Sermon Nuggets Monday July 18. Worry
Verses-
Matt 6:25-34
25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.
29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'
32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Birds, Flowers, and You
There is much we could say about worry. I'm reminded of a poem about a cow; "The worried cow would have lived till now if she had saved her breath; but she feared her hay wouldn't last all day, so she mooed herself to death."
Or I'm told of the spinster who sat weeping beside a well.
"What's the matter?" she was asked, "Oh! It's terrible, Someday I might get married, and then I might have a child, and then the child might come down here, and climb up, and fall in the well, and get drowned. Oh, what a cruel, cruel blow!"
It is easy for one person to tell another person not to worry.
Indeed, people can quote passages of Scripture that say do not worry.
But to someone who is worrier quoting a Bible verse and telling them they are a poor Christian doesn't really help them stop worrying, indeed it usually makes things worse.
The Apostle Paul wrote to be anxious for nothing, but a few lines down he talked about concerns he though about. In other words you can go ahead and be concerned but don't let your concern become anxiety. Yet interesting when he talked of the concern he had for all churches he used the same word that is translated worry. That word merizo means to divide and nous mind. Literally means dividing the mind.
Unhealthy worry indeed affects us in many negative ways. The Apostle
Paul admonishes us to resolve our anxieties rather than retain them.
There are situations that are healthy if worry is caused by the natural desire for self preservation in dangerous situations. Constructive worry leads one to emotional mastery over the perceived threat and therefore enables one to cope better with stress.
The context of Jesus statement implies anxious concern over things you can't do much about, or things that hold greater concern than what they should. Many people make a problem much bigger than what it really is and anxiety causes it to get all out of proportion.
Remember Jesus taught not to put your treasurers on earth but in heaven. Earthly treasures are lost, stolen and if accumulated will all be left behind. We need to store up treasures in heaven and keep our attention on God. If we gaze our focus on God and eternal things the things of this world will not have it's grasp on us. and that also includes worry over material and earthly things even food and clothes.
The one who trusts God is one who will not have a problem with undo anxious concern and worry. Jesus gives us solutions to worry, He doesn't just tell us don't do it, but practical ways to remove it.
Pastor Dale
Sermon nuggets Tues July 19- Perspective
Matt 6: 25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Being aware of God's Perspective helps reduce Worry.
Stop focusing on the matters of this world and become aware of things that matter to God. I find that the greatest source of anxiety and worry is when I think of self and others, weakness, and inability, inadequacies, and all the things that can go wrong. So many people worry about things they cannot change. I suppose the future possibilities capture our anxiety more than anything. People worry about what might happen, what might go wrong. Only 8% of what could happen actually does. All the attention threat energy, feeling and perceptions are centered on ourselves and our inadequacies.
Jesus wants us to center on God. Look at things from God's perspective through the illustration of the birds and flowers and the value that we have in God's eyes. The main point of Jesus' illustrations isn't how well God takes care of birds and flowers, but what a great God that we have who even takes care of birds and flowers so well. In other words think about the greatness of our God and focus your thoughts on Him. Worship reduces worry.
What do we think about when we think about God? Simply that God is big enough to take care of your problems or help you through it. But also let’s not lose God's perspective. Some of the things we worry so much about don't mean diddly. Yes we have economic concerns. We have a society that is under financial pressures. But when we see the damage in various parts of the world and war tragedies, hen we see protests exploding in many countries and natural disasters increasing then we in the USA really don’t have much to complain about compared to the rest of the world.
We can't complain about he price of meat when we think of those that have no bread. We really can't complain of the price of new blue jeans when we think of the homeless and abused, the persecuted and suffering In our society when many Christian have closets full of clothes and refrigerators that are too small to contain all we want to store, when we have comfortable beds, conveniences, cars and houses have anxious concerns over the thing we own and over the things we do not yet own and want more there is sin in that from God's perspective.
One radio announcer was interviewing a little girl and asked her age. “I’m 8,”
“And how old would you like to be?”
“Five.”
“Why five?
“Then I'll live longer."
We can take care of our bodies and live longer, but we see a 5 or 8 year old and think they don't have a concept of life yet. Wait until your are 70 or 80 then you have a perspective. God is showing us that compared to millions and billions of years, What is a mere 70 or 80 years?
Jesus looks at the things that God loves and see how they are cared for. Bird don't worry about food, yet God sees to it they are fed. My wife enjoys watching the various kinds of birds in our area and does some things to attract them. Gods' given abilities to protect and care and feed the birds that are of little value. We become confident that God can take care of our situation.
Said the robin to the sparrow: I would really like to know,
Why those anxious human being rush about and worry so.
Said the sparrow to the robin, "Friend I think that it must be
That they have no heavenly Father such as cares for you and me."
If God spends so much time and energy creating and carrying for birds that are not eternal, what about the part of creation that is eternal? If birds are of value to God then we can trust him, since Jesus never died for the birds, nor the flowers. He died for you. You are of more value than birds and flowers.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Weds July 20 Provisions
Verses Matt 6: 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.
29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
Being aware of God's Provisions helps reduce worry.
We need another vision of how God does marvelously provide and we rest in his provisions. If God gave us life, we can trust him for lesser things such as food and clothes. Worry doesn't help anyway. Nothing we can do except trust in most situations and if the flower is so clothed and beautiful for one day, what about the clothing that God' wants to place on you for all eternity.
Worry is characteristic of the pagan the atheists, the one who does not know or understand about God. Pastor Foreman says, "The cure for worry is a deeper knowledge of God, a complete letting go of oneself and resting in Him"
There are many times when I quote the adage-Hindsight is better than foresight. We learn so much through the difficulties of life, and the uncertainties. Yet, for the one who trust God even though they do not know what is going to happen, thinking how God had helped, sustained and provided for us causes us to relax in trusting him and praying for our needs and letting him do what He does. Think about what God has done, and realize he will not stop caring for you. When we come to him does He run from us? When conviction and confession come what is God's response? Damnation? No, He provides for us salvation and forgiveness. He gives us what we need for kingdom living that we might carry out his purpose, and indeed to carry out his purposes he gives us what we need to do that.
I am humbled when I think of my weaknesses and inabilities, realize that for whatever task or place of service God calls me he will give me grace to do what he wants, so He is honored, not me. We are never without the resources to carry out what his will is to be carried out. Will God call us into situations and places that He is incapable of handling? We should start to worry when we are living in sin and not according to God's will and purpose for us. Anxiety may very well tell you that all is not right spiritually. Give God complete control of your life, confess sin, confess worry and then watch what He is able to do. Worry happens when we want to provide instead of letting God provide. We want to take care of our problem instead of doing it God's way or in God's power.
Now that does not mean we sit and wait for God to provide our needs while we do nothing. God's doesn't provide by our sitting and expecting him to drop down stuff in our laps. He is not our servant to carry out our commands and requests. But since God provided all the beauty of a lily, he will see to it there are avenues to have our needs met. Solomon didn't even come close with all his wealth of the world Ah, but the clothing that radiates isn't spun and woven. Not from furs, and French designers, nothing gold and silver, but purity and righteousness, and joy and peace that comes from within. All that other stuff goes out of style and is stolen and moths eat, but who can take away the Holy Spirit? How can one take away joy and peace and security from the Father. Pagans worry about eating and dressing and so will our world, but we need to realize we have one who will care for us.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Thurs July 21 Priorities
Verses Matt 6: 31 So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'
32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Being aware of God's Priorities helps reduce worry
Jesus tells His followers not to be worriers insteadgrow in trust in God and keep proper priorities in life. It is our habit to concentrate on things we need in this world to the neglect of the most important relationship beyond this world. Things of this world capture us and so much of our time and attention. Indeed we worry about the economy. We worry about foreclosures. We worry about jobs. We worry about health. We worry about children, grandchildren, spouses, friends. For those things make up our life.
Jesus says let the most important priority take over. Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. This will be the theme and topic of my sermon this coming Sunday.
Romans 8:28 is still in the Bible "All things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose." worry says no God, you are a liar, you word is untrue. Trust says, though, I don't understand, God does and I am putting myself in his care and under his control and he won't let anything happen out of his ultimate will.
When Jesus points to all the things we worry about they will shortly be gone. Even this life is short lived from God’s perspective. So then, what should be our priorities? This is not a call to poverty it is a call to putting eternal things ahead of temporary things. It is acall to godliness instead of worldliness.
When I was growing up worldliness was taught to be smoking, drinking, going to movies, dancing and gambling. But worldliness from Jesus perspective is giving undo worry and attention to money, physical appearance, food, clothing, and relationships.
Someone wasasked to be under the employ of Queen Elizabeth Queen of England. Asthey inquired about their needs, the Queen was quoted to have said,"You take taker of my business and I will take care of yours." That'show it is with Jesus.
We have a dog, two parakeets and about a dozen fish. They are pets. Those two birds are fun to watch on occasion. They are a pretty white and blue. I see how they relate to one another and which one is dominant and submissive. Yet they cower when I come to the cage and get upset when I put my hand in their cage to change their water and give them more food. I try to talk to them but they don’t respond back.
I have zero attachment to the fish. However, I have to clean the pond of algae and keep the filter bubbling so they have oxygen. Even in the winter, since the pond is outside, I have purchased a tank heater to keep them going.
At least the dog wags will acknowledge my presence when I came into the house. For all the problems she can be he gives me the impression every day I might mean more to her than just food and a means to go outside. Of all the cope pets she is the only one who show me some love. When she wants out I let her out, when she wants in I let her in. She will look at me when food is low. We’ve learned to communicate on some level.
I love my children deeply. Can you begin to imagine that I would do any less for Bryan and Justin that I would for my pets? Even though they are grown now I find I want to be sure they are safe and provided or. If we feed and care for our dog, don't you think we will surely feed and care for our children? All my pets would die first before I would neglect my children. That's the same with God. So stop worrying.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Fri July 22 Principles
Verse Matt 6: 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Being aware of God's' Principles help reduce worry.
As Jesus says “therefore” He is making a concluding remark on this topic of worry. The reminders are so important in our life where our attention keeps pointing to things that in the long run do not matter.
Truths and principles Jesus stated are reasons to trust and not worry.
1) Material things don't last, Value the Kingdom concerns. Put yourself under God's care who has a plan for your life and will carry it out beginning now and throughout eternity. We need to prepare for eternity, not store up things here for we're not going to be here very
long. Anxiety, if anything, will shorten our life, not lengthen it.
2) Give to God what you can’t control anyway. God made your life and body and that is God's responsibility. You can't even determine when you life or die. You can take all kinds of vitamins, exercise, eat properly but life and death is the Lords.
Now what is more important? Your life or the food you eat? Your
body or the clothes you put on it? Obviously your life and body are more important. If God already cares for your life and body don't you think he is trustworthy to take care of food and clothes and all the other things.
3) God knows. What he began in you he will complete. Focus on what God has done in the past and is doing. The future is His and He already knows it. Seek His Kingdom and His righteousness that is our part. He is sovereign and has everything else under control.
4) Use what God give you. God calls us to be faithful with the gifts and abilities that he has given. We are to work and use them the best we can. We are to work and labor, recognize and utilize medicines, and exercise, physicians and proper dietary programs. These are provisions from God as well. Use them. Trust God. Do what you can do and let God do the rest. He calls for a yielded heart God does not use ravens to feed us but farmers, and fishermen, butchers, and grocers. The birds do not sit in their nest, unless they are baby birds, but they leave their nests and God directs them to places of food, sometimes your bird feeder is the provision that God allows.
Hudson Taylor was on a ship in route to China when a huge storm arose. He took of his life preserver as a testimony that he trusted God and felt if he wore it, it was demonstrating a lack of faith. However, afterwards he thought the use of such means ought not to lessen our faith in God and our faith in God ought not to hinder our using whatever means he has given us for the accomplishment of his own purposes. Is it not a provision from God that we have life preservers and is it any less of a provision from God we use them if they are available for our use? Just because things may not be miraculous done does not mean He doesn't do them. His hand sustains and protects.
5) The more we focus on Him the less the problem. There are things
that are out of our hands and control and we cannot do anything about.
Give those things completely to God and watch what He does with them.
Ish 26:13 Thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on
thee."
One put it well when he said, "Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand."
Pray about all things and be obedient to what you know you should be doing. Rest in the comfort of His presence, peace, and power.
Pastor Dale
