Summer Series 2024 - Part 4 - Stress

Summer Series.    Part 3                  Finding Strength in the Stress         Casey Dowell 

It’s always something.                      

Pressure > Capacity = stress

(Philippians 4:13 NKJV) I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

1. Shock

(Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 NIV) Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.

2.              Sorrow

(Isaiah 53:3 KJV) He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. 

(Psalm 61:1-2 NKJV) Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer. From the end of the earth I will cry to You. When my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. 

3.              Struggle

(Jeremiah 20:18 TEV) “Why was I born? Was it only to have trouble and sorrow, to end my life in disgrace?” 

(Matthew 27:46 NIV) “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 

(Hebrews 11:35-40 NIV) There were others who were tortured… persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

4.              Surrender

(Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV) Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

Serenity Prayer 

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardship as a pathway to peace; taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that You will make all things right if I surrender to Your will; so that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with You forever in the next. Amen. 

5.              _________________

(Romans 5:3-4 NIV) Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.

6.              _____________

(2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NIV) Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

There is always __________ in my ___________.

I can run to God and others. 

I can worship. 

I can focus on eternity. 

I can trust God. 

I can learn from life’s situations. 

I can use my pain to help others.