Dalton First United Methodist Church Podcast
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Dalton First United Methodist Church Podcast
How to Wipe Away Worry- Pastor Steven Usry
Our worries often have no more substance than an imaginary golf ball, but they can paralyze us nonetheless. Join us as we navigate the course of anxiety, armed with wisdom from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount and a generous sprinkle of laughter. We'll explore the universal experience of worry, its implications on our lives and leadership, and the key to conquering it.
How to Wipe Away Worry- Pastor Steven Usry
You are listening to the Dalton First United Methodist Church podcast. To learn more about Dalton First United Methodist Church, visit us online at DaltonFUMCcom. We hope that today's message from Pastor Stephen Usry inspires and encourages you.
Speaker 2:Today I want to talk to you about worry, specifically how to wipe out worry when you start to worry. But before I do that, let me do a real quick share, a real quick plug for what starts next week. Next week we're going to start a brand new series on how to really be wise, how to walk in wisdom, and from now until Advent season, the beginning of Christmas, we are going to spend that time, six weeks, in the book of Proverbs. Proverbs is filled with wisdom. It's got wisdom on finances and on leadership and on relationship and on work. And as a church, I'm going to invite our entire church, starting next Sunday, to read through the book of Proverbs during this season of October and moving into November. If you want to be a part of a great journey, I want to invite you back next Sunday. We're going to have a great season as we move into talking about what does it mean to really be wise and to live God's way? But today I want to talk to you about worry. All right, some of us are professionals at worry, all right, and others of us we just worry. By the way, all of us worry, can we? Hey? Is that true? All of us? We got to. This is a message for all of us. We all can be worriers.
Speaker 2:But kind of by way of getting into the text for today, let me share with you a cute little joke I heard this week. There was a guy who was having major stress and anxiety in his life and so he went to go see a psychologist and he said he said you've got to help me. He said I've got so much worry and anxiety and stress. It's actually causing my family problems that I worry and I'm so stressed out and it's causing me health problems. And after they talk for a while back and forth, the psychologist said well, I have a. I have a thing I want you to do and I think it's going to help you with your problem, your worry, your anxiety, your stress. And it might be a little awkward, but are you willing to do it? And the guy said I'm willing to do whatever you got, doc. And he said I want you to go play a round of golf. The guy looked at him and said I'm not doing that. I already stink at golf. That's only going to stress me out and make me more anxious. Why would I do that? The doc said no, no, no, you have to do it, you have to do it my way. You have to go play a round of golf. But here's the deal I want you to get out there and I want you to do everything you would normally do to play golf, but I want you to play with an imaginary ball. The guy said I guess, if you're saying it'll help me, doc, I'll do it.
Speaker 2:So, sure enough, he went out of the golf course, he got all of his golf equipment, he walked up to that first tee and tried to wait for nobody to be around because he felt like he was going to look like a fool. And he teed up an imaginary ball, and quick as he could, because he didn't want people to see him actually doing this he took a swing at it and took a rip and what do you know? 285 down the middle of the fairway. That ball took off. He went down the middle of the fairway again, trying to move quick because he didn't want to see somebody that he didn't really recognize. He didn't really have a ball and, sure enough, knocked that thing up on the green. Two putted made a par on the first hole. So he played the next hole. Made a par on that one Played the next hole par five and made a par on that one.
Speaker 2:But a gentleman had seen him. He walked up on the green while he was playing a par five and he said what in blazes are you doing? And the guy tried to explain that he'd been filled with stress and anxiety. And his doc told him if he'd go play with this imaginary ball. And the gentleman said can I join you? He said I want to do it, let's see what happens. Maybe it'll take some stress and worry away from my life. And so together they went back to hole number one and they were going to play the full 18 holes together.
Speaker 2:What do you know? Boom, boom Balls in the middle of the fairway, puts on the green Par. They parred the first hole, they parred the second hole, then they came to that par five Same thing. They took off, boom, their balls were out in the middle of the fairway, their imaginary balls. They hit the second shot. Their problem happened on the third shot of the par five, the gentleman who had joined in. He hit that third shot on the par five and he started to talk about that ball.
Speaker 2:He says on the green Troll and told the hole he's in the cop Eagle, now the fella, who had started this thing. He had a problem with that. His friend just eagled an imaginary ball. He wasn't going to stand for that. So he said that ball didn't go in the hole. He said I'm telling you, it went in the hole. If it went in the hole it ain't fair. He said what's unfair about it? You hit my ball. Oh, they argued about it the rest of the time.
Speaker 2:It was not a good day for him. When it was all over just brought more stress and anxiety in his life. Hey guys, we have a lot of worries in our lives. We got stress all the time. We that word anxious or anxiety we're going to talk about this morning. But let me share a simple thought with you as we begin. In the greatest sermon that has ever been preached, when Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount. We had a lot of anxiety when Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount and we have it recorded in Matthew chapter 5, matthew chapter 6 and Matthew chapter 7. Jesus is teaching and of all the things he can teach about, and, by the way, he talked about a lot of things in that sermon. He talked about money, he talked about forgiveness. He talked about your talents and your stewardship. Guess what he spent a considerable amount of time talking about In the greatest sermon that was ever preached, the Sermon on the Mount.
Speaker 2:Jesus starts talking to people about worry. Now you read it in the Scriptures this morning. You might want to locate it there In my Scripture. I just circled. Every time Jesus said the word worry, what you're going to find is that five different times Jesus says do not worry. Five different times he's trying to communicate that we worry and we're not supposed to worry. Now we're not supposed to worry. We're not supposed to worry. Now what does that tell me, guys? You know that tells me that Jesus is a master teacher and that he knows our human condition and even though he was God in the flesh on the planet, when he was talking to people, he was talking to them about stuff that really mattered, things that were on their hearts. He wasn't ethereal and, above everything, jesus was talking about nuts and bolts, stuff. And here's what he knew. He knew that people, by nature, worry and Jesus was communicating a couple of things. You might want to write these things in your margin. I think people just they read that Scripture that we read this morning from Matthew and they take away the big thing.
Speaker 2:The big thing is Jesus is saying don't worry. I guess that's the. You might want to write just two big points out to the side there. Yeah, he knows us and he knows we worry. And, by the way, notice that he knows we worry about all kinds of things. Right, he knows we worry about food and we worry about clothes. You hear him talking about that. We worry about some of the smallest little things sometimes and yet we worry about some of the biggest things. Here's the big point. One of the most important things about that Scripture is that Jesus knows us and he knows we worry. But if you miss the most important part, you got to grab it.
Speaker 2:The second big thing that he's trying to communicate is something about our Father. He's trying not to just communicate with us about us. He's trying to communicate with us about who God is. So he says don't you know who your Heavenly Father is? He takes care of the birds, he looks after the flowers of the field, and yet he cares for you so much more than them. Don't you think that God will provide for you? This is what Jesus is communicating In my little outline I just wrote down. For that second idea you matter to God. He knows your name, he knows all about you, he knows your cares and your worries before they ever even on your brain. He knows you and you matter to him and he wants to provide for you.
Speaker 2:One day long ago, I was reading this passage and one of the amazing things about the Bible is you can read a passage of Scripture one day and then come back to it another day and speak to it. Why? Because the Bible is the living Word of God. It was breathed into existence by God and it is dynamic. The Bible says it pierces past bone and marrow and goes straight to our spirit.
Speaker 2:I was reading this passage that I read so many times before and I had a thought. It's something related to what Jesus was saying. Jesus was saying I know you worry, don't worry, you have a heavenly Father that takes care of you. And I read that passage and all of a sudden, you know what came into my mind my three kids. I've got an Abbey, I've got an Andrew and I've got an Alex. You know, god entrusted these three children to Julie and myself to nurture them, to grow them up, to take care of them, but certainly to provide for them.
Speaker 2:And as I was reading that passage, one day I had this simple thought what if one day I discovered I discovered that Andrew, for example, or Alex, that they were just anxious and worried because something that I am normally supposed to do, we'll just say provide food, put it on the dinner table, make sure they have something to eat that they were worried because they didn't think, they didn't think Dad was gonna come through for them. When I had that thought, it really transformed this passage for me, because I realized our heavenly Father, he knows everything we need. And when we begin to worry, what we're really we don't even recognize we're doing it. What we're really doing is saying God, I think I gotta take care of myself, I think I gotta provide for me, I think it's all up to me, it's not really your job, guys. Jesus was telling us don't worry, by the way.
Speaker 2:What do we worry about? We worry about finances, we worry about family, we worried about our health, we worry about jobs. We worry about a lot of stuff, don't we? Sometimes it's just the most minuscule stuff. I'm gonna be honest with you. 3.30 yesterday afternoon, from 3.30 to 7 o'clock, a certain football team was playing. I was worried. I was worried. We worry about some of the most simple stuff sometimes, don't we?
Speaker 2:In your outline, I've provided you a couple of big thoughts for a minute though how we worry about the past, how we worry about the present and how we worry about the future. When we worry about the past, oftentimes what we're worrying about we're fearing the future. We fear the future. We have conflict in the present and we have regrets in the past. I want you to think about that for a minute.
Speaker 2:When you worry about the future, it's always some type of fear of what's gonna happen in the future. When you begin to worry about something going on the present, it's normally some tension, it's some conflict, there's something that's not being met, there's some struggle that's going on the present. And when you worry about the past, there's some regret, there's some thing, there's some painful memory that you have back there. And isn't it amazing how we worry about that stuff? You know psychiatrists and psychologists. They say that about 80 to 85% of the things we worry about never transpire. They never happen. What they try to communicate out of that is that most of our worry is wasted energy.
Speaker 2:But that's not the key for me, the key that I want to talk to you about today is how? Notice the title of the sermon today how? How do I wipe out worry? You'll notice that Jesus doesn't really tell you how. Jesus just tells you why. Jesus says don't worry, you have a father that cares for you. And then he says you know, don't worry about tomorrow, you take care of today. Right, that's what he said. But over and over again in my ministry I've had people come to me and say, pastor Steven, I believe God's word, but show me how to do God's word. And that's what I wanted to focus on this morning. So you'll notice the next scripture in your outline. It's also going to be about how not to worry, how not to be anxious, but it really really gives you a great prescription for the how In the book of Philippians.
Speaker 2:And before I read this scripture, I just want to share a real quick story with you. The Philippian church. Paul was writing to the Philippian church. The Philippian church had experienced massive persecution. They were going through a horrible, horrible time.
Speaker 2:When Paul pens him a letter, so if there was a group of people who had things that they could worry about, it's this group of people. Paul writes to them and the Holy Spirit tells him to write these words and listen to the words he writes. Paul says rejoice in the Lord, always. I will say it again rejoice. Let your gentleness these are people being persecuted be evident to all. The Lord is near.
Speaker 2:And then he says these words do not be anxious about anything. Everybody look up at me for just a minute Sometimes when I read the Bible and it says stuff like that, I go are you kidding? How will I ever do that? Be anxious for nothing. That almost sounds impossible to me, right, by the way, I wonder who in this crowd today showed up and you're worrying about the most stuff. Out of a crowd this size, you are actually the most anxious person. If that was you when you read that, you would be real tempted to say God, I want to follow your word and I want to be anxious for nothing. But I don't understand how to do that.
Speaker 2:Paul is going to tell us how Paul writes those words to the Philippian church and he says be anxious for nothing. But in everything, you might want to take your pen and underline some words here, but in everything, by prayer, you would want to underline that word In petition and underline that word with thanksgiving. And underline that word. Present your request to God, and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Jesus Christ. Notice that there are two commands. All right, as hard as they may seem to follow.
Speaker 2:Two commands. One is be anxious for nothing. You might want to fill that in the blank. There, be anxious for nothing. By the way, we can all say there, right, wow, how do you do that? Right, be anxious for nothing. And here's the next command In everything, pray. There's your two commands Be anxious for nothing, in everything, pray.
Speaker 2:What does that mean, pastor Stephen? That means when I start to worry, it should be like a light on the dashboard that pops on. We don't have lights that pop on the dashboard and we don't pay attention to it. Right, say, right, say right, okay, we don't ignore lights that pop up, thinking they're going to go away. We pay attention. And so when you start to worry, that is your moment, that the light should pop away and you should go. This is my moment. I've got to pray. We don't worry, we pray. Matter of fact. Say that. We don't worry, we pray. Say it again we don't worry, we pray, paul is saying do not be anxious about anything, but in everything you pray. And then here's the promise. Two commands and notice the promise. When we do it God's way, he, by the power of the Holy Spirit, will then send God's peace to us that will guard Think of like armor or a shield that will guard our hearts. Think, my emotions, my fears, my concerns, these things inside of me that sometimes feel like butterflies, my heart and my mind, my mind. He will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.
Speaker 2:Years ago I was reading this passage and sometimes I see scripture like a movie. I'm just going to be confessional, alright. I see Jesus doing a miracle and it's like a movie for me. But sometimes I read scripture and I just see things pop out. And I don't mean to be too technical here and I don't mean to in some way make this very thing beautiful, cosmic thing that God does by giving us His peace when we pray. I don't mean to simplify it too much, but a math equation when I read that scripture popped out at me. Now I want to ask you does it pop out to you? Do you see a math equation? If you do, let me just walk you through it. Okay, if you have your pen, I'd invite you just to write down a simple math equation. You'd write down the word prayer.
Speaker 2:What is prayer? By the way? Prayer is just talking to God. So when you worry which, by the way, most of the time you worry you're worrying about talking to yourself or talking to others. Okay, so when we worry, we pray. So when you start to worry you're laying in bed at night, you can't fall asleep you start to. This is your moment. The light goes on. You need to start talking to God. We pray. That's step number one. We start talking. Talk to Him about anything. Talk to Him about anything going on. He's okay. He's big. You can complain, you can get mad. He's a big old God. He can take anything you got. Talk to Him about what's on your heart.
Speaker 2:We start with prayer. What do we add to it? The Bible says by prayer and petition. What do we mean by petition? Petition is asking God, asking God for whatever the need is that you're worrying about. Jesus said it this way. We have not, because we ask not. This is your moment. By the way, he has so much more ability to meet your needs than you ever will. Why are you talking to yourself, right, and why are you talking to somebody else who can't meet those needs? So if you really want to follow this math equation he says, be anxious in nothing but in everything, by prayer, with Prayer and petition. With what's that word?
Speaker 2:Thanksgiving, what is Thanksgiving? This is the part we often forget to do, but I think it's incredibly powerful and if you will let your spiritual ears hear this, it can change your life. An amazing thing happens when we start talking to God and I believe even the windows of heaven can open up and we start asking God for things According to Jesus. That's what actually happens. But I believe one of the keys is when we begin to thank God in advance for what he's going to do. You say God, I believe you take care of me, I believe you look after me, I believe you have this taken care of, and you begin to thank him in advance for how he's going to meet your needs. If you will do watch this by prayer and petition, with Thanksgiving, if you will do those three things, I believe God honors it and all of a sudden, you will see, you will feel the peace of God begin to wash over you and begin to guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus.
Speaker 2:How do I know? I know because I've been doing this for a really long time. When I start to worry, I start to pray and this scripture is a very important scripture to me. And when I pray, I talk to God, I ask God and I begin to thank God. And you know what I've learned he's true to his word. His peace will begin to wash over me and all the anxiousness will just evaporate. More than a decade ago, I started teaching this from the pulpit. I can't tell you how many times I've had people come up to me and say, pastor Stephen, I never saw it. Now I get it. And when I start to worry, I go back to it Prayer plus petition, with Thanksgiving I'm going to thank him in advance and how God's Holy Spirit begins to wash over you and guard you.
Speaker 2:I know you. I know there are some things that you could worry about today. I know there are. You probably had some things on your pillow last night. I want to invite you to hear the good news of the gospel. You don't have to worry. You have a father. He loves you, he cares for you, you matter to him and his promise is that he will take care of you. You want to wipe out worry? You go to him. You won't have to be anxious for anything, but by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving in advance, the peace of God will wash over you.
Speaker 2:In the next few minutes we're going to have Holy Communion, and you know what my invitation is. What better time can there be for you to practice what I just preached, to actually do the word? You know the way we receive Holy Communion around here. Oftentimes you're kind of sitting and you're waiting to receive. Why don't you just make a little sacred space where you are and whatever your cares, your concerns, whatever you're anxious about, why don't you try? Why don't you try it? Why don't you just have a conversation with God, begin to ask God and thank Him in advance, and you see, you see if he's not true to His Word, that he won't give you His peace.
Speaker 2:Would you pray with me, god, in the next few minutes as we pray and as we come? We pray that you would meet us in the breaking of the bread and the juice this morning and that once again, you would mend us. We're so broken. We need healing, we need mending, we need redirecting, we need guiding, and, god, we pray that you would meet us in this place, heal us, and that, god, you would also then raise us up. Raise us back up and send us back out in mission to a broken world where we can be witnesses and ambassadors, jesus, of your love and your grace. Lord, I pray for every person here today to have an experience with you, and I pray this, jesus, in your most holy name, amen.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Dalton First United Methodist Church podcast. If today's sermon resonated with you, we encourage you to share it with someone who might benefit from the message. Join us for worship and stay connected at daltonfumccom. God bless and see you next week.