Tough Talks: Overwhelmed

Big Idea: We can trust God with our worries

Primary Scripture: Matthew 6:25-34

Supporting Scripture: Psalm 34:17

___________________________________________________________

CAPTURE (Why should students pay attention to and care about your message?)

· Have you ever felt completely trapped by circumstances beyond your control?

· In 2018, twelve boys and their coach from a soccer team in Thailand went exploring in a local cave system.

· While they were inside the caves, heavy rains came down and flooded the entryway, trapping them deep underground with no way out.

· For the first nine days, no one even knew if they were alive.

· The best divers in the world weren’t sure they could make it to the boys.

· Then hope appeared as two divers from a rescue team finally reached the boys.

· The boys were still two miles deep inside the caves, and the only way out was through narrow underwater tunnels in pitch-black water.

· Even the world’s best and most experienced divers had struggled to reach them.

· These kids had never even been scuba diving before—how could they possibly make it out?

· The boys had to do something incredibly difficult: they had to put their full trust in complete strangers.

· Since it would be too risky for the team to try to swim out on their own, the decision was made to fully sedate each boy so that they could be taken out one by one.

· The boys had to trust that the rescuers would guide them to safety.

· Over the next few days, one by one, each person was carefully and successfully brought out.

· The mission involved more than 10,000 people from around the world including divers, soldiers, engineers, medical teams, and local volunteers—all working together to bring the boys home safely.

· Against all odds, every single boy made it out alive. The entire world celebrated.

· This captures something we’ve all experienced to some degree: what it feels like to be completely overwhelmed.

· You may not have been trapped in a cave, but you've probably felt trapped in your own version of darkness.

· Maybe everything felt uncertain, you had no control, and the weight of worry, fear, or anxiety just felt too heavy to carry.

· Whether it’s stress at school, family struggles, friendship drama, or just current events, we’ve all had moments where we feel overwhelmed, stuck, and unsure of what to do next.

· The question we ask in those moments is the same:

o Where is God when I feel overwhelmed?

SCRIPTURE

(What does God’s Word say?)

· This question is something that Jesus addressed head-on in the Sermon on the Mount, which is found in the New Testament Gospel of Matthew.

· Jesus was speaking to a large crowd of people, many of whom had worries they were carrying, just like many of us do today.

· While their worries were probably a little different than ours, what Jesus said to them still matters for us today.

25 That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? 27 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? (Matthew 6:25-27 – NLT)

· Getting enough food, water, and clothing back then was a daily struggle for almost everyone except the richest of the rich.

· For many of us, food, water, and clothing aren’t at the top of our list of things to worry about each day.

· For the people listening to Jesus that day, they worried about them a lot.

28 And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, 29yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 30And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? (Matthew 6:28-30 – NLT)

· Jesus points out that flowers don't do any work for their beauty, yet God makes them more stunning than King Solomon (someone who was known for incredible wealth and luxury).

· If God puts that much care into something as temporary as flowers, how much more will He care for people?

31So don’t worry about these things, saying, “What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?” 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. (Matthew 6:31-33 – NLT)

· Jesus isn’t saying that believing in Him will make your problems and anxiety disappear or magically go away.

· He’s pointing out that believing in Him gives His followers the opportunity to approach their worries differently.

God invites us to seek his faithfulness/righteousness so that we will realize his reign and depend upon him to meet our needs. This is the context from which we pray, “Give us today our daily bread”

· We can either try to carry everything on our own, or we can trust that God will continue to care for us just like He always has.

34  So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today. (Matthew 6:34 – NLT)

· It’s a lot easier to say, “I’m not going to worry about that” than it is to actually not worry.

· Jesus is pointing out something that we already know to be true:

o Worrying about tomorrow doesn’t change tomorrow… it just makes today more difficult than it needs to be.

· Jesus is giving us permission to focus on what’s right in front of us instead of always focusing on things that are outside our control.

INSIGHTS (What might this Scripture mean?)

1. God sees and cares about what overwhelms us.

· It's easy to feel invisible when life gets heavy.

· Jesus says if God takes care of birds and flowers, how much more will He take care of you?

· And Jesus isn’t the only person in the Bible who reminds us of this.

David wrote this during a time that he had to fake being insane so he wouldn’t be killed by this King name Abimilech:

The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. (Psalm 34:17 – NLT)

Sometimes anxiety can make us feel a little crazy, but God will rescue you when you call out to Him!

· God is not distant from what’s happening in your life.

· God sees you. He hears you. He cares.

2. God invites us to seek Him first.

· Jesus didn’t just tell us to stop focusing on our worries; He also challenged us to point our focus in a new direction.

33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. (Matthew 6:33 – NLT)

· This means when God becomes your foundation, you have something solid to stand on even when everything around you feels shaky.

· Jesus used the word "dominate" to describe how worry can fill our minds. But for those who follow Jesus, He offers a better way.

· When we put Him first—through prayer, reading the Bible, and living out our faith—we can find His peace in the middle of chaos.

6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7 – NLT)

· The goal isn’t to completely silence our fears and worries, but to shift our focus.

· When we learn to turn to God first, His peace takes center stage, and we discover that His voice is far more trustworthy than our fears.

3. God reminds us to focus on today.

· Jesus wraps up His teaching with a simple and powerful reminder.

34So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today. (Matthew 6:34 – NLT)

· Worrying about the future can be exhausting.

· Playing the “what if” game rarely leaves anyone feeling like a winner.

o “What if I fail this test?”

o “What if they stay mad at me?”

o “What if something bad happens?”

Worry is like a splinter in our minds.

*17 splinters story building houses. Floor joists… infected and came out a few weeks later.*

John Wesley said:

“loving the world; desiring it for its own sake; the placing our joy in the things thereof, and setting our hearts upon them; the seeking (what indeed it is impossible we should find) our happiness therein; the resting with the whole weight of our souls, upon the staff of this broken reed, although daily experience shows it cannot support… will only “enter into our hand and pierce it.”

· Our minds can jump straight to worst-case scenarios.

· Jesus reminds us that worrying about tomorrow won’t change anything. It just leaves us feeling helpless.

· God promises to give us the strength and grace we need for today

· We can choose to trust God with what’s in front of us right now.

ACTION (How could we live this out?)

1. Create a “worry handoff” routine.

*Worry box illustration*

· This week, create a simple routine for handing your worries over to God instead of trying to carry them around on your own all day.

· When you notice yourself starting to spiral about something, pause and literally picture yourself handing that worry to God.

· Hold out your hands like you're carrying something heavy, then turn them over like you're giving it away.

· Say something simple like this: "God, I'm giving you this worry about _____. I can't control it, but You can. Help me trust You with it today."

· The goal isn't to never think about it again—it's to practice trusting God with it instead of letting it dominate your thoughts.

2. Start a “God’s Got This” list.

· This week, start keeping a list on your phone or in a notebook of times when "God's got this" turned out to be true.

· The point is to start noticing God's faithfulness in the small, everyday stuff. Then, when the big worries hit, you'll have evidence that God really has been taking care of you all along.

· When a new worry pops up, look back at your list. Let it remind you that the same God who handled all those other situations is still with you now.

*Prayer*