REALLIFE STUDY GROUP

“Don’t Worry About It!”

 

ICEBREAKER: Tell us one of the most unusual things you like to eat or have ever eaten. 

 

CONFESSION: There is a difference between healthy concern and anxious worry!  Because I am loved by God, I refuse to worry!

I refuse to worry about what I do & do not have the power to change

I refuse to worry about the choices that other people make

I refuse to worry about the mistakes that I have already made

I refuse to worry about the past, the present and/or the future

I refuse to worry about the things that God is using to build my character

I refuse to worry about the little, the average and/or the big problems

I refuse to worry about what people have said, say or will say about me

I refuse to worry about where I will live and what I will eat or wear

I refuse to worry about our economy, our society and our enemies

I refuse to worry about my neighbors, my friends or my family

I refuse to worry about my health, my finances or my future

I refuse to worry about storms, fires or natural disasters

I refuse to worry about trials, troubles, traumas or tribulations

I refuse to worry about whether people accept me or reject me

 

STATISTICS:

40% of all things that we worry about never come to pass

30% of all our worries involve past decisions that cannot be changed

12% focus on criticism from others who spoke because they felt inferior

10% are related to our health, which gets worse when we worry

8% of our worries could be described as “legitimate” causes for concern

 

DEFINITION:

·        Worry is like sitting in a rocking chair and thinking you are moving toward your desires and your destiny

·        Worry feels productive, but is only counter-productive

·        Worry shapes the future that was never intended for you

·        Worry is probably the most common and one of the biggest sins of Christians today

·        Worry is a habit that is hard to break

·        Worry is contagious and passes from generation to generation

·        Worry is based in pride

·        Worry only causes you to be more stressed, never more blessed

 

OUTLINE: 8 Worry-Free Principles

1.   The same God who created you can be trusted with the details of your life

·        Matthew 6:25 – “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?”

·        We are the most valuable of all God’s creatures.  In all that we face in this world we can trust God – even in bad times.  But we must make the choice to let go of our worries and trust him.  I think that is why Matt Redman writes that he is going to choose to say “Blessed be Your Name”

 

“Blessed be Your name,

When the sun’s shining down on me

When the world’s ‘all as it should be’

Blessed be Your name.

 

Blessed be Your name,

On the road marked with suffering

Though there’s pain in the offering

Blessed be Your name.”

2.    Worrying about the future hinders your present

·        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?”

3.    Worrying is more harmful than useful

·        Matthew 6:27 – “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”

·        ILLUS – Death was walking toward a city, and a man stopped Death and asked, “What are you going to do?”  “I’m going to kill 10,000 people today,” Death said.  The man ran ahead to the city.  He warned everybody he passed that Death was coming and what he was going to do.  At the end of the day, he again met Death.  He said, “You said you were only going to kill 10,000 people and now 70,000 are dead.”  Death said, “I killed only 10,000.  Worry and fear killed the others.” 

4.    Worry puts you on the throne that only belongs to God

·        Matthew 6:28-30 – “And why do you worry about clothes?  See how the lilies 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, O you of little faith?”

Don’t Worry, be thankful!

·        If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world. 

·        If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace, you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy. 

·        If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.

·        If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 500 million people in the world. 

·        If you can attend church meetings without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are more blessed than three billion in the world. 

·        And if your parents are still alive and still married, you are very rare, even in the United States. 

5.    Worrying shows a lack of trust and understanding in God

·        Matthew 6:31, 32 – “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.” 

·        When it comes to faith conquering our worrying, we need to have a child-like faith.  A child does not worry all day long whether his house will be there when he gets home from school or whether his parents will have made dinner.  In the same way, Christians should trust God to supply what is best for us. 

6.    Worrying keeps you from focusing on what God wants you to pursue

·        Matthew 6:33 – “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

·        There are two kinds of people in the world.  The “Can-dos” and the “Will-dos.”  Everyone can do something, but not everyone is willing to persevere, sacrifice, and be a will-do something.  Stop worrying about what you think you can do and focus on what you will do. 

7.    Living one day at a time keeps us from being consumed with worry.

·        Matthew 6:34 – “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

·        It does no good to worry about tomorrow.  We may not have a tomorrow.  If you are worrying about the problems of tomorrow, you will miss out on the blessings of today. 

8.    Worry leads to grumbling, complaining, bitterness & self-pity

 

TEXT: Matthew 6:25-34

 

STUDY GROUP QUESTIONS:

1.    Name one thing or person that you are most tempted to worry about?

2.    Name one way that worry could affect you physically?

3.    Worry is a form of fear.  It actually is using your faith in reverse by putting more trust in your enemy and your circumstances than in your God.  What is the earliest age you remember worrying and what did you worry about? 

4.    Which of the 8 Worry-Free Principles listed above do you find most insightful to you?

5.    Who in your family is the biggest worrier?

6.    Name something that would change in our lives if we really believed Matthew 6:33.

 

PRAYER REQUESTS & PRAISE REPORTS:

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

ACTION POINT: This week every time I start to worry about something, I’m going to verbally thank God that He is already working on the answer to my problem!