Too Many Engineers

One of the worst train disasters in history occurred in the El Toro Tunnel in Leon, Spain, on January 3, 1944.
More than five-hundred people died on this tragic day.

The train was one of those long passenger trains with an engine on both ends.

On this particular day, when the trains went into the El Toro tunnel, the engine in the front stalled. When the
front engine stopped, the engineer on the back started up his engine to back the train out of the tunnel. At
the same time, however, the front engineer managed to get his engine started back up and attempted to
continue the journey through the tunnel. Now, neither engineer had any way of communicating with the
other. Both engineers thought they simply needed more power. They continued to pull in both directions for
several minutes at full steam. Hundreds of passengers on the train died in the tunnel because of carbon
monoxide poisoning all because the train could not make up its mind which way to go!
The people on that train died because the train had one too many engineers. Many of us struggle as to which
direction our lives ought to go – whether to come to Jesus or remain in sin. Jesus wants us to go in one
direction, but we are at the back of the train pulling in another direction. There are even times when we think
we can have it both ways. There is good news for us brothers and sisters, we only have one master to follow
and that is God.

Stress/Worry/Anxiety and the Christian Life

Proposition: The Bible shares with us some wonderful ways to deal with Stress- Worry- Anxiety
1. Pray 2. Meditate 3. Release and Receive 4. Adapt
INTRO: The story is told that one day, Death was walking into a certain city when a man stopped him and
asked what Death was planning to do in that city. Death answered by say that he was going to receive
10,000 people that day. The man responded in despair but Death reminded him that his job was to take
people when their time was ready. Today, that meant 10, 000 people would be taking their last breath and
going into the hereafter.
Later on in the day, Death and the man caught up with each other again. However, this time, the man was
furious with Death. The man lashed out at Death and told Death that he had lied to him. This morning, Death
had told him that he would only take 10,000 lives and yet, according to all the reports some 70,000 people
had died. 60,000 more people had died than Death had said he would receive. The man accused Death of
lying and being greedy. Death allowed the man to rant and then stopped the man. Death quickly told the
man, "Don't get mad at me, I only took 10,000. Worry killed all the rest." (Adapted from Haddon W.
Robinson, What Jesus Said About Successful Living, page 221).

Stress, worry and anxiety can kill a person. In fact, stress has been labeled as the silent assassin.
Stress/worry and anxiety can lead to heart disease and eventually lead to a person having a heart attack.
They can be the one of the leading causes of high blood pressure, heart disease, ulcers, stomach problems,
panic disorders, headaches, sleep disorders and chronic depression.

How many of us honestly have had to deal with worry, anxiety or stress in our lives? Are stress, worry,
anxiety all part of the human condition? Can we avoid them? Can we manage them? How can we learn to
find balance in our lives? What does the Bible say that can help us deal with stress worry anxiety?

Five simple steps that will enable us to grow as humans and as disciples of Jesus. Five simple things that we
can do to find a balance in our lives.
1. Simply go to the LORD in prayer.
This was Jesus' #1 way of dealing with His times of stress worry anxiety. Luke 5:16 tells us that one of the
constant things in Jesus' life was to go to a place of solitude to pray “16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely
places and prayed.”
Matthew 14:23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When
evening came, he was there alone.
Luke 6:12 One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.
Jesus had to deal with a great many stressors while He was living here on earth. He had the responsibility of
taking care of His disciples and their families. Jesus also had to deal with all the stress that comes from
handling a very successful ministry. Thousands of people came to Him to receive healing and listen to His
teachings. Jesus had to deal with the stress that came from fighting the demons and the Devil
How did Jesus handle it all? Jesus turned to prayer as a way to deal with the stress. Jesus knew that the best
way to handle the difficulties of life was to be constantly connected with His Heavenly Father. Prayer was
Jesus stress releaser and it can be ours this morning. Jesus teaches us that prayer enables us to know that
we have a partner and that partner is God Himself.
So when you start to feel stressed, worried and anxious, take your hands and fold them and begin talking to
the LORD Almighty. Share your heart concerns, connect with God and ask Him for help and assistance.
2. Turn to the WORD of God - to mediate on God's Word.
The Bible itself contains all the best ways that we can handle stress/anxiety and worry in our lives.
Jesus doesn't tell us that we will never have stress, worries or even anxieties. No, Jesus tells us a way that
we can handle the problems and situations in our lives.
Matthew 11:28-30 - 28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.29 Take
my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your
souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
The more you read His word, you discover the true purpose of this life
You learn that you are not alone. You learn how God worked in the lives of children, teens and adults
throughout history in helping them handle difficult times.
Proverbs 3:5-6New International Version (NIV)
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to
him, and he will make your paths straight.[a]
Psalm 91 (NIV)
(1) Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.( 2) I will say of the
Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” (3) Surely he will save you from the
fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. (4) He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings
you will find refuge;his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.(5) You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,(6) nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys
at midday. (7) A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near
you. (8) You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. (9) If you say, “The Lord
is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, (10) no harm will overtake you, no disaster will
come near your tent. (11) For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;
3&4. Learning how to release - how to let things go / Learning how to receive - how to receive
the grace/gifts from God
Psalms 23 is an amazing chapter. Over and over in the this chapter we see this balancing act of releasing and
receiving. The LORD is My Shepherd, I shall not want. He leadeth me beside the still water. He restoreth my
soul.
In all of that language there is this call to release to the LORD all your cares, all your anxieties and worries.
He is Your Shepherd. He will provide all your wants. He will lead you beside still water. He will restore your
soul - He will give you His peace, calm and comfort. He will bring gentleness and restoration of soul, mind
and body. We know that the Great Shepherd is Jesus. There is no one who loves us more than Jesus. And
there is no one that can bring us more peace than Jesus.
Go ahead and release to the LORD all the things that are bothering you - your marriage, your job, your
grades at school, the coach on your sports team, the stress of being good at sports or hunting or fishing. Let
go of the stress at work or whatever is bothering you. Whatever is causing you to worry or be anxious, just
let it fall into the hands of Jesus. Let it all go. You can release your family, your life, you day - anything and
everything. You don't have to control it. You don't have to carry the burden. It is now all in the hands of
Jesus. Let Him deal with it.
Lift your hands up to God. as a symbol of your desire to now receive from the Lord. Ask for whatever you
think you need. If you need wisdom, ask Jesus for it. If you need direction, healing, forgiveness, guidance,
peace, love - whatever it is, just ask and be ready to receive. Open your heart and mind and allow the Holy
Spirit to come in and fill you with Supernatural love and peace.
We need to let our stress, our worries and our anxieties fall from our hands into the hands of Jesus. We need
to learn how to receive from Jesus a spirit of peace, calm and assurance.
5. The concept of adapting
As we pray, we mediate, we release and receive from Jesus we will experience a great deal of peace. That
peace will lead us to adapt to new ways of thinking, new ways of looking at things and new ways of even
living our lives. As Jesus transforms our lives, we learn to adapt to His way of living, thinking and acting.
We can choose this morning to go against God's will and in the end we will not enjoy this life to its fullest. We
can choose to rebel and live out a life full of stress/worry and anxiety. Or we can choose to go with the flow
of God and adapt.
We can choose to make prayer a # 1 priority.
We can choose to make Bible reading/mediation a #1 priority and learn how to live God's way - what does
that little sign say - The Bible is Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth.
We can choose to release things into God's hands
We can choose to receive from God - peace, comfort and love
And we can choose to adapt to God's way of living.
if you have an area in your life that needs a special touch - you have something that has overwhelmed you,
that is causing you great worry and anxiety as we pray - why don't you come down to this altar and give it to
Jesus.