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May 26, 2019

Hakuna Matata

Passage: Matthew 6:25-33

Speaker: Chip Reed

Series: Sermon on the Mount

Category: Grace Brevard

Keywords: love, creation, father, worry, anxiety, provision, care

In this passage Jesus speaks directly to anxiety/worry. We find that he connects anxiety to “what we eat, what we drink and what we wear (material things), but that is a symptom of a deeper problem...a lack of faith (spiritual). In order to overcome anxiety one must believe God is good and powerful. We must also believe we are part of a bigger story. This bigger story...that God has given his people the message of reconciliation, and desires that it go into the world for his glory and its transformation, allows us to live beyond our earthly desires and needs, and live for his righteousness.

Order of WorShip

CALL TO WORSHIP: Lamentations 3:22-26

READING: Philippians 4:6-7

MUSIC: 

PRAYER: The Lord’s Prayer

ALL: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil

For Thine is the Kingdom

and the power and the glory

forever and ever Amen.  

MISSIONAL LIVING: Leah Emory (Serge)

ILLUSTRATION: Hakuna Matat

CENTRAL TEXT:  Matthew 6:25-34

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 than food, and the body more than clothes? 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? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life. 28 ‘And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 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? 31 So do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 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.

MESSAGE: Hakuna Matata

ILLUSTRATION: Cinderella Man

RESPONSE: Psalm 23:1-6

BENEDICTION: Numbers 6:24-26

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURES:

  • Proverbs 31
  • Revelation 21
  • 1 Kings 3:13
  • Matthew 6:8
  • James 4:13
  • Luke 10:38-42
  • Romans 8:32
  • 1 Timothy 6:8

MEDIA:

5.26.19 Album

DISCUSSIONS QUESTIONS:

  1. Do you consider yourself to be an anxious person?  
    1. Would others see you in this same way?
  2. What causes you to feel anxious?
  3. What do you do to manage your anxiety?
  4. What role do expectations (unrealistic or otherwise) play in causing us anxiety?
  5. Have you ever made the connection between your anxiety and your identity in Christ?
  6. If you were honest, what would you say is a greater desire, control over your circumstances or intimacy with God?
  7. What does it look like, practically, for you to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness”?  How does this help us in our fight against anxiety?
  8. How does the gospel of Jesus free us from a life of anxiety, and bring us into a life of hope, peace, and contentment?

QUOTES:

  • “Anxiety can wear anger’s mask. Fear of failing, of falling, of falling behind, it can make us fierce. Life can be messy before nine in the morning.” - Ann Voskamp

  • “Anxiety comes from the self as ultimate concern, from the fact that the self cannot bear this ultimate concern; it buckles and wavers under the strain, and eventually, inevitably, it breaks.” - Christian Wiman

  • “We would rather be ruined than changed. We would rather die in our dread than climb the cross of the moment and let our illusions die.” - W.H. Auden (The Age of Anxiety)

  • “It takes pride to be anxious. I am not wise enough to know how my life should go.” - Timothy J. Keller

  • “If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ were not there? ” - John Piper

  • Forty-three percent of all adults suffer adverse health effects from stress. Seventy-five percent to 90% of all doctor's office visits are for stress-related ailments and complaints. Stress can play a part in problems such as headaches, high blood pressure, heart problems, diabetes, skin conditions, asthma, arthritis, depression, and anxiety. The Occupational Safety  Health Administration declared stress a hazard of the workplace. Stress costs American industry more than $300 billion annually. The lifetime prevalence of an emotional disorder is more than 50%, often due to chronic, untreated stress reactions. - Web Md

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