COVID-19 (3): God Help Us

COVID-19 Series: God Help Us

Story: As far back as I can remember I’ve dealt with varying levels of anxiety. I always had a lot of questions and a lot of anxiety about the unknown. When I was a child my anxiety would accelerate in times of change. So much so that my parents wouldn’t even tell me when we were traveling till the night before. I would obsess about the trip… how long would it take to get there, how long would we be gone, what am I going to take, what am I going to do… and much much more!

How many of you know that anxiety doesn’t just affect you mentally, but physically as well. My deep anxiety led to me feeling overwhelmed and my stomach would go south. Now, I’m now going to go into all the details here for obvious reasons, but I will tell you that as a child I was extremely unhealthy and even had extensive work done to determine what was wrong with my stomach. Come to find out, it was all because of worry, anxiety, and feeling overwhelmed.

My parents worked hard to help my anxious spirit and walked with me on that journey, but I never felt fully healed. It still shows up from time to time. For example, I have been a little bit of a germaphobe even before this pandemic. I’ve always worried about the health of my friends and family. I’ve always felt a deep concern for people’s struggles and that often leads to me feeling overwhelmed and anxious. Needless to say this has been a very difficult and challenging season for me in the area of worry… as I know it has been for you as well.

I’m convinced that if there’s one area in our lives that we could all drastically improve on, especially in this season, it would be in the area of worry.

Title: God Help Us

Passage: Philippians 4:4-7

“Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! 5 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. 6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”

Background: Paul is writing this letter to the church at Philippi. Paul and his friends started this church on his second missionary

journey. This was the first church established on the European continent. The church sent a gift with Epaphroditus to be delivered to Paul. Paul was in prison at the time. This letter is Paul thanking them for their generosity and encouraging them in their faith.

Main Points: 2 Principles From This Text…

1. Find your joy in the Lord and be considerate of others
   1. “Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! 5 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon.”
   2. Paul is writing this letter from prison and he says “Always be full of joy in the Lord…”

   3. I think there could be several reasons as to why Paul encourages the church to rejoice, be joyful in the Lord.

      1. First, I believe it’s because he was speaking to a people that needed to be reminded of this truth. How many would say we need to be reminded of this truth as well? A Time Article said that “⅓ of all the medical dollars spent in our country are spent treating some anxiety disorder or a symptom that is caused by it.” I think we all need to be reminded to find our joy in the Lord.

      2. Second, I believe that Paul is wanting to get the point across that our circumstances do not determine our attitude. Paul is saying that even in prison I rejoice! Rejoice in the Lord always! I’ll say it again… REJOICE! Our circumstances change daily, oftentimes really high and really low all in the same day, but our God is never changing. He’s faithful and He’s worthy of our praise this minute, the next minute, the next hour, the next day, and for all eternity!

         4. Finding joy in the Lord and being considerate toward others is a constant reminder that what’s happening around us is bigger than us.
         5. Finding joy in the Lord in every season is saying

      3. “I may not be in the best health right now, but God you are good!”

      4. “I may not have clarity for what the future holds, but God you are faithful!”

      5. “I may not understand why I’m in all this pain, but God you are a loving Father!”

         6. Being considerate toward others is saying

      6. “I may not be having the best day, but I’m going to show up and serve the hurting around me”

      7. “I have just received some bad news, but I’m not going to take it out on my kids.”

      8. “I may have just lost my job, but I’m going to take this pain and pray for others that just lost their jobs.”

         7. Nothing sets the atmosphere better in a time of pain than the praises of His people. It’s not the building, it’s not the physical gathering, it’s the lifting of our hands, lifting of our voices, and singing of the glory of God from wherever you are and in every season.

      9. I also believe the praise of God’s people sets the atmosphere in our hearts of surrender and gratitude. It takes our eyes off the temporary and focuses on the eternal. It takes our affections off of the material, and sets our affections on the supernatural.

         8. “for the joy of the Lord is your strength!” - Nehemiah 8:10 NLT
      10. Call on the Lord and experience His peace over your life
          1. “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”
          2. Let me see some prayer hands if you need peace right now? Or say “Peace Please!”
          3. Paul’s instruction turns us from anxious worry’ers to prayerful warriors.
          4. Question: What are you worried about right now? Have you prayed about it?
          5. Does He have your attention?
      11. What you pay attention to is what will stir your affection for.
      12. In our routines, in our habits, in the morning, laying down at night, does he have our attention, does he have our affections? Are we being intentional to create space in our day to talk to God.

      13. Illust: Neriah saying my name 25 times in a row… and sometimes I’m just zoned out. Distant or distracted.

          1. God is never zoned out. God is never too busy or distracted. He is always right there, and ready to listen and respond. 4. Question: Are we too busy to pray? We’re not too busy to worry! We’re not too busy to be anxious. We’re not too busy to talk about our problems with our friends. We’re not too busy to be overwhelmed! But are we too busy to pray?

             6. Does He have your trust?
                1. “casting all your cares on him, because he cares about you.” - 1 Peter 5:7
                2. How do I know that He’s going to be there?! How do I know he’s going to hear my cry?

          2. “O God, listen to my cry! Hear my prayer! From the ends of the earth, I cry to you for help when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the towering rock of safety, for you are my safe refuge, a fortress where my enemies cannot reach me. Let me live forever in your sanctuary, safe beneath the shelter of your wings!” - Psalms 61:1-4

          3. “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.” - Psalms 34:18 3. Think about the things that you are anxious about on a regular basis, then ask yourself this question, Do I trust God with that?

          4. Much of our anxiety, not all (recognize that chemical imbalance and anxiety disorders are a real thing), are a direct result of our level of trust to the Father.

          5. “You’re staying up worrying about something that I’ve already worked out.” - God
             7. Does He have your worship?
                1. Anxiety drives you to worship the problem, prayer reminds you that God is in control and it drives you to worship Him.
                2. “And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful.” - Colossians 3:15
                3. Peace is not a feeling, it’s a person. You cannot separate peace and God. He is the essence of peace. It’s His very nature. It’s who He is.
                4. Look back at the verse “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” A feeling doesn’t stand guard, a person stands guard! And His name is Jesus.

Invitation: Ephesians 2:8-9

Acknowledge that you are a sinner in need of a savior

Believe that God has raised Jesus from the dead and that He wants to forgive you of your sins

Confess Jesus as Lord of your life and you will be saved!

• Jesus, I acknowledge that I need you
• I confess that I have sinned against you
• I believe that God raised you from the dead
• And right now, by faith, I say “Jesus is Lord”
• Thank you for forgiving me
• By your grace I am saved
• And by your power I am set free

Prayer