word, who trains us in
(09:43):
Righteousness scripture talks about in Timothy.
Remember Jesus said, go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of Father, Son, and the
Holy Spirit, and teach them to.
Obey
All I've commanded
And then this is, so this is really making the
distinction between being passive.
(10:06):
In how you respond to anxiety or being active. I
put it this way, number one, how to find relief
during anxious times, step into godly obedience.
Step into by godly obedience.
Anxiety is a mental state.
That can be super powerful.
(10:27):
And immobilize you.
If you're not careful.
Kind of like a car with your foot on the
gas and the brake at the same time and just
pushing them down.
And Jesus is saying, don't stay there, put it into
gear and move forward.
(10:47):
In righteousness.
In what I want you to do.
And that's a healthy perspective just in general.
Remember Jesus said a little earlier, he gave the Lord's prayer.
Remember how that begins.
Sorry, I'm not going there.
I want to read a passage first.
(11:08):
Ephesians 4:22, you were taught.
With regard to your former life to put off your
old self, stop doing sinful things.
Which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires to be
made new in the attitude of your minds.
To put on the new self, which is active, doing something,
(11:29):
created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. So,
The Christian life is all about not doing stuff, but
it's also about doing stuff. And so Paul gives us
equates it like getting dressed. You take clothes off.
But don't just walk around naked, put clothes on. Take
(11:50):
off ungodly clothes, put on godly clothes. And this is,
this is the piece, this is the active piece we're
talking about. Last week, we talked about focus, we talked
about not going there, but now, what do you do?
What are the action steps that you can take, and
this becomes now.
The focus.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
You're listening to Kwave's Pastor Spotlight featuring the Bible teaching
ministry of Doctor Mark Ambrose, senior pastor of Pacific Coast
Church in San Clemente. To learn more about PCC, visit
Pacific CoastChurch.org. And now let's continue with today's study in
Matthew chapter 6.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
So we see this in our kids. We don't just say, uh,
don't be afraid of the dark, don't be afraid of
the dark. What do you do in the room? You
flip on the light. Well, there's a boogeyman in the closet. Well,
let's open the closet. You shine light on stuff and
do things differently.
It's no different with us. When we think there's a rat,
it's time to shine light on it.
(12:52):
And do something differently rather than obsess over rats.
So the scripture doesn't really talk about what righteousness is,
but let me give you 3.
It's not exhaustive. It's extra credit. Take it, write it down,
free of charge.
(13:13):
Cause I don't know what you're freaking out about today.
Maybe something's really got you going.
Whatever that is,
Stop the mulling
And stop the start the doing.
One direction and we'll talk about this next week, but
I'll just kind of throw it out there now. It
comes from Philippians 4:6. Do not be anxious about anything.
(13:36):
There's the command again, so you have a choice. But
in everything, here's the action step. By prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God.
So prayer is an action step in righteousness.
Another one, Proverbs 15 12:15.
The way of the fool is right in his own eyes,
but a wise man listens to advice.
(13:59):
Sometimes it's gonna be important that you get counsel because
the mind can just keep going and and you need counsel,
you need godly counsel, godly input to stop it.
So prayer, counsel, that's why at the end of service,
we have prayer partners here at the front of the stage. Why?
(14:21):
Because it's an action step.
Of righteousness and to do and to, and we'll get
insight from God in our prayer time. It'll allow us
to hear other people pray and, and, and then maybe
even there's some council there that takes place. And then
the third one, Psalm 1:1, Blessed is a man who
walks not in the council of the wicked nor stands
in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat
(14:42):
of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of
the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
Open God's word.
Read his word, meditate his on his word, make note
cards of his word, post them where you live on
your mirror in your bathroom, on, on your counter, on whatever,
(15:05):
on your dashboard.
The truth of God's word can adjust us, can change us.
Hebrews talks about it's living and active and sharper than
any two-edged sword, and it, and it gets into our soul.
So prayer, counsel, God's word.
When we talk about stepping into godly obedience, maybe there's
some other things.
(15:26):
And, and there are, and I, and I would just
highlight that there are some other things that are healthy.
The world
We do things like, ah, cognitive therapy. Nothing wrong with that.
Training yourself how to think, understanding the connection between our
physical body and our mental capacity, and changing the way
(15:48):
you think. There's somatic exercises.
That can help bring relief.
There's going for a walk, going for a run.
But the benefit as Christians is we have more than
that because we have God, we have prayer, and we
have His word. Paul told Timothy, physical is of some value,
(16:10):
so I would say step into that stuff too.
But you're a Christian and so you have an advantage. OK.
How are we doing?
We're thinking, I know we're thinking a lot. Last verse.
Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow. Another command, for
(16:31):
tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Interesting. He gives it
like a personality.
Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
So Jesus is dealing with a future perspective versus in
the moment.
Now when you really unpack anxiety.
(16:54):
It's always about the future. If you really think what
you're anxious about today, it's anxious about what's going to happen.
That could be this afternoon, could be tomorrow, it could
be a month from now. It could relate to an appointment.
It could relate to an encounter. Who knows what it is,
but it's always out there somewhere, and Jesus is highlighting
(17:17):
that truth that don't go out there.
Stay here.
How to find relief during anxious times. #2. Practice keeping
a 1 day perspective.
Practice keeping a one day.
Perspective. We try to anticipate.
(17:39):
Project, prepare, predict.
We like 5-year plans, we like 3-year plans, we like
2-year plans. None of those are bad in and of themselves.
None of those are wrong in and of themselves, but
if you're an anxious person, your projections will be anxiety-driven.
(18:05):
Because you want plans because they bring some sense of control,
but it's not true. Nobody knows what's going to happen
in 5 years, 3 years, 2 years, but at least
you've given it thought, and, and it's usually about things
that we can get anxious about. When you think about it,
you don't have a 5 year plan for birthday parties.
You figure them out in the moment. You don't have
(18:25):
a five-year plan for family meals.
It's like, what are we gonna eat tonight?
But you have a 5-year plan over your finances.
You have a 5 year plan over whatever the things
that can be anxiety driven. But if you're an anxious thinker,
then it's gonna be all negative and it's gonna be
a woe is me and Jesus is like, don't go there,
(18:47):
stay here. You don't know about tomorrow anyway. You think
you do but you don't. You wanna think you do,
you don't. You wanna plan for it, but you don't.
So stay right here.
This would be a huge challenge for South Orange County,
I'd say.
Cause the world trained you for that.
Projections, annual reports, anticipations. That's how you meet goals.
(19:13):
You just got to be careful.
Because the anxious peace will kick in.
Don't forget that's our topic. So this isn't a, a
statement against stuff. But if you notice the whole kind
of focus against or with the Christian life is this, right?
The Lord's prayer, which I was gonna refer to. I'll
just refer to it now. Matthew 6:11, our Father in heaven,
(19:35):
hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, Your will be
done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us
this day our daily bread.
Not gonna worry about tomorrow. Does that mean you flake out? No.
It just means you're not gonna worry about tomorrow. You're
not gonna worry about tomorrow. You're gonna think about tomorrow,
(19:56):
but you're not gonna worry about tomorrow. And then if
you're finding yourself, you're gonna worry about tomorrow, then don't
think about tomorrow.
We love this verse, and it's true, and it should
be encouraging, but notice the time frame. Lamentations 3:23. Jeremiah
was lamenting over Jerusalem, etc. The steadfast love of our
Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end.
(20:18):
They are new every morning, every morning, not every week.
Not every month.
Not every year
Every morning, daily.
Mm.
And it's hard. This is a hard one.
It's not logical though. You can't eat for 2 days,
(20:41):
you can't dress for 2 days, you can't shower for
2 days. You can't live 2 days at the same time.
You can only be here and now.
And some things we don't want to. I, I like
to ask this question a lot of people and it's
it's intriguing for me to get the answers and explore
and all that.
Let me ask you the question.
(21:02):
If you could
Would you want to know the day when you will die?
Not how you will die.
Would you want to know? Most people say no.
Then why do you want to know about tomorrow?
Or the next month or the next year, why aren't
you consistent and you're not knowing?
(21:23):
Kind of interesting.
Now, let me ask it a different way. This is
kind of interesting.
How many of you like surprises?
And you'll find that you need a little more information.
Well, is it a good surprise? Then I like it.
If not, in other words, I want to control my surprises. Oh.
(21:46):
Yet
You want your death to be a surprise.
Which is the ultimate, right?
You don't know.
Cause I found that people like surprises, they don't need
a qualification. I love surprises, prizes are great. Odds are
you don't struggle with anxiety.
Because you just bring it on, love surprises, positive ***.
(22:07):
I ain't worrying about it.
So here's where I think the crux of this is,
and it really comes down to Romans 12:2, which actually
Oscar was talking about for the men's breakfast.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed
by the renewal of your mind.
That by testing you may discern.
(22:30):
What is the will of God? What is good and
acceptable and perfect.
We've developed over time, since being youth, a way of thinking.
Patterns
kind of liken them to a, a vinyl record. We
got grooves.
That have been there.
(22:50):
that have been developed over time.
Defaults, however you want to describe them. Now we're talking
about when they get dysfunctional, or maybe they started out
with trauma and they became survival.
That now we have to renew our minds. We gotta,
(23:11):
we gotta put in new grooves cause the ones that
we have aren't healthy.
In fact, they're being destructive.
That doesn't happen overnight.
Just like the original grooves didn't happen overnight.
So I want to encourage you
Be patient with yourself. You can be anxious over the results.
(23:34):
I'm trying this stuff and it still hasn't worked.
And so you're anxious over something that's not immediately taking place.
You gotta be patient with yourself. That's why I use
the word practice very specifically. This takes practice. And think
about it, to be good at anything that you're not
good at takes practice to be good.
If you're terrible at pickle ball,
(23:57):
It's gonna take you a while to be good.
If you're struggling with anxiety, it's gonna take a while.
To not be anxious.
But we have to be intentional. We have to practice.
We have to renew our mind.
Some of this will feel like you're going against the grain.
But keep going because the grain and the groove.
(24:20):
Isn't healthy.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
There's so much more to that passage than just Matthew
chapter 6 verse 33, isn't there? Doctor Mark Ambrose brings
today's study titled How to Find Relief During Anxious Times
Part 2 to a close here on Pastor Spotlight. Doctor
Mark Ambrose will be back tomorrow as he continues on
the same theme from the Gospel of Matthew, so we
(24:43):
invite you to be here with us at the same
time tomorrow. You know, you and your family are invited
to join Pastor Mark at Pacific Coast Church.
Next Sunday morning PCC is conveniently located at 2651 Calle
Frontera in San Clemente. Sunday morning worship service times are
at 8:30 and 10:00 a.m. Pacific Coast Church is here
to help everyone know and follow Jesus in an honest
(25:06):
and transparent way. Their mission is to reach people for Jesus,
grow followers of Jesus, and connect together in Jesus. At
PCC you'll find a safe place to pursue.
Jesus, no matter where you are on your spiritual journey,
for all the ladies, the gathering at Pacific Coast Church
is their Friday morning topical based study for women. The
(25:26):
gathering is for women of all ages and life stages.
It'll be starting back up on Friday, January 31st, and
when they do, they'll be learning together as they study
author Kelly Minter's Esther study. To learn more about the
gathering for women on Fridays at PCC, go to Pacific CoastChurch.org/women.
And we invite you to join us right here at
the same time tomorrow for another time of growing in
(25:49):
the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ right here on
Pastor Spotlight, we'll feature more from the Bible teaching ministry
of Doctor Mark Ambrose, senior pastor of Pacific Coast Church
in San Clemente. We hope you'll join us. Pastor Spotlight
is a production of Kwave Radio sharing life, delivering truth,
giving hope.
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