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Jesus Fills Our Thirst for Peace During Stress

Jesus Fills Our Thirst for Peace During Stress. Getting Started:. How many times did you hear the word “stress” this week? How many times did you say it! What is it? Stress is our reaction to change whether the change has occurred, is occurring, or may occur. Object Lesson!.

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Jesus Fills Our Thirst for Peace During Stress

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  1. Jesus Fills Our Thirst for Peace During Stress

  2. Getting Started: • How many times did you hear the word “stress” this week? • How many times did you say it! • What is it? • Stress is our reaction to change whether the change has occurred, is occurring, or may occur.

  3. Object Lesson! • Three Volunteers Please. • Question: • How heavy is this water? • Are you strong enough to lift this?

  4. Where do we go? • Only the Bible has proven itself for 4 thousand years as the only totally dependable source for the truth about the causes and cures for our personal problems. It contains the answers to life’s difficult questions. • DL Moody once said, "The Bible was not given to increase our knowledge, but to change our lives!"

  5. Look at Jesus: Jesus was constantly under pressure: • unreal demands on his time, • no privacy, • constantly interrupted, • constant criticism and yet he remained in control and at peace under pressure

  6. The Promise of Peace: • John 16:33 Page 1679 • “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

  7. 8 Principles for Stress Management: Looking at the life of Jesus shows us that he dealt with stress through: • Identification • Dedication • Organization • Concentration • Delegation • Meditation • Recreation • Transformation • Some of these will be your strengths and others your weakness.

  8. 8 Principles: • IDENTIFICATION Know Who You Are: • John 8:12“When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” • 7 “I Am” statements: • I am Bread 6:35, • Light 8:12, • Gate 10:7, • Shepherd 10:11, • Resurrection 11:25, • Way-Truth-Life 14:6, • Vine 15:1.

  9. 8 Principles: Identification • If you aren't secure in who you are, then someone else may try to tell who he thinks you are. You gotta be You! 1 You'll let other people manipulate you, or pressure you . 2 Stress is a result when we wear masks, being unreal with others or living double lives.

  10. For Us Today: • Ephesians focuses on who we are In Christ: 1 I know WHO I am by knowing WHOSEI am 2 I am created on purpose for a purpose (Eph 2:10 …To do good works which he has prepared in advance for us to do ) • Our Purpose Statements: • (What Are They Again???)

  11. For Us Today: • Our Purpose Statements: • We Live to Share Christ With A Dying World. • We Live to Connect People to God and to Each Other. • We Live to Minister to Those in the Church and the Community. • We Live to Worship God Individually and as a Group. • (Personal Study Idea: read through Ephesians and list all the things that identify who you are in Christ....)

  12. 8 Principles for Stress Management • DEDICATION Know whom you're trying to please. • You can't please everybody. Jesus couldn't and he didn't attempt to. He only attempted to please one person. • John 5:30 “By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.”

  13. 8 Principles for Stress Management • When you are unclear of who you're trying to please, you cave in to three things: • 1 CRITICISM because you're concerned about what others think about you. • 2 COMPETITION: because you worry about whether somebody else is getting ahead of you • 3 CONFLICT: Because you're threatened when anyone disagrees with you.

  14. Dedication: • The solution: Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness (Matthew 6:33) • If I focus on pleasing God, • 1 It will simplify my life. • 2 I will more often do the right thing. • Reflection Question: How does identification and dedication to pleasing God change my stress level?

  15. 8 Principles: • ORGANIZATION: Know what you're trying to accomplish. • Jesus knew exactly what he was here to accomplish. • Unless you plan your life and set priorities, you'll be pressured by two things • 1 By what people think is important for you. • 2 By things that are Urgent rather than Important. • People either live by Prioritiesor Pressure. • Busyness is not necessarily Productivity.

  16. Concentration: • CONCENTRATIONSimplify and take things one at a time. • Luke 4:42-43At daybreak Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. 43 But he said, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent." 44 And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

  17. Concentration: • So what is it that you must focus on that will help you accomplish your major goal in this life and life hereafter? • If you have not dedicated your life to Christ through immersion then you need to do so, if you have then you need to let Jesus be the Lord of your life.

  18. 8 Principles for Stress Management • Identification, • Dedication, • Organization, • Concentration, • How are you doing with these? • What about… • Delegation, • Meditation, • Recreation, • & Transformation.

  19. 8 Principles: • DELEGATION: Don't do it all yourself. • Jesus was a master of delegation. He sent out the twelve (Matthew 10:5) and the seventy two (Luke 10:1). • We get tense and uptight when we think that everything depends on us. • Personal Application: How can you delegate or ask for help in specific areas of your major goals in life? What stresses you most in your day to day life and who can you help and how can other people help you?

  20. Stress Management: • MEDITATION: make a habit of personal prayer. • Prayer is God's tool for letting off your anxieties. • 1 Peter 5:7 “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” • Reflection Question: How is your quiet time is going? How has your stress been relieved when you took time to pray and cast your anxiety on God? What tends to keep you from meditation?

  21. Stress Management: • RECREATION: take time off to enjoy life! • Jesus rested when he needed time alone (Mark 6:31) • Rest and recreation are not optional! • Rest is so important, God included it in the ten commandments. • Think About It:What is your favorite recreational activity is and how does it refreshes your spirit? How can you make this a consistent part of your spiritual life to reduce stress and grow closer to God and his people?

  22. Stress Management: • TRANSFORMATION: Give your stress to Christ. • Jesus invites a stressed out and harassed world to come to him so they would find genuine rest. • Matthew 11:28-30 Page 1514"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

  23. Transformation: • We need to get in the yoke with Jesus and look to him and how he dealt with stress in life. • You will never enjoy real peace of mind until you have a relationship with Christ, the Prince of Peace! • Christ didn't say, "Come to me and I'll give you more guilt, more burdens, more stress, more worries"! • Jesus is the "Stress Reliever!" • Choose the stress, or choose The Savior.

  24. Our Thirst For Peace • A growing, honest, helpful relationship with Jesus and His followers allows us to defeat stress and accept his peace. • John 16:33 Page 1679 • “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

  25. Object Lesson! • How did they do? • Let Jesus share the load and give you the rest that you need.

  26. Antithesis of Psalm 23: • The clock is my dictator, I shall not rest. It makes me lie down only when exhausted. It leads me into deep depression. It hounds my soul. • It leads me in circles of frenzy, for activities sake. Even though I run frantically from task to task, I will never get it all done, for my ideal is with me. • Deadlines and my need for approval, they drive me. They demand performance from me, beyond the limits of my schedule. They anoint my head with migraines, my in-basket overflows. • Surely fatigue and time pressures shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the bonds of frustration forever. • Maybe the real Psalm 23 is worth a read this week!

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