00:00 Stories From a Band Nerd

01:18 Facing Anxiety and Trusting the Lord

02:32 Jesus' Teachings on Anxiety

05:27 Focusing on God's Priorities

08:52 Remembering God's Care

16:06 Strengthening Your Faith

21:40 Understanding Faith and Anxiety

22:32 Jesus' Arguments Against Anxiety

25:02 Practical Steps to Strengthen Faith

26:14 Focusing on God's Care

30:36 Pursuing God's Priorities

34:43 Living in the Present

41:14 God's Love and Care

Mhm.

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Speaker: I don't know if you guys

know this about me, but I was a

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multi sport athlete in high school.

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I, um, played two sports at once.

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I marched and I was in

band at the same time.

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And I got P.

7

E.

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credit for it, just so you know.

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So I was in marching band in high school,

and my band director was terrifying.

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My band director looked

like Shrek, um, but Mexican.

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And I was terrified of this man.

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In fact Something he said all the

time still sticks in my brain.

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My wife loves to apologize for

things and whenever we apologize for

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something, here's what he would say.

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Don't be sorry.

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Be better.

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Don't be sorry.

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Be better.

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And he was dead serious.

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He wasn't joking.

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And I could not play

in front of this dude.

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I played trumpet, the best instrument.

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And I just would shut down.

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I would be all shaky.

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I would forget things.

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I was so scared of this guy.

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And I was pretty good.

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But I was not good in front of

this guy because I was afraid.

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I was so nervous and so worried

that it would shut down.

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And I'm sure you guys have felt like

that, maybe not around people, but

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maybe in certain situations where

you just feel so anxious, so worried,

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so nervous that you can't function.

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Your brain shuts down, you start shaking,

trembling, maybe you start sweating.

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You can't think straight.

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If someone asked you two

plus two, you would say 27.

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You don't know anything and see.

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If you don't learn how to look at

your anxiety and push through and

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trust the Lord and find some sort of

peace and comfort, you're going to be

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stuck in that situation over and over

and over for the rest of your life.

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Because as you get older, your

anxieties are only going to come

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to life in bigger situations.

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If you think tests are hard, what about

a job interview where your whole family

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is counting on you to make money?

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Or if you think.

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You're, uh, you know, being,

trying to decide what to wear in

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the morning before school is hard.

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What about when you're trying

to figure out what to feed your

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kids, or how to take care of them?

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Or when you're carrying a

child, and you're not sure if

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your child is gonna be okay.

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So, if you don't learn how to

deal with your anxieties now, as

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a young person, it's only going

to get harder as you get older.

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So, it's really important

to grasp that right now.

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So, Jesus actually talks about anxieties

right here in the Gospel of Matthew.

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So, go to Matthew chapter 6.

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Matthew chapter 6.

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We're going to be continuing our series

in the Gospel of Matthew, and you

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guys probably have heard this before.

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It's a very famous passage,

but Matthew chapter 6

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I'm going to be covering verses 24 to 34.

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Now, if you were paying attention

last week, you know that Pastor Rod

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already preached on verse 24 last week.

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But, I'm connecting these because I think

Jesus is connecting them as He talks.

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And do you know why?

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What does verse 25 start with?

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It starts with a word, compound word.

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It says, Therefore, and when you

come, read a therefore in the Bible.

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You know what you're supposed to ask?

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What's the therefore therefore?

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There we go, all my

Sunday School graduates.

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It's coming through in the clutch.

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So what's the therefore therefore?

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Well let's read verse 24.

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Look at it there with me.

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No one can serve two masters, for

either he will hate the one and love

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the other, or he will be devoted

to the one and despise the other.

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You cannot serve God and money.

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So Jesus is saying, hey, you have,

you can't have divided loyalties.

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You can only really ever

truly serve one person.

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You can only have one most

important thing in your life.

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Therefore, verse 25, I tell you, don't

be anxious about your life, what you're

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gonna eat, what you'll drink, nor

about your body, what you'll put on.

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Is not life more than food, and

the body more than clothing?

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Isn't there more to life than

what you wear and what you eat?

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Look at the birds of the air.

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They neither sow nor reap nor

gather into barns, and yet your

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heavenly Father feeds them.

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Are you not of more value than they are?

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And which of you, by being anxious, can

add a single hour To his span of life.

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Does being anxious ever help you?

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That's what Jesus is asking.

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And why are you being

anxious about clothing?

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Consider the lilies of

the field, how they grow.

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They neither toil nor spin, right?

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They can't make their own clothes.

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But I tell you, even Solomon in all his

glory, the richest man in history, was

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not arrayed or clothed like one of these.

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But if God so clothed the grass of

the field, which today is alive and

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tomorrow is thrown into the oven.

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Will he not much more clothe

you, O you of little faith?

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Therefore, do not be anxious, saying,

What shall we eat, or what shall

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we drink, or what should we wear?

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For the Gentiles, the people who

don't know God, seek after all

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these things, and your Heavenly

Father knows that you need them all.

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But, seek first the kingdom of

God and His righteousness, and all

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these things will be added to you.

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Therefore, third time, don't

be anxious about tomorrow, for

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tomorrow will be anxious for itself.

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Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

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Today is enough trouble of its own.

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So there's a long passage that Jesus

talks about anxiety, and what he's really

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pointing out here is that your anxiety,

your, your worry, your concern is a

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matter of your attention, your focus.

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What anxiety comes down to

is what you're focused on.

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What you're looking at.

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What's preoccupying your thoughts.

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What you're concerned with.

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That's what anxiety and

worry comes down to.

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And so what I want you guys to

grasp today is that anxiety is a

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matter of what you're focused on.

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And so Jesus, he says, doesn't

just say don't be anxious.

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Instead he says something else.

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He says seek first the Kingdom of God.

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And the way I put that

for you is to focus.

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on God, His righteousness, His priorities.

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And let me see, I closed my slide app.

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Now I need to get it open again.

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This will help me do much better

staying organized for you.

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I'm, I don't have it up.

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So I'll need you to run it from the back.

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So we want to focus on God's

priority, on His fatherly care

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for us and His lasting kingdom.

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Instead of worrying about

what we think we need.

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That's what we want to focus on.

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Is we want to fight

anxiety with our focus.

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Instead of focusing on what

we think we need, right?

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What we wear, what we drink, what we eat.

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We want to focus on things that matter.

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Things that help us

find peace and comfort.

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Now look with me back at verse 24.

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I think there's a reason here.

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Why Jesus Connects, verse 24 and 25.

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He's talking about your master, right?

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Verse 24.

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No one can serve two masters.

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So what he's saying is if you're

mastered by this world, you will

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be anxious about worldly things.

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If your master is money, or fame, or

approval, or people's opinions of you,

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or success, you're gonna be mastered,

controlled, serving, worldly things.

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But if your master is God, if

you're serving the Lord, you'll

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be concerned with His glory.

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You want to make God look good,

and His priorities, or His kingdom.

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Your master, and we saw earlier

in verse 19, right, where your,

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or verse 21, where your treasure

is, there your heart will be also.

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So, your master and your treasure

capture your focus and your concern.

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Your master and your treasure

capture your focus and your concern.

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See, Jesus makes anxiety an issue

of your focus, your attention.

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If I put it another way, anxiety

is paying too much attention to

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the wrong things, and not enough

attention to the right things.

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You're being too

concerned about something.

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And so we want to focus, instead of

focusing on what we think we need, or

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our worries, or what we're concerned

about, we want to focus on God's fatherly

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care and his lasting kingdom, instead

of worrying about what we think we need.

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And that's the main reason Jesus

gives his disciples not to be anxious.

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He says, don't be anxious.

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Why?

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Why, why should I not be anxious?

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He says, you kept saying

that over and over.

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Well, the first thing is to remember

that God will take care of you.

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So point number one,

write it down like this.

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Remember your father.

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Remember.

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Your father,

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Jesus keeps drawing their attention back

to who God is and, and what he's like.

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Look at the, in the end of verse 26,

he talks about the birds and he says,

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but your heavenly father feeds them.

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And then he goes down and talks about

the lilies and then verse 30, but if

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God closed the grass of the field, so

Jesus keeps bringing their attention

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back to God away from their concerns.

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So, when you're anxious, you

need to remember your father.

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The first thing you want to remember about

your father is that he knows your needs.

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He knows your needs.

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Now, I just heard Angelo say this to

his son, Levi, about five minutes ago.

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Levi walks in here without a jacket.

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And Angelo's like, where's your jacket?

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And Levi goes, outside.

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And he's like, I think

you need your jacket.

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And Levi's like, I don't need my jacket.

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Angelo is much smarter than Levi.

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I think we can all agree to that.

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Angelo is a billion

times smarter than Levi.

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He knows what Levi needs.

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He knows that Le Even if Levi

doesn't think he needs his jacket,

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he knows Levi needs his jacket.

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Levi doesn't think he needs it,

but Levi doesn't know that he

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might get sick if he's cold.

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Levi doesn't know that it's

gonna get colder in an hour.

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But Angelo knows that.

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Angelo is a loving

father, a caring father.

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He knows what his son needs.

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Now, your father in heaven knows

your needs better than you do.

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See, compared to God, we think Levi might

be silly compared to Angelo, but compared

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to God, we're way dumber than Levi.

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And God is way smarter than Angelo.

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And so, us, talking back to God,

God, I don't need my jacket.

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We look so silly when we think,

oh God, I know much better, I

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know so much better than you.

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I know what I need.

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I know what's best for me, God.

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See, God is a genius.

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God knows everything.

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God made you.

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He knows exactly what you're like,

what you need, how your thoughts work.

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God knows exactly what's good

for you, what's best for you.

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You know, sometimes we don't

know what's best for us.

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We don't know exactly what we need.

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We don't know ourselves perfectly.

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But God knows us perfectly.

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And so He knows our needs

even better than we do.

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The second thing I want you

to remember about God is that

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He wants to meet your needs.

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God wants to meet your needs.

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Something over and over again

in this passage that Jesus says

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is, don't worry because, why?

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Because God will take care of you.

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God knows what you need and He

wants to do something about it.

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Now, something that revolutionized

my Christian life a few years ago.

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was when I realized that God is

more committed to my good than I am.

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God is more committed

to my good than I am.

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God's more committed to my eternal

happiness and satisfaction and

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security and safety than I am.

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I want me to be happy, but

God actually wants me to be

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happier than I want me to be.

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I don't know if you've ever

thought about that before.

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But because of the first part,

God is wise and knows our needs.

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He knows exactly what's best for

us, and He wants to give that to

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us, even when we don't want it.

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And when we're anxious, it's because

we're either receiving something

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that we don't want from God.

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Like, God, I don't want this test.

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God, uh, I'm scared about

what my friends think of me.

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God, I'm afraid of what's gonna

happen if this happens in my family.

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But we don't know that God

actually is using that for good.

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And not just kind of good.

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It's actually way better than anything

we could come up with for ourself.

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And God wants us to not

have to worry about it.

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He wants us to not worry.

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That's the whole, it's not like, Oh,

don't be anxious, don't be anxious.

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You suck because you're anxious.

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No, God's like, I don't

want you to be stressed.

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That's what, that's

where God's coming from.

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That's God's heart for

you in this passage.

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It's just, I don't want you to worry.

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I don't want you to, to be

so concerned about what, what

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you're, what you think you need.

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I want you to trust me and

let me take care of you.

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And the third thing I want you

to remember about God is that

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God is able to meet your needs.

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And maybe this is the easiest

for you to get so far, but God

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can give you what you need.

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And so something you'll talk about in

small groups is that if God doesn't

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give you something, Guess why?

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Well one, he's smart so he

knows you don't need it.

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Two, he loves you so he knows it's

actually better for you not to have it.

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And three, he could give it to you

and so obviously he doesn't want to.

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So you don't need to worry

about not having something

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and being stressed about it.

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Or, oh what if I, what

if I get this thing?

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That would be so much better

if I, if I could maybe sin

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in this way or do this thing.

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Well no, you don't, you don't

need to worry about it because God

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Has what's best for you in mind.

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Maybe you're anxious because you're

like, Oh, well, if I obey God, then

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this isn't gonna go very well for me.

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Right?

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These people aren't gonna like me.

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Or those people won't be

friends with me anymore.

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Or I'll get made fun of, or

I'll lose this opportunity.

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I won't get into that school.

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I'll miss out on that experience.

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What God's saying in that

moment is, you don't need that.

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It's not good for you.

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I have something better for you.

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So trust me, and let me take care of you.

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Now, it might not seem like, Oh,

this is just gonna calm me down if I

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just remember some facts about God.

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But, I think that's exactly

what Jesus is saying.

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Jesus expects these facts, and reasons,

and promises to make a difference in your

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anxiety, and what you're concerned about.

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When Jesus says, and something that

really shocked me when I read this

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passage is, in this whole passage about

anxiety, Jesus never says to pray.

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Never mentions it.

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Instead, he tells you facts.

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He tells you reasons.

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He argues with you.

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He gives you promises to believe.

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Because he expects those to make a

difference in what you're concerned about.

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He'll say something true to you

and he expects that to make a

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difference in how you feel and what

you're, what you're focused on.

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Where you put your attention.

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. So if Jesus expects those to make

a difference, then what do I do

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when, when it's hard to believe?

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'cause we've all been there.

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I I, I'm nervous.

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I, I know what the right thing to

do is, but I, I'm stressed about it.

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I, I don't know what to do.

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Well, the, the link between facts or

promises and getting to where your heart

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needs to be of peace or comfort is faith.

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That's, that's how you get from

facts, arguments, and reasons to

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peace, comfort, and trust in the Lord.

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And so, the second thing to do in

anxiety is to strengthen your faith.

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See, the opposite of worry is faith.

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I had a professor in college who had this

really memorable line that stuck with me.

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For the past few years, he said

anxiety is a mild form of atheism.

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Anxiety is a mild form of atheism.

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So, when you're anxious,

you're functionally living

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as if God doesn't exist.

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You're living as though God

wouldn't, doesn't care about you,

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or can't do what he says he can do.

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Or isn't involved in your life.

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So anxiety is a mild form of atheism.

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And so the opposite of anxiety is faith.

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So, how do I get faith

when I don't have it?

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Well, I have three things for you.

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How do I get faith when I don't have it?

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How do I get faith when I don't have it?

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Well, the first thing, so

strengthen your faith is point two.

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The first thing to how to

strengthen your faith is to ask God.

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Ask God for help.

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We're going to see this all over the

Bible, but specifically in the longest

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chapter of the Bible in Psalm 119.

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Psalm 119 is actually

a very emotional psalm.

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It's the longest chapter in the Bible.

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It's all about the Bible.

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So, and what you find.

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Are these very high highs of

like, Oh, I love the Bible.

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The Bible is the greatest thing ever.

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God is amazing.

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It's so easy to obey God and i'm

read this and i'm like, man, I wish

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I was like you dude And then you find

stuff like this Incline my heart to

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your testimonies and not to selfish

gain Now if this dude is such a rock

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star christian and loves god all the

time, why does he need to say that?

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Because he's human he needs help and

so we ask god god my heart You Is

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in, you know, incline is, is like on

a treadmill when it's like leaning,

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right, or like you're going up or down.

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Incline like bending or leaning.

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He says, my heart naturally

leans towards selfishness.

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God, I need your help.

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I need you to lean me the other way.

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Towards your testimony.

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That's God's Word.

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And so, he's crying out to God.

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And you see this, I just started

reading the psalm and wrote down

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all the times that it happened.

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I gave up after 36.

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I was like, there's, there's

176 verses and there's way

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more than what I put on there.

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But, he's over and over asking God,

God, help me believe your Word.

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Help me love your Word.

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Help me want to do your Word.

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And so, don't just be like, oh,

well, I read this passage and it

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didn't make a difference in my life.

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Ask God to help you.

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Ask God, help me believe your promises.

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So when you're worried about, oh,

you know, uh, If I, my friends at

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school find out that I'm a Christian,

they're gonna leave me, right?

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Then, what do you do?

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Uh, okay, I need to know

something about God.

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I need a fact or a reason, right?

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So that's when you have to know God's

Word, and you say, Okay, um, Jesus said,

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um, I will never leave you or forsake you.

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Okay, great.

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Even if my friends leave me, I'll always

have Jesus to embrace me and love me.

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Okay, God, that doesn't seem much better.

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I'd rather have my friends than Jesus.

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I think that's where a

lot of you are at, right?

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I'd rather be with my

friends than be with Jesus.

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Well, ask God.

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Help me want Jesus.

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God, I really have a hard time

choosing you over my friends.

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Please help me to love you.

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To, to, to want you more than I

want the approval of my friends.

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Ask God for help, and

He wants to help you.

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God's not like, alright, once you ask four

times, then I'll God wants to help you.

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He wants you to, to not

have to worry or be anxious.

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And the second thing Is

to argue with yourself.

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I know this sounds weird.

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I almost made this the whole point instead

of strengthening your faith I almost

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made it argue with your weak faith.

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Look at our passage again in Matthew

6 Look at verse 30 So Jesus is talking

391

and he says but if God Closed the grass

of the field which today is alive and

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tomorrow is thrown into the oven, right?

393

So there's God cares.

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He makes the grass grow.

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He makes sure that the birds are

okay, even in the winter and the snow.

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Did you go outside after the snow?

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And we saw like birds and squirrels.

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I was like, man, they were outside.

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They didn't have a heater.

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They didn't, they survived all of that.

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So God clothes the grass.

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He makes it grow.

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He takes care of it.

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Will he not much more clothe you?

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And then this phrase right

here, O you of little faith.

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Did you know that that is actually just,

it's one word in Jesus original language,

407

and it's probably a word that he made up.

408

Jesus is like, I'm going to be

Shakespeare before Shakespeare and

409

make up a word that didn't exist.

410

And so Jesus loves this word.

411

He uses it in the Gospel

of Matthew specifically.

412

And so I looked, okay, when

does Jesus use this word?

413

When does he say, oh, you of little faith?

414

Well, he uses it.

415

When he's arguing with his disciples

about why they don't believe.

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So these are the three other

times in Matthew he uses it.

417

Why are you afraid?

418

Are you of little faith?

419

That's when he's calming

a storm, I believe.

420

Are you of little faith?

421

Why did you doubt?

422

So this is all related

to fear and anxiety.

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Or are you of little faith?

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Why are you discussing with yourself

the fact that you have no breath?

425

Right?

426

And then look what he does,

especially at the bottom here in 16th.

427

Do you not perceive?

428

Don't you see this?

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Or do you not remember?

430

Or, how is it that you fail to understand?

431

You see, these are all,

this is all up here.

432

Don't you understand this?

433

Don't you remember this?

434

He's almost arguing with the disciples.

435

Hey, come on, don't

you, don't you remember?

436

I Control the wind and the waves.

437

Don't you remember I can give you food.

438

Don't you remember I can take care of

you Don't you remember I can do anything.

439

Don't you remember?

440

I love you, and I think that's what

Jesus wants us to do With our anxiety.

441

He wants us to to look at ourselves

and say come on self Like don't

442

you know don't you under don't you

remember God look look what he's done.

443

Look what he can do Look

how powerful God is.

444

Look what he said in his word.

445

When has God let you down?

446

He wants you to argue with yourself.

447

In fact, one way to look at this passage

is eight reasons not to be anxious.

448

I put them all up here.

449

You don't have to write all this down.

450

But basically what I did is I just went

to the passage and went, okay, this

451

entire passage is basically just Jesus

giving you reasons not to be anxious.

452

And I think what he wants you to do is

he wants you to do this with yourself.

453

He wants you to look yourself in

the mirror and say, well, look,

454

why am I so worried about whether

God's going to take care of me?

455

Isn't my life more than just existing?

456

Isn't it just more than more than just

eating and drinking and staying alive?

457

Isn't there more to life than that?

458

Or reason number two, look at the birds.

459

God takes care of them.

460

Aren't you much more important than a bird

461

or reason number three and so on.

462

Right?

463

So all of these are arguments.

464

It's for why you don't have to worry.

465

And this isn't just something you

do once, and, oh, I read Matthew

466

6 and I'm never going to be

anxious for the rest of my life.

467

That's not how this works.

468

You have to argue with yourself

regularly, hey, Louis, don't call yourself

469

Louis, but hey Louis, why should I,

why are you being anxious right now?

470

Why are you so worried about what

your parents are going through?

471

Why are you so worried about what

that person at school thinks?

472

Why are you so worried?

473

about the tornado sirens going off.

474

Don't you know that God is

stronger than a tornado?

475

Don't you know that God is in control

of your parents and their relationship?

476

Don't you know that God's

approval lasts way longer than

477

the approval of your friends?

478

Don't you know that following

God's commands is way better

479

for you than hanging out and and

doing whatever you want to do?

480

Your friends want you to do.

481

Don't you know that God's word is

so much better for you than snoozing

482

your alarm six times in the morning?

483

You have to argue with yourself

and say, come on, self.

484

Do you not understand?

485

All right.

486

So when you're worried and in

your anxiety, when you're, when

487

you're paralyzed by fear, you

have to put some effort in to get

488

faith and argue with yourself.

489

But guess what?

490

It's not just you doing it on your own.

491

God wants

492

That's why we started with

ask God, God will help you.

493

And the third thing you do to

strengthen your faith is what this

494

passage is really all about is to

redirect your focus or your attention.

495

Jesus, what he's done in this passage is

made anxiety a matter of your attention.

496

So, for our third point, I

want you to sharpen your focus.

497

Sharpen your focus.

498

So there's three things when you're

anxious that you need to worry about.

499

You need to worry about your father.

500

You need to worry about your faith.

501

And you need to worry about your focus.

502

I went to a Baptist seminary, so they

all had to start with the same letter.

503

So, your faith, your

father, and your focus.

504

Those are your keys for

dealing with anxiety and worry.

505

So, the first thing to focus on is what

we talked about in the first point.

506

Focus on examples of God's care.

507

Look what Jesus does in our passage.

508

He gives three commands.

509

The first two are look at the

birds and consider the lilies.

510

Now these words in Jesus original language

aren't just, oh, look at the birds, cool.

511

It's like study them, consider them.

512

Look, and understand, and

think about what's going on.

513

And that's what he explains, right?

514

Those are some of the reasons

he gives not to be anxious.

515

It's like, if God takes care of the

birds, isn't he gonna take care of you?

516

So look at God's care for birds,

and then think, think about it.

517

Right?

518

Don't just look and be like,

oh cool, there's a bird.

519

But look at the bird, and think

about, man, God is the reason

520

that bird's alive right now.

521

God is the reason that that bird

made it through the snow last week.

522

And if God cares about that, you know,

God knows about that bird's last meal.

523

God knows about that bird's parents.

524

God knows about where that bird's nest is.

525

God knows about where

that bird's migrating.

526

God knows everything about that bird.

527

And surely, if God knows everything

about that random bird, He knows more

528

about you, and He cares more about you.

529

Now, there is something that I did want

to bring up when we're talking about

530

God's care is what Jesus says, right?

531

He says, doesn't God feed the

birds and clothe the lilies, right?

532

But the birds still have to

go get their food, right?

533

So what I don't want you to do is

take this passage and be like, Oh,

534

I don't have to do any homework.

535

God's going to give me good grades.

536

I don't have to study.

537

God's going to give me a good test score.

538

I don't have to do anything with my life

because God's going to take care of me.

539

That's not what Jesus is saying.

540

But, God provides for the

birds through their work.

541

Right?

542

The bird has to go fly somewhere

and find something and eat it.

543

Or hide something for the cold

weather so it can come back

544

to it when the snow melts.

545

The bird has to do work

to provide for itself.

546

But God is the one providing

for the bird through the work.

547

So, That's just a side note in case you

were like, well, Lewis said to not work.

548

That's not what I said.

549

So anyway, first thing is when

you're in, when you're anxious,

550

focus on examples of God's care.

551

Of how God is caring for

what's, what's happening.

552

And that's the, one of the main things

Jesus wants us to do in this passage.

553

But also there's great

questions that you can ask.

554

There's questions that you can ask about

yourself and your life or other believers.

555

This is why God puts you in a church,

so that there's other people who've

556

maybe gone through a situation that

you've never gone through before, and

557

it's your first time, you know, going

to a new school, or moving out of state.

558

And you can say, oh man, well God

has provided for those people,

559

so maybe He'll take care of me.

560

So these are just some

questions that I thought of.

561

How has the Lord taken care

of me in the past, right?

562

That's an easy one.

563

Okay, well, God's kept me

alive up to this point.

564

Or God's made sure, you know, the

situation in the past where my parents

565

had a hard time, but God made sure

that they could get through it.

566

Or, oh, I had to go to a new school,

but God provided friends for me.

567

Or, I had to get to a new small

group, and I had a new leader.

568

But, you know, God is gonna

take care of me, because he'll

569

connect me with other leaders.

570

He's always provided

people for me in the past.

571

Or, how has God helped people

in similar situations, right?

572

You can use your Bible.

573

You can look at church history if

you've read missionary biography.

574

That's why we VBS all the time.

575

It's like, look how God

provided for those people.

576

Well, he's the same God.

577

He's the same loving Father.

578

Amen.

579

And then this one, this

third one is really helpful.

580

What has God given me right now

to help me through this battle?

581

Because it is a battle with anxiety.

582

It's not a walk in the

park with your worries.

583

You're fighting.

584

You're fighting for faith.

585

You're fighting to put your attention

somewhere that, that matters.

586

And so think, what

resources has God given me?

587

You know, oh, he's given me

friends to talk to, a small group

588

leader, my parents, or his word.

589

He's given me things that I can use.

590

So, the first thing to focus

on is examples of God's care.

591

The second thing is on how you

can pursue God's priorities.

592

And that comes from verse 33.

593

I'll read it for you again.

594

Verse 33 says, But seek first the

kingdom of God and His righteousness,

595

and all these things, right, what

you eat, what you drink, what

596

you wear, will be added to you.

597

Amen.

598

So Boom.

599

So, so far, up to that, up to verse

33, Jesus said, don't be anxious,

600

don't be anxious, don't be anxious.

601

And now he gives a positive command, but

instead, instead of worrying about what

602

you're going to wear, what you're going to

eat, I want you to be concerned about or

603

focus on what I have for you, my kingdom.

604

And what that means, seek

first the kingdom of God, is

605

put God's priorities first.

606

God has plans and purposes and,

and, uh, things for us to do.

607

And he has values and ways

we're supposed to live.

608

So maybe you're saying, maybe you've heard

most of the sermon and been like, Oh, you

609

know, Lewis, I don't really get stressed.

610

I'm just not that worried.

611

I'm not a really worried person.

612

I'm very calm.

613

Well, Jesus is making anxiety

way more than just about stress.

614

According to Jesus, anxiety

615

It's when you are too concerned

about something that you

616

don't need to worry about.

617

So it could even be you're too concerned

about your own success, or you're too

618

concerned about your own appearance,

or you're too concerned about what

619

people think of you, and you're not

stressed about it, but that's your focus.

620

And he's saying that's not what

you should be worrying about.

621

You're worrying about

something that doesn't matter.

622

Remember, we talked about your master

and your treasure, so you're, you're

623

serving something that's not gonna last.

624

Remember, Jesus said, lay

up treasure in heaven.

625

The approval of your friends

at school is not gonna last.

626

I don't even remember the ASB

president from my high school

627

or my middle school, right?

628

I don't think anyone does.

629

And so, the approval of your peers is not

gonna last, but the approval of God will.

630

And so, Your misplaced concern is another

way that maybe you're not stressed

631

about it, but you're consumed by it.

632

You're serving something.

633

So pursuing God's priorities.

634

There's some helpful questions

that I, again, I put together

635

for you to think about, right?

636

See this word here, seek.

637

It's not just like, oh, maybe I'll

accidentally glorify God today.

638

That's not gonna happen.

639

You have to think about it,

pursue it, and go after it.

640

See, we talk about misplaced concern.

641

The Gentiles, right, the people who don't

know God, They are pursuing, or they're

642

focused on, all these things that don't

matter, that you don't need to worry

643

about, because God knows you need them.

644

That's why you don't

have to worry about them.

645

That's like asking your dad, you're going

on a road trip, Hey dad, do we need gas?

646

Duh.

647

Of course I filled up the gas

tank before the road trip.

648

That's what it's like when you're like,

Oh God, are you going to take care of me?

649

Of course He is.

650

He knows you need to be taken care of.

651

He's gonna take care of you.

652

So, when you're anxious,

instead of thinking about,

653

Oh, I'm anxious about this.

654

I'm anxious about this.

655

Oh, I'm so worried.

656

Oh, what's this person gonna do?

657

Think about, Oh, how can

I love Jesus right now?

658

Turn your focus, your attention to that.

659

Or, how can I make God look great?

660

Or, who can I serve?

661

Who can I help?

662

Who's someone that needs

me to love them right now?

663

When you're anxious, turn

your focus away from yourself.

664

Don't be like someone who doesn't know God

and think about all the things you think

665

you need, but instead turn your attention,

your focus, to what God has for you.

666

And guess what?

667

All these things will be added to you.

668

God will take care of everything else.

669

God doesn't want you to have

to worry about all that stuff.

670

There's so much for you to worry about,

and God's like, no, don't worry about it.

671

I want you to focus on what I want

for you, because what I want for you,

672

remember we talked about God is good.

673

He loves you.

674

He wants you to focus on the

things that are good for you.

675

So you don't have to worry

about all the other stuff.

676

So the third thing to focus on, focus

on examples of God's care, focus on

677

how you can pursue God's priorities,

and then I want you to also focus on

678

what God puts in front of you today,

not what might happen tomorrow.

679

And that's how our

passage ends in verse 34.

680

Therefore, don't be anxious

about tomorrow, for tomorrow

681

will be anxious for itself.

682

And that's such a Jesus is, like,

such a genius, such a wise teacher,

683

to come up with a statement like that.

684

Don't worry about tomorrow, because

tomorrow's gonna worry about tomorrow.

685

Today's got enough for you to worry about.

686

I heard someone say this, worrying

about tomorrow multiplies your problems.

687

Because you don't have to

worry about tomorrow's problems

688

yet, so don't worry about it.

689

When I was in school, back in the day, so

long ago, like a year ago, Um, I had A, so

690

my, the way my school schedule worked, I

always had projects due over Thanksgiving.

691

I don't know why, but I always had a

big project due because we come back

692

from Thanksgiving break, and then you

have one week, and then you have finals.

693

So all my professors were like, Oh,

we'll just make all the projects

694

due the week before finals so

you can study for your finals.

695

Thanks, now I have to work

on it over Thanksgiving.

696

Thanks, professor.

697

So, over Thanksgiving, I have to do all,

I, I didn't have a Thanksgiving break

698

where I could just not do anything.

699

Thanks.

700

I always had projects to do, but, I

came up with this theory, based on this

701

verse, that I'm going to pass on to you

guys to help you get through school.

702

People would ask me, oh, like, well,

are you going to start your project, or

703

are you going to work on your project?

704

And I'm like, no, Thanksgiving?

705

I'm just going to, I'm going to

enjoy my family and do that thing.

706

That's a Friday Lewis problem.

707

So Thursday, I'm not gonna worry about it.

708

Friday Lewis can deal with that.

709

That was my theory for school.

710

I was like, I'm not gonna worry

about over Thanksgiving, but

711

Friday Lewis can worry about that.

712

And Friday Lewis might even be smarter.

713

Because he has 24 hours

more of experience living.

714

So Friday Lewis is actually better

equipped to do his homework.

715

And don't take this and procrastinate.

716

That's not what I'm telling you to do.

717

I know, I know some of you.

718

And that's what you're gonna do.

719

That's a good point.

720

But, that's what Jesus is saying,

essentially, He's saying don't

721

worry about tomorrow's problems

when you haven't gotten there yet.

722

Because you don't know what God's going

to do in between today and tomorrow.

723

God can do something, He can do

a lot of things in between today

724

and tomorrow, or the next day.

725

And in fact, something else

that Jesus said earlier in this

726

chapter, when He asked us, when He

taught us to pray, He said, What?

727

Pray for your daily

bread, your today bread.

728

He didn't say pray for tomorrow's bread.

729

God provides for you day by day.

730

That's how God works.

731

He doesn't want you to worry about

tomorrow's problems with today's grace.

732

Today's grace is for today's

problems, and then tomorrow's

733

grace is for tomorrow's problems.

734

So God is giving you what you need day by

day, so you don't have to worry about it.

735

Because your worries, when you're

worried about the future, here's

736

the thing with anxiety, right?

737

It affects your imagination, right?

738

It affects your, Oh, well, if, if I show

up to school wearing this, or looking

739

like this, or if they see me talking

with those people, or if I get this

740

grade on the test, then my parents are

gonna think this, and then I'm gonna,

741

see, I had this thing that I was told

from certain people at my school about

742

my grades, um, A was average, B was bad,

C was can't have dinner, D was don't

743

come home, and F is find a new family.

744

Now, that might sound harsh to some of

you, but from my culture, that's normal.

745

Um, but when you're anxious, when

you're anxious, I know that sounds

746

crazy, but when you're anxious,

that's what your mind does, right?

747

Your brain will go, oh, if my parents,

my parents will kill me if they find out

748

that I got a 44 on my Algebra 2 test.

749

Or, oh, if I don't get into this

school, this is going to happen.

750

Or, oh, if my friend sees me

with this person, this, and you

751

just steamroll down the road.

752

And, and suddenly you're saying,

oh, I'm going to get disowned

753

from my family over a quiz.

754

That's not how it works.

755

Let's see, your anxieties, your worries,

will build an imaginary future for you.

756

Because you're so worried

about tomorrow's problems.

757

Don't let them do that because

remember what Jesus just said in

758

in earlier in last week's sermon.

759

He said, lay up for yourselves.

760

Treasure in heaven.

761

That's the future.

762

You should be focused on your

eternal future, not the future.

763

Your anxiety makes up in your head.

764

Don't worry about tomorrow's future

that your anxiety built for you.

765

That it's not real, but also, God wants

you to be worried about something else.

766

He wants you to be thinking about,

oh, how can I store a lasting

767

treasure that matters forever

that's not gonna go away in heaven?

768

So that's the first thing from this verse

that I want you to look at, but also,

769

God knows about tomorrow's problems, too.

770

God actually knows about tomorrow's

problems way better than you do.

771

God knows way more about tomorrow

that you're worried about So you can

772

trust Him to deal with tomorrow's

problems when you get there.

773

So you can say, God, I'm

gonna trust you with tomorrow.

774

I'm gonna focus on what

you have for me today.

775

God's given you today for

you to live right now.

776

You don't have to worry

about tomorrow yet.

777

You can worry about it when you get

there and ask your questions and fight

778

for faith and argue with yourself.

779

You can do all that tomorrow with

when you face tomorrow's problems.

780

But today, Focus on how

can I serve God today?

781

What does God have for me today?

782

Who has God put in front

of me right now, today?

783

You don't want to be so worried about

tomorrow that you miss out on, Oh,

784

I should have, I should have shared

the gospel with that person today.

785

Oh, I forgot to serve my sibling.

786

I forgot to bless my,

my parents in that way.

787

So God has you alive today for

a purpose and don't waste your

788

energy worrying about tomorrow.

789

See anxiety, as you see the top

is a battle for your energy.

790

God's given you limited energy for today.

791

Don't waste it worrying about tomorrow.

792

You're not gonna solve tomorrow's problems

wasting your energy on them today.

793

Use the today energy, your daily bread

for today, on today's concern, which is

794

how can I put first God's kingdom today?

795

Now,

796

one thing that I don't want you to

walk away from this sermon thinking

797

is Is that God is far off, and

distant, and disappointed in me

798

whenever I get anxious, and just, ah,

can't be anxious, can't be anxious,

799

don't be anxious, don't be anxious.

800

Suppress my feelings.

801

Don't be anxious.

802

That's not what I want you to

walk away from this sermon.

803

This sermon is not a bunch of

rules for you, on how to not

804

worry and make God not mad at you.

805

That's not, that's not what this is about.

806

This isn't about, oh,

God hates anxious people.

807

That's not what this sermon's about.

808

This sermon is about a Father who

loves you and wants to take care of

809

you and doesn't want you to be worried

He's not giving you rules to follow

810

just because he's he's offering you

life true life that you don't have to

811

be consumed by your worries and and

other other people think of you and How

812

this is gonna work out in the future.

813

He doesn't want you to be worried

about that Because He loves you.

814

He wants what's best for you.

815

And so He's offering you

life and holding you out.

816

But see, the thing is, is if God

isn't your Father, you don't have

817

access to that sense of care.

818

Because you don't have a Heavenly

Father who's looking out for

819

you, and taking care of you, and

protecting you, and guiding you.

820

And so, This sermon is also an offer

821

Because you don't have to be worried, but

if you reject God you Naturally will be

822

because like we talked about the beginning

your your master is Not something that can

823

protect you and give you comfort if your

master is the approval of your friends

824

or if your treasure is worldly success

You are going to be worried because that

825

treasure and that master cannot give

you the security you're longing for.

826

And the only way to find security

and peace is a Heavenly Father who

827

loves you and is all powerful and

all wise and all knowing and wants

828

you to not have to worry about all

the things that you're worried about.

829

He wants you to be able

to say, I'm here today.

830

To live today for your glory.

831

To put your kingdom first, so I don't

have to worry about anything else.

832

So I'll pray for us, and we talk

more about that in small groups.

833

Heavenly Father, we're so grateful

that you don't want us to be

834

worried, that you care about us.

835

You don't have to give

us special attention.

836

You're not obligated to want

to take our worries away.

837

But you love us.

838

And so, you do.

839

So God, I pray that you help us to see you

as a caring, wise father who knows what's

840

best for us, who knows what we need,

841

and is always working for our good.

842

Help us to trust you.

843

Help us to trust you when we don't

understand things, when things happen

844

in our lives that don't make sense, that

make it seem like you're not good, that

845

make it hard to believe your promises.

846

Help us to argue with ourselves

and fight for faith so that

847

we can learn to trust you.

848

Pray this in Jesus name.

849

Amen.