Anchor: Resting in the Promises of God (2)
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 2 viewsNotes
Transcript
Who taught you to be Afraid?
Who taught you to be Afraid?
There is scarcely any one sin against which our Lord Jesus more largely and earnestly warns his disciples, or against which he arms them with more variety of arguments, than the sin of disquieting, distracting, distrustful cares about the things of life, which are a bad sign that both the treasure and the heart are on the earth; and therefore he thus largely insists upon it...It is the repeated command of the Lord Jesus to his disciples, that they should not divide and pull in pieces their own minds with care about the world.
One of the biggest things we must understand about anchor is that anchor is secure in its location. We are going to discuss the three commands of Matthew 6
Matthew 6:25 (ESV)
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Matthew 6:31 (ESV)
31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
So we see here three lines of though that unsteady our anchor
Disquieting thought
Job 4:13–14 (NKJV)
13 In disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night, When deep sleep falls on men,
14 Fear came upon me, and trembling, Which made all my bones shake.
Satan uses disquieting thoughts to pull us from the comfort and Peace God has to offer.
The term disquieting litterally means to cause anxiety. Worry makes you make stupid decisions.
Anxiety causes fear. Fear causes us to stop moving.
2. Distracting thought
A Mind anchored in Christ ha to be singularly focused.
27 Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil.
You can have the promises of God, but that has to be your only thought. That has to be your only goal that has to be your only objective. Anxiety wants to pull you into multiple places because a house divided cannot stand. However, God wants to keep you focused.
Because a disquieting thought becomes a Distracting thought. If Satan can’t beat you he will try to distract you. He will turn your head to the right and left. He will try to put shiny things in your Path. He will position you to take the fall.
I can’t tell you how many times I was set to have a productive day, sat down to facebook reels and hours have passed. I get nothing done. My time and attention was stolen by nothing of worth. Distraction is one of the worst feelings in the world. It halts productivity and stops what God is doing in your life.
Distraction kills your calling.
35 I’m trying to be helpful and make it as easy as possible for you, not make things harder. All I want is for you to be able to develop a way of life in which you can spend plenty of time together with the Master without a lot of distractions.
Paul tells the Corinthian church to limit their distractions. Why? Because it will make life as easy as possible.
This tells me that a hard life is a distracted life.
An easy life is on that has purpose and that acts with purpose.
3. Distrustful
We know what happens when we live a life of distrust.
But there is this promise we need to be anchored in in V33.
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
If we are singular minded in all that we do. Seeking first God’s kingdom than the promise we are anchored to is that everything will be added to us. Meaning God will make a way for all our needs to be met. He will make a way for your breakthrough. He will make a way for you to grow. And to mature. He will make a way where there seems to be now way.
The best example I can think of is King Solomon. Solomon asked to be a godly person king after God’s heart and then this happened
13 I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days.
Because Solomon in the moment was God focused everything else was given to him. The world calls it the law of attraction. When you focus on one thing other good things will be attracted to you. The issue becomes when we take our eyes and thoughts off of what God wants. But pastor I’ve tried and failed anyway. Pastor it doesn’t work.
The bible tells us to have a child like heart. Have you ever noticed a baby walk. They try and fail more times than I desire to count. At some point in our life we are told failure is a bad thing and that we should avoid it at all costs, but what would happen if we tried harder. Pushed further, had a singular vision like a child trying to walk.
9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”