Its good to share with you today. Let us worship.
Blessed assurance Jesus is mine
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As we journey together in prayer let us sing: Jesus keep me near the cross
Time Of Prayer
Prayer is how we actively practice believing, believing that God has the whole world in his hands. Prayer is where we let petitions and praises shape our worries into prayers, letting God know our concerns. Prayer is never the last resort of God’s people. It is our first point of action.
I invite you now, just to take some time to pray. Pray for your family and friends. Prayer for your Church. Pray for the sick, bereaved, lonely and afraid. Pray for our world with all its hurt. Also pray for yourself, then we will share together in the Lord's Prayer.
Lets share together in the Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.
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Before we go to the word, sit back and enjoy: Prelude to Levenham
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Don't do that
It doesn’t matter how much you worry about something, worrying isn’t going to make any difference to your situation, except of course, by tiring you out. Isn’t it amazing how much energy we pour into something that has no possibility of making a positive difference? Worry. Even when we have a few days of rest it doesn’t stop us worrying and we certainly don’t feel rested and there’s a reason for that. It’s because physical rest, stopping work, doesn’t always mean emotional rest. We can be resting our bodies, we can look as though we’re resting but our emotions, our thoughts, can be running at a 100 miles an hour.
We can appear to everyone else to be relaxed on the outside but on the inside we can be on a roller coaster ride. Lots of different things that can happen but one of them, one of them is worry. Worrying is a bigger problem than you may think. And it’s a funny thing, you never hear people talk much about this problem of worrying.
We hear commentaries on stress. People acknowledge stress as being a big problem in life but stress has to be caused by something and one of the things that causes stress is worrying. So, what exactly is worry? What are we doing when we’re worrying? Why do we do it? And what, if anything, can we do about it? That’s what I want to look at today
But let’s get one thing straight thinking things through isn’t worrying. I think a lot of things through. But worrying is something more than thinking things through. Worrying is when we think and think and think and think but with anxiety and unease.
Worry is what we do when all that we do is focus on the problem and we imagine and work through and think through all the things that can go wrong. We allow our mind to dwell on the difficulty or the problem and its consequences without ever coming up with the solution.
That’s what worry is and it eats away at so many people. Some people worry about everything. You probably know one or two in your life. Let me tell you, that is a miserable, miserable way to live.
Some of us aren’t quite up there in that league but we still worry a lot. Others worry less but when it hits them it knocks them over. Here’s the thing about worry, firstly it doesn’t make an ounce of difference to the outcome. It causes huge stress and finally it stops us from using our creativity and our abilities to come up with solutions to the problem:
Jesus said, “Who by worrying can add a single hour to their lives?”
The answer is no one. Worrying isn’t about trying to improve the situation so why do we worry? Well, when a curve ball comes at us right out of the blue and hits us in the solar plexus its natural to get a shock. It’s natural to be concerned if the place you are working is going to lay off staff. Am I going to be next? What if I lose my job? How will I pay the mortgage?’
That level of initial concern is absolutely natural. Worry though is what happens if that’s where we stop. If we just go round and around and around the problem, if we focus on the problem not with the intention of coming up with a solution but just stuck there, stuck on the problem. Imagining every negative consequence and imagining somehow that all those different bad things that are going to happen all at once, that’s what worrying is.
And so here we are stuck in the worry over the problem. Over and over, round and round, all night, all day, all weekend. Every moment it seems, without being able to move on to thinking about some solutions. We worry, worry, worry.’
Instead of taking the time to think, such as, how can I minimise the impact this may have on my lift. We carry on worrying. Not moving. Just stagnating in the worry. So many people are so exhausted because they worry all the time. Several times Jesus told His disciples ‘Don’t do that’. Interesting, they had reason to worry but He told them not to. Have a listen to one of those instances. It begins in Matthew chapter 6, verse 25. He said:
Therefore I tell you don’t worry about your life, what you’ll eat or what you’ll drink or about your body, what you’ll wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns and yet your heavenly Father still feeds them. Aren’t you of more value than them? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothing? Look at the lilies of the field, how they grow. They don’t toil or spin but I tell you not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass which is alive today and tomorrow it’s thrown into the oven, won’t He much more clothe you, you of little faith? So don’t worry saying ‘what will I eat? What will I drink? What will I wear? It’s the Gentiles who strive for all those things and indeed your heavenly Father already knows that you need those things. Instead strive first for the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these other things will be given to you as well. Don’t worry about tomorrow, tomorrow will bring enough worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today. (Matthew 6:25-34)
Well, why shouldn’t we worry? Let me tell you. And I know this from experience. God has it all under control. He knows what we need. He knows what’s going on. We hear others say they believe in Jesus, and that’s great. But maybe they believe in Him for eternal life but somehow, they don’t believe that Jesus can help, support and provide for you right in the middle of the situation or the circumstance that you are going through right now
I know there’s a big problem you are facing right now. I know you are shocked and concerned about what the consequences might be. But if you carry on worrying you will soon be immobilised by fear. That’s what happens, we’re immobilised, we’re blocked out from figuring out the solutions. You can stop that worry right now. You can put the faith you have in Jesus into action. Jesus, who said ‘Don’t worry’. You can pray. You can ask Him for help and guidance and time and time again you know what happens? Ideas come, possibilities come. New paths open for us. Doors that were once closed fling wide open. God brings someone else along with an idea or a solution. I can’t tell you the number of times that’s happened to me. And it can happen to you.
Jesus said, “Who by worrying can add a single hour to their lives?” No-one.
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Please sing with me: He leadeth me
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:
The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
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