07-31-2022
07-31-2022
Rev. Trevor Johnston (LOX & Online), Pastor Brandon Weaver (LW), Rev. Efrain Silva (WPB & Español)
Sermon Series: Word of God Speak
Week 5: Weight of Worry
1. ICE BREAKER: What is one of your favorite back to school memories? Or your most memorable back to school purchase?
2. Read the theme verse for this series – Psalms 32:8 – “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.”
What have you learned over the course of this series about the ways that the Lord instructs you? Teaches you? Counsels you? Has your understanding of these changed in any way?
Scripture
3. This series, our pastors have been using the Word of God Speak reading plan. This week we focused on 1 Peter 5. Read this chapter:
To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: 2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.
5 In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,
“God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble.”[a]
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.
12 With the help of Silas,[b] whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written to you briefly, encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it.
13 She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son Mark. 14 Greet one another with a kiss of love.
Peace to all of you who are in Christ.
4. Pastor Trevor focused specifically on 1 Peter 5:7. Read 1 Peter 5:7 aloud together - “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”
What initial thoughts does this verse bring up in your mind?
Observation
5. Cast – The word cast really means to transfer weight. Scripture says that anxiety is heavy. Read Proverbs 12:25 - “Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up.”
Talk about a time in your life when you have felt weighed down by life, but a kind word has
cheered you up.
6. All your anxiety – What is anxiety? It’s not just feeling nervous. As we defined in the sermon series “Deep Peace” last year, anxiety is an over vigilance and hyper sensitivity surrounding the fear of the future. Peter says to transfer not some of your anxiety, but all of it.
If you are comfortable, share an area in your life where you are currently feeling anxiety.
7. On him – Peter tells us to transfer the weight of what we’re anxious about on to God. The Bible’s way out of anxiety isn’t to ‘stop it’ but to give it to someone else.
Pastor Trevor shared about Pilgrim’s Progress, a novel written in the 1600s that is an allegory for the Christian life. Read this quote from the book: “He came to the bottom of a steep hill where a dark tomb gaped open at one side. He began to climb the hill, but it grew steeper and steeper, so that soon he was crawling. With perhaps the last of his strength, he reached the top and looked up. There before him stood a cross, the sun, now fully up, shining splendidly on its dark wood. The straps of the burden loosened, the knots unraveled, the pack shifted weight, and then it rolled off. It fell to the ground and crashed down the hill, rolling faster and faster until tumbled into the mouth of the open tomb. Christian never saw it again.”
What feelings does this quote evoke in you? Talk about a time you’ve experienced this type of release by giving something up to Jesus.
8. Because he cares for you - Pastor Trevor said, “The power behind God’s way out of anxiety is more than a method, but a belief that He cares about me.” If you want to be less anxious, it starts with believing that God loves you and wants to be involved in the details of your life.
Read these Old Testament scriptures about how God feels about you:
Isaiah 46:3-4
3 “Listen to me, you descendants of Jacob, all the remnant of the people of Israel, you whom I have upheld since your birth, and have carried since you were born. 4 Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”
Isaiah 49:15-16
15 “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! 16 See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.”
Is it easy for you to believe that God cares about you as intimately as a mother or a father? Why or why not?
What does it mean that Jesus has ‘engraved you on the palms of his hands’?
Application & Prayer
9. It can be easy to say that we give everything to Jesus, but how do we actually do this? We need to unpack our backpacks and take out the things that are weighing us down and causing anxiety. But we can’t do it on our own, we need to unpack it with Jesus.
Take some time in your group, or at home on your own, to spend time with God. Ask what you need to give up, then give those things to Jesus one by one with this prayer: “God, I believe you care about me, so I give you my anxiety around _______________.” Get specific!
If you’re comfortable, share with your group what you experienced through this exercise.
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