Dharius Daniels - Strategies for Stress

Second Kings, chapter four, verse five, is where we’ll begin the reading of God’s Word. Second Kings, chapter four, verse five says this: «She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her, and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, 'Bring me another one.' But he replied, 'There is not a jar left.' Then the oil stopped flowing. She went to the man of God and told him what happened, and he said, 'Go and sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on what’s left.'» I want to tag a title to this text. I’m going to see if this section will talk back to me when I give you my subject. I want to talk from the subject «Strategies for Stress.» Strategies for stress. As we sermonicly swim in the pool of this passage this morning, I want to announce to those who are seated in this space and watching us online that there is an emotional epidemic impacting people not only occupying space in our country but also those in our churches. It is an emotional epidemic that is so disruptive and destructive that an article in The Wall Street Journal suggested it is responsible for taking more lives than smoking, drinking, and not exercising combined. It is such a weapon of mass destruction that the University of London said if this emotional epidemic is not properly managed, it is six times more predictive of cancer and heart disease than cigarette smoking, high cholesterol levels, and elevated blood pressure. I am referring to an invisible, intangible emotional epidemic called stress. Stress is indiscriminate; it does not discriminate. It will knock on your door if you’re old, and it will come into your room if you’re young. It will find you if you’re rich and it will find you if you’re poor. Everyone, no matter what season or state of life they are in, is vulnerable to the reality of stress. And the 11:30 is not talking back to me! Somebody say stress! Everyone is vulnerable to stress. The student is stressing about taking the test. The teacher is stressing about grading the test. Somebody is stressing because they don’t like their job; somebody else is stressing because they can’t find one. Someone is stressing over the wedding, while another is stressing over the divorce. Someone is stressing because they can’t find the house they want, while someone else is stressing because they can’t sell the house they have. Someone is stressing because they can’t stop losing weight; someone else is stressing because they can’t stop gaining it. Somebody is stressing because they want children and can’t have them, and someone is stressing because they don’t know if they want the children they have. Just kidding—that’s a joke! There are no parents here who have ever heard a teenager say, «I don’t like you.» You’ve never heard a teenager say that, and there are no parents here who have secretly thought, «I don’t really like you that much either.» Not in this church! Somebody say stress! However, I’ve got some good news! I feel this side over here, okay, I’m coming alive, and you can respond! I said, «Somebody say stress!» I’ve got some good news: God wants to arrest your stress! This is the quiet section today! I’m coming alive, and you can wake up! I said, «God wants to arrest your stress!» He does! Here it is, here it is: Someone may say, «Well, Pastor Daris, how can you say that? I’ve studied Scripture.» I don’t need to see the word «stress» in Scripture, so how does my spirituality relate to my stress if the word stress is not in Scripture? And you’re right; the word «stress» itself is not in Scripture. But there are words used in Scripture that describe a stressful state. One of them is found in the book of Philippians, chapter four, verse six, where the writer says, «Do not be anxious about anything"—anxious, overwhelmed, tense, stressed—"but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving.» I love this! It didn’t say to respond with thanksgiving after the prayer; it says to offer thanksgiving with the prayer. That when you send up a prayer for Him to do it, send up a praise because He’s already done it. Did you hear me? That praise becomes the articulation of your expectation—that while you are talking to God about the problem, He’s already working on the answer! I want to see who grew up in old-school church here. While you are trying to figure it out, God has already worked it out! I’m not going to wait until the battle is over; I’m going to shout right now! In every situation, by prayer and petition, present your requests to God, and the peace of God—it did not say «in peace,» but he says «and the peace of God"—distinguishing or communicating that there is a distinction between peace and all peace. Jesus even said this when He said, «My peace I leave with you.» Not peace that the world gives; He says there is a type of peace that people who are not people of faith have. He says, «But that kind of peace is inferior peace, because it’s temporary peace. It’s a peace that doesn’t have any weight on it; it’s a peace that’s fragile. If you bump into it, it falls apart; if the wind blows, it blows out of your life!» But Jesus says, «I want to give you a different kind of peace; I’m going to give you some peace.»