Sermons

Alan: 
We spent time on Friday at our lock-in talking about what we worry about as high school youth. Here are some things we came up with: school, family, writing a paper, grades, balancing extra curriculars, tests, sports, jobs, friends, band, graduation, money, getting up on time, and the future. When you read that list outload, it sounds exhausting. Funny enough, right now I'm facing the very thing that worries me most: talking in front of people. So, trust me, I am preaching this to myself just as much as I am to you.

Alexis: 
Worrying isn’t always a negative emotion and can actually have many benefits. It can help us focus or motivate us to work hard to achieve our goals. It can remind us that something matters. Worrying is part of being human; every single one of us worries about something. No matter how old we are, we will always find new things to worry about. Jesus teaches us that there is a difference between being aware and being consumed. In Matthew 6: verse 27, Jesus asks us a simple question, “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”

Alex: 
Worrying is something that we do when everything else is out of our control. If we look at “the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.” They don’t waste their time worrying and God takes care of them. One of us pointed out that the flowers in the field will always come back every season. If God pays attention to the little things like this, how much more does he pay attention to us? God sees our grades, our friendships, and our futures.

Payton: 
When we trust God, we don’t think our problems go away, we choose to believe they don’t have the final say. We feel God on our side and no matter what we are going through, in the end it is all going to be ok. No matter what difficult tests, tryouts, interviews, or relationships, we face, Jesus has offered to carry that burden entirely, so that the weight of the world doesn't have to rest on our shoulders. Jesus can carry our worry, so we don’t have to.

Worrying helps us survive, and trusting God lets us live.

Amen.