The Reality of Anxiety?
We have begun this new series of God’s people and how they too can suffer depression and anxiety
In the first sermon, we learned
a) God is there in the darkness holding us by His right hand – even though we feel He has forsaken us
b) He understands where we are and why we feel the way we do… it does not change His love for us
Today we look into another way God’s people suffer
It is an ailment we ALL experience from time to time…. Some suffer it constantly which can à depression on account of the overwhelming stress it can place on us.
ANXIETY can be a paralyzing force in our lives
“Anxiety weighs down the human heart…..” (Proverbs 12:25, NRSV)
“What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless.” (Ecclesiastes 2:22–23, NIV84)
In our text we find the command not to worry or be anxious
If anxiety is something we all suffer… how should we go about dealing with it?
In this sermon we will look at one overarching strategy; next sermon other practical things we can do
- THE ANXIETY TRAP
- A LESSON FROM NATURE
- GOD CARES FOR US MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE IN ALL CREATION
Readings reproduced on this page:
The Holy Bible: New International Version. 1996, 1984. Grand Rapids: Zondervan
Readings
Psalm 104:24–35 (NIV84)
24How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
25There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number— living things both large and small.
26There the ships go to and fro, and the leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.
27These all look to you to give them their food at the proper time.
28When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things.
29When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust.
30When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth.
31May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works—
32he who looks at the earth, and it trembles, who touches the mountains, and they smoke.
33I will sing to the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
34May my meditation be pleasing to him, as I rejoice in the Lord.
35But may sinners vanish from the earth and the wicked be no more. Praise the Lord, O my soul. Praise the Lord.
Text
Matthew 6:24–34 (NIV84)
24“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
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?
26Look 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?
27Who 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.
29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
30If 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?
31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
