Lesson 2 - Stress

I want to thank you for coming. I have enjoyed these studies. We've been talking about how to get a handle on your emotions, how to deal with how you feel. And what I want to talk to you about this evening is stress, how to get a handle on stress. Now, if there's a message that most Americans need, and people in other countries also, is how to handle stress. We're all stressed up and nowhere to go. And sometimes you read in the Sunday supplements or something, people will give you good ideas of how to relax and all of that. But those are so much on the surface. They never get down deep and deal with the cause of stress and the genuine God-given answer to stress. So that's what I want to do right out of the Word of God. Now, first of all, what is stress? Stress is the gap between the demands that are placed on us and our ability to meet those demands. We have those words like should and ought and need to and necessary, but we're not able to perform. And there's a gap there. And that gap between what we know that we ought to do and what we're able to do is stress. And stress, and folks, it's American pastime. If you're an American, and many who are not Americans will be watching this, I trust. But stress is an equal opportunity employer. And we just get stressed. As a matter of fact, one great preacher said this, and I want to quote this. He said that every day in the United States, now we're here in the United States right now, every day in the United States, 70 people take their own lives every day. That's three per hour, 24 hours a day. And in America, for adults under 30 years of age, the suicide rate, listen to this, has increased 300% in one decade. Now if we said 5%, 10%, 300%. And these are young people under 30, have everything to live for. Well, is there an answer? Hallelujah, there is an answer. Now, I want to read to you from Isaiah chapter 40, and we're going to begin in verse 28. If you will take God's Word and turn with me to the book of Isaiah. I love the prophet Isaiah. It is a great, great book, and there is a way to deal with stress. Here's what the prophet Isaiah asked. Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not. That is, God never gets worn out and collapses. Neither is weary. There is no searching of his understanding. That means God never scratches his head and says, I wonder what I'm going to do. And none of us can know how great God's intellect is. He, this mighty God, is the creator of the ends of the earth. And none of us can know how great God's intellect is. He, this mighty

God, he giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might, he increaseth strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But now watch this. Here's one of the greatest promises in all the Word of God. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. Now, let's take our study and divide it in basically three parts right now. And the first part, let's deal with the problem, what I want to call the problem of reduced strength. Look in verses 29 and 30. Speaking of God, it says, he giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might, he increaseth strength. You say, yep, those old dudes, they need strength. But now notice what it says in verse 30. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. Weakness and reduced strength is common to all of us. I don't care what kind of health you think you're in, you're vulnerable. I can remember as a young man, well, I'm an old has-been athlete. I'm not an athlete today. I was an athlete and a pretty fair athlete, if I may humbly say so. And got some honors, playing especially football because I had a... head but I could I was fast I could run fast and as a young preacher when we would have a holiday I would love to get the other boys in the church out on the church yard somewhere or in a park and play touch football and knock them down run around them show off and everybody said look at the preacher look at the preacher you know and you know I thought boy that's this really good and and I'm just showing what a great athlete and all that I well we never none of us were ever as good as we say we were you understand that so anyway but but but I would do that I can remember I was 33 years of age 33 because that's the year our Lord was crucified when he was 33 I remember that and we were playing football Larry Freshour had the football and he was about as far as from me to you and I was gonna run him down we're playing touch football I took about six steps and he was pulling away from me I said whoa what's happened here and and I felt my legs get a little rubbery I said uh-huh you're no longer a boy you're a man and your legs are giving out on you and and I just thought you know even the will faint I don't care who you are just give yourself time and your parents are

gonna catch up with you mother nature and father time and you're gonna say I am going to I'm gonna feel that dissipation of strength now what what really causes us to have our strength reduced well first of all they're the demands of service when you serve the Lord it takes strength there's a story in the Bible about a woman who touched the hem of Jesus garment and there was a crowd and this woman she had an issue of blood she just thought you know if I can just touch the hem of his robe I'll be healed and she touched him and he said who touched me and the crowd like this you want to know touched you oh he said no virtue went out of me that word virtue literally means strength if you serve God you're always giving of yourself and you're going to find that strength will go out of you serving God I it costs to serve Jesus there is strength that runs out of you now I'm a pastor and I preach on Sundays and then Mondays come somebody ask a pastor do you take Mondays off he said not on your life I wouldn't want to feel that bad on my own time just strength just goes out of us and there there there is the service take strength out and then there's the dissipation of sin that'll take strength from you Samson the heavyweight champion of the Old Testament he sinned and he became weak as water and the Philistines were able to tie him up and and ridicule him because of the sin that was in his life sin will zap your mental and moral strength and then not only the demands of service and the dissipations of sin but the devices of Satan Satan will come against you when you're already weak I'm telling you if you were in quicksand he'd pat you on the head that's kind of friend you have in the devil and he waits until we're down physically and that that takes our strength and then there's the disability of sickness have you ever been just sick and felt so weak I've been sick where I didn't even want to pray I just say somebody you pray for me I don't even want to pray I don't I don't read the Bible I am just weak and get that way it's it's it's the the disability of sickness and then there's the devastation of sorrow if you've ever had your heart broken if a woman has a husband walks off on her if a baby dies if there's some great tragedy people just absolutely they can't even stand up

sometimes I've been with people where I've just had to hold them up all of us whether we're young or old rich or poor good or bad we're going to know that we need strength amen we all need strength and see that's when when stress comes remember what what stress is it is the distance between the demands that are placed upon us the should ought need to and our ability to meet those demands and that distance is the stress factor okay now now that's the problem of reducing New strength now look at the promise the promise of renewed strength here It is look in verse 31, but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint now First of all notice what I'm going to call the change That we may expect They will renew their strength. Do you see that renew their strength there in verse 31? What that literally means it's it's a Hebrew word that literally means Exchange it is not just a change. It is an exchange that is God takes our weakness and gives us his strength. So we we put on God's strength Like a garment we exchange our weakness for his strength. It is an exchanged life and His his strength is greater than our weakness here's a verse for your margin first Corinthians 125 because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and The weakness of God is stronger than men when he's talking about weakness He's talking about what some call weakness Christ on the cross and then Ephesians 610 finally my brethren be strong in The Lord it is God's mighty strength that comes to us. I'm from, Florida and down in, Florida We have a place near where I went to college. I did go by the way and It was called Ponce de Leon Springs It was named after a Spaniard an explorer named Ponce de Leon and Ponce de Leon came Looking for something called the fountain of youth There was some marvelous water some elixir if you would drink it your hair would stay black as a raven's wing you know your shoulders broad your

Skin will never sag and so forth and people really believe was something called fountain of youth and they look for it Well, there's a spring there called But Ponce de Leon Springs and near where I went to college But I can tell you it didn't work It worked But there is none for the body, but there is one for the soul Though our outward man perish our inward man is renewed day by day now notice the Confidence however that we must express we're going to have this they that do what? They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength now. What does it mean to wait upon the Lord? Well, let me tell you what it doesn't mean it doesn't mean just sit around He's not talking about being passive when he says wait upon the Lord, you know in the olden days When a man would be courting a girl the old-timers would say, you know that young man's waiting on that girl It wouldn't mean he was waiting for her to powder her nose. It means that he was seeking her He was courting her and he was very active nothing passive about it with ever ever Every part of his being he's trying to get that girl To marry him. He was waiting upon her. He was seeking her. Now. That's what it means to wait upon the Lord. I Did a study one time and I tried to find the scriptures in the Bible that speak of waiting upon the Lord Let me give you some and tell you what they mean First of all, look if you will in Psalm 62 verse 1 don't turn to it Let me read it to you truly my soul waiteth upon God From him cometh my salvation my soul Waiteth upon God that means I long for God. Do you long for him? Do you really I mean, is that the longing of your heart? It means to long for the Lord number two It means to listen to the Lord Listen to Proverbs 8 verse 34 Blessed is the man that heareth me watching daily at my gates

Waiting at the post of my doors God says we'd be waiting on him in the morning listening to him just like a servant waiting outside the door Lord What do you want? We long for the Lord? We listen to the Lord and then also it means to look to the Lord Listen to Psalm 104 verse 27 he's talking there about all of the animals and the creatures and it says all of Let me start again. He says these all these wait all upon thee That thou mayest give them their meat or their food in due season All the creatures These all wait upon thee. They are looking to the Lord the lion the deer the antelope the The sheep, the rabbit, the raccoon, they're all saying, Lord, You're the one that feeds me. You're the one that takes care of me. God made them with nature to look to Him. Now, they're dumb animals. They don't know what they're doing but instinctively, they know that there is a force, a power. We know it's Almighty God who's going to feed them. But the point is this. What does it mean to wait upon the Lord to renew our strength? What it means to long for the Lord? It means to listen to the Lord. It means to look to the Lord. If you had a need, let's say you're in debt. Maybe you are and you come and you say, Pastor, look, I've got this horrendous debt. I say, look, don't worry about it.

Look to me. Look to me. I'll take care of it. See, to look to someone is to depend upon them and this is what this Scripture says. They all wait upon Thee that Thou mayest give them their meat in due season. We look to the Lord, to wait upon the Lord and then it means to live for the Lord. Look in Proverbs 28, verse 18. Who so keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof. So he that waiteth on his master shall be honored. To wait on your master means what? To do what he wants you to do. To live for him. Now you go to a restaurant, the person who serves you is called what? A waiter. Of course, we are the ones who wait. You know, the epitaph on the waitress tombstone, God finally caught her eye. We are waiting on them but the word literally means to wait upon us means to service. Now, all right, now take all of this and put it together. They that wait upon the Lord, those who long for the Lord, those who listen to the Lord, those who look to the Lord and those who live for the Lord. It's not passivity. It's not passivity. It is very much an active thing to wait upon the Lord.

Now, we are talking about this renewed strength. Now, here is the third and final thing. I want you to think about what I'm going to call the purpose of released strength. You want more strength? People say, well, yes, I'd like more strength. Well, why should God give you more strength to serve the devil? I mean, if you are not serving God, forget it. This is a promise to those who wait upon the Lord. Now, notice what the purpose is. Look if you will in chapter 40, verse 31. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. That's the promise. Now, here's the purpose. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint. Now, God is going to give a renewed strength in 3 areas. First of all, there's going to be strength to rise up in times of adversity. Now, there it means we're going to mount up with wings as an eagle. Do you know what an eagle is good at? It's flying above the storm. As a matter of fact, the eagles love the storms. He's the king of the birds. He's got this massive wingspan and when the storm comes or when there are those great thermal updrafts, that eagle just spreads those wings and that storm

just causes him to rise higher and higher and to fly faster and faster and the eagle has a lens. He can look right into the face of the sun and he can see for miles. Incredible bird, a symbol of strength. We're going to renew our strength and we're going to mount up with wings as eagles. When you have a problem and you will have them. If you and I, there are 3, all of us in one category or another here right now. There are those in trouble, those who are fixing to get into trouble and those just getting out of trouble. Ha-ha-ha. Troubles, I've got them, you've got them, Adam had them, okay? We've got troubles and storms come. If you're waiting upon God, I'm going to tell you what's going to happen. You're going to rise higher in the storm than you've ever been. The storm is going to bring you up just like an eagle. You're going to mount up with wings like an eagle. Question, when were you closest to God? When it was all sunshine and no problems? No. Let the storm come. You've been there, haven't you? The storm comes. You go to God and you spread those wings

and by what are those wings? Faith and obedience. You can't fly with one wing. Faith and obedience. You spread those wings and you rise up higher and higher. I walked a mile with pleasure. She chatted all the way and left me none the wiser for all she had to say. I walked a mile with sorrow. Not a word said she but all the things I learned from sorrow when sorrow walked with me. So first of all, when we wait upon the Lord, we're going to have what I'm going to call strength to rise in times of adversity. Number two, not only is there strength to rise in times of adversity but there's power to run in times of opportunity. Now he goes on to say, look, not only are we to mount up with wings as eagles but they shall run and not be weary. There are times when we have opportunities, folks, we've got to get after it. We don't need elevation, we need acceleration. We don't need to rise, we need to run and there are opportunities and sometimes they're going past and these opportunities are of the Lord. Be swift, my soul, to answer him. Be jubilant, my feet, my God is moving on and we need to move out for God and not let those opportunities bypass us. I remember reading in Acts chapter 8 in the Bible

about Philip, an Ethiopian, Philip who was a deacon and he was down in Samaria in a revival meeting. The Spirit of God said to him, no, you go to a place called Gaza or some call it Gaza, Gaza where the Gaza Strip today or the Gaza Strip, however you want to pronounce it is and well, that was really a desert and here, this man was like Billy Graham in the great crusade and God called him out and there came along an Ethiopian in a chariot and God said, go join yourself to that chariot and the Bible says, and Philip ran and got up in the chariot, ran. That man, that Ethiopian who was a man of great importance and wealth, he was reading from the prophet Isaiah, the same book we are reading from tonight and he was reading that chapter, that 53rd chapter of Isaiah. He didn't understand it. He said to Philip, he said, who is this about? What is all of this about? The Bible says, Philip opened his mouth and preached to him Jesus. That man got saved, he opened up all North Africa to the Gospel of Jesus Christ but that was an opportunity on wheels. I mean, the Bible says that Philip ran and joined himself to that chariot.

I wonder how many times we missed blessings, opportunities, passed us by because our get up and go is gone. We just...we did not have the strength to do it. No, look, there is power to rise in times of adversity. There is power to run in times of opportunity but now watch, here is the third thing and this is so important. There is power to resolve in times of necessity. Now notice, he goes on to say here in this passage, look, they shall walk and not faint. You say, that's anticlimactic. No, it's not. That's not anticlimactic. This is where most of us live most of the time. Thank God, we don't always have adversity. I don't want them. Thank God, I don't always want to be trying to run to opportunity that may pass me by. This is where we live, walking day by day by day, getting up, getting breakfast, shaving, going to work, fighting the traffic, getting the kids off to school, paying the bills, cutting the grass, carrying out the garbage, dealing with a feisty neighbor. This is where we live, isn't it? I mean, this is the daily hum, drum, round of life. If you want to know what Adrian Rogers is or anybody else, don't watch him in the biggies. Watch him day by day in his walk

and see how he walks with the Lord. And so this is not anticlimactic. This is really the very heart of the whole thing. It's all day, every day, hot days, cold days, bright days, bad days but the Bible says and I love this verse, "...As your days are, so shall your strength be." I was visiting one of our young deacons who was dying of cancer, godly young man. Young, very young, about your age. He's dying of cancer. I said, how are you doing? He said, one day at a time, preacher. One day at a time. Now he was walking. Step by step, walking with God. You know sometimes we think God is just a God of the big things and the dynamic things but if you really want a faith that's real, learn to walk with God. I read something one time that just blessed me so much. It said, the mighty sun that holds the planets in orbit ripens a little bunch of grapes like it had nothing else to do. And I want to tell you that God who runs this mighty universe is the God who's going to give you strength in the mundane things day by day. Yes, you can rise in times of adversity. Yes, you can run in times of opportunity but you can resolve in times of necessity day by day trusting the Lord. And how do you do it?

Wait upon God, long for Him, listen to Him, live for Him and look to Him and you're going to find out there's a miracle that's going to take place. And you're going to have His strength for your weakness. Now, I promise but that doesn't mean anything. He promises. That means everything. Amen? Glory to God. ♪♪