#410 - DO NOT BE ANXIOUS - (6/8/21)

During this LEARNING TO HEAR series I’m taking a different approach to these devotionals. I want to us work harder at searching the scriptures for ourselves. We will use the ‘Come to Jesus Daily’ method below to help us with this. It’s well worth the hard work involved!

TODAY’S TEXT

I’ve included my reflections on today’s text below. However, I encourage you to pray and spend time reflecting (writing can be helpful) using the 5 questions below before reading my thoughts.

i. †GOSPEL - 'Gaze on the cross'- What does this text reveal about salvation through Jesus?

ii. UP – What does this text say about God – His worth, character, attributes, will, promises…?

iii. IN – What does this say about me, the church and how we are to relate? Is there a promise to believe, command to do, attitude to have, something to avoid, is there forgiveness to seek or give?

iv. OUT – What does this say about my community and mission?

v. DO - This has two components. Firstly, list as many possible ways that you can think of that one might apply the text (actions or attitudes). Secondly, hear - Pray about how the Holy Spirit is leading you, specifically, to respond.

MY REFLECTIONS

1. †GOSPEL

Thanksgiving for the gospel is a great way of re-centering ourselves in the love and peace of God. It’s a helpful practice to thank God for the gospel and then go on to pray about any issues that are causing anxiety.

This text speaks of the ‘peace of God’ that we have in Christ. Our peace is the gift of God through faith in Jesus.

2. UP

God wants to hear our prayers. He is ready to listen and respond to our petitions. We may find it a mystery that God knows what’s best and yet He wants us to pray, but that’s a paradox and privilege that we must live with.

3. IN

We are ‘not be anxious about anything’! This is not about the removal of fearsome situations. Rather, this is about a supernatural peace that we can experience in any situation. We are to have a different approach to anxiety-creating things - we are to pray!

A simple practice is to pray and give thanks whenever an anxious thought enters our mind.

4. OUT

We are not to be anxious about those we love who don’t know peace with God; we are to pray for them.

The quality of our peace in difficult circumstances is a great witness to those around us.

5. DO? - Here are a few examples of application that I’ve come up with:

It’s important that we don’t live and act out of worry and fear. We are to do things out of faith. All of our actions are to be built on the peace that we have with God. We must never act because we fear rejection.

Do we pray persistently about the things that are of concern to us?

Are our prayers a healthy mixture of petitions and thanksgiving?

HEAR - Pray about how the Holy Spirit might want you to respond.

COMMUNITY GROUP STUDY

During this LEARNING TO HEAR series we are going to take a different approach to learning from the Bible together. We will use the ‘Come to Jesus Daily Method’ together (Gospel, Up, In, Out, Do) - you will have to do all the work!

1. Icebreaker - How has God spoken to you from the Bible this week? (During this LEARNING TO HEAR series, we are seeking to develop a culture of listening to God out of His word)

2. Select a text of scripture. (You could use the text from Sunday’s message or something of your choice.)

3. Read and recall. (Read the text and ask each person in the group to put it into their own words.)

4. Please go through these questions together:

i. †GOSPEL - 'Gaze on the cross'- What does this text reveal about salvation through Jesus?

ii. UP – What does this text say about God – His worth, character, attributes, will, promises…?

iii. IN – What does this say about me, the church and how we are to relate? Is there a promise to believe, command to do, attitude to have, something to avoid, is there forgiveness to seek or give?

iv. OUT – What does this say about my community and mission?

v. DO - This has two components. Firstly, list as many possible ways that you can think of that one might apply the text (actions or attitudes). Secondly, hear - Pray and share (if it’s appropriate) about how the Holy Spirit is leading you, specifically, to respond.

5. SIV - Finally, it would be helpful to talk and pray about how we are doing in regard to Serve, Invest and Invite. Do you have any encouraging stories or any plans in this regard? How do you want to pray in regard to our mission?