Good morning and welcome to real life with Mike and Jason.

Welcome to our first episode of season three.

Pastor Mike, welcome back.

How are you, man?

It feels like I've been gone forever.

It's been no more than two months.

That's like forever.

That is like forever.

It's amazing how quickly time flies.

So as we start off in season three, thank you so much for joining us again.

We really looking forward to just the topic that this season, because it's not anything that just for one, it's not anything that just one person goes through.

It's something that impacts so many people.

And really, I think post Covid, it's just gotten much, much worse.

And so the topic we're talking about this season is all about anxiety and the impact of it just on society and what we see, numbers wise and how do we approach it as a Christian.

And so I think it's secret that anxiety has been on the rise.

And I was looking at some.

As we kicked off, I was just doing some research on just numbers and studies and looking at like a CDC report.

I believe it was said that anxiety, just anxiety disorder, so this would be a diagnosable disorder, has tripled during.

At least tripled during the pandemic.

And those numbers really aren't even that accurate because of how many go unreported.

And so really, what started as a health crisis, specifically with COVID really turned very quickly into a mental and emotional one.

And I think.

Would you agree that the large extent of that.

Obviously we know that this is a spiritual thing, but how big of an impact do you think the lockdowns played just on anxiety specifically?

Man, it's like you said.

How would you even calculate that this is a worldwide issue, not something that's regional or.

It crosses every age bracket, gender, sociological.

Yeah.

Socioeconomic, all of it.

Everything.

Yeah, it's.

I don't think you really could calculate it.

It's astronomical, really.

I don't think it was just the pandemic.

I think we definitely saw it.

That didn't help.

We can guarantee it didn't help.

It.

It did make anxiety, depression.

It made all these mental health issues worse, for sure, because people are isolated, but also just thinking about beyond that or apart from that.

We're living in a world really, where our world never turns off.

Think about.

We're constantly flooded with.

And we were just talking about breaking news today, you know, that in an instant, the whole world can know what's going on.

So we think about this constant bombardment of headlines and social media feeds.

Like I Said breaking news, text messages, emails.

There's really no space to breathe.

I even think, and I'm.

Obviously I'm younger than you, but I even think of a time when Even I'm an 80s kid.

I was born in 82, but I still remember a time when there was no cell phones, there was no pagers, like you needed to find a payphone.

And I find myself missing those times because it just wasn't all this information and this constant connection.

And I don't mean connection with people because we definitely had that because we're out with our friends all the time, but this connection to information from all over the world.

And I can easily see how that causes anxiety because I get tired of looking at it.

I don't know if you feel the same.

Yeah, it's just we're inundated from all sides.

Like you said, there's no space, there's no safe place in the sense to be able to pull away and just in a sense, regroup or be refreshed or be restored.

It's just the society we live in, a 247 world.

There's.

It doesn't sleep, it doesn't slumber back.

Heck, when I was growing up, on Sundays, every business was closed, there was margin.

And we've lost that.

And I think it just.

We're compounding a problem.

Yeah, it starts as soon as we wake up.

I mean, think about it.

We get these instant news alert alerts on our phone, so as soon as we wake up, we're inundated with it and all the way to when we go to bed.

So like you said, there's no break.

And I think if we were to be completely honest and not even just from a biblical perspective, because that's obviously the perspective to take.

But just even if you don't believe in God, you don't believe in Jesus.

Most people will look at the world today and think something crazy is going on.

This is not a peaceful place.

And we understand that from, especially in light of revelations.

There's a reason for that.

God says this was going to happen, but it's not peaceful.

We think of the political division, financial pressure, global conflicts or global conflicts.

It's like the moment we get a little bit of rest, it seems like we're through the pandemic stuff starting to open up, something else happens and there's just no rest.

And so I think really that's why this conversation matters, because even as Christians, sometimes we want to think that we're immune to these things, but we're not we live in this world and we know that God's in control.

But sometimes just talking with people is, I know God's in control.

I know I can trust him.

But why am I still having this anxiety?

And why is my heart still racing?

Why are my thoughts still spiraling?

And it could feel like even as Christians, sometimes we're alone.

And so I think we're hearing more and more about that.

I'm certainly hearing about it just from a youth perspective, as I'm sure you are as well.

And so that's why I think we wanted to take this and we felt led to take this approach.

This season is just, let's focus on anxiety.

What does it mean?

Does God have anything to say about it?

Does Jesus say anything about it?

And we'll definitely get into that, too.

So I think to unpack that more and just to get started, is there maybe I'll ask you this question.

Do you.

What do you believe the effect is of political or economic, like you were saying, or societal?

And just the instability, does that contribute to anxiety just in people in general?

Yeah, I think it undermines our ability or our sense of security and control in our lives.

Unfortunately, these are all things that are out of our control.

And even as I was studying, preparing for this, of thinking about the concept of stress, and the stress is something that's external, and anxiety is internal.

And so when you can look at it through that lens, it'll start to make sense.

So most of the things that we're thinking about, like whether it's political instability or economic instability, societal instability, all these things, those are things that are, in the sense, outside of our control.

And I think we've shared it in previous episodes.

But remember the serenity prayer?

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change and the courage to change the things that I can and the wisdom to know the difference.

And so I think in just starting off, if there's something that we can really focus in on and help people address is to understand the difference between stress and anxiety.

Stress is a part of life.

It impacts all of our lives.

Anxiety doesn't have to, though.

And there.

And that's a.

That's good news because they're not the same thing.

Like I said, stress is something that is external.

It's an external pressure.

It's in the environment where anxiety is internal, and it's our response to this external pressure that we all feel.

And you just listed tons of things in the world that are going on today.

And just the information age we live in, so we're constantly inundated and so there's just no rest.

And as the Bible says, in the end times, knowledge will increase.

And so we're just.

Information is coming at us more rapidly and so our ability to process it and deal with it is becoming more and more difficult.

And like you said, especially being a youth pastor and talking with kids, because kids are growing up in an information age with technology.

Unfortunately, they have it even worse.

I grew up reading books.

Now I was, I actually didn't I text you yesterday and I said, hey, Jason, you know, can you help me figure out, can I get my Kindle to start reading to me?

And if you have audible, you can, but I have so many books that aren't in that, but I carry around 300 and something books on my phone.

So it's.

We're just on information overload, you know, sensory overload every single day.

And especially kids.

So, you know, yeah, there's just so much that we're going to be dealing with this issue.

And so then I guess let's talk a little bit about, because this whole season, obviously our focus in this podcast is to lead people to the truth of God's word and really is to ask the question, does God have anything to say on this topic?

We talked about it with addiction.

We talked in season two, we talked about it with voting in season one.

So I guess let me ask you this.

Does the Bible have anything to say at all about anxiety specifically?

Oh, very much.

We have a couple passages that you'd sent me.

Just a preview.

In this Matthew 6:25 through 34, where Jesus teaches on, on worry and not to worry and to think of that, we got Jesus telling us, don't worry.

You go, thanks a lot.

You go, well.

But if he's telling us that he knows we're going to, he knows we are going to worry, but he also, at the same time then is offering us a solution for worry.

And I think that's what we want to really draw out here.

Yes, we're all going to deal with stress and anxiety in varying degrees depending on the circumstances of our life and just the way that we think.

And yet, to take Jesus words to heart, he says, therefore, I tell you, don't worry about your life, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

So he puts things into perspective.

If you want to not struggle with anxiety, you have to have order.

And I think one of the things that we were talking about in the intro here, when you're just being Bombarded from all sides.

There's no order.

It's literally, it's.

It's chaos all the time.

And one of the things that we see going all the way back to Genesis is that the world was in chaos in the sense that God is the one who establishes order.

And so that's why Jesus would say, yes, you're going to live in a chaotic world, but the solution is seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

And then Paul, you mentioned another passage in Philippians 4, 6 and 7, and Paul just encourages us, don't be anxious about anything in, in prayer and with thanksgiving, make your request known to God.

And then something happens when we do that, it's then the peace of God that will rule our hearts and our minds.

So there's, there's a very positive impact of looking to God's word and taking God's word to heart.

And, and when it goes against what we are experiencing.

The key is, is if my experience is contrasting or in opposition to what God's word is declaring or teaching me, what I need to do is agree with God and just say, God, I'm anxious.

You said it, you know that I'm going to be.

Now help me do.

Give me the ability, give me the power, help me to have the will to do what your word is instructing me to do.

And the end result of that, and this is our hope for everybody listening, is that they would experience the peace of God, that it would rule their heart.

Yeah.

And I think that's the reason why this topic is so important, is because at the end, that's what we want people to know, like you said, is that God is the answer.

He has the answer.

Not only that, but he tells us, hey, you're going to deal with this.

This is how you handle it.

So do you see?

Just because I like going back and saying, does the Bible have examples of maybe people that, as a Christian you would know about that struggled with anxiety because it's easy to glorify and you can't really do it.

If you read like we think of King David, right, You can't really glorify King David and say, man, this guy was perfect.

If you've read his story, because the Bible is very clear that he wasn't.

He had many faults.

But are there biblical characters even that struggled with anxiety, or is this a new thing?

Oh, no, that's from the onset of humanity, we've struggled with anxiety.

Like you mentioned David, we think of Elijah.

I love that story of Elijah there in First Kings 19.

He's had this confrontation with the prophets of Baal.

He's walked in victory.

And then Jezebel says, you're going to be dead by noon tomorrow.

And all of a sudden he's just overcome because he's tired, he's wore out in the sense for the spiritual battle.

And all of us are going to face those.

And so he's on the run.

And I love how God comes to him and tells him I'm not in all the circumstances.

And it always takes me back to I was sharing some verses with you, and it just takes me back to that and just being reminded again.

Proverbs 3, 5 and 6 says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways, acknowledge him and he'll direct your path.

And then what we're seeing with these Bible characters, I think of, like I said, Elijah, there's of starting to understand God's sovereignty and his control in our life that Isaiah tells us.

And I love this in Isaiah 41:10 he says, so do not fear, for I'm with you.

Don't be dismayed, for I am your God.

And I think if people could come to the place where they understand that God is with them.

And I think all these characters that we look at, they come to a place where they experience the presence of God.

And I love that because it tells us about God that he's not in the earthquake, he's not in the fire, he's not in the wind, but he's a still, small voice and.

And he's there.

So when you come to those places where you're experiencing anxiety or you're discouraged is just to be encouraged, that look for God because He's there and he's always there.

He said Jesus said, I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you.

I think of Jesus calming the storm there in Mark Gospel in chapter four, where the disciples are anxious, obviously they're fearful.

They're seeing the wind, the storm.

And Jesus is asleep and stands up and he rebukes the wind and the sea and demonstrating what that's.

It's important again is his control over nature.

And then he asked the disciples, he says, why are you still afraid?

I'm with you.

And he told them, get in the boat, we're all going to the other side.

And they lost sight of that.

And so I think the application when you think about that in the calming of the storm is again trusting God's power in your life, though you don't understand your circumstances and what you're going through.

God does.

And so the key is to learn how to again, in the midst of your anxiety, to cast all your cares upon him, knowing that he cares about you.

And you mentioned David, and I'd be amiss if I didn't just remind the listeners of probably all of our favorite psalm, when we really break it out, is Psalm 23, where David declares there, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil, for you are with me.

And just to be reminded of that, that, yeah, you're going to go through dark places, you go through dark times, dark moments in life, but to recognize that God's with you and he'll never leave you, he'll never forsake you.

And you could think of others, won't go into them, but maybe look up if you're listening Daniel, chapter six.

There, Daniel in the lion's den.

And God just has amazing ways if we'll look to him and trust him.

And I know, as we do, that's the beauty of studying God's word, that you go, what?

What's reading a book gonna do?

Yeah, it's not just not a book, it's the living word of God.

And it's amazing what it will do if we will just simply look to it and trust God.

I think just you reminded me of Daniel and the lion's den also, man, I love the book of Daniel.

And just.

I like the book or the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

Right.

These guys are.

They're facing this furnace and they're like, you know what?

God could save us, but even if he doesn't, I'm still going to praise him.

And it's just that, that peace, knowing that I could die right now.

And they could have had incredible anxiety and worry and.

But when it came down to it, they understood.

They served somebody bigger than themselves and somebody who keeps his promises and Amen.

Who's.

Who is there and who's always faithful.

Something else I wanted to ask you too is sometimes, and I've heard this, I'm sure you've heard this, but Christians will feel guilty for being anxious.

Kind of like it means that maybe they're not strong enough, they lack faith, or maybe they don't have faith, or even I've heard it said, maybe I'm not even saved because I shouldn't have this worry, this anxiety.

But we see these biblical heroes, if you will, struggle sometimes with this fear and anxiety and, and we just see them real, like how they are.

They're just people.

So what encouragement then would you give as we kick off this first episode to someone who maybe knows these verses in their head?

They know what the stories are, they know they're supposed to just completely trust in God, but they're still struggling with anxiety.

I think first and foremost it's just understanding that anxiety, the common human experience that the enemy wants you to think that you're the only one.

Like everything you just mentioned, you're going to challenge yourself in your, your own faith.

Am I even a Christian?

Do I do believe because I suffer from anxiety?

And then unfortunately, the church can do more damage than good in the lives of people because we'll just say, just don't worry about it, just don't be anxious.

It's your problem.

You don't, you don't realize some things are self induced, but some things are organic.

There, there's so many things that are involved with anxiety and you hit it right on the head.

He, God knows that we're going to be anxious.

So he says, knowing that you're going to be anxious, do something with it.

What is it?

You go give it to God.

I think as we're able to address that and help people understand, can we come back to God's sovereignty?

And all we mean by that is that God's in control and that we see God's love and his care.

We look at the cross and we recognize that God's there and God wants to provide for us in the ways that we can.

We can't provide for ourself.

So as we look to God and he provides, we saw that through.

You said every Bible hero has feet of clay and say, but there was always practical steps that they began to exercise in their life.

Whether that was praying to God, whether that was reciting God's word.

I always loved the psalms where it's David's telling God.

You know, what God told David, hey God, remember your word.

And he goes, we don't need to tell God his word, but we need to be reminded of it.

And then just the beauty of community support, you know, having people that are there.

What happens, especially with regard to anxiety, that's why I love doing 180, is that people come together and they, the Bible says confess your faults to one another.

And that we recognize that God doesn't want us to be anxious.

And, and then we're open and we're honest about that with other people.

And what, what we discover is you know, again, we're not alone that everybody deals with it.

It's just some people deal with it better than others, and we want to.

As iron sharpens iron, so does one man the countenance of his friend.

How.

How can we help one another?

I always love that expression.

Again, we're just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.

Yeah.

Amen.

As we wrap today's conversation, really, we want to remind you that you're not alone.

If you're feeling anxious, you're feeling overwhelmed, you're feeling uncertain, it doesn't mean that your faith is necessarily weak, but it's definitely a signal that you're human, like me, like Pastor Mike, like everybody else, like these biblical heroes.

And so that's what we're doing this season, is we want to provide you with comfort, but not comfort that me or Pastor Mike can give, but comfort that only God can give.

And so, really, we look forward and unpacking this season.

We're shooting for about six episodes.

So just as a quick teaser, next episode two, which we're going to be releasing next Thursday.

The title is where is God When I'm Falling Apart.

And so really the goal, the focus then is to address that feeling of spiritual abandonment that often accompanies anxiety.

And spoiler alert, God's there.

But sometimes we just.

We don't see it because we're so stuck in our.

Our situation.

We're going to walk through some practical faith, like you were saying, practical steps.

And I love that word.

So that's episode three.

What does trust look like, practically?

What are the things that I could do?

Episode 4.

Really excited about this one because I see it so much, I hear it so much, and I'm just as susceptible to this, too.

But the topic is the lies that we believe.

And this world is full of lies and full of telling us that our identity should be in this or that, anything, but in the person that created us in our Creator.

And then episode five, restoring Relationships, and episode six, we'll finish up with a hope that holds up, and that's God alone.

So I hope you enjoyed today's episode.

If it spoke to you really, would you do us a favor and share it with someone?

Share it with someone who's struggling with anxiety, that could really be blessed by what God would have for them and what he would have to say for them.

So maybe it's a friend, family member, someone you know that's been struggling quietly.

But we're excited to do this with you, to walk through this with you because I'm not immune to it.

And I know Pastor Mike isn't either.

But I love that saying that we might not know what tomorrow holds, but we certainly know who holds tomorrow.

Amen.

Thank you.

And we'll see you next episode.