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Preparing yourself for the study of God’s Word
Before we begin, only if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ (that is; you have believed [trusted] in Him for His promised gift of eternal life) John 3:16, John 6:47 as a few examples; it is very important to prepare yourself to learn God's Word so the Holy Spirit can teach you as to what your reading or hearing is true or false. To be taught by the Holy Spirit you must be filled with the Holy Spirit which means abiding in Christ. To place yourself in fellowship with God the Holy Spirit [also called abiding in the Christ], take a moment to simply name, cite or acknowledge [confess] your known unconfessed sins privately to God (i.e.; with your thoughts directed only to God the Father). Why? Because you cannot grow spiritually if you’re not abiding in Christ [in fellowship with Him] when you take in bible truth.
1 John 1:9, says: “If we confess [meaning to simply name, cite or acknowledge to God the Father] our sins [known unconfessed sins], He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins [known sins] and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness [all unknown and forgotten sins];” NKJV [New King James Version]; we call this REBOUND; read the full doctrine as to “why” we need to use 1 John 1:9 to grow spiritually. Left click the following link to learn more and fully understand the doctrine of Rebound; which answers the question, why do I need to keep confessing my sins all the time? REBOUND
If you have never personally believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, that He is the Son of God, the promised Messiah, as your Savior (that is, believed in Him for eternal life), the issue for you is not to name your sins; the issue for you is to simply exercise faith alone in Jesus Christ alone eternal life; when you do, you will instantly receive Eternal Life: John 3:16, 5:24, 6:47, 20:30, 31.
John 6:47 says: "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me [Jesus Christ] has everlasting life." NKJV
Notice again what Jesus said in John 6:47: "…he who believes in Me (Jesus Christ) has everlasting life." It doesn't say, "will have"; it says, "has." Therefore, the very moment you believe in Jesus Christ for His promise of everlasting life, you have it (it's really just that simple; nothing more and nothing less), and it can never be taken away from you (John 10:28-29). Furthermore, the gift (Ephesians 2:8c) of everlasting life (also called eternal life in scripture) is available to every human being; there are absolutely no exceptions.
John 3:14-15, 16, 17, 18, says: "14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." NKJV
Let us now bow our hearts and take a moment to prepare for worship and learning God's Word. If there is any known sin in your life, this is the time to just cite it privately to God the Father with your thoughts directed towards Him. With your head bowed and your eyes closed, you have total privacy in your mind and soul:
Study to show yourself approved to God!
Grace Bible Church
Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries
The Tree of Life is a weekly teaching summary:
God’s Word is taught Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday
STUDY TITLE:
Weekly Bible Study, May 8, 2023; Cures for anxiety, fear and worry.
1. Fix our eyes on Jesus.
2. Your heart is where your treasure is. So don’t lay up treasures on earth, instead lay-up treasures in heaven.
3. God knows all about us
4. Seek first the kingdom of God.
5. Don’t worry about tomorrow
Introduction
To be anxious and to worry is to be drawn in different directions by an uncertain and troubled mind. Worry pulls us apart and puts us off balance. Man worries and becomes anxious because he tries to live life on his own without the guidance of God. That is the sin of independence. Worrying is destructive. Worry only tears us down. Worry can’t add anything positive to our lives. Worry is also deceptive. It convinces us that this world is more important than eternity.
Our enemies want us so concerned about today’s world, that we totally forget about eternity and our goal – to glorify God.
Worrying is debilitating. It stops us in our tracks and keeps us from growing. In the process it makes our Christian walk ineffectual. It renders us ineffective as ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ. How can we witness to a lost world and encourage them to put faith in Jesus Christ if we ourselves are doubting God and worrying? One mark of a Christian is that he makes it easier for others to believe in God. What a tragedy it is when so many of us fail to practice it.
What does worry, anxiety and fear do to us?
Worrying makes us miserable and destroys capacity for life and happiness. Fear, worry and anxiety interferes with your personal sense of destiny, because it is the opposite of what Jesus wants for us.
John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
Worrying reveals a lack of faith in God’s ability to guide us. When we worry, we are taking on God’s responsibility. If worry gains control over us, it can stop our spiritual walk in its tracks, and we go backwards
How do we conquer worry?
1. Fix our eyes on Jesus.
2. Your heart is where your treasure is. So don’t lay up treasures on earth, instead lay up treasures in heaven.
3. God knows all about us
4. Seek first the kingdom of God.
5. Don’t worry about tomorrow.
Fixing our eyes on Jesus.
Heb 12:2, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The phrase fixing our eyes is the pres/act/imp participle of the Greek word aforaoo. The word means to look away from other things and steadfastly and intently look toward another object. The present tense denotes an habitual attitude, a way of life. The participle is imperative – it is a command. We are to look away From: The world and its lusts. Other people. Difficulties. Fellow Christians. Self.
And look toward Jesus Christ thru the source of doctrine. There must be no divided attention. The minute the Christian takes his eyes off of the Lord Jesus his momentum in the Christian life is hindered. Satan’s work is to constantly try to make us take our eyes off Jesus and on ourselves. Our Lord once walked where we walk. He knows thru firsthand experience our difficulties and sorrows. God never takes us thru a trial that He doesn’t understand thru experience. And then, on the other side, He gives us something better.
We are to look to his holy life; to his patience and perseverance in trials; to what he endured in order to obtain the crown, and to his final success and triumph. Keep your eye simply on him; let his death, his sufferings, his merits, his glories, his intercession, be fresh upon your mind. Jesus is the one sure thing. He is the rock, the foundation. Get Him in view when everything else in your life is swirling and you will land safely. Your heart is where your treasure is. Don’t lay up treasures on earth, lay up treasures in heaven.
Mat 6:19-21, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
This is a passage to determine what your scale of values are. It is saying in effect, do not make first on your scale of values materialistic things. Job understood these truths and upon loosing unspeakable wealth including his children, he declared…
Job 1:21, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.”
Job understood doctrinal principles:
1. We take no riches of this world into the next.
2. God is the source of all blessing.
3. God deserves our thanks and praise in all things.
If you make your fortune on the earth, you have made a fortune, and stored it, in a place where you cannot hold it. Material things will not make you happy without the Lord Jesus Christ. Man was made to fellowship with God.No amount of money will bring genuine security and contentment, God alone gives that. When you set your life to store up the wealth of this world, you are setting your life after that which cannot last. Eventually the money you worked so hard for will slip from your hands and into the hands of others. The only thing a person can take with them is their soul.
Everything else stays behind. Everything!!! But death cannot touch the soul – it lives forever. The content of your soul is part of your eternal treasure.
Our consumer society is constantly telling us that life at its best consists of having more and more possessions and pleasures. This tug is strong. Worldly ambition has a strong fascination for us. The lure of materialism is very hard to break, many men have an insatiable desire of gain. Wealth can’t be trusted. Money cannot take us to heaven. Money cannot rescue us from death. Money cannot conquer death. We should make it the habit of our lives, day in and day out, to store up eternal treasure in heaven. This is a strong cure for worry, anxiety, and fear.
To lay up treasure in heaven is to store it with God; to have our possessions in him; to entrust our all to him; to know that when we go to God we shall find our wealth. Nothing can enter and destroy in the pure atmosphere of heaven. This heavenly treasury is safe and secure in Christ Jesus, Our Lord. Jesus is teaching us not to be selfish and self-centered. He is teaching us the accumulation of goods should not be the major goal in life. In the long-run it is so unimportant. Laying up treasure in heaven is whatever you do when you are filled with the Holy Spirit. The filling of the Spirit is the key. Time logged in the filling of the Spirit has permanent results. Nothing that is material will last forever. Everything will vanish.
1Jo 2:17, And the world is passing away, and also its lusts.
Only two things last forever. The word will live on forever. The soul will live on forever. If you enjoy doctrine you enjoy everything in life and if you don’t enjoy doctrine you don’t enjoy anything in life. This is true freedom. This is freeing yourself from the chains of earth.
God knows all about us.
Mat 6:31-32, “Do not be anxious then, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘With what shall we clothe ourselves?’ “For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.”
Our Father knows. His knowledge comes from His state of being and not something that He acquires. God cannot learn anything. God the Father always knew everything in eternity past and this will continue into eternity future. It is not bound by any limitation. There is no limitation to his knowledge. Every minute detail is in God’s mind at all times and has always been there. He is in complete control at all times.
This is Our Father. This is Our Savior. What is there to worry about when He knows all. Every plan of God is the best that could be and all that is achieved by Him is perfect. He has always known what will happen to each of His creatures, and what could have happened to them. He does not deal with all his children in the same way. He deals with each child individually. He is acquainted with each of His children’s separate and special needs. God has already provided a perfect provision and a perfect solution for every problem we will ever face. It should be a great comfort to know that God has always known about you and all of your trials, troubles and tribulations and has provided answers for everything. He will not deny us anything we need because He doesn’t know what we need. We are safer in his hands than anywhere else in the world. Our Heavenly Father’s concern never fails.
Seek first the kingdom of God.
Mat 6:33, But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.
Seeking demands perseverance and zeal that will not be denied until the desired objective is attained. Drive – desire – determination. When we seek with all we have, we are surrendering our independence and trusting Him to care for us. Seeking is a volitional issue. Seek and you shall find.
Jer 29:13, God has promised in his word, “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”
Everything you do in life has some type of motivation behind it. Mental attitude is the key to motivation, not feelings or emotion. Attitude toward doc. and spiritual growth determines proper motivation. The believer is either motivated by doctrine in the soul and the filling of the Holy Spirit or by the lust patterns of the OSN and Satan’s cosmic system.
Don’t worry about tomorrow.
Mat 6:34, Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
The Christian life is meant to be lived one day at a time. Every day is a grace gift given to him as part of his allotted time. The fact that the believer lives another day on the earth is a sign that God has a job for him to do. Every day is a special day. To restrict care to to-day is to begin to master the Christian way of life.
– Life is fragile.
– Life is short.
– Death is certain.
The children of God need not succumb to the perils of anxiety. We should not have anxiety over material necessities. Our Lord wants us to learn these lessons: Trust in God – faith is so important. “He will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,” Be at peace and rest.
The following link is to a good news message describing how one can receive eternal life: Ticket to Heaven, it was written for anyone not absolutely certain about their eternal future.
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