FROM ANXIETY TO PEACE (1 OF 5)
Scripture: Matthew 6:25-34
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From Anxiety to Peace (1 of 5)
Series: Lent 180
Dave Gustavsen
Matthew 6:25-34
Good morning. We are joining with millions of Christians all over the world by observing the season of Lent. And one of the historical purposes of Lent is to come before God and ask him to purify our hearts.
There's a beautiful prayer in Psalm 139 that says this:
23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
So Lent is a time to pray that prayer-to humbly ask God to reveal anything offensive in us, so that we can make a 180-degree turn away from that, toward God. It's a season of prayerful self-reflection, and confession, and repentance.
Now: if that sounds depressing to you, you're not thinking about it right! In the New Testament, the writer of Hebrews talks about the same concept like this: ...let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. So the reason we ask God to identify our sins and we repent of our sins is because there are things hindering us from running the race God is calling us to! Did you ever start driving a car, and it feels kind of weird but you just keep driving, and then you realize you had the parking brake on? The emergency brake? You been there? (If not, just humor me and say you've done this). And you go, ''No wonder it was so hard to drive! This parking brake has been dragging me down!'' And you release the parking brake, and the car is freed up to drive! Right?
That's what repentance does. Because sin drags us down and holds us back, and when we throw that sin off through repentance, God releases us to run freely. Does that make sense? So the idea of confession and repentance isn't depressing at all; it should be freeing!
So here's what I want to say today: for a lot of us, the parking brake that's hindering us and dragging us do ...
Series: Lent 180
Dave Gustavsen
Matthew 6:25-34
Good morning. We are joining with millions of Christians all over the world by observing the season of Lent. And one of the historical purposes of Lent is to come before God and ask him to purify our hearts.
There's a beautiful prayer in Psalm 139 that says this:
23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
So Lent is a time to pray that prayer-to humbly ask God to reveal anything offensive in us, so that we can make a 180-degree turn away from that, toward God. It's a season of prayerful self-reflection, and confession, and repentance.
Now: if that sounds depressing to you, you're not thinking about it right! In the New Testament, the writer of Hebrews talks about the same concept like this: ...let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. So the reason we ask God to identify our sins and we repent of our sins is because there are things hindering us from running the race God is calling us to! Did you ever start driving a car, and it feels kind of weird but you just keep driving, and then you realize you had the parking brake on? The emergency brake? You been there? (If not, just humor me and say you've done this). And you go, ''No wonder it was so hard to drive! This parking brake has been dragging me down!'' And you release the parking brake, and the car is freed up to drive! Right?
That's what repentance does. Because sin drags us down and holds us back, and when we throw that sin off through repentance, God releases us to run freely. Does that make sense? So the idea of confession and repentance isn't depressing at all; it should be freeing!
So here's what I want to say today: for a lot of us, the parking brake that's hindering us and dragging us do ...
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