Sunday School Spring/Summer 2023

Topical Studies:

4/16 - Anxiety (Matt. 6:25-34)

4/23 - Anxiety Pt. 2 (Philippians 4:4-8)

4/30 - Preaching in main service

5/7 - Relationships with people in general

5/14 - Special Relationships

5/21 - Self-Evaluation/Self-consumed thinking

5/28

4/16/23 - Anxiety

Definition: “Intense, excessive, and persistent worry and fear about everyday situations”

Do you get anxious a lot?

If so, what about?

If you were able to give your best shot at a reason…why do you think that you get overwhelmed and worried?

There were quite a few people in the Bible who struggled with anxiety and worry.

To name a few, we have:

David (he had to flee for his life for many years from King Saul who was trying to kill him undeservingly)

Elijah (had been doing God’s work, but then he was faced with running for his life from the queen who wanted him killed. Elijah just wanted to die)

I can only imagine the fear of Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego when they deliberately refused to bow down to Nebuchanezar’s statue. They were faced with being killed because of it. They had to stand in front of the king and in the critical moment, they chose to tell the king that they knew that their God would save them and even if He didn’t, that they wouldn’t bow down to him.

There are many other examples that we could talk about. But I would rather spend some time just reading what the bible has to say about anxiety.

Matthew 6:25–34 NASB95

25 “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27 “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? 28 “And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, 29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 30 “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! 31 “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ 32 “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Jesus offers a very different approach to healing from anxiety. He calls it faith. Not turning to an addiction, nor a guy hoping to feel special, nor to a IPhone screen, or whatever it is that we may turn to.

Rather Jesus makes several bold points that I would like us to consider.

Life is more than the things that we need! If our joy is connected to our circumstances, then we will never be truly satisfied or freed from anxiety

Is not your life valuable? Did not God create man and woman in His own image and say that they were VERY GOOD? The rest of creation was good, but after making mankind, God says that it was very good! Here again, Jesus reaffirms that our lives are very valuable in God’s sight. Are we not worth much more than the birds of the air, which God provides food and water to? YES!!!! We are more valuable. So the question is, will we turn to Him for our needs?

Jesus says that the lilies of the field are dressed more beautifully than Solomon (the wisest and perhaps most wealthy King to ever exist). These same wild flowers will be alive today and tomorrow will be dead. If God can provide most beautifully for flowers, then I know that he can do the same for us in our needs (emotional, relational, physical, etc).

He offers a solutions: Seek 1st God in your life and the things that are of God, and He will provide all that you need in order to live in a godly manner. This is a promise we can hold onto. If we seek Him 1st, He will provide what we need (not necessarily what we want) in order to accomplish His good will for our lives.

Jesus offers a logical thought: Why worry about tomorrow? Will you gain time or lose time by sitting and worrying about things that you cannot control? He says, let tomorrow care for itself! It has enough worries for itself.

1 Peter 5:7 NASB95

7 casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

Rather than be consumed with worry and fear (which is natural for us to experience) we must make the conscious decision to pray to God, cast our anxieties on Him. Lay them down at His feet and ask for His help! Why can we do this? Because God cares for us!

So how can you begin dealing with your anxiety this week?

Turn to Jesus

Ask for His help

Pray, do what you can in the moment through His help, then let tomorrow worry about itself. Just let it go.

Stress is proven to be really bad for our health. Esp if you have autoimmune conditions, it can be very dangerous as it creates disruption in your gut which leads to internal inflammation and a series of side effects. Jesus wants you to be able to live through the hard things in life (which he tells us will happen) with an internal sense of peace that we cannot quite explain.

Mention the example of Mama with cancer!

Anxiety Pt. 2 - Phil. 4:4-8

My Main Point/Question for Today is: What are you allowing your mind to think about?

Your mind is like a battlefield. Satan wants to destroy your thoughts and put evil lies in there

John 8:44 “44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

John 10:10 “10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

2 Corinthians 11:3 “3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.”

1 Peter 5:8 “8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

Satan wants to convince you of lies that are untruthful and destructive:

Your not enough

They are more beautiful

Your stupid

You don’t have value and people don’t care about you.

You are a disappointment

You don’t like who you are, then change your identity (I don’t want to be a bearer of bad news, but this won’t work either).

Satan loves to use these type of thinking styles to draw us away from God. But can I remind you that the Bible has already told us that in the end, Satan loses!!! He does not come out victorious of God and His people!

Satan knows this too. I’m going to use a basketball game analogy. So basically, you can compare this a game where one team is so clearly ahead and there is no chance that they are going to lose. The losing team knows this and like a bad sport begins to foul the other players as much as he can. We have seen people act like this sometimes in a real game of basketball. But in a much deeper truth, Satan is trying to do this with people today. He knows that he has lost, but he is seeking to take as many people down with him as he can. And for those of us that have made the choice to trust in Christ, he knows he can’t separate us from God nor make us lose our salvation, but he can rob of us our joy and fellowship that we should be experiencing now. He can bring hard times into your life and assail your mind with false truths that make you want to abandon or turn away from God. Satan loves turning Christians away from their churches and away from a personal relationship with God.

With these things in mind, lets see what God would teach us about anxiety and our mindsets!

Philippians 4:4–8 NASB95

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! 5 Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

Here, Paul is offering a different thought process. He begins to tell us that we should ALWAYS be rejoicing. How ridiculous does that sound! There are many times just within a single day that I wouldn’t want to rejoice or be glad. James offers a similar thought.

James 1:2-4 “2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

Think about it this way: rejoice always (even when you face really hard trials in life)! Why??? Because the testing of your faith results in steadfastness and perseverance. Similarly, look at what Paul says in verse 5 right at the end. “The Lord is near”

We must remember two truths about this statement:

Jesus will be returning soon. Nobody knows the time or the day, but Jesus will be returning soon to take us to be with Him and He will make all things right on earth!

The Lord is with us NOW! We don’t have to wait until heaven to experience relationship and the comfort of having God with us.

Do you remember a little bit about what I preached on a few months ago with Psalm 23?

Think about Psalm 23:4

Psalm 23:4 ESV

4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

A sheep is easily unsatisfied and easily startled and scared. Thats often how we are in life’s situations. But when the shepherd comes near, its as though all fear and worry ceases for the sheep. Why? because they know that there shepherd is with them. A good shepherd protects his sheep no matter the personal cost.

If God is truly your shepherd, then you should find peace in remembering that He is with you and He wants to protect you. God’s protection does not mean that He won’t allow hard times, for even the shepherds would lead their sheep through the valley of the shadow of death in order to take them to higher grounds with lush green pastures.

When you are passing through the valleys, remember that you aren’t staying there. Your are merely passing through, and God is with you to comfort, strengthen and protect you from evil. He wants to lead you to higher grounds with Him! But will you listen to Him? Will you allow Him to lead you through the hard times, or do you turn to social media and other things in the world to find a relief from the stress and pain?

So why should we rejoice always? Because God loves us enough to allow difficult things to happen in order to make us more like His son. If you never experienced a hard time, would you ever need faith? God prepares us for things in our future by growing our faith and trust in Him now. Like ways, we can rejoice because as we navigate these hard trials and the lies of satan, we can know that the Lord is near!

Next, we are told not to be anxious about ANYTHING!!!!!

Now the first statement seemed ridiculous enough, but now this??? Rejoice always and now don’t be anxious about ANYTHING????

Let me explain a little bit of why I believe God would say this:

Let me first preface by saying this: Some things in life naturally make us anxious because they are unfamiliar and strange. Like maybe the thought of public speaking or going in for a job interview. Maybe your first day of college. That can be nerve-racking. I don’t think it is sin that our natural response is an internal sense of being scared and anxious. However, what will we do in response to these emotions? Will we continue to dwell on them or will we talk to God about it?

Look at verses

Phil. 4:6-7

“6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

When we worry and are anxious, and continue to allow these thoughts to stay in our minds and destroy our thinking, it is a sign that we don’t trust God and His ability to lead and help us.

Scripture tells us to go in prayer with a thankful heart and ask God for help. When I go to God and Him to help me to do my best and to take away the stress and fear, its amazing the peace that comes upon my mind and heart. I shared this with you all last week when I talked about my mom getting cancer. Verse 7 talks about this peace! It is a peace that surpasses our understanding. In the midst of trouble, we don’t understand why we are able to have access to this level of peace…but it’s because we are choosing to trust God to be the one to help, strengthen and deliver us.

So my question is: Are you willing to take a step of faith and trust God this week with your anxieties and fears? When we choose to cross that line and fully trust God to be our help, we will experience peace. And this can be hard because we want to hold on to something else…just in case God fails. If there is a back-up or means of extra assurance, then we aren’t actually trusting God. Get rid of the parachute and trust that God will be your help.

Finally! Phil. 4:8

Philippians 4:8 ESV

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Now we get down to the details of how to practice controlling what we allow in our minds.

What are the things that we should be able to think about?

True, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and praiseworthy,

These are things that will lead us to having a more disciplined mind that thinks about truth and will say no to the lies of the enemy.

2 Corinthians 10:5 (ESV)

5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

Every time a thought enters our mind, we must be quick to sift it through the standard which God sets for us. Will it pass the test of truth, love, purity, justness, etc. Those thoughts that are not based and founded on the truth of God’s Word need to be taken captive and surrendered to Jesus. Make those thoughts your prisoner…they are not allowed authority over what goes on in your mind. Surrender them to Jesus in prayer and experience the peace that we have access to.

However, this will require discipline and strength. It won’t be accomplished on your own strength, so turn to Jesus for it instead.

We will slip up and make mistakes…don’t quit!!!

Desire more the peace and freedom offered through Jesus today!!!