Anxiety......Jeremiah 17:5-10



The problem.
Jeremiah 17:5-6 (The Message)
God's Message:
"Cursed is the strong one who depends on mere humans, Who thinks he can make it on muscle alone and sets God aside as dead weight. He's like a tumbleweed on the prairie, out of touch with the good earth.
He lives rootless and aimless in a land where nothing grows.


 God says the person that depends on mere humans is cursed!
Depends means
1. to rely; place trust :You may depend on the accuracy of the report.
2. to rely for support, maintenance, help.


Do you rely on a humans or a person to give you the right report...Gods report is yes and amen. The promises of God are the only reports you should be relying on....not anyone Else's!


Do you rely on people for support and help....or even the maintenance of your soul? (having others studying, reading and praying for you) Support and help are to come from God, He is the only one that will never fail you in times of need. Do you get upset when you need support or help (prayer or bible knowledge) and no one is around to give you Gods report?
In the nkjv it uses the words: trust in man and makes flesh his strength.
Trust means to make secure or to feel safe.

Are you trusting someone rather than God to make you feel safe and secure?

It also says you will never grow if you do these things....no fruit and you will remain the same and continue in elementary Christianity. You will be tossed by every storm every wind like a tumbleweed, no root to stabilize you!

AIMLESS....you will not hit the bulls eye, you will constantly miss the mark (SIN).

Jeremiah 17:7-8 "But blessed is the man who trusts me, God, the woman who sticks with God.

They're like trees replanted in Eden, putting down roots near the rivers—Never a worry through the hottest of summers, never dropping a leaf,Serene and calm through droughts, bearing fresh fruit every season.


Replanted in Eden...wow! never noticed that before! Eden was where Adam and Eve walked with God! Sweet fellowship with Him daily!!!
Never worried.....
Serene and calm through droughts......calm, peaceful, or tranquil; unruffled,without rough motion; still or nearly still. example: a calm sea.


We need to be still in order to hear God, if we are to busy and never put time away to be with Him and be still, we will never experience His salvation and peace! You can have salvation but not be experiencing what salvation is!

Exodus 14:13
And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever.


Jeremiah 17:9-10 "The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out.1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
The answer...
But I, God, search the heart and examine the mind.I get to the heart of the human. I get to the root of things.
I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be."
.
We NEED to understand that we DO NOT know our heart! We think we do, but the bible is clear that God alone knows whats really is in there! If we know this, then we should be driven to figure out the truth (Gods word) If my heart is telling me a lie and I know the word of God....I can spot the problem. If I FEEL or THINK something that is contrary to what the bible says and teaches; then my heart is lieing to me! At that point I need to trust the word of the Lord, not my FEELINGS or THOUGHTS! This is the only way you will see your heart and problems clearly!
God is true and EVERY man is a liar! Even if that man might be you!
Romans 3:4
Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written:“ That You may be justified in Your words,And may overcome when You are judged.”
God will help you get to the root of your problems, instead of masking them. Doctors mask problems God fixes them! We can Go to doctors, they are good....but not when you are depending on them to fix problems that only God can fix. They are good for infections, glasses, curable things.......but not if it is rooted deeper in spiritual things, they will only mask the symtoms! Example: depression
Depression can be from disobedience or other spiritual issues, sometimes the doctors can help you with tempory releif and be a stepping stone to help in a despret situation; but rest assured you will need to follow up with the Great physician "Jesus".
God will search your heart and reveal things to you about yourself. Sometimes this is a very uncomfortable season...if you dont rely on God for peace and comfort; you will be anxious! You must rely on Gods promises and beleive the report of the Lord during these times. He is with you, He loves you and His grace is sufficient for you.
God will never lead you, where the grace of God wont keep you!
If you have no peace you havent spent enough time in true fellowship or maybe you need it more often during the day.


1.Don't depend on man for security, support, help maintenance and don't listen to anybodies report but Gods! Man can line up with God but they are still human and wont meet your expectations!


Psalm 62:5
My soul, wait silently for God alone,For my expectation is from Him.
2.It is clear we must have fellowship with God  DAILY. Have time set apart to be in His presence and be still with NOTHING else going on.


3.Study, study, study.....the more you know the better you can spot issues in yourself and you wont have to depend on people to explain them to you. You also will have peace, knowing what the bible says and not trusting in humans to tell you!


2 Corinthians 10:5 (Amplified Bible)
[Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One),


Philippians 4:8
[ Meditate on These Things ] Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
Matthew 6:34 (The Message) "Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.


Bottom line....its a sin to think, say and ponder the WHAT IF'S in life. You must remove this statement far from your MIND!

You get JOY from doing good works!

Galatians 6:4 (Amplified Bible)

But let every person carefully scrutinize and examine and test his own conduct and his own work. He can then have the personal satisfaction and joy of doing something commendable [in itself alone] without [resorting to] boastful comparison with his neighbor.

Do you want to walk on water?



Discipline in a Long-Distance Race
Hebrews 12:
1-3 Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!

This is what you need to do! Get rid of sin and stay focused on the Jesus! Study and remind yourselves when necessary!


This is the problem...
Matt 14:29-30
He said, "Come ahead."
Jumping out of the boat, Peter walked on the water to Jesus. But when he looked down at the waves churning beneath his feet, he lost his nerve and started to sink. He cried, "Master, save me!"

Don't lose your nerve!

Have you ever noticed that Peter walked on water! Notice that Jesus told Peter to come! If God tells you to do something He will enable you to do it! If He tells us to walk on water....we will... IF, we keep our eyes on Jesus! Alot of people think because they are doing all kinds of stuff in the name of Jesus that God will bless it. This isn't scriptural, Jesus will bless it... if He has called you to do it! I would hate to be in a race and find out that I am on a hamsters wheel going no where. Lots of running but accomplishing nothing! This is what we do when we are not lead by the spirit. Have you ever just got quit with God and asked Him what He wants you to do?

Luke 10:38-40(The Message)
As they continued their travel, Jesus entered a village. A woman by the name of Martha welcomed him and made him feel quite at home. She had a sister, Mary, who sat before the Master, hanging on every word he said. But Martha was pulled away by all she had to do in the kitchen. Later, she stepped in, interrupting them. "Master, don't you care that my sister has abandoned the kitchen to me? Tell her to lend me a hand."

41-42The Master said, "Martha, dear Martha, you're fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it—it's the main course, and won't be taken from her."

We are to be about our Fathers business, however, we need to pay attention to what He wants us to do! We can make plans but we need to be sensitive to the spirit. If we are so busy that we don't see the special opportunities God is giving us....we are in a hamster cage! Would you change your plans? Would you stop in the middle of something IMPORTANT?

Proverbs 19:21
We humans keep brainstorming options and plans, but God's purpose prevails.

2 Corinthians 1:12-14 (The Message)
Now that the worst is over, we're pleased we can report that we've come out of this with conscience and faith intact, and can face the world—and even more importantly, face you with our heads held high. But it wasn't by any fancy footwork on our part. It was God who kept us focused on him, uncompromised. Don't try to read between the lines or look for hidden meanings in this letter. We're writing plain, unembellished truth, hoping that you'll now see the whole picture as well as you've seen some of the details. We want you to be as proud of us as we are of you when we stand together before our Master Jesus.

God will guide us! He is with us! He doesn't hide from us! Its not a game for Him! So knowing this, by faith we hear Him and by faith, we walk with Him!

Last night was so awesome....I was praying and I felt like He wanted me to go to CVS. I was talking to Him all the way there. I ended up meeting several people, praying with them and encouraging them....I even found a woman that came into service that needed prayer! It was awesome! I absolutely loved it when I see His hand on me! I had a lady even give me her email address and phone number! All that in 20  minutes! This goes to show you that His yoke is easy and burden is light. How often we put so much effort into something and get no where! I believe He has special things planned for these people I met! I am so encouraged when I am used by God!

Just remember, Peter walked on water, but only when Jesus told him to! He was able to do the IMPOSSIBLE! He didn't sink until he lost focus of Jesus and started looking at the problems around him. I believe God will call us out of the boat as well! I believe we can do the impossible, IF, we stay focused on Jesus and STOP focusing on our problems and the storms around us! Like Mary we need to be in awe with every word! Stop doing so many things and be led by God! God didnt call us to be busy bodies, He called us to be fruitful.

I have such a big desire to do all God wants me to! I surrender my life for Him!

Called to Duty...

So a couple of months ago I started to notice that I wasn't really going forward for God. I decided to press against the gates of hell and all hell came against my life! This is no surprise, our enemy doesn't desire us to press against his kingdom. He doesn't just sit there and shrivel up and let us do it! We are kidding ourselves if we think he is going to leave us alone. Each time I got up, I was knocked back down, might I add, very hard!
The bible says that if we resist the devil he will flee!
James 4:7
[ Humility Cures Worldliness ] Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
But we first must submit to God!
Everyone wants the promises without the works, lol! I am submitted and I am believing the devil will flee! It doesn't say how long it takes but it will happen!
I love God with all my heart and the gates of hell will not prevail against His army!

Can you see where you are going?

Revelation 2:5 (Amplified Bible)
Remember then from what heights you have fallen. Repent (change the inner man to meet God's will) and do the works you did previously [when first you knew the Lord], or else I will visit you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you change your mind and repent.

The lampstand in the bible was located in the holy place. This is where he met with God and had a relationship with Him. The holy place had no windows and absolutly no light. The lampstand was the only light in the holy place, it was a picture of Gods presence; if it went out the high priest could not see where he was going. Hence, he would be walking around like a blind man. Unable to see where he was going.

Exodus 27:20 (Amplified Bible)
You shall command the Israelites to provide you with pure oil of crushed olives for the light, to cause it to burn continually [every night].

Gods people where commanded to bring pure olive oil to keep the lamp going continuously. It was not supposed to go out.

In the new testiment, we see a parable of the wise and foolish virgins. They also, needed their lamps to stay lit continually. If they did not bring enough oil, they where foolish, tbeir lamps would go out and then they would have to go purchase more. When they went to buy more, that is when Christ (their groom) came. They missed Him!

Sadly, people miss all the warnings in the bible...they think all they have to do is beleive (with their thoughts) in Christ. They think that they are saved by faith only. It is true that we are saved by faith but if their are no works; it proves we really dont have the faith we need. Faith without works is dead. If pour faith is dead, we are dead spiritually speaking.

Over and over the bible expresses warnings to us, written to christians! Why dont we prepare ourselves, like the wise virgins? If we dont, we will miss it!

I remember when I first got saved, I loved this scripture:
Mark 9:47 (Amplified Bible)
And if your eye causes you to stumble and sin, pluck it out! It is more profitable and wholesome for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell (Gehenna)

Their was this person that had used it though and brought alot of confusion to me. She said
"do you think God really wants you to pluck your eye out and cut your hand off?" While she probably didnt mean to bring confusion...it did. I started to study it and what this scriture is saying is; DO WHAT EVER IT TAKES NOT TO SIN.  It was telling you to be radical with your sin! Make your flesh submitt to the spirit!

I also, told everyone around me about what God did in my life! I couldnt keep silent! In fact, I would get introuble alot, because I still didnt know when or whrere to share my faith! I didnt understand how to share it either. I would tell people they where going to hell! lol!

So, its been about 8.5 years now and I have learned when, where and how to share my faith, BUT I noticed that I wasnt radical anymore. In fact I RARELY TOLD ANYONE ABOUT MY FAITH. This is the sin! I had lost my first love! The bible commands us to remember then from what heights we have fallen. So I started to think about it.... I was convinced I had fallen!

The bible then commands us to repent! Turn! Change your direction and do the first works! So now, I have done this. I have decided to pick up where I left off. I still loved God! I still was in church! I even prayed and read my bible! However, I could see my actions not lining up with when I first was converted. The radicallness was gone the desire to tell everyone wasnt there! I was still conviced though that I was okay, on my way to heaven but I was luke warm!

Revelation 3:16
So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

Please please please listen to me! I know you may love God, read, pray ect....but if you are not prepared with your lamp stands lit! Which is lit with fire! Then you are not prepared. Fire is hot and intence! Are you?

The lampstand will be removed if you dont repent! The scripture states that your lampstand will be removed. What does this mean? Is God going to remove our light from our path so we cant see where we are headed?

Judges 16:20 (Amplified Bible)
She said, The Philistines are upon you, Samson! And he awoke out of his sleep and said, I will go out as I have time after time and shake myself free. For Samson did not know that the Lord had departed from him.

Samson didnt even realize the Lord departed from him. Will we know if our light has been removed from us?

Romans 1:28-32 (Amplified Bible)
And so, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God or approve of Him or consider Him worth the knowing, God gave them over to a base and condemned mind to do things not proper or decent but loathsome,
29Until they were filled (permeated and saturated) with every kind of unrighteousness, iniquity, grasping and covetous greed, and malice. [They were] full of envy and jealousy, murder, strife, deceit and treachery, ill will and cruel ways. [They were] secret backbiters and gossipers,
30Slanderers, hateful to and hating God, full of insolence, arrogance, [and] boasting; inventors of new forms of evil, disobedient and undutiful to parents.
31[They were] without understanding, conscienceless and faithless, heartless and loveless [and] merciless.
32Though they are fully aware of God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them themselves but approve and applaud others who practice them.
Do you do these things? Do you have an abased mind?

This is very scarey! We need to examine ourselves! Are we prepared, do we have what it takes, do our works line up with God, is the presence of God still with us, or is His light still shining our path?

The religous people in the bible where taking people with them as they fell into ditches.....they coould see where they where going, they didnt even realize they where headed for the ditches!

Matthew 15:14 (Amplified Bible)
Let them alone and disregard them; they are blind guides and teachers. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a ditch.

First remember your first works! Compare them to your current works.
Then repent! Turn around and change your mind.
Finally, do those first works again, passionatly, with fire!

Conclusion: The lampstand is a picture of Gods presence, that He is with us, lighting up our path. Dont be lukewarm...you will fall into the ditch, be abased and foolishly unprepared to die or the rapture.

Is your faith dead or alive?

Works is the "evidence" of true saving grace!

James 2:19-20 (The Message)
Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That's just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?

*****Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-35) *****
Luke 10:25-35 (The Message)
25Just then a religion scholar stood up with a question to test Jesus. "Teacher, what do I need to do to get eternal life?"
26He answered, "What's written in God's Law? How do you interpret it?"
27He said, "That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence—and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself."
28"Good answer!" said Jesus. "Do it and you'll live."
29Looking for a loophole, he asked, "And just how would you define 'neighbor'?"
30-32Jesus answered by telling a story. "There was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side. Then a Levite religious man showed up; he also avoided the injured man.
33-35"A Samaritan traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man's condition, his heart went out to him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill—I'll pay you on my way back.'

I want to point out a few things in this passage.
First, notice how the “religious person is trying to get out of what Jesus is teaching. He is trying to find loopholes….

The biggest loophole Christians find is the scripture that says we are not saved by works and they go on to say by faith alone we are saved. But this is a misinterpretation of the scripture, the pharsees (religious people) thought highly of themselves because they did so much, their self-righteousness was as filthy rags to God, we have to have the grace of God to make heaven our home. However, woks will follow geuioun faith. BECAREFUL TO USE THIS SCRIPTURE…..loopholes can be found; but that is not Gods heart….that is religion.

Second, Jesus goes directly to the law. The law is there so we can identify our sin, if we are doing something wrong it will show us. Some Christians use this also, they say that we are “new testament believers” AND THAT WE DON’T LIVE UNDER THE LAW, (another loophole), this is also is correct; but the law is there as a tool to check ourselves. We aren’t supposed to just ignore the Old Testament!

Third, the religious person responds with the answer to Jesus’ question, he states that we need to love God with everything in us and love people (neighbors), the way we love ourselves.

We all think that we love people the way we love ourselves….but think with me, how many people have you seen just this week that have been broken, lost, hungry, hurting, ect…but you have just walked right by them; in the stores, driving around, at schools and even worse, people at the haunted house. We fail daily to love people, take the time for people and go out of our way for people the way we do for ourselves!

Forth, Jesus started to tell him a story, (because he was trying to get the man to see himself clearly) we already read the story, I want to draw a parallel. Let the robbers be pictured as this world and the devil. The Devil attaches people, takes everything they have, beats them and then leaves them to die! He drives them to addiction, depression, self-hatred, self-pity, angry and a lot of times suicidal!

Fifth, the religious person is the person that sees the issues, sees the hurt, the pain and people dying all around them….headed for a devils hell and does NOTHING ABOUT IT!

Sixth, this person is the person we should be like! Our hearts should be hurting for the people around us, we should be going out of our way to preach His message, reach out to the poor, proclaim His forgiveness- to all that would hear us, to bring sight to the blind, to help those that are burdened and abused and to heal the broken hearted!

Luke 4:18 God's Spirit is on me;
he's chosen me to preach the Message of good news to
the poor, Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and
recovery of sight to the blind,
To set the burdened and battered free,
to announce, "This is God's year to act!"

The Good Samaritan saw the need and met it. The religious person saw the need and turned his head, and ignored it! He came up with every excuse he could not to meet the need!

The calling that everyone has on his or her life is to meet the need!

Right now, our church needs to move towards the mark, who will ignore the need and who will meet the need?

This is the difference between being religious and being the Good Samaritan.

Faith without works is not faith at all. It is lip service.

Isaiah 29:13 (Amplified Bible) And the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips but remove their hearts and minds far from Me, and their fear and reverence for Me are a commandment of men that is learned by repetition [without any thought as to the meaning].

Back to our original scripture:
James 2:19-20 (The Message)
Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That's just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?

We sit complacently while others do the work….statistics state that 20% of the church does all the work.

Your body would not function correctly if it only was using 20%.... and the body of Christ (the church) is not functioning correctly!

1 Corinthians 12:12 (New Living Translation)
The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ.

I have been guilty of this very thing! I have repented and I am pressing for the mark! I am reaching for the goal…..we need to continue to help each other, encourage each other and support each other.

A few years ago, I remember Tony saying that the troops would get angry when people would say, “They do not support the war but they support our troops”. He said that the troops hated that, and said that it is impossible to support our troops without supporting the war!

We can apply that to the war we (Christians) are fighting! If we sit at home and say ya, we support the church (troops), but then do not go out with them to war….we aren’t supporting them at all. Once again, it is lip servive. Works is the "evidence" of our support.

I hope this has helped you; I have attached several scriptures for you to read at home. This study has brought me back to my first works. I believe this was the mind of God for us this morning. I really hope to see you all in the trenches with me! Together it is encouraging but alone it is hard!

Ecclesiastes 4:10 (The Message)
It's better to have a partner than go it alone.
Share the work, share the wealth.
And if one falls down, the other helps,
But if there's no one to help, tough!

Would Jesus say that you are steadfast, always abounding in His work?
Do you actively seek ways to be more involved in the work of the church, or do you seek to avoid work?
If every member were just as active and involved in the work of the church as you are, how much work would be accomplished?

1 Corinthians 15:58 (The Message)
With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don't hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort.

1 Peter 1:17
And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear;
Revelation 20:12
And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.
Revelation 20:13
The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.