Highlights From September 20th...

What a great time we had this past Thursday! And if you were there, I certainly appreciate you for taking time out of your schedule and hangin' out with us. I certainly hope that you will make h2o on Thursday's a regular event for you. And how about seeing the Bible in Chinese? That was way too cool. At h2o, it is our plan to do whatever it takes to make the Bible relevant to you. This was just one small way.

Our Bible study for the week focused on stress...worry, and the dangers of it. How we feel when we are 'under stress'. But we focused on 7 ways to defeat worry. The 'Cliff Notes on Worry' if you will. We started out looking at a scenario where you are given a massive homework assignment of reading this massive book and having to write a 10 page, single-spaced paper on it. One student in the class was having all kinds of difficulty completing the task, while compared to another, he was moving right along at an incredible pace. The first student waits till the absolute last minute to turn in his paper, while the other has turned in his project 2 weeks early. How?! Upon further investigation, the first student realizes that the second student didn't read the entire book that was assigned. Instead, he opted for the 'Cliff Notes' of the book. The outcome, each student received the same grade.

Wouldn't it be great if somehow we could get a copy of the 'Cliff Notes' that would help us out in the worry department? For too often we spend many many tortuous hours, stressing out over things that are totally out of our hands. And we physically suffer for it. In Matthew, we find an incredible series of Scriptures that offer us an insight into many area of our life. Beginning in Chapter 5 and going through Chapter 7, Jesus gives us this magnificent discourse known by many as 'The Sermon on the Mount. If you haven't read it, I would really encourage you to do so. It's an amazing passage of valuable information from Jesus.

But is was in Chapter 6 that we find what I will call 'The Cliff Notes on Worry'. Verses 25 - 34 clearly outline 7 ways to win against worry. Here they are:

1.) The same God who created life in you can be trusted with the details of your life. Verse 25.

2.) Worrying about the future hampers your efforts for today. Verse 26.

3.) Worrying is more harmful than helpful. Verse 27.

4.) God does not ignore those who depend on Him. Verse 28-30.

5.) Worry shows lack of faith and understanding of God. Verse 31-32.

6.) There are real challenges God wants us to pursue, and worrying keeps us from them. Verse 33.

7.) Living one day at a time keeps us from being consumed with worry. Verse 34.

Worry...stress...they're killers! Let's encourage one another to grab this set of 'Cliff Notes' and apply them to our every day lives.

Have a great week...see ya Thursday!