Meeting

 

Hi Guys

 

I am very please to let you know that we will be meeting at

the Salt Rock Library (opposite the Salt Rock Beach) on

Thursday evenings - 18h30 for 19h00.

Starting this coming week.

 

Love

Gregg

New Nature Publications on youtube!

Please forward this on to everyone.

 

Lots of love

Gregg

 

Hi guys 

I made a promo for New Nature Publications. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JbEv0Kotgg   (Hope it works - it's on youtube under New Nature Publications)

Bless you guys

Ryan

New Nature Publications on youtube!

Hi guys 

 

I made a promo for New Nature Publications. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JbEv0Kotgg   (Hope it works - it's on youtube under New Nature Publications)

Bless you guys

Ryan

Wayne's World...(28Jun09)

Destroying stress and anxiety, and abiding in peace, rest and trust Part 2

Wayne Duncan

4 keys to seeing your peace.

4 keys to destroy anxiety.

4 keys to destroy stress.

4 keys to entering rest.

4 keys to abiding in the realm of trusting God. 

Key number 1, God swore by an oath that he will not be angry with us, and we are in an eternal covenant of peace. Isaiah 54.

Key number 2, Gods will for you is wholeness, he has a hope for you and God is in our future.

Jeremiah 29:11

Today we look at key number 3 and 4.

Key number 3. God promises to provide for us, for we are His sons and daughters, who he loves greatly.

God has promised to provide our every need!

Much problem enters our lives for we over estimate our needs!

In a world dominated by materialism and competition we often loose sight of what we really need. God promises to provide our every need, and not our every greed!

This does not mean that Father might not unexpectedly bless us with something extravagant, you can be sure there will be those times, and how sweet they are, but in terms of this topic, living free of anxiety and stress, and finding that place of abiding in rest, peace and trust, all we need to do is rest our minds and hearts in this simple fact. God promises to provide all we need!

Paul says he learned a great secret, he learned to be content in times of plenty and times of want.

Matthew 6:25 "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life 28And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34"Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.  

Look at this, God says he is able to look after the birds of the air, and the lilies of the field, now how much more precious are we than those. God created the world and said "it is good", but when he created man, he said, "It is very good!".  You are much more precious that the birds and lilies! God did not die for the birds and lilies, he died for us, and our inheritance is wholeness.

This verse also implies that the potential for constant stress is there. You say what? Well look at his verse

 34"Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

God says each day will have trouble and anxiety. Consistent with all of what the bible teaches us, is that problems will not disappear, but we will live with a peace and a rest, abiding in the rest, while life continues, knowing that God works all things for the good, and knowing that God is in our future, knowing God is good!

So you can choose, you can worry and stress and have anxiety every day of your life, or you can choose not to worry about life and rest your heart and mind in God!

So the realm of abiding in the rest, is the choosing to see Gods goodness, and love to you, this releases Joy and peace.

What did the birds do to deserve their supernatural provision and care?

They did nothing! The text says they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns…

The birds do not sew seed, they do not gather, they do not reap, they do not plan or save, or give to receive, they are simply cared for. Jesus said, the birds did nothing to deserve the care for needs, he provides there need. Remember Jesus said these things. Why? What was Jesus purpose in saying these things? Well the text tells us. It's so that we are not anxious about life.

So much damage has been done with the prosperity teaching that many of us may be left believing that if we do not sew we will not reap. Here God says His care and provision for us is outside of the law and principle of sewing and reaping.

There is a place for sewing and reaping, and soon I plan to do a series called "Generosity, Tithing and Stewardship" …I promise it will be like nothing you've heard before!

But when it comes to life…when it comes to our peace, and worrying about provision, God wants us to know we are under His care.

What about the lilies?

27And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life 28And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

God wants us to have faith in Him. Now who can remember our definition of faith from last week?

Faith is believing that God is good.

It's such a simple passage; God says I'll care for you for you are more precious to me than the birds and lilies.

Jesus conclusion is also simple 31Therefore do not be anxious

If we become anxious, we need to repent. Repent means to change our minds. We change our thoughts, we change our thoughts, we keep changing them until we think like God thinks. Remember that beliefs fashion attitudes, and attitudes fashion behavior. So thinking like God, addresses the root of the problem, our thoughts. When the thoughts change, the attitude changes and the behavior adjusts. Then repentance is complete! The natural result is peace and rest!

Philippians 4 The Lord is at hand; 6do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Look here Gods solution to anxiety, starts here..God is at hand! Now that's good news if you know and realize that God is good, God is for you.

Give God thanks; this is the language of a person that sees Gods thoughts. Thank you lord that you have promised to look after me, thank you that your seeing this through for me, thank you that you've got this situation in your hand…seeing God as Good positions your heart for peace, and brings a rest to your mind.

If you choose not to believe God, your mind will not rest and your heart will be troubled!

Faith is not believing in God…faith is believing that God is good! It's easy to imagine a good God would never let us down. 

We can walk through troubled times with peace in our hearts, and on our minds! That's the promise!

Romans 8:31-32 If God is for us, who can be(Or who is)  against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? ESV

32He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things KJV

How do we know God will give us all things freely, graciously? He killed Jesus!

What will God give us? All things…

How will God give them to us? Freely!

Believing in the Goodness of God and resting in the knowledge of who God is and how much He loves you, and how committed he is to you, positions us to rest from stress over our futures.

Hebrews 14:5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." 6So we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear;

Phil 4:19  And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.  

Key number 4. God is in your today.

In the previous point we looked at Matt 6 which had the following verse in it.

33But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you 

Seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Notice that it does not say your righteousness, but His righteousness. How do we seek get His righteousness? We receive it as a gift. When we see that we are righteous, we destroy every obstacle of doubt that God would be good to us. We then release faith in it's place and we position our hearts and minds for the promise…all these things will be added to you. 

Romans 14:17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit

Knowing we are righteous before God brings the reality of key number 1…we are in an eternal covenant of peace with God.

The knowledge of the gift of righteousness brings us to peace with God. Peace with God produces great joy in us. We were created for fellowship with God. There is nothing more rewarding for the human being that fellowship and intimacy, oneness with God, for this is who we are, its what we were created for. When were with God we receive Joy, this is the work, the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Outside of the Holy Spirit there is not real deep heartfelt joy in this life. The gift of the new covenant is the gift or righteousness, the promise is the Holy Spirit. They two working together brings us into our fullness as believers.

Seek the kingdom of God…seek understanding about your righteousness..

Seek peace the kingdom of God, the kingdoms is righteousness, peace…seek peace with God...this is only through Jesus, only through the gift of grace…

Seek the kingdom, its joy in the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit provides the substance of the peace and joy in our lives. It's more than a philosophy or a mental condition. It's a deeper experience, some things only He can do. The supernatural realm of peace, of abiding can only come with the presence of God finding a regular place in you!

For the fruit of the spirit is..

22But the fruit of the Spirit is: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, 23meekness, self-control;

God is in your today…

Everyday you'll be forgiven…

Everyday His presence, His goodness and mercy will follow you.

Psalm 23:6 Surely(Or Only)  goodness and mercy(Or steadfast love)  shall follow me e all the days of my life, and I shall dwell(Or shall return to dwell)  in the house of the LORD forever. (Hebrew  for length of days)   

He will never leave you or abandon you, he will always be there for you through every situation and he will never let you be tempted beyond what you can endure.

He is with you.

God is in your today.

Knowing these great truths releases the heart from stress and fear and anxiety, and releases the kingdom. Peace and joy. Meditating on who God is, on who we are as a result of what God ahas done to and for us. Seeing ourselves through the love lens that God sees us, seeing the power and promise of God, positions our lives for the abiding realm, where we live in rest, live in peace, and live free from stress and anxiety.

God is Good and He is our God.