Hickory Valley Community Church
Jesus said, "I came to give life - life in all its fullness" (John 10:10). A deep, fulfilling, satisfyingly abundant life will never just fall in your lap. You have to choose it. You have to reach out and take it. How?
First, you must learn to control stress in your life. Stress is one of the greatest thieves of a full life. Then, we must give God that place in our lives that we have been giving to stress. So this weekend, we are going to look at three secrets to un-stress! And they all come directly from the Word of God.
We would like to welcome you today. We hope you find today's experience both encouraging and challenging. If we can assist you in any way, please let us know.
We hope you enjoy your time at Hickory Valley today. If you would like to know more about Hickory Valley, you can text the word "Welcome" on your mobile device to 423-451-4231. You will receive a text message back, asking for your email address. When you enter your address, we will be able to email you more information about Hickory Valley.
John 10:10 NCV
Jesus said, "I came to give life - life in all its fullness" (John 10:10). A deep, fulfilling, satisfyingly abundant life will never just fall in your lap. You have to choose it. You have to reach out and take it. How?
One of the most important things we can do to experience life in it's fullest is to control stress. Stressful anxiety is the enemy of the full life. And when you get into what the Word teaches about it, you see that it is a completely unnecessary state of mind. The only time you should really be stressed is when you're in a situation that's completely out of control. And here's the catch. If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, you'll never encounter such a situation.
1 John 4:4 KJV
Exodus 33:14 NIV
Romans 8:35-39 KJV
Every believer knows this. If we were asked this question on an exam, “Is God with you always?” we would all get the answer right. Of course He is. But when you bring it to a practical level, well, we sometimes don't live that way. Craig Groeschel uses the term "Christian Atheist" to describe someone who believes in God, but lives as though God doesn't exist. When you find yourself getting stressed over something little or something big, take a moment to remind yourself that God is with you.
Romans 8:28 KJV
Genesis 50:20 NLT
When you give your life to Jesus Christ, he becomes the architect of your future. He designs and directs the details of your life so that you can become the person he created you to be.
He has a purpose for your life and he knows what he's doing. The good thing is that you don't have to understand all the details of God's purpose to be part of it. You just have to trust him. So when it appears that one random mishap after another is taking place in my life, I remind myself that there's no such thing as random. God has a plan.
Romans 8:18 KJV
"If you're going to make every game a matter of life or death, you're going to have a lot of problems. For one thing, you'll be dead a lot." - Dean Smith
We get stressed when we live as if this moment is all there is. The Bible teaches us that this moment isn't all there is. This moment is just one drop in the ocean of eternity. That's why we need to learn to see the big picture. If you suffer a setback today, or if you have to deal with a disappointment today, or if you have to face infuriating frustrations today, it's not the end of the world, because we don't live for today, we live for eternity. Learn to see each day from God's perspective.