If you want to study along with our Sunday study group, and get the most from it, you will need to get the book "Overwhelmed: Winning the War Against Worry" by Perry Noble. You can get it from Amazon by clicking the title of the book link that is above or clicking on the image of the book at the end of the blog. Join us as we learn to win the war against worry.
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| STRESSED OUT!!! |
Introduction
Last week we said that things that were unplanned or unexpected quite often create stress and anxiety. Things like:
- A call from the doctor after a visit and lab results
- Getting an unexpected or larger bill in the mail
- For those with children still in school a call from the school that is not one announcing that they are a great student
- Etc.
We concluded that there is really nothing that we can do about those things happening. There will be unexpected and unplanned things many of them stressful until Jesus returns. He in fact told us that we would have trials and tribulation but that we should be of good cheer because He has overcome them and so can we. John 16:33 (NKJV)33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."
Which led us to the two foundational beliefs that we need to go through stressful situations they are
-Believe That God is Holy and Good
-Believe His Promises -
If He is with us, we can walk through any stressful situation this world throws our way because
- He has more power than we do.
- He has more wisdom than we do.
- He has more awareness than we do.
Now let’s get into today’s study. Which starts with Chapter 11 of our book,
Letting Go Of Control
1. Are you the kind of person that needs to always be in control maybe not in total control of everything but there certain things you just have to control?
For me it’s my time. I plan things to happen at certain times. For example I set Wednesday for being at the church and Thursday for Ruth and her "to do" stuff. If that gets changed or something comes up that changes the routine she’ll tell you that I get irritated.
But I have to realize, and I admit I haven’t been able to do it, that things happen that are out of my control that mess those things up.
2. What are some those things you feel you must control?
As Pastor Noble points out, and if we are honest we realize, there is really very little, outside what we
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Isaiah 46:10 (HCSB)10 I declare the end from the beginning, and from long ago what is not yet done, saying: My plan will take place, and I will do all My will.
Revelation 21:6 (HCSB)6 And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give water as a gift to the thirsty from the spring of life.
We need to stop fighting for control and yielding to God who really is in control.
Who Are You Bowing Down To?
When we face those situations over which we have no control and we have to make a decision or some decisions to who or what do we submit or relinquish control? Pastor Nobel does a great job of using the experience of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the situation they were in where they had no control.
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Daniel 3:1-12 (HCSB)1 King Nebuchadnezzar made a gold statue, 90 feet high and nine feet wide. He set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.2 King Nebuchadnezzar sent word to assemble the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the rulers of the provinces to attend the dedication of the statue King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.3 So the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the rulers of the provinces assembled for the dedication of the statue the king had set up. Then they stood before the statue Nebuchadnezzar had set up.4 A herald loudly proclaimed, “People of every nation and language, you are commanded: 5 When you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, drum, and every kind of music, you are to fall down and worship the gold statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. 6 But whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire.” 7 Therefore, when all the people heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, and every kind of music, people of every nation and language fell down and worshiped the gold statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. 8 Some Chaldeans took this occasion to come forward and maliciously accuse the Jews. 9 They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “May the king live forever. 10 You as king have issued a decree that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, drum, and every kind of music must fall down and worship the gold statue. 11 Whoever does not fall down and worship will be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire. 12 There are some Jews you have appointed to manage the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men have ignored you, the king; they do not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”
3. They had no control over the command that they were to bow down when they heard the music and over the consequences of not bowing but there was something which they did control. What was it?
They had control of their response, their thoughts and their faith and knowledge of who was in fact in control. So they refused.
Daniel 3:8-12 (HCSB)8 Some Chaldeans took this occasion to come forward and maliciously accuse the Jews.9 They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “May the king live forever. 10 You as king have issued a decree that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, drum, and every kind of music must fall down and worship the gold statue. 11 Whoever does not fall down and worship will be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire. 12 There are some Jews you have appointed to manage the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men have ignored you, the king; they do not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”
4. Pastor Noble gave an example of a boss coming to ask you to do something unethical or maybe illegal. Have you had something similar happen to you? Have you ever done what was asked and rationalized it?. That’s tremendous stress isn’t it?
Well those guys were better than I was in those situations and they didn’t bow down because they knew that God was the one in control over the situation. Itwasn’t them, although they did control their response, and it wasn’t Nebuchadnezzar
He even gave them another chance after they refused to bow down to his big statue the first time. This time he used what the enemy uses on us to bring about stress and anxiety. Let’s read
Daniel 3:13-15 (HCSB) 13 Then in a furious rage Nebuchadnezzar gave orders to bring in Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So these men were brought before the king.
14 Nebuchadnezzar asked them, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, is it true that you don’t serve my gods or worship the gold statue I have set up?15 Now if you’re ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, drum, and every kind of music, fall down and worship the statue I made. But if you don’t worship it, you will immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire—and who is the god who can rescue you from my power?”
5. What are those weapons of the enemy to bring stress and anxiety?
FEAR, INTIMIDATION, MANIPULATION.
What Are You Focusing On?
Now that we know some of the weapons of the enemy let’s get back to something that we have talked about throughout this study and that is where we place our focus.
6. What have we said about our focus?
Our focus should not be on the situation or circumstance but on God and Christ. Focusing on the voice of the enemy or things over which we have no control causes us to in fact be controlled by fear. But focusing on God causes you to be controlled by faith. Here is now something that we do have control over and that is our thinking. For us who are believers the only thing that the enemy really can do to us is attack our minds trying to get us to focus on things over which we have no control and if we focus on those things we will be controlled by fear but if we focus on the voice of God (the Bible) then we will be controlled by faith. Here are some things from the Bible that we can focus on then we will be controlled by faith:
Psalm 56:3 (HCSB)
3 When I am afraid, I will trust in You.
Psalm 32:8 (HCSB)
8 I will instruct you and show you the way to go; with My eye on you, I will give counsel.
Romans 5:3 (HCSB)
3 And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance,
Romans 8:28-32 (HCSB)28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.29 For those He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.30 And those He predestined, He also called; and those He called, He also justified; and those He justified, He also glorified.31 What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He did not even spare His own Son but offered Him up for us all; how will He not also with Him grant us everything?
7. What did Jesus do when he was attacked and tempted by Satan in the desert before he even started His public ministry?
He responded to every temptation with a the word of God in fact He quoted something that was written in the Law of Moses.
Pastor Nobel gives a great illustration, from his own life, of what can happen if we entertain the kinds of thought that can come from the enemy and we don’t keep our eyes on Jesus. If you didn’t read it I’ll summarize it. On Christmas morning 2009 some things happened that took his focus off Christ as he was getting ready for the first service. Some things happened over which he had no control and he started to worry. He tells the story that as the day went on things got worse, remember he is dealing with depression anyway, so that by evening when he was getting ready for the last service of the day his thoughts became more and more irrational to the point that he had a full blown panic attack and thought he was having a heart attack. It started by taking his focus off Jesus and focusing on things over which he had no control.
There is scripture in
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (HCSB) 3 For though we live in the body, we do not wage war in an unspiritual way, 4 since the weapons of our warfare are not worldly, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments
5 and every high-minded thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive to obey Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:5 (NKJV) 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
2 Corinthians 10:5 (BBE)5 Putting an end to reasonings, and every high thing which is lifted up against the knowledge of God, and causing every thought to come under the authority of Christ;
2 Corinthians 10:4-5 (GW)4 The weapons we use in our fight are not made by humans. Rather, they are powerful weapons from God. With them we destroy people's defenses, that is, their arguments5 and all their intellectual arrogance that oppose the knowledge of God. We take every thought captive so that it is obedient to Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5 (NLT)4 We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. 5 We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.
I have quoted it many many times but it really didn’t hit home until reading it here in this book. We can actually demolish, put and end to, cast down any thought that is contrary to the knowledge of Christ.
What If There’s No Rescue?
Okay that all sounds great so now let’s read
Daniel 3:16-17 (HCSB)16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to the king, “Nebuchadnezzar, we don’t need to give you an answer to this question.17 If the God we serve exists, then He can rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and He can rescue us from the power of you, the king.
They have decided to take a stand. They do have control over their response remember. They are not going to bow because they know that their God is the one really in control and He will rescue them. But look at what they said next.
Daniel 3:18 (HCSB)
18 But even if He does not rescue us, we want you as king to know that we will not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up.”
8. Think about that and now think about yourself and a stressful situation that you may be going through right now can you say that?
Let’s take last Sunday’s service. You prayed for something and pastor laid hands on you and you believe that God will answer and you praise Him in advance. What if it looks like it’s not going to happen and things actually get worse? What if the situation doesn’t change? What if you don’t get healed? What if that bill doesn’t get paid? What if?????
What about all this stuff we have been talking about?
What about God being holy?
What about God being good?
What about God being with you?
What about God being in control?
Remember we said last week that perhaps we should start asking God to take us through stuff instead of out of stuff? Remember we have been saying all along that just because we follow Jesus it doesn’t mean that all will be “peaches and cream” from now on? Remember how we said just last week that maybe what we are going through is not for punishment but for promotion? How soon we forget.
Well with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, things did actually get worse.
Let’s get started on Chapter 12 “ Coming Out of The Fire Unharmed”
Let’s start with what we see in the fire. Remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, have their focus on God and no matter what happens, their focus remains on Him because they know that He is in control and they really believe that He will deliver them. Even if they don’t see any signs of deliverance they will not take their focus off Him and put it on Nebuchadnezzar's statue.
Now Pastor Noble changes his focus from the Hebrew boys to king Nebuchadnezzar. When I first read the book I thought now this is getting a little strange to me. Talking about our focus being on God and talking about by looking at what Nebuchadnezzar sees??
9. What exactly did King Nebuchadnezzar see?
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To this point there was absolutely no evidence that the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego was going to do anything.
Let’s read Daniel 3:24-25 (HCSB)24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in alarm. He said to his advisers, “Didn’t we throw three men, bound, into the fire?” “Yes, of course, Your Majesty,” they replied to the king.25 He exclaimed, “Look! I see four men, not tied, walking around in the fire unharmed; and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”
10. Nebuchadnezzar up until that point was thinking he had won. That’s what the enemy may think in our circumstances but when he takes a good look what might he see?
We need to keep in mind that if we ask God to take us through He will be there with us when we are going through. So when you change your perspective you change what you see. You now see through a different set of eyes so to speak.
11. So in the middle of the fire Nebuchadnezzar not only saw the three Hebrews he saw a fourth man. Most Bible experts agree that the fourth man in the fire was an Old Testament appearance of Jesus. Well if Nebuchadnezzar saw him who else surely saw him?
The three men that were in there with him of course. When we are in the most difficult of circumstances when we are really stressed out and filled with anxiety, if we remember the two foundational beliefs;
-Believe That God is Holy and Good
-Believe His Promises
And we change our focus, open our eyes, and look we can then see as Nebuchadnezzar that there is somebody else there with us and he “looks like a son of the gods”
12. The three Hebrews. When did they see him?
When they were in the fire. So for us maybe when we are in circumstances that seem seven times hotter than anything we have ever experienced we should stop praying “God, get me out of this” and start praying “Jesus let me see you because if I can see you then I can follow you and you will take me through the fire. If we always pray get me out without seeing Jesus then we won’t ever really know the way out will we.? To use Pastor Noble words now “How would we know H’s a healer if we didn’t experience times when we needed to be healed? How would we know that He’s a Savior if we didn’t experience things we needed to be saved from? How would we know He’s a provider if we didn’t experience times when we thought we weren’t going to make it? You can think of other things I’m sure that you can say that God is a friend when we needed a friend, a counselor, when we needed a counselor, and on and on.
Embrace your Freedom from Stress
13. Do you realize the impact the way you deal with stress and anxiety affects your ministry especially to non-Christians?
Look at the impact of the three Hebrews choice to focus on God rather than their circumstances had on Nebuchadezzar, and I think it’s safe to say that he was not a believer of their God.r
Daniel 3:26-30 (HCSB)26 Nebuchadnezzar then approached the door of the furnace of blazing fire and called: “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you servants of the Most High God—come out!” So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the fire. 27 When the satraps, prefects, governors, and the king’s advisers gathered around, they saw that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men: not a hair of their heads was singed, their robes were unaffected, and there was no smell of fire on them.28 Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, “Praise to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego! He sent His angel and rescued His servants who trusted in Him. They violated the king’s command and risked their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.29 Therefore I issue a decree that anyone of any people, nation, or language who says anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego will be torn limb from limb and his house made a garbage dump. For there is no other god who is able to deliver like this.”30 Then the king rewarded Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon. (emphasis mine)
Non-Christians are watching us as we go through difficulties. The way we respond is the proof of the things we tell them’; you must have faith in God; God will take care of you just trust Him, and the similar thing that we say to them. They may never have gone to church, or watched a Christian TV show, or read the Bible but they can see us. They can see how we go through and they can also see the result. That will have a much greater impact in the Bible verses we quote, or the praise and worship music they hear when they get in out car.
The most amazing thing to come from their time in the furnace.
In the case of the three Hebrews there was no evidence at all that they had even been in the furnace.
Read verse 27 again.
When the satraps, prefects, governors, and the king’s advisers gathered around, they saw that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men: not a hair of their heads was singed, their robes were unaffected, and there was no smell of fire on them. Not even the smell of smoke.
Pastor Nobel points out that God proved that He handles even the smallest detail like the smell of smoke was not there. He will handle even the smallest details of our situations too.
I really like what he said about the guys appearance when they emerged from the furnace.
Daniel 3:20-21 (HCSB)20 and he commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and throw them into the furnace of blazing fire.
21 So these men, in their trousers, robes, head coverings, and other clothes, were tied up and thrown into the furnace of blazing fire.
Nothing they went into the furnace with was burned but what they were tied up with. Here’s what he said “The Bible clearly states that the men went into the furnace tied up0 but they came out ot the furnace unbound. The only thing that was burned off of them in the furnace is what the enemy used to tie them down.”
So often Christians believe, and I use to believe it too, that when we are going through a tough time we are being punished but you know my position that God doesn’t punish, in the sense that most people talk about punishment. I believe that God chastises but punishment only comes to the unbeliever and then only at the time of final judgement. We can have an entire study on that another time. But my point here is as in the case of the Hebrew boys the furnace, which was intended for punishment by Nebuchadnezzar resulted in promotion. So for us what we may think is punishment may really be promotion.
14. Do any of you have any examples?
Where Is Jesus?
15. One last thing for today. Three men were thrown in the furnace, four men were seen walking around in the furnace, three men came out of the furnace. Where is the fourth man who we and the Bible experts say was Jesus?
He is still in the fire and He will still be in the fire for us.
Isaiah 43:1-3 (HCSB)1 Now this is what the LORD says— the One who created you, Jacob, and the One who formed you, Israel— “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine.2 I will be with you when you pass through the waters, and ⌊when you pass⌋ through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. You will not be scorched when you walk through the fire, and the flame will not burn you.3 For I Yahweh your God, the Holy One of Israel, and your Savior, give Egypt as a ransom for you, Cush and Seba in your place. Read verse 2 again…. God says that He will be with us whatever we go through. If that’s not a stress reliever I don’t know what is.
16. So How do we apply what we have talked about today this week or month or year?
- Let go of control
- Change our focus off the circumstance to God
- Trust God no matter how it looks
- Exhibit the talk with the walk
- Realize that no matter what we are not going through this alone Jesus is right there with us
Next week let’s read Chapters 13 and 14 again and then read through 17. Chapters 13 through 17 are the reminders that God loves us We often forget that He loves us especially when we are hit with things that cause us stress and anxiety, when we are overwhelmed with them.
God bless you. I’ll see you next week.
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