The Root Cause of Anxiety — Shane Idleman

And we are in the book of Matthew. Turn to chapter 6, verse 25. And you'll see the title there of the message, The Root Cause of Anxiety. And what I want to do tonight is get to the root cause of anxiety.

The Anxiety and Fear Affecting Society

How many of us want a sermon on that? Anxiety, fear, hello? Nobody even wants to go to LAX airport anymore. And then of course, we see on there that he was on the internet reading about the New World Order and he has it against the TSA and comes with a gun and just a mess.

What is creating all this anxiety and fear in people? Because the Bible tells us, fear not, worry not. So let's talk about that for a minute. Now, first though, you know, right, that worry is a normal reaction to stress.

Worry is a normal reaction to stress, which is a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from a very demanding circumstance. And I've actually had a few of those this week in preparing for this sermon.

One of the things is we got a letter in the mail stating we can no longer have our health insurance. Good old, well, I won't go there. So, you know, now we're $400 a month and the closest plan as we looked was about 1800 a month.

So we're definitely calling and looking to place some money but that came, supplemental tax bill in the mail and all that, it's like, oh my goodness, what is going on? Of course, I'm preparing a sermon on worry and anxiety and all these things.

But what happens is our environment or external factors or medical factors, substance abuse, of course, brain chemistry, you know, all these different things work actually against us in fostering anxiety and fear and it's funny that we live in the most blessed nation on the planet.

We live in castles, just look around the world. We are so blessed here but why are we so anxious? So let's talk about the root cause of anxiety and what I'm trying not to do in the sermon, I'm not dismissing, I'm not dismissing the deep emotional pain that we can feel if you've had panic attacks or anxiety attacks or I'm not dismissing any of that.

What I'm trying to do is remind us that God makes provision for all of our needs. Scripture is very clear on these issues and that's what I wanna talk about tonight. I wanna talk about the self-inflicted anxiety or the self-inflicted worry.

Do you know a lot of our issues are self-inflicted? You've heard that term self-inflicted gunshot wound? Had the .357 a little bit too close to the leg here and wasn't on safety and accidentally the trigger went off and right into his foot.

Happened to a friend of mine, self-inflicted. And what's happening a lot of times with worry, with anxiety, with fear, we bring a lot of this onto ourselves. Not everything, please don't misunderstand.

I don't want you leaving here thinking you should never be depressed or anxious or fearful because those are normal human emotions that occur. But what do we do with those? Now the context, we're gonna pick up in Matthew chapter six but the context, you remember from last week, no one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he'll be loyal to one and despise the other.

You cannot serve both God and the God of this world. It's my paraphrase. And what was he talking about there? You cannot, your affections, your resources, your time, your feelings, everything, trying to serve two gods.

You know, I love the God of this world and I'm serving the God of this world and I love the things of the world but the real living true God is pulling me back and I serve this master. I serve him on, well, it's Saturday or Sunday.

I serve him and I want to serve him but this other master keeps pulling me back, pulling me back. Remember how we talked about that last week? And we've got this internal struggle pulling us between two masters.

Serving God Rather Than the World

So Jesus said, listen, let's settle the score right now. Let's get the record straight. This is where the rubber meets the road. You cannot serve both of them. And what happens is when we try, what obviously happens is we don't serve God with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our mind and with all of our strength.

We just don't. We are led in this direction. So once Jesus says that, then he uses the word therefore. And what have we learned? Anytime that word therefore is there, you ask what's it there for? So context is the two masters.

Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body or what you put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not more valuable than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubic to his stature? Now when I was reading this, what really jumped out right at the beginning was this, therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life.

And I thought if Jesus is telling me not to worry, that must imply by the very statement that he made that we have the ability not to worry. Or do we worry by default? We have to worry. We always have to be anxious and fearful.

We have to, or as Jesus say, listen, don't worry. Don't worry about these things because what we learned also, that the battlefield is right here. The wars we wager right here. And Jesus is saying, listen, do not worry.

And then also many of you have studied the last sentence before I know we've talked about it. Which of you by worrying can add one cubic to his stature? Well, you know what a cubic is? Measurement and to the height and, well, is he really saying that?

Maybe, but if you look at the Greek and you look at commentaries, it could denote the meaning of worry is not productive. You will not mature. You will not add anything to your life by worrying. You can't mature in the faith.

You can't mature. You can't grow. You can't add anything into your life by worrying. And all of us are saying, yeah, that's great, Shane. I know, I know, wonderful, but tell me how? Well, let's get there.

Let's talk about this. So why do you worry about clothing? Verse 28, consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. And yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all of his glory, even Solomon was not arrayed like one of these.

Now, if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you? Oh, you of little faith. So I'm starting to make a connection here.

Don't worry, which implies that I can stop the process. And somehow my faith is involved. If I'm lacking faith, that's somehow linked to worry. Are you making that connection yet? Jesus is going through this.

Verse 31, therefore do not worry, saying what shall I eat and what shall we drink or what shall we wear for all these things the Gentiles seek. Basically, all these things unbelievers seek. And we are to look different.

Are we not as Christians, there's a distinction, there's a difference. We don't look like the world. We shouldn't worry about the same things and get on this fear factor. And we're so anxious, we're so worried, and we look just like the world.

Verse 32, for after all these things the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.

Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Now this is interesting. Jesus doesn't always remove trouble. Sometimes we forget that.

And there's been a lot of damage done to the gospel by saying just come to Jesus, you'll be happy, you'll be healthy, you'll be wealthy, all your problems will disappear. Just try Him out. Would you just try Him out?

And then what happens? Sure, I'll try Him out. And He obviously lets us down because we go through things. But what I've noticed is He doesn't necessarily, although He protects us and guides us and shelters us, sometimes He lets us walk through the furnace of affliction.

He walks through that with us. So as we're going through some things, it's not that we always avoid this and avoid that. Sometimes we go through it. We go through the difficult times, but He holds us.

He's there to guide us and lead us. That's the true sense of a shepherd. Is it not there with the sheep, guiding them and directing them? So let's talk about three areas from this text. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

Worry Begins in the Mind and Reveals Faith

Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? So worry is born in the mind. This is where it starts. Images and emotions of a negative nature in which mental attempts are made to avoid anticipated potential threats.

So here's what worry is. Uh-oh, I can see where this is going. This is a potential threat. I better make some adjustments. I better make some this. Because here it comes. Here comes the bad news. And we worry and we worry.

So it's all up here. This is where the focus has to be is on Christ and seeking first the kingdom of God. Because all of us can get caught up on worrying financially, relationally. You fill in the blanks.

Everything. We can worry about everything. And do you know that most of the things that people worry about never happen? I mean, they've done, I think it was somewhere like 90 of everything we worry about doesn't even happen.

And the other stuff that does happen, guess what? We get right through it. Now if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you?

Oh, you of little faith. So worry we see is linked to a lack of faith. And I like what R .C. Sproul said. It's on your bulletin. Most Christians salute the sovereignty of God but believe in the sovereignty of man.

Did you catch that? Most Christians salute the sovereignty of God. Yes, I believe it. I believe it. But we really believe in the sovereignty of man. Because we'll say one things, but our lifestyle reflects something else.

I believe in God, I just don't trust Him. So I have to have a backup plan. I believe in Jesus, but I don't think He's gonna see me through. I think I've gotta pull myself out of this one. And we get worrying caught up.

And I see it's always mental. Worrying is mental. Because you can't, it obviously comes out in the physical, but it's a mental thing that's happening in our mind. When we minimize the sovereignty of God, it will magnify worry.

So as soon as God becomes small, what happens to worry? I mean, what are the main things we're worried about? Finances? Or marriage? Or, I mean, you fill in the blanks. There's a lot of things to worry about.

But if God's got our back, He's got our back. It's that simple. The God who created the heavens and the earth. And we're worried that He might not come through on this. And we might have to move in with somebody.

Or we might have to budget our bills. Or we might have to downsize or sell something. And a lot of times what I've noticed, the reason we're worrying is because we wanna hold on and keep serving that master.

Is it not? Because somebody who's truly following the sovereignty of God, Lord, I trust you. I give you everything. Come hell or high water, I'm gonna follow Him. Now, of course, that's easier said than done.

I live in the real world as well. But when things happen to our lives, we can say, okay, God, you've got this. You're in control. Your sovereign plans will prevail. And there's trust in that. What happens, I worry when I don't think He's gonna come through.

I don't think He knows how bad it is. I'm worried, doesn't He know this? And doesn't He know that? And this problem and that? Yes, He knows all of that. But it starts up here. Look to Him, not the problem.

Don't give up, look up. You know that old saying? And it's like, well, that's pretty simple. But it's true. We have to look up and refocus our mind. The battlefield is here. If I could get that point across, that would be the biggest point tonight is the battlefield is your mind.

Stop thinking about worrying. Stop thinking about fear. And all we're doing is feeding that. And we're feeding that in our culture today. And then Jesus says, therefore, do not worry. So worry can be controlled and minimized.

If Jesus says, don't worry, that tells me that I have the ability not to worry, right? Or is He mistaken here? But guess what happens at this point? Yeah, Shane, but. You've gotta get those buts out of the way.

Anytime you have to say, yeah, but, we tell somebody, here's what the Bible says. Yeah, but. No, you shouldn't worry. Yeah, but I was raised this way. Yeah, but you don't know my household. You don't know my spouse.

Yeah, but. The obedience is in God's word, not the buts. All but sometimes means is I wanna continue worrying. Yeah, that makes sense. But Jesus said, don't worry. Yeah, but. He's not going through what I went through.

Oh, I don't know. He was beaten. He was put on a cross. He was, no temptation. He went through everything that we suffer with. Times 10, times 100. So He knows that. He knows what we're going through.

Therefore, do not worry. Worry can be controlled and minimized. And here's where I wanna hang my hat for a minute. Romans 12, two. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may discern what is the will of God and what is that good and acceptable and perfect thing.

So Romans tells us, Paul tells us, be not conformed to this world. So how am I conformed to this world, Paul? My mind is being shaped by the culture, all the junk that's in the culture, all the news, all the Hollywood, all that stuff.

Resisting Cultural Influences That Feed Fear

That's why we come out against it. Because if you allow it to, it will conform you. That's why Christians look more like Hollywood than the Holy Spirit. Let that sink in for a minute. Why do most people look just like Hollywood, not like the Holy Spirit?

Because they're being conformed to that image. Sure, they name the name of Christ, but when it comes to what's influencing their mind, what is influencing them? All this junk. And that's why I have such a beef against all this stuff that's out there, is because it is feeding anxiety and feeding fear and feeding all these frenzies that's happening in our culture.

You guys see that, right? It's not just me. We turn on the news, our stress level just jumps. Iran's got a bomb, TSA, shooting here, this, this, this, this. We just walk around paralyzed. It says, don't be paralyzed.

Jesus Christ actually said, don't worry, do business until I return. I can't do business because I'm too scared. I'm too scared of everything. I've gotta hide and I've gotta cower. The government's coming at me.

Everybody's coming at me. Jesus says, don't worry. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Either you believe that or you don't. And I get emails all the time, this is happening, this is great, bring it on, because Christ is still on the throne.

God is still sovereign. He holds the world in the palm of his hand. But we're feeding this stuff, and I've talked to people before with fear and anxiety, and they're like, okay, how's your devotional and prayer life?

You know what happens? I don't have one. But all this grotesque and all these crime scenes and all these movies every single night, well, you might wanna start there. Think about it. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.

You go to bed with murder and chaos and illicit sex, you wonder, why am I so fearful? I don't even, where's God at? I have no time to read, no time to study, no time to pray. Right, because do not be conformed.

You're being conformed and you're being fashioned, you're being shaped by this world. You have no time for God's word, no time for holiness, and that's why you're in many of these situations. Now again, I'm not saying, we're taking a broad brush and painting everybody, oh, it's just because of this.

But I would start there, when somebody tells me that they struggle with fear and anxiety and you look at their mental diet, their mental diet will tell you about their spiritual health. I mean, I can't even watch, I mean, American horror stories and there's girls up in the air levitating with swords through her arms and legs.

People post on Facebook, they're so excited about it. I'm saying, oh my gosh, turn that junk off. No wonder, no wonder you gotta pop pills and you can't get into the word of God and you're so anxious and fearful.

It's because you're feeding a bunch of garbage all night long and all week long. That's just the truth. Be not conformed to this world. Be not conformed. How are you conformed? By opening up your mind to the influence and being entertained by that influence.

If something entertains me, it's influencing me. And all these reports go online, young adults, suicide rate, pandemic, what's the word I'm looking for? Epidemic, fear. All these young adults and teenagers, Prozac, all these things.

Why? I don't know. Why is the big craze now, witches and vampire and the occult? I don't know. They're casting spells. They're not reading scripture. We've gotta wake up. This isn't just some loud pastor upset at Hollywood.

I'm upset at the spiritual condition of the church. And it's just a reflection of our people. We should be the most joyful, loving people. Instead, we're fearful, we're anxious, we're feeding our mind with all this darkness and we wonder what's happening, what's happening.

So we go to a psychiatrist to prescribe a pill when we don't go to this great psychiatrist and say, help me. Now, let me interject again here because I can tell all the emails I'm gonna get. When this radio goes, I'm not saying that you might need something now and then if God is leading you in that direction.

The great physician maybe has other, I don't know, I'm not saying that. But all the people I talk to, well, let me say not say all. My mom told me not to ever say all. I would say 99 .9 of the people I talk to who are fearful and anxious and all these things, they have no prayer life.

They have no devotional life. They're watching a bunch of junk on TV. They have no worship on at their home. Is there a connection there? I don't know. I mean, start there. Start in the word of God. Start worshiping.

I've talked to people even with disorders and all these things and they can't get out of, okay, tell me about your prayer life. I don't have one. I don't want one. I don't know. I would start there. I would start there.

Lord, even when I don't feel like it, yeah, even when you don't feel like it because many times you're not gonna feel like it. The enemy comes in like a flood but the spirit of the Lord raises up a standard against him.

It doesn't feel good to read the word of God sometimes but you press through. I'd rather experience the pain of discipline than the pain of regret. And that's what the human mind is being, in our culture I see so many Christians, especially on Halloween, all this junk and all this garbage, no matter what your view is on it, I'm saying how can darkness entertain the church?

How can darkness entertain when I'm supposed to have the light of the world? All this grotesque and gruesome things, all these images, we're feeding our mind on a nightly basis because the flesh enjoys it.

The spirit is grieved and sitting there saying, no, come back to a loving father. You wanna get rid of fear and anxiety. Turn that garbage off. No, my flesh loves it. And we go back to what Jesus said.

How long will you waver? Elijah said, how long will you waver between two opinions? But Jesus said, how long will you waver between two masters? You cannot serve one and then the other. And maybe it's just me, but I've seen it so much.

I've never talked to somebody with a powerful prayer life, loves the Lord on fire for God, worship in their car, worship at home. They can't get enough of God. They're praying at home, praying with their family.

And then still, if they struggle with something like this, then yes, get some counseling. Maybe there's some medication or something to balance out because I know like insulin in the body, there's brain chemistry issues.

I'm not stupid. I was raised in the health and fitness industry. I know that the body sometimes go as haywire and it's okay to fix that. But we don't, but everybody now seems to run to the pill. First, first, that's the answer.

I'm severely anxious. I'm severely this, I've got to get something. Well, why don't you stop with that 800 milligrams of caffeine from Starbucks? Oh, don't get me started. What we're feeding our body, what we're feeding our mind directly affects our spiritual life.

Renewing the Mind Through Holy Meditation

Flippings 4 -8, uh-oh, here we go. Finally, brethren, whatever things are noble and true and honest and upright, meditate on these things. Can I be upfront and honest right now? Most of what you're feeding your mind right now is not holy, it's not righteous, it's not noble, it's not good, it's not pleasant, it doesn't please God.

If you're hooked on our culture and on Hollywood, on the media, it is pulling you away from God. So you have a choice tonight. I'm also not stupid, I know many of you will leave here and nothing will change, nothing will change.

Oh, that's true, yeah, that's a good point. Nothing will change. Yeah, it's a little frustrating, but it's all right, I'll get over it. But for that small percentage of people tonight who will say, you know what, I've got to make some changes, I've got to lead my family in the fear and admonition of the Lord.

Paul leaves the church in Philippi with these final words. Finally, brethren, whatever things are pure and noble and honest and upright, meditate on these things. There's not a month that goes by that somebody from somewhere in the United States asks me about all these different things, twilight and zombies, and I say, listen, if there's a fascination for witchcraft and the occult and zombies, something's wrong with your heart.

I'll go on record saying that by the word of God, those things should not entertain the church. That's darkness, there's no such thing as good witches and good magic and casting good spells and honoring darkness and the demonic, there's just nothing pleasant about that.

You might not like to hear it, but you need to hear it. Those things do not please God, and allowing those things into our mind and our children at that age, it's inexcusable. It doesn't fit with Scripture.

You can't give me any proof text to support that. Well, you can go to Romans, oh, look, brother, no, you're not to judge another servant. Yeah, I know all that, but when you look at your mental diet if the things don't glorify Christ and they're pulling you away from him and they're demonic at its core and you're watching these things, vampires and zombies and all this gross stuff that should be, ah, it should make you, whoa, my spirit doesn't like that.

There's something wrong here. If it doesn't, then you're dying on the vine spiritually, and that's why you might be suffering with a lot of these things, this darkness and the depression that comes on you because you're fueling your mind.

Taking Every Thought Captive in Spiritual Warfare

There's a spiritual battle, do you realize that? For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. They're not here, we can't see them, but they're mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds and casting down arguments and everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into obedience.

See, I'm supposed to bring my thoughts into obedience. My thoughts are not supposed to bring me into following them. I'm supposed to take my thoughts captive. More on that in just a minute after I got worked up about the media.

It is hard because I'll be honest with you, one of the hardest things, you've heard me talk about this before, and pastoring is not necessarily, you know, funerals are tough and sickness and all these things, but one of the things that really stands out is you see living water, you know, you see living water right here, and people will just not take it.

Take it. Take the living water that Christ spoke of. Dedicate your life, fully surrender everything. Would you just take of this living water? Nope, I don't want it. So they're dying on the vine. Marriages are falling apart.

They're growing distant from God because they don't want what's being offered. And we see this in what's playing out in the media and the news and all these things. All the media and the news and all that Hollywood, all it does is it reflects what's going on in the culture.

It reflects the culture and it influences the culture and it will influence the believer. There's no way around it. So that's why I preach against this is because it doesn't, if something isn't building you up and pulling you towards God, guess what direction it's taking you?

Yeah, it's a no brainer. I went and looked at the top 10, you know, if you take out Duck Dynasty, the top 10 TV shows. And if it's not about illicit sex, homosexuality and darkness and perversion, it's not up there.

It's not even on there. So we go to bed watching these things and thinking, oh, that's gonna bring me closer to Christ when it really quenches and grieves the spirit of God. Finally, brethren, whatever things are pure and noble and honest, meditate on these things.

Now here's the battleground. For though we walk in the flesh, which I said we do not work according to the flesh, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. He goes on to say in 2 Corinthians, bringing every thought into captivity, not allowing your thoughts to take you captive, of which we know.

Now this is an interesting word, casting down arguments. Logamos, I believe it is in the Greek, arguments. It's a heated exchange of conflicting views. If you look up that word, casting down arguments, well, in the Greek language, it's a heated exchange of opposing views.

Light and darkness, good and bad, truth and error, competing. You're this competing force within us, this battle of the mind. Paul says, I'm never free from this conflict. Oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of sin and death?

For with the mind, for with the, did you catch that? For with the mind, I serve the law of God. Paul just said, he goes back and forth, and the things I want to do, I don't do. The things I don't wanna do, I do.

Oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me? Well, I thank God that the battle is here. I submit myself, my mind, I'm casting down arguments, this conflict that's going on in my mind. I take the side of good, not evil.

My mind, I'm not going to allow it to go there. Do you know that all church splits start in the mind? All affairs start in the mind. All arguments start in the mind. Everything starts here. So that's why you've gotta take it captive and say, no, I know what God's word said.

This is not right. Enemy, you will flee. You will have no control over me. Resist the devil, and he has to flee. Casting down arguments. Romans 8, five, what about this? For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh.

Do you wanna know if you live according to the spirit or according to the flesh? What do you set your mind on? Show me your phone, your websites, what you view in the media all day long, what you listen to.

You'll see if you're walking in the spirit or walking in the flesh. It's that simple. Now, if people are convicted right now, it's a good thing. God's saying, listen, get that out of your life. For though we live according to the flesh, oh, I'm sorry, for those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh.

But those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Peace, anxiety, peace, and fear.

Right here, guys. Think about that. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God. You realize that? The carnal mind is at war with God.

So my carnal nature is at war with God. The spirit says, come back, bring me back. My carnal mind says, I'm at war with God. So what do we choose? What master do we choose to obey? What master do we choose to obey?

The carnal mind or the spiritual side? Let me give you some examples. This is what happens. In our minds, here's how this battle plays out. Adultery. It doesn't start with adultery. It starts with this.

This other person makes me feel loved and respected and appreciated. My spouse doesn't. And those thoughts just dwell, and they just rise up daily. Look at how they're treating me. I hate this other person.

Look at how they're, oh, isn't this great? I should have met this one. I think I married the wrong person. Oh, you've never heard that? I just don't love them anymore. Oh, okay, yeah, that's 1 Corinthians 8, 10.

You can divorce because you don't love them anymore. Well, what happens? It's still up here. So every day, this person, I don't love them anymore. They're mean. Why did I, how did I end up in this relationship?

Look at all my other friends on Facebook having such a perfect life. They don't tell you all the bad stuff. They just show you the good stuff. It's all up here. Look at recent studies on what happens and what Facebook does to people.

It actually elevates anxiety and fear and jealousy and bitterness. I get on there, I said, look, everybody's on vacation. Everybody loves their latte. Everybody's going to the gym. Everybody's down by the beach.

Everybody's out by the pool. Everybody's got perfect husbands and perfect wives and perfect kids. They're just praising everything, everything, everything. Look at my life, stinks. It does, I get irritated.

Why, because it's just the perfect things. And where's it starting? Up here. All broken marriages are happening here. I'm sure my wife has felt, I don't love that guy anymore. He's being a jerk. Ask her, I'm sure.

Because we all have, have we not? So if I keep thinking that, she's being mean this week, somebody else is being very nice. I wonder if I married, did I marry the wrong person? What? And then we go back and we play that game.

That's why he says, bring every thought captive. Wrong thought, come back. Wrong thought, come back. You bring it captive, wrong thought, come back. That's what we have, that's bringing that thought captive back to the obedience of Christ.

Everyday Examples of Captive Thoughts and Anxiety

Now here's also what happens on this side. As people are moving towards an affair or divorce court or problems in their marriage, as they're moving, it's not just, it's overnight. It's slipping, one day, one compromise, one bad choice, and they're slipping.

And then guess what comes with this? Fear and anxiety and depression. And then instead of saying, I must be out of God's will, they say, see, if I could break free of this, it would alleviate the fear, anxiety, and depression.

Then they get to the point of no return and all hell breaks loose and it's ugly. Why? Because they didn't bring their minds captive. The thought's captive. Because we all know, should I dwell on these things or should I not?

Next example. Oh, it's the people who are always complaining. Life stinks. The government sucks, life stinks, everybody's out to get me, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Charlie Brown, always so negative, always so negative, all the time.

Every, get around there, so now, can you believe this, can you believe, God, I don't even wanna be around him. Every thought captive, saying, this is not right. We should be thankful. The Bible says, yes, difficult times are coming, but like I said, Jesus says, do business until I return.

Do business until I return. Do not worry. Then if we're not supposed to worry, why are we in fear factor mode? Remember I said earlier this year, our gun safes are full, but our prayer closets are empty.

We have plenty of time for Hannity and O 'Reilly and CNN for you CNN fans and all this stuff, but no time for Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Why, we're feeding that fear frenzy, we're feeding it. And that's what happens on this issue.