Shawn Boonstra

Voice Of Prophecy

Who Me? Worry?

I don't know if you've ever noticed, but God actually forbids the act of worrying.

God doesn't say, try not to worry, or try to relax a little.

I don't know about you, but some days I find that almost a little unrealistic.

I mean, with bills to pay and kids to raise and a house to maintain, how do you not worry?

Today on the Voice of Prophecy, we're going to discover that not worrying is actually more of a command than you might think, and what God says you can do about this very real problem.

I don't mean to go and add to your stress level, but if you spend a lot of time worrying, you should probably stop, because more and more research is still confirming that habitual worry is probably going to kill you.

And of course now what I've done is gone and given you something else to worry about.

But seriously We all know that stress and worry cause all kinds of health problems.

1 study I looked at recently said that stress doesn't just make you agitated, it actually causes your body to start breaking down.

And I mean everything from the more obvious things like damage to your heart down to damaging your teeth and gums.

High stress levels wear down your immune system which means you're a lot more likely to get sick.

And that might mean more cold and flu, but it might also eventually mean more cancer.

Back in the day when our ancestors worked outside, maybe on the farm, maybe cutting trees down in the woods, it was a different work environment.

They had to face a different set of problems.

Out in the woods, you might actually come face to face with a grizzly or a mountain lion.

And when that happens, your brain suddenly kicks into autopilot.

Because your ability to use logic is kind of suspended in a moment of panic.

Your brain suddenly dumps a bunch of hormones into your bloodstream, stuff like adrenaline and cortisol.

And those hormones quickly elevate your heart rate.

They make you breathe faster so you get more oxygen.

And they flood your bloodstream with glucose so you have lots of fuel to help you run away.

What you feel, though, is this cold sense of panic, kind of like that awful sensation you get when you're going down a flight of stairs in the dark and you suddenly miss a step.

Or Maybe that feeling you get when someone swerves in front of you on the freeway and just about hits you.

Your whole body tenses up and you get this really quick flash of panic-driven energy.

It's almost like you get these superhuman response times.

And even when the danger is averted, when you realize that you only missed 1 step on that dark staircase, when you realize you're going to be fine, your heart still keeps racing for a few seconds after the crisis is over.

Now that's the fight or flight mechanism And I know you've heard of it.

It's a natural, healthy response designed to keep you alive.

But it also makes incredible demands on your body.

It pulls all or most of your resources in 1 direction.

And because you have limited physical resources, it actually starts to shut down other systems in your body.

Stuff you don't need at that moment, like your immune system, your digestive system, your reproductive system.

Then, A few minutes later, when the bear suddenly goes back into the woods and you realize, oh, I'm going to live, your body shuts down the extra adrenaline and cortisol, and it goes back to the business of life.

Your digestion comes back online, so do your immune system and your reproductive system, and the whole experience only lasts a few minutes and then you go back to normal.

But today with most human beings moving into an urban environment it's not a grizzly bear anymore.

It might be an interpersonal relationship in the office or a bad or overbearing boss.

It might be an overdue project, or the presentation you have to make tomorrow morning.

The problem is that our body doesn't know the difference.

It still releases the same flood of adrenaline and cortisol, and it still diverts your body's resources to where it thinks it's going to need the most.

And of course, that is the way your body is designed.

The problem in the modern work environment is that the crisis doesn't just last for 2 minutes.

It goes on and on and on, hour after hour, day after day.

And because your body's defense mechanisms don't know the difference, it just fires up that fight-or-flight response over and over and over.

And it happens far more regularly than it was designed for.

Because it doesn't just affect the rest of your body for a few minutes.

It affects you for weeks and months and years.

Your body's stream of resources are all out of whack.

They're getting diverted to where you don't really need them long term.

And parts of your system start to suffer.

Your immune system begins to malfunction.

And your organs stop working at peak efficiency.

Now I might not be a doctor, but I do know what I'm talking about here because I've been there.

Don't consider what I'm saying medical advice.

Consider what I'm saying my personal experience.

I've had moments in my life where the stress levels just about took me out.

I found myself overreacting to even the smallest problems, and it was making my life miserable.

And of course, that's the moment when I discover the words of Jesus.

That passage from the Sermon on the Mount where He tells us, Do not worry.

And I've got to admit, there are days when I wonder how that's even possible anymore in the 21st century.

I've got to write a show and produce it, I've got public meetings to run, I've got a marriage that deserves my full-time attention, I've got...

Well, basically, I've got the same stuff you have to worry about." And then Jesus says, do not worry?

How in the world would that even be possible?

Let me read you the whole passage because it's probably a good reminder that you and I are not living the ideal existence that God intended.

Now I think I've read through this passage on other programs but this is really important so let's look at it again.

These are the words of Jesus in Matthew chapter 6 starting in verse 25.

Now remember this is the Son of God speaking.

Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.

Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns.

Which of you, by worrying, can add 1 cubit to His stature?" Now that last question, which of you by worrying can add 1 cubit to his stature?

I want you to think about that for a minute because this is really important.

I'm gonna take a quick break right now so that I can get my own adrenaline levels back down to normal And I want to give you a chance to take advantage of an amazing offer from the Voice of Prophecy.

But then I'm going to come right back so we can look at this more carefully.

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Which of you, the Bible says, by worrying can add 1 cubit to his stature.

Now, those are words Jesus spoke almost 2, 000 years ago, but I'm convinced that the remedy for stress and worry can actually be found in that single short sentence.

Anil Kanda

Ceres SDA Church

Bible’s Love Stories- Part 3

Father in heaven, we just thank you again for this special time.

And Lord, our hearts' desire is that today you would bless us, you'd refresh us.

God, I know that it is in your heart to bless your people.

Lord, you want to pour out your favor upon us, so we pray that our hearts would be receptive, God, to what you want to do.

Thank you so much for this communion experience.

Thank you, Lord, that this isn't a drudgery, but this is a wonderful privilege you've given to your people.

Name of the sermon's called The Final Love Story.

Now, we're not going to be talking about the final love story.

But this is the final love story of the series that we have been doing, Love Stories in the Bible.

I hope you have your Bibles because we're going to be needing them today.

You know, I was listening to the Sabbath school, and I really appreciate our Sabbath school teachers, and they were talking about the race.

You often hear about that, the Christian race, right?

You read about it in Hebrews chapter 12, and the Bible talks about how we're on a race.

I have come to the conclusion about something, and that is this.

The Christian race is comparable with only 1 kind of run that I believe comes close to it.

How many people know what running with the Bulls is?

Okay, now church family, I don't want you to get mad at me, but I'm going to tell you guys something.

I have now placed a new item on my bucket list.

And I've checked out the dates, July 4, July 6 to the 14th.

And it is completely free, except for the ambulance drive.

About 50 people have been killed since 1910.

They did take 200 people to the ambulance last year during the bull run.

And I was really thinking about the Christian race and I was thinking to myself, okay, you know, it's not like a 5K when you're running and you get a little, you know, ribbon at the end or a medal.

The Christian race is a run where, run or die, right?

And I really believe God is calling us each and every day to keep making advances forward for His glory.

And thank God for His justification and His righteousness that covers us during those times that we fall.

God picks us back up and He says, keep on going, amen?

And that's what I'm excited about because I believe Sirius is heading in the right direction.

As you guys know, last week we announced the beginning of our Patterson Church Plant.

That will take place at the end of May, the beginning of June.

As I told you before last week, we have secured a church.

And we're now going to start making preparations.

This is going to require missionaries from our church to take up the mantle of ministry and head out over there.

It's going to be a small church at first, but I believe God is going to grow it.

It's going to be a time of reaching out to others.

Our first picture of Adventism that we want to the Patterson community is going to be the health message.

I've been studying councils out, and this is the entering wedge.

We want people to know we are there to help them, to bless them, amen?

So if you're thinking about, okay, what new adventure does God want to put me on, I want you to start praying about this, okay?

But either way, God is calling us to keep moving forward.

I believe in the Bible when it says we can hasten the second coming of Jesus, and every soul that is 1, every church that is set up, every time the gospel message is preached, we are 1 step closer to the second coming, amen?

And ending this world of sorrow, I want it to end.

I want Jesus to come back and take us home, and he's yearning for that same desire, right?

All right, name of the sermon is called, The Final Love Story.

And we've been covering love stories in the Bible.

Last week we talked about perhaps the Bible's most powerful evangelistic couple.

We learned about them and how we saw their process of growth, right?

They started off connecting with Paul then they begin to follow Paul and then they begin to win Apollos and the Bible says they eventually had a house or church in their house.

God really led this couple in spiritual growth and development.

And God is calling us into that same kind of experience.

Today we're going to be looking at a different kind of love story, okay?

How many men here, by the raising of their hand, propose to their wife in a unique way?

And a unique way means more than just saying, hey honey, let's get married, okay?

1 person proposed to the wife in a unique way.

Ted, really quickly, why don't you tell us, okay?

And by the way, this is a contest, so go ahead.

Tell us how you proposed to Sweet Georgia.

Bible’s Love Stories- Part 2

Father in heaven, we just thank you again for this time.

And we pray and ask that the Holy Spirit would be present.

Lord, we're here to seek your face, to understand what is the will of God for our lives today.

So God, as we worship you in spirit and truth, we pray and ask that the word of God would become living and active in our very experience today.

For this we pray in the name of Jesus, amen.

So we've been talking about some very interesting things and I'm looking for my sermon notes.

See, this is why it's good to memorize sermons.

You never know when you need to preach 1.

We've been talking about various things that are taking place in our church today.

We've been talking about the ministry of Ceres Church and what God is up to.

We've talked about various things He is leading our church to experience and participate in, And we'll talk a little bit more about that as well a little bit later on We do have some very special news for you I even got another confirmation of this and we're trusting God day by day on this experience and that is this We have found a church in Patterson that has agreed to allow us to rent their facilities.

And starting at the end of May, we will begin the Patterson Seventh-day Adventist Church.

And that's going to require a lot of hard work.

And that means we're going to need missionaries from this church who are going to go over there and take up a ministry there, to take up the mantle of ministry there.

And so this is going to be a very exciting experience, something we're all going to be able to participate in some way.

But ladies and gentlemen, now is the time that God is wanting to have some kind of memorial in every city.

That's councils actually, those words, a memorial in every city.

I believe that Patterson when you think about it there over 20, 000 people there, okay?

We're about the closest Adventist church, which is about 25 to 30 minutes away They've just opened up a gigantic Amazon warehouse.

It's also a bedroom city for people who live in the Bay Area.

There are a lot of things that are happening in that area, and we really believe that God is opening the doors over there.

And day by day we're following Him in this, and we're trying to understand what is His will.

In fact, the pastor emailed me this morning.

Starting at the very end of May is when we will begin services there.

For a while, there may be some of us who will be over there during Sabbath mornings.

I'll be preaching back and forth as well as Pastor Ted and some other individuals as well.

We really want God to be leading this endeavor, right?

And we really believe that God is calling us to fulfill the gospel commission.

And every time a soul is won, a church is set up, we are 1 step closer to the second coming, right?

So this is something to be prayerful about, we'll talk a little bit more later on about this, but I just wanted to put that bug in your ear just to get excited about what's taking place.

Alright ladies and gentlemen, We've been talking about love stories in the Bible.

In fact, when I was in Loma Linda, I was really praying about the noon meetings.

I did the noon meetings at Loma Linda University campus.

And last year, they told me only about 50 students came out.

And so I was really praying about this, and I was like, God, what do you want me to talk about?

I felt very impressed to talk about love stories in the Bible.

You have a lot of college students there.

We had over 250 people show up every single day that we had these meetings.

And they're very excited to learn biblical principles about relationships.

You had PhD students, MD students, dental students, you name it, everything across the spectrum.

But the most remarkable Thing was that many people were just really surprised and shocked that the Bible actually had some principles about Relationships about romance and that's this is very important.

None of us here have a perfect relationship Amen, in fact, there's only 1 perfect relationship that exists in the Bible only 1 and that is Jesus and his father All other relationships that exist in the Bible are imperfect Because you're dealing with sinful men.

And so when you're trying to understand romantic principles in the Scriptures, we need to understand, we're never going to find an exact formula.

But it is something we need to strive for and try to head towards that direction.

And so we're trying to understand biblical relationship principles.

We're trying to understand what is God up to in these times.

It's amazing, ladies and gentlemen, when we look back in Scripture, we begin to notice something very startling.

You know, when I was speaking before several of the students, I described something that as I was describing, I was really shocked to even say it, but I knew the Spirit of God was impressing me.

When you read about the people that existed before the flood, The Bible says not too much about them except that every thought of their heart was wicked.

Probably the reason why less is said is probably communicating that there was so much evil going on, it's better just to say Little.

But as I began studying the chapter that was about the people who were destroyed by this flood, what really shocked me was that the Bible points out the greater sin was not the generation that was destroyed or being committed by the generation that was destroyed, the greater sin was caused by the generation that existed prior.

And when you actually read the generations that existed prior, it says this, Then the sons of God went into the what?

In other words, the Bible was actually describing the generations that existed prior to the generation that had to be destroyed.

The Bible was pointing out it was this mixture that was taking place that eventually would have produced this kind of dangerous offspring.

In fact, when you read about the early church after Christ left, it was when the early church began to marry the world that 1 of the most dangerous institutions this world has ever seen was set up.

So as we begin to understand these principles, we need to realize, wait a minute, there's more at stake than just our mere happiness.

And this is why God wants us to understand what the Bible is actually teaching about these things, because he wants us to be ready for what's taking place.

Back to Menu

All Teachings

Who Me? Worry?

30m

Bible’s Love Stories- Part 3

36m

Bible’s Love Stories- Part 2

41m

Bible’s Love Stories- Part 1

49m

09. Biblical Missionaries: Peter and the Gentiles

1h 36m

The Sign of Jonah and God’s Five Step Formula for Victory

51m

The Spirit of Antichrist and My Fifth Grade Birthday Party

39m

Autoimmune Diseases and the Last Day Church

41m

A Heavier Cross

56m

Heavenly Communication

49m

The All-Important Question!

43m

Adventist Culture or Adventist Faith?

51m

Sound Doctrine