Topic notes. Movement one is not optional and should come before the text, not after it.
Before the text: the distinction
say this first[the movement that decides whether the sermon helps or harms]
There is everyday worry, which most people have, and there is an anxiety disorder, which is a medical condition that responds to medical treatment. They are not the same thing and this sermon is mostly about the first.
If you are living with the second, nothing I say this morning is a substitute for a doctor, and taking medication for it is no more a failure of faith than taking insulin. I want to say that before we read anything, because I know some of you have been told otherwise.
Three texts, three costs
choose one[1 Kings 19 is the one that treats the body first]
Philippians 4:4-7. Do not be anxious about anything. Handle the imperative carefully or it becomes an instruction people cannot obey.
Matthew 6:25-34. Consider the birds. Note that the argument is not that worry is wrong but that it is ineffective, which is a gentler and more persuasive line.
1 Kings 19:1-9. Elijah, exhausted and wanting to die, and what God does first is let him sleep and give him food. Twice. Before any conversation. The best passage in scripture on this subject and almost nobody preaches it.
The trap
avoid this[the command that shames]
Do not be anxious, preached as a simple command, adds a second layer to anyone already anxious: now they are anxious and also failing. The text is not a switch and preaching it as one is the commonest damage done on this subject.
An angle worth taking
if you want it[what Philippians actually instructs]
Philippians does not stop at the imperative. It gives something to do instead: in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests. The instruction is to move the thing out of your head and address it to someone, which is closer to what any competent therapist would suggest than most preachers realise.