How to Stop Worrying
April 28, 2024

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2 Timothy 1:7 - For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. KJV

Sound mind: (discipline) has the literal meaning of a secure and sound mind, but it also carries the additional idea of a self-controlled, disciplined, and properly prioritized mind.

A WORRYING HEART

___Are you rattled when things don’t go as you expected?

___Do you often worry about things beyond your control?

__Do you lose sleep over pressing issues?

___Is it hard to “turn off” your mind?

___Does the unknown intimidate you?

___Do you often imagine the worst case scenario?

Research on Worry:40% never happens 30% concern the past 12% needless about health
10% insignificant/petty issues 8% legitimate concerns

FEAR/WORRY: “Assuming RESPONSIBILITY that God never INTENDED for me to have.”

• About 60% of adults in the United States struggle with worry and stress daily.

What’s the difference between worry and anxiety?

1. We tend to experience worry in our MINDS

2. We generally experience anxiety in our BODIES

Jesus says not to worry about…

• Finances - Food – Fitness – Fashion - Future

Matthew 6:24-25 - “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. ²⁵ “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 important than food, and the body more important than clothes?

Matthew 6:34 - “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. …”

Matthew 6:26 - “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?”

What’s the difference between concern and worry?

1. Concern focuses on challenges and moves you to ACTION.

2. Worry focuses on what’s beyond our control and results in INACTION.

Matthew 6:27 - “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”

Hard truths about worrying:

1. “God, I DON’T trust your plan.”

2. What you worry about most reveals where you trust God the LEAST

How do we overcome worry?

Matthew 6:33 - “But seek first [God’s] kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

1. You seek FIRST God’s kingdom and his righteousness.

What does it look like to seek Him first?

Matthew 6:32 - For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

• He says the solution to worry is redirecting your DEVOTION

Matthew 6:33 - “But seek first [God’s] kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

Matthew 6:10 - your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Matthew 6:33-34 - But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.