"Making War on Worry"

Worry is the cousin of bitterness. Bitterness looks to the past without the eyes of faith and forgiveness; worry looks to the future without eyes of trust and hope.

1. Fight to fix your life’s ambitions on God and His mission, lay up treasure in heaven, Matthew 6:19-21; 2 Corinthians 5:14-15.

2. Fight to see Him with clarity, fight to see His plan; fight for light, Matthew 6:22-23.

3. Look to Him for everything; don’t be duped by the promises of money; He is a giving, gracious and merciful Father/Master, Matthew 6:24.

4. Make war on worry, Matthew 6:25-34, 25, 27, 28, 31, 34.
     a. Life is more than food and clothing, Matthew 6:25.
     b. God cares for birds. How much more so for you? Matthew 6:26.
     c. Anxiety never made anyone live longer, Matthew 6:27.
     d. You can trust God because of the way he adorns grass, Matthew 6:28-30.
     e. Unbelievers are anxious about stuff, you are not an unbeliever, Matthew 6:32a.
     f. God knows that you need this stuff. Better than you do. Matthew 6:25.
     g. You get all the stuff you need when you seek to live under His rule, Matthew 6:33.
     h. The tasks/work of the day are enough, worrying about tomorrow adds too much your plate, Matthew 6:34.

5. Make God’s ambition your ambition: 1) Submit to His rule in your life; 2) Seek His rule everywhere else, Matthew 6:33-34; 1 Peter 5:6-10.

Discussion questions
1. What are your greatest worries? Are they rational? Logical? Think about something you have worried about that was a wasted worry. What should you have done differently?

2. Which of the 8 reasons not to worry is most applicable to your life and why?

3. Why is the fight against worry a fight of faith? Why should it be a fight, shouldn’t it be easy? Read 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; 1 Timothy 4:7-8. What kinds of feelings do we have when we do not want to do something, but know we should? Does it take discipline to do it?

4. What are Orange County’s chief worries? Are they similar to the worries of the Adavasi people in India?

5. How do we cast our anxieties upon the Lord? 1 Peter 5:6-10. What are some spiritual exercises that we can do so that the Lord gets our worries and we don’t wallow in them?