Where did man first worry?
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I am excited to share with you this historical picture of man. These 5 stages show us why man worries. Which stage are you in right now?
HISTORICAL CHART OF MAN AND HIS WORRIES
#1
Man Before the Fall
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Mankind was originally made with a total trust in the Lord. He believed God would take care of all his needs. He always trusted in God. Worry was non-existent. He was future and self aware, but his trust in God prevented any concern for his needs.
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#2
Man During the Fall
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 During the fall, man was tempted to question whether God had fully cared for him. He could have acknowledged God's care and trusted Him. But instead he chose to question God's care for him and take the responsibility to care for his own needs into his own hands. He chose to live without God. This was the fall.
If God isn't going to take care of me, then I will see to it myself.
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#3
Man After the Fall
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After the fall, man became preoccupied with meeting his own needs since he no longer trusted God to do it. Since we were made with an awareness of the future, we had to make sure our future needs were cared for. We replaced our trust in God with trust in other things.
As long as man gains what he thinks he needs, he will not worry. However, whenever this confidence is shaken, then he responds with worries and anxieties. Insecurity describes this lack of confidence in our ability to gain what we think we need.
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#4
Man Rescued by Jesus Christ
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The ability to trust God to meet our needs returns when we become God's children by trusting or believing in Jesus Christ. The word 'believe' and trust is the same original word. If God is able and willing to care for our eternal souls, then we can trust Him to care for our temporal needs. Many scriptural promises affirm God's care for us.
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#5
Man Again Strays
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However, like Adam, Christians can be distracted with temptations that whisper or shout, "God can't help me" or "I am missing out on something." Worry then, for the Christian, is the expression of doubt, the lack faith and trust in God to care and meet our needs. When we don't trust God, we trust other things to fulfill our needs. This is idolatry.
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Which stage then are you in right now?
I would like to go one step further than we did in the last slide regarding chemical treatment. There we said that chemical problems are not the reason for worry. Through what we just learned, we must acknowledge that worry is not a mere 'mental health' problem. Anxiety is clearly connected to how we poorly relate to our Creator God. Anxiety does affect our bodies and our minds, but its roots are spiritual in nature and therefore our solution must effectively deal with our trust in God.
If you look closely at the slide, you will note that there are two arrows which summarize the two purposes of the seminar.
- (1) This seminar is designed to bring those who do not know God to know God and His peace.
- (2 ) Secondly, we are trying to bring every believer to experience the perfect, powerful and persisting peace of God. This is God’s purpose for us.
Our peace should be of such quality, that we trust God our Father to care for all of our needs. I know we are not there, but this is where we are going. We go step by step across the bridge on our journey with God.
Let's now look how this works out in our own lives. Next page > Defining Our Problem
![Overcoming Anxiety: Finding Peace, Discovering God series: Historical Chart of Man and His Worries: A Penetrating Look [OA02_06].](_res/OA02_00top.gif)
