What would I do without Jesus?

There is a southern Gospel song that has been ringing in my ears while preparing for this message and so I made it the title of this sermon.

What would I do without Jesus? The shepherd of my Valley. I would not want to walk this world alone. When I am hungry He feeds me - He has been my provider

I would not make it without Jesus because He is my living hope.

In the last 5 years specifically I feel like that has been a true theme of my life. There has been many times when if I did not have the Lord in my life all hope would have been lost. He has been my strength.

We will lay that aside for a moment and I want to share with you this. I am not one who likes to watch the news. I know many of you think thats irresponsible. But for me and I just find it is easy to get consumed by these events and damages more than does me good. So I don’t watch it.

In our household we take breaks and just shut off watching the updates for covid because it caused more anxiety and stress than it did good. This is not about burrying our heads in the sand. It is about knowing what is best in the grand scheme of things.

We have still kept informed on what is going on around us and we haven’t missed a beat in that regard. But it is easy to be consumed with fear, worry and anxiety.

We can get so constantly bombarded with negative news and that can make us anxious and consumed with uncertainty of what the future holds.

Today let’s take a look at Paul’s words in Phil. 4:4-9

Philippians 4:4–9 NIV

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Prayer: Lord meet us in this place and fill us with your word.

We are a praying people. We are a praying church. We have seen the effects of prayer in our lives and in this assembly that is for certain.

We need to hold fast to the peace of God that comes through prayer.

Paul says do not fret, do not worry.

Remember Winne the Pooh? There is a certain donkey in that story that we know as the bad news guy. The one who often looks at the dark side of things.

It is none other than Eeyore. If you want to be uplifted in life, don’t look to Eeyore.

He will surely do the very opposite that you are hoping to receive.

Eeyore is known for his glum, sarcastic and pessimistic ways and has trouble getting himself organized. When he does try to do something it usually is a half-hearted attempt.

His catchphrases are "Thanks for noticin' me" and "Ohhh-kayyy". His pessimistic outlook was also shown in an encounter with Piglet, who cheerfully bade him "Good morning!" Eeyore responded, "Well, I suppose it is...for some."

Here’s a little phrase that Eeyore will give to us to help us through all that crazy wet foggy weather we have had.

“The nicest thing about the rain is that it always stops. Eventually.”

You see this morning we need to take heed to this and remember we are to be people filled with faith and not fear. Joy and not pessimissm.

How is your talk? How is your outlook? Do we talk the Eeyore talk?

Paul’s words in Phillipians says don’t fret, don’t worry. Instead of worrying pray.

Pray and let your petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers.

By doing this we let God know our concerns and before we know it a sense of God’s wholeness comes in and we find everything coming together for good and will settle you down.

That is peace. A peace that passes all understanding.

It is wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

I love that!

When we focus on something beautiful the worry, the fear fades because the focus is no longer on the ugly but the beautiful.

A few nights ago the sunset was absolutely breathtaking. You could see the many different colors of the sky fading together to make it even more magnificent.

You see that is what happens when we focus on the beauty of God through our faith rather than the ugliness of the worry or fear.

Paul states in our text - worry about nothing - pray about everything.

I was taught to pray about everything absolutely everything. That was engrained in my life from an early age. I even asked for prayer for my dog who was my best friend that she would be saved. I could not imagine heaven without my precious puppy.

share prayers from kids

But through that faith even though I laugh at it now, that lesson that prayer really changes things has gripped my heart and brought me through the hardest times in life.

I have seen God save me, and family members, I have seen Him heal me and family members. He is the one who has brought us through many obstacles how you may ask because of PRAYER!

We were made for more than worry my friends.

There is such an epidemic in this generation. It is something that has gripped our society in such a life altering way - anxiety and depression.

Please here me this morning I know anxiety and depression are debilitating diseases, I am in no way stating that it is not. But in the same way the Lord is able to heal cancer, paralysis, blindness etc He can do the same for mental health issues.

I have found a powerful way to help, to cope while we wait for full and complete healing is prayer. I have proven it!

So this morning give me a few minutes to share how prayer can help.

Less Worry

Worry is a part of life - it is difficult not to worry.

Many of us are known as worry warts.

I know it is something that I have always struggled with in my life and keep working through.

As a child I worried a lot. My mom gave me a bookmark with a verse on it - it said: “Before you go to bed give your troubles to God, He will be up all night anyway”.

So this morning the goal is to worry less and to pray more.

We are also told in our text to be anxious for nothing.

The Greek word that is used here is known as anxious or distracted care.

1 Peter 5:7 NIV

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

This means we are not to be distracted by the things that are beyond our control.

We are instead to be free of that. To be free of anxiety about worldly things which might distract our thoughts from what God is doing in our lives and stop us from growing in our faith.

This is not easy but this is something that is necessary and something we need to put into practice in our lives.

In Jesus’ teaching in the sermon on the Mount in Matt 5-6 there is a powerful text that we need to consider when we get consumed with worry.

Matthew 6:25–34 NIV

“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 than food, and the body more than clothes? Look 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? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If 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—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Excessive worry leads to NO WHERE

We need to worry less and pray more.

What good does worry do?

What can we accomplish when we fret about something?

The birds and the flowers do not worry or fret and God provides for their needs in abundance. So why do we worry or doubt that God will provide for ours.

Life would be a lot less stressful if we stopped trying to control every little aspect of life and relinquish it to the one who can handle the stress!

Take a look at what the results of excessive/prolonged worry does:

Gives ulcers

Panic attacks

Brings debilitating fear

Can cause high blood pressure

Stroke

Heart Attack

Head aches

Dizziness

Depression

Just to name a few things

The answer to less worry is more prayer!

Pray More

Paul writes - but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Key words to note here: IN EVERYTHING!

In each emergency, each struggle, each joy filled moment, each tear we shed, in each and every situation we find ourselves in little or big, as it arises - we are to pray

It is about cultivating the habit of referring all things great and small to prayer.

It is UNCLENCHING our fists and offering and OPEN HAND to the one who can help us.

Giving our worries and cares to God.

All our hurts, sorrows, joys, good or bad, everything over to God, because we are confident that He cares about us.

How are we to pray?

Paul says - let petitions and praises take your worries into prayers letting God know your concerns.

First things first:

Hand over:

Your petitions

Your requests

Your concerns

so they may be known to God

COMMUNICATE with God.

Talk to God. Share your deepest feelings.

No worry is too small

No concern is too Big for God to handle

Give EVERYTHING to God for God hears every word.

There are times when we get overwhelmed and we cannot find the words to pray.

When words fail - Exciting power of the spirit!

Romans 8:26–28 NLT

And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

The Holy Spirit is right alongside us and if we don’t know how to pray it does not matter. He does our praying for us. He makes prayer out of our wordless sighs and our aching groans.

Aren’t you thankful that God has made a plan to help us through times when our words fail us?

He gets us because He made us and He even prepared for that to keep the communication going.

Sometimes that is all that is needed to ease our anxious thoughts is a quiet heart.

The spirit of God can and will do the rest!

Secondly: Praise and Thanksgiving

Praise the hurt away -

When you’re up against a wall

And the mountain seems so tall

And you realize life’s not always fair

You can run away and hide

Let the old man inside or you can face your circumstances with a prayer

When everything falls apart

Praise His name

When you have a broken heart

Just raise your hands and say

Lord, you’re all I need,

You’re everything to me

And He take the pain away

Thanksgiving is a necessary accompaniment to prayer

It should never be absent from our prayers.

It springs out of the depth of joy we have in knowing Jesus.

Worrying less and praying more helps us keep all things in perspective.

Remember: God is God and we are not

It is keeping our heart and our mind focused on God’s promise .

It is knowing that we are not alone in the journey.

Constantly being in prayer

Let prayer be your weapon against worry.

When the worry begins to creep in give it over to God!

When anxiety overwhelms us ask God’s peace to overwhelm instead.

When our troubles seem like mountains that we cannot possibly climb we are to trust!

God has already made a path through it and follow Him as we go.

As we begin to make these changes in how we live our lives we begin to see we are truly made for more.

Conclusion:

Our text ends with Paul saying: before you know it a sense of God’s wholeness is present. Everything comes together for good. Then there will be a sweet peace that will settle you down.

It is wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of our lives.

Prayer brings about a peace that can replace worry.

That does not mean we stop thinking about what it is we are worrying over it just means that we hand that worry over to God.

It eases our anxiety when we trust that specific problem or situation into God’s capable hands.

I know this morning I am not alone here when it comes to allowing anxious thoughts to invade my life.

I believe we all have worries and concerns. We all have a little bit of anxiety in our minds big and small things that we struggle with and don’t share with others.

Things that we keep tightly to ourselves.

Friends this is not God’s intent for us.

We are made for more than worry. We are made for prayer.

Prayer is a powerful weapon in our arsenal against attacks we may face.

Here’s your challenge:

Sometime today I challenge you to write down 1 worry that you are carrying around with you.

Take that worry and hand it over to God & leave it there!

Do your best to trust and leave that worry in God’s capable hands!

By doing this we are enabling the peace of Christ to fill that anxious spot

Paul’s words:

Don’t fret or worry instead pray let petitions and peace shape your worrues into prayers letting God know your concerns before you know it.

Then a sense of God’s wholeness and everything coming together for good will come and settle you down.

It is so wonderful to experience this.

This is true peace.

It is what happens when God displaces worry at the center of our life.

This morning we are not to be loaded with worry we are to be lifted with peace.

Sing what would I do without Jesus.