Trust in God Vanquishes Worry

[00:00:00] Let's go back to Matthew, chapter 6 and start in verse number 25. [00:00:06] As I said this morning, I want to cover the subject of worry. [00:00:12] Although the word worry is not found in the passage, but the concept is for sure. [00:00:20] What's that? [00:00:22] Okay. Yeah. Jesus said, don't worry. Let's go, guys. [00:00:29] You forgot, this is Baptist church, Brother Ari. [00:00:35] Well, I don't know how I should take that. You know what I'm saying? I just don't know. [00:00:42] All right. Matthew 6, verse number 25. The Bible says, therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body what you shall put on. Is not the life more than meat and the body than raiment. Behold the fowls of the air. For they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field. How, how they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you? O ye of little faith, therefore take no thought saying, what shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things did the Gentiles seek. For your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. [00:01:55] But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Take, therefore, no thought for the morrow. For the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Would you pray with me? [00:02:13] Our Lord, we thank you for the chance to look in your word once again at this same passage. We could study this passage line upon line and verse by verse and word by word, even and for a great while. But, Lord, we just pray as we look at it tonight that you would open the eyes of our understanding, help us to know your will. Help us to. Lord, I really pray that you would just encourage your people and build their faith as we look at these things. Lord, we don't know the right things, that we need you. Just as the scripture says here. You are the one who knows our needs. Not only our physical needs, but also our spiritual needs. [00:02:54] And so Lord, please help me to say the things that your people need to hear. And I pray that you would teach us. [00:03:02] And so, Lord, we commit this time to you in Jesus name. Amen. [00:03:08] All right. I was reading a commentary on this passage, and you know, we've covered a lot of things in Matthew chapter six. [00:03:18] In particular, Matthew chapter six started with the principles regarding private devotion to God, fasting and prayer, and giving of alms and hypocrisy and those kinds of things. And then starting at verse number 19, we started into a section that deals with money, with wealth, with laying up treasures and those kinds of things. And really, verses 19 down to verse number 24, it seemed primarily deal with someone who has maybe an abundance rather than lack. But starting at verse number 25, the Lord doesn't seem to be dealing so much with the problem of having and serving money as in always trying to accrue more and more and more, but the problem of lack of money and what that produces. So here's what you have. You have the two extremes when it comes to material wealth. You have the problem of having too much. I say too much, but really it's the wrong attitude and value upon it, as well as the problem of the effect of not having enough. [00:04:32] And the commentary I read said this. [00:04:35] It is immaterial to Satan whether you are laying up treasures on earth or worrying about earthly things. [00:04:44] All he is concerned about is that your mind should be on them and not on God. That's pretty good. Pretty good summary of verses 19 through 34. [00:04:57] So when we start reading verse number 25, of course, as I said this morning, this deals with what is often the worry that comes from wondering, am I going to have enough? And again, we're dealing not with abundance, not with luxury, but we're dealing with necessities. And that is a key point to understand because that kind of frames everything Jesus says on the subject. Verse 25 says, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body what ye shall put on. Verse number 31 says this. Therefore take no thought, saying, what shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or wherewithal shall we be clothed? And the verse number 34 also says, take therefore no thought for the morrow. [00:05:50] So three times in this passage, the Lord says, take no thought. Now, I'll cover this a little bit later. But take no thought does not mean don't think about it. That's a misunderstanding of the verse. To take thought means to be worried or anxious. [00:06:08] It's the feeling of distress that, that we get whenever there's a problem that we don't really have a lot of control over. [00:06:17] And actually, that's actually covered in this passage as well. But I have a few principles, a few points I want to make, and I'll cover them quickly. We won't spend a lot of time tonight. But the first one I want you to see is in those three verses 25, 31 and 34, I want to establish first of all, the command of Christ. [00:06:37] In every one of those cases, take no thought is spoken. The Lord spoke it in the imperative voice, that is, it is a command. It is a negative command. [00:06:51] And this is why it's important to understand who we're talking to. Nobody can say when Jesus says, do not worry. And again, when I say that, I know that's in common parlance, we say, well, don't worry about it. And we mean that lightly. But what this means is you are forbidden. You are forbidden from worrying. [00:07:11] As a matter of a command. [00:07:14] Nobody can look at the Lord Jesus and say, well, you just don't understand. [00:07:19] First of all, obviously he's the Lord of all. But secondly, our Lord himself was a person who lived in poverty, was he not? [00:07:28] Our Lord lived in poverty. The Bible says that he didn't have a place to lay his head. [00:07:33] And so the. And of course, he was a human being, just like we are, and he had to have physical necessity supplied, just like we do in this passage. [00:07:44] And so nobody can look at Jesus and say, well, Jesus, you just don't. You don't understand. My situation is different. We all look at our situation when we're prone to worry and say, it's unique, it's unlike every other. And that's just not true. [00:07:56] But as a matter of truth, as a matter of fact, the Lord says, do not worry. [00:08:04] Do not worry. Therefore, it is a sin to worry. [00:08:14] And in this context especially, it is a sin to worry over our basic needs. [00:08:21] So sometimes when we think about. Again, we think about our basic needs, our essentials, in this case food and clothing. [00:08:30] In our day, we might expand that maybe a little bit to include your home and things like that. But when we're talking about basic needs versus the luxuries and the trivialities of life, we sometimes think it's to worry about, am I going to be able to get the car that I want, or am I going to be able to go on the vacation that I want to go on? Is something going to ruin that? Or, you know, or, you know, we worry about Some of the excesses, right? Some of the things that are really unimportant trivialities. And we say, well, that's kind of silly to worry about something so unimportant. But that's why it's important to understand the context of this passage. We are not talking about those unimportant matters. We're talking about matters of life and death. We're talking about what you eat and what you. What. What you wear. The essentials. Those things like this morning. Those things that when you cut away everything else in life, you want to make sure that you have enough for that. The Lord says, not even those. [00:09:30] That's the subject here. [00:09:33] Even the very necessities of life, not even those things that are of such great importance to our physical life are we to worry over. [00:09:47] So if the Lord tells us that we should not. No, we must not. We're forbidden to worry over the most important and essential areas of life. What we eat, what we wear. Then certainly all the other things that are less essential, all the other, you know, luxurious and extras are not things we should worry over. Do you understand? So we have to establish. Now, I know I'm saying this, and as I say it, because I know worry. You know worry. All of us have experienced that. But as a matter of just establishing a fact, let's just go ahead and put it in our mind and say it. The Lord Jesus forbids worry. He says, do not worry. Do not be anxious. So it is a sin to do that. That sounds cold when our human emotions are reacting to a need. But it is what he says. [00:10:49] But with. Remember, with every command that our Lord gives comes the grace to do it. [00:11:00] With every command comes the grace to do it. So that means no matter what your need and my need is, with this command is the grace to live without anxiety. [00:11:14] Whatever the context, whatever the subject, whatever the circumstance. [00:11:20] Now, look down at verse number 27. [00:11:24] Which of you, by taking thought. Again, that means worry, anxiety. Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit unto his stature? And of course, the answer to that is none of us. None of us. [00:11:40] See, here's the thing. Worry is a destructive practice. Did you know worry affects your health? Right? We have nurses, we have medical people worry. If you have any doubt about that, Brother Rob can ask the people that attended Allison at Patewood. And when she shows up, every time she goes to the doctor, her blood pressure's up because she has anxiety about the doctor. How many of you can. Can relate to that? [00:12:05] That's actually. It's actually A thing, Right. There's actually. What's it, White coat. White coat syndrome. Yeah, yeah, white. Yeah. Be technical about it. It's probably in the PDR somewhere. Right? So listen, all of us understand. All of us understand that feeling and worry is destructive. It negatively affects our health. And that's not why we seek to not worry. The primary reason is because the Lord told us not to. [00:12:39] But no matter how much we Worry, what verse 27 is telling us, no matter how much we worry, no matter how much sleep we lose, no matter how much sweat we perspire, it does nothing, absolutely nothing to solve the problem whatsoever, ever. [00:13:00] So that's another kind of obvious fact that we need to just understand that worrying is. Worrying does absolutely nothing. And it's actually harmful. It's actually negative. Now, what I am not suggesting that we do is just. And some people that can do this and some people can't do this, but I'm not suggesting that we take something that worries us and we say, well, you know, I'll just delete it out of my mind and forget about it. No, we're not. The Lord is not saying, put it out of your mind. Act like it's not there. Play games with your mind. No. Everything, every discipline in the Christian life, every difficulty, every trial, the Lord always tells us, always, always, always tells us to hit that thing head on, deal with it. It doesn't matter if it's an interpersonal problem, doesn't matter if it's a sin issue, it doesn't matter what it is the Lord. I can't think of any example in which the Lord says, well, just kind of ignore it and go around it and it'll go away because it never does. He says, deal with it. Worry is no exception. [00:14:03] If you would look at Luke 12, I want to show you the companion passage and this particular verse, number 27, the companion verse to that, it says something a little bit different. Luke 12, verse number, verse number 25. [00:14:32] Luke 12, verse number 25 says this, and which of you, with taking thought, can add to his stature one cubit? [00:14:44] If ye then be not able to do that thing, which is least, why take you thought for the rest? [00:14:56] By worry, by anxiety, by fret. [00:15:02] It doesn't do one little thing to relieve the problem. [00:15:07] So if that's the case, the response should be in place of worry, because it does no good. [00:15:14] Take the matter to God. [00:15:18] Take the matter to God. [00:15:20] Don't suppress it. Don't push it out of your mind. Don't tell yourself happy thoughts. [00:15:26] Take the matter to God. Psalm 55:22. Just a couple verses to remind you of this. Cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. Worry will move you. You know, here's the thing, and we'll see this more later. I'm getting ahead of myself. But worry will absolutely drive you and lead you to do things that you should not do. [00:15:55] Do things outside of God's, will make bad decisions based upon that worry. [00:16:04] In other words, to move you. [00:16:07] That's why the Lord says, cast thy burden upon the Lord. Then the New Testament example is in 1st Peter, chapter 5, verse 7. The Bible says, casting all your care. Same word as worry. Same word as taking thought. Casting all your care upon him. For he careth for you. Just hold if you can. I'll try to remind you, but hold that last phrase in your mind. For he careth for you. [00:16:31] So the solution, when you know that worrying adds nothing to the problem. It doesn't help, it doesn't resolve it. It doesn't alleviate it. All it does is destroy and hurt and harm not only yourself and your body and your mind, but it also harms your relationship to God because it is a sin. [00:16:51] But the answer is to take that thing to God. Take that thing to God. Now, some people, when you say that, some people kind of scoff a little bit, if not outwardly, inwardly, as if we're just waving magic wands. [00:17:06] You know, just happy talk. You just pray about it. [00:17:12] Let me tell you something. [00:17:15] If you have ever had a burden and a real cause to worry, and you have taken that thing to God and, and have known the peace of God in the midst of it and the deliverance from God at the end of it, you will not scoff at that pray about it statement. [00:17:39] The people who scoff at that are the people who have never put it to the test and who are afflicted with the affliction that is found in Matthew, chapter six, that is not. It is not to say, you know, it's not. We're not just like, you know, glibly kind of just, you know, patting someone on the head and say, you know, well, just don't worry about it. Just, you know, pray about it or, you know, whatever. No, to cast your care upon God is a serious matter. It's a heavy lift. You're lifting that burden. How many of you have ever tried to cast. You know what that means, right? That means throw. How many of you have ever tried to cast something heavy? That's not easy work and here the Lord says, cast that thing upon the Lord. [00:18:24] That's hard work. If you've done it, you know, you know that. You know the peace and you know the deliverance when God comes through for you. [00:18:34] So when the Lord says that it is not, he does not say it lightly. Now back to Matthew, chapter Number six. The third thing I want you to see is this, that God is our provider. [00:18:47] I mentioned it this morning, but let's look a little deeper. Verse 26 Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap. Now, sowing refers to sowing seed in the field, right? Reaping, of course, reaping the seed, which is how you get bread, right? Nor gather into barns, yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Look at verse number. [00:19:11] And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin, as in spinning thread. And yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. So you have the bird. Two examples. The Lord brings up. He brings up the birds, the fowls. Luke refers to the ravens, but the birds. And then you have which refer to our food. [00:19:40] And then we have the lilies that refer the flowers that refer to our clothing. [00:19:46] But here's the thing. I don't want to get too bogged down in this, but here's what here's the takeaway. [00:19:53] Answer the questions. As you read. Answer the questions. Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. [00:20:02] Do the birds do all the things that we do to provide for ourselves? No. Do the lilies. Do they spin thread and make cloth and make clothing for themselves? No. [00:20:16] So then how do they get food? Have you ever seen birds? Birds generally don't gather things together. They certainly don't cultivate anything like that. But each day they go out, and what do they find? They find what they need for that day, and they get it and they bring it back and they eat it and they're supplied for that day. And then tomorrow they do it again, and they don't worry about tomorrow. Like verse 34 says, they don't worry about it at all. They go out today implicitly, though doubtless unknowingly, trusting in their Creator. [00:20:47] God alone provides for birds and flowers. Here's another point at which people often scoff, and this is where our faith in God's creative acts really matter. [00:21:05] Because our Lord brings up two things that God created. [00:21:11] The birds and the lilies. [00:21:15] The birds. And so when we think of that, we think of in the Scripture about creation, how that God created all the living things on the various days of creation. That, to us, is not a myth. Those are not mythological things. They're not tales that have some greater moral truth. No, they are described in Scripture as facts of history. Now, whether we believe that or not is up to us, but they are described in scripture as history. Beware of Jordan Peterson. [00:21:47] Beware of Jordan Peterson. Some of you might not know who he is, but he's a psychologist, he's from Canada. And, I mean, he has a lot of good things. He's a very smart man. [00:21:58] But he is one he. And who's the other one? [00:22:04] Ben Shapiro is the one. But who's the other guy? The older guy had an accident recently. [00:22:10] Dennis Prager, who is a Jew, and Ben Shapiro is a Jew. None of those people take the book of Genesis, the first part of the book of Genesis, literally. They do not believe it is history. And so they look for some moral theme in there. And certainly there are themes in there, but that's not the primary thing. The primary thing is God created the world. And upon that basis, we read this. What God did way back at the beginning of the creation is what the Lord is using to show something that will help us not worry. So it matters whether you believe that God actually created it or that it came into being by natural random processes like evolution teaches, which is not true. [00:22:57] So when we look at the birds and we look at the lilies, it is not just natural processes that causes the birds to be fed and causes the lilies to be clothed. Although God uses natural processes to do those things, what we see is those creatures do no work for their provision. [00:23:19] It is an act of God that they are provided for. You see. Do you believe in. Do you believe in a creator? Do you believe that God actually pays attention to flowers and birds? [00:23:35] You see, if you believe in Genesis 1 and 2, then you say, yes. But if you think, well, that's just, you know, that's all a bunch of, you know, fairy tales and, you know, oral traditions passed down, all the other stuff. They say this makes no sense. No, the Bible teaches that God is actively involved in his creation. And you know what? [00:23:58] You are part of his creation. [00:24:06] God provides for the birds and for the lilies. [00:24:11] And that same God that made those and provides for those, the same God made us. We are also his creation. But we have one up on those creatures. You know what we have. We are not only gods by creation, but God is also our Father. [00:24:29] If you are Christ's disciple, you're a child of God, you're a believer in Christ. God is your Father. So if the Lord takes something of, of far less value and he provides for it, is he not going to provide for something of much greater, of infinitely more value? [00:24:54] You see, it all goes back to whether you believe Genesis 1 and 2. It really does. Do you believe God is the Creator and the sustainer of life in 2025 or not? See, faith in that affects faith in this. [00:25:10] Matthew 10:29 says this. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. [00:25:20] Not even a sparrow falls without the knowledge of its Creator. [00:25:28] Because God provides for the lesser these things. [00:25:32] Surely, surely he will provide for the greater. And indeed he does. [00:25:40] You see? You know what this is? These examples are the basis and the foundation of faith that combat worry. [00:25:53] That's why it's important for us to know and understand and receive and be confident in these things. [00:25:58] You know, think about, you know, at my house I have a dog. My dog's name is Raina. [00:26:03] She's a big fluffy German shepherd, a long haired German shepherd, American line German shepherd. She's a very nice dog. If you come to my house, don't be afraid if Raina, she is not going to bite you. [00:26:13] She looks like she will bite you maybe, right Priscilla? She kind of looks a little bit mean. She's got them pointy ears and things. But she is not going to bite you. In fact, people come up, delivery people come up and her ears go straight out flat. And she's doing this whole thing, she's happy to see everybody. [00:26:35] My dog, you can say my dog is my creature. And every so often I go to tractor supply and I get the 50 pound bag of dog food and I bring it home. And every day my kids hear it, don't they? [00:26:50] Does the dog have food and water? [00:26:52] Give the dog food and water. Every day, every day, every day, every day, every day, every day, every day. [00:26:57] And it's just my dog. [00:27:01] Do you not think I'm going to ensure that my children also have provision? [00:27:09] It's not even comparable. They're in two different worlds, right? If I feed my animal and I have pity on my animal, she surely I'm going to have pity and I'm going to provide for my own children. It is the same thing we see here. [00:27:27] It is the same Thing we see here, here's the problem with this, with God being our provider, which is a fact of Scripture. We have come to think that we provide for ourselves by our labor. [00:27:41] We have been. We have been indoctrinated with a secular worldview from the time we were little that has carefully, with a scalpel, removed God from every bit of our thinking so that we can't see him even when he's there. [00:28:01] And we've come to think that we provide for ourselves by our labor. But in fact, God is the one that provides for us. In fact, in verse 30, it says, shall he not much more clothe you listen to that language. That is literal. That is concrete language. Putting your clothes on, you do you see that? [00:28:24] Now we know the Lord uses means, right? He uses means and he uses natural things to do it. But ultimately, what this is saying, faith sees that God is the doer of it. [00:28:41] It's not that we sit around lazily and expect God to give us what we need. No, we don't do that. [00:28:51] When work is done, it is done in obedience to God. [00:28:56] Now follow this. This is a key point. [00:28:59] Why do you. [00:29:01] You have a job. That's commendable. That's right. That's good. You should labor. But why? Well, I gotta provide for myself. [00:29:09] That's not your job. [00:29:11] Think here. Think about what Jesus is saying here. [00:29:15] The reason you work is because God told you to. [00:29:20] The provision is his. [00:29:24] It's a slight, just a slight alteration in what we always thought. God is the provider. [00:29:31] God is the provider. [00:29:36] Now we work in response to God saying, work is good. You should work. [00:29:43] And we know that God uses work to provide for us. But ultimately, and most importantly, our provision is from Him. So here's what this reality teaches us. This reality teaches us. This reality helps us not to worry, as we know that we do not bear the burden of our own provision. [00:30:05] That is, it helps us not to worry if we believe. [00:30:10] You know, if you carry around the burden that you have to provide for yourself all the time, and inevitably difficult time comes. Times of lack, Times of. As they used to say, times of will and woe. Times of woe. In this case, if you carry that burden around, you are going to have anxiety over it. [00:30:29] How am I going to pay this bill? How am I going to do this? How am I going to do. You are going to have anxiety. Remember, it is God who is your provider. [00:30:42] You do not bear that burden. [00:30:45] You can take that thing to God and leave it with Him. He has already told you he will provide the second thing is this reality allows us to work our job unto the Lord and not unto money. [00:31:05] We're working for God. Is that not what Colossians teaches us? [00:31:10] Servants are to serve their masters with singleness of heart, fearing God as unto the Lord. Right? [00:31:17] God is our provider. We work then because it is right and because it is good in God's sight. But our job is not our ultimate source of provision. God is. We have to see that distinction. [00:31:29] Third thing I want you to see fourth thing. Rather we see it in verse number 32. [00:31:35] For after all these things did the Gentiles seek for Your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. [00:31:44] Fourth thing is this. God knows our needs. I know these things are basic, these things are not profound, but they're truths of Scripture. God knows our needs. And when we know and when we are convinced that God knows our needs before we need them, this is the first step in the faith building that is needed. To kill worry is knowing and being convinced that God knows now. And here's where the rubber meets the road. We all, you know, we're all doctrinally orthodox, as they say, right? We all say, of course God knows everything. But we live like he doesn't. We worry like he doesn't. Do we not? [00:32:35] We do. [00:32:37] Our doctrine and our practice do not always align. [00:32:43] God knows the needs that we have that we're not even aware of, needs that we have imagined, that have not or might never materialize. God knows about those as well. And you know what, and I think I've said this before, but I'll just reiterate it and we'll move on. [00:33:01] To know that God knows gives us a measure of peace because we rest in his kindness. [00:33:11] We already know that God is good and God is kind. And we don't have to look any further than the cross if there's ever any doubt. You don't have to look. Just put that one word, the cross. [00:33:22] If God did that, how shall he that spare not his own son? How shall he not also freely give us all things? In other words, if God showed to the greatest extent possible his goodness and his grace and his kindness, all these lesser things are just, are already taken care of, you see, because we know God is good and kind. Therefore we know that if he knows, we also know that he will not overlook our needs. [00:33:54] Our needs are on his mind. [00:33:59] There's a certain comfort in knowing that he knows. [00:34:04] Right? [00:34:08] The fifth thing is this worries. Cause is not necessity or want, but distrust in God. [00:34:22] Look at verse number 30. [00:34:24] Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you? And this is one of the keys of this passage, O ye of little faith. [00:34:41] I think this is the reason that worry is a sin, because it is an insult to God's word and to his character. [00:34:51] You see, here's the way it works. Worry is an inverse function to faith. So what that means, as faith diminishes, worry increases. And when trust. [00:35:07] And the reverse of that, when trust increases, worry fades. [00:35:16] The reason why the Lord is addressing worry is because of a lack of faith. [00:35:24] I don't mean to say that so blithely a failure, a faltering of what we should be embracing. What should be faith is not. Yeah, I believe that's true. But that kind of, that wholehearted trust and reliance on God, God will not provide. I must do it myself. [00:35:47] How am I going to pay this? How am I going to buy that? I have to set some spiritual things aside in order to get this thing paid. You see, these are thoughts of worry, thoughts of a failure of faith. And here's the thing. When our faith fails in this case, which leads to worry, other sins follow in its wake. As a result of the failure of faith, we become pragmatic in our decisions, and we begin to make decisions without considering the will of God. [00:36:20] We begin to make decisions that are not in submission to the will of God. In fact, we don't even bother asking God about it or sending it through the lord because, as 33 says, Seek ye first the kingdom of God. We don't even bother that, because after all, this bill needs to be paid. I need this. I must. [00:36:39] That's a failure of faith right there. [00:36:42] Every single thing. Everything in our life. If verse 33 is. If we're applying verse 33, everything in our life, even down to our bare necessities, the things that give us life must pass through the Lord's word, will. [00:36:59] Everything. [00:37:01] Everything. [00:37:02] That's what 33 is about. [00:37:09] But if you, even if you doubt, I love this. Listen, I don't know why this came to me, but it's fantastic. [00:37:16] How many of you have not lived this and your faith has stumbled and you've doubted. [00:37:24] Remember this. I have too remember this. Even if you doubt and you're anxious and you're distressed by worry over your provision, that does not affect whether God will provide. [00:37:44] This is not conditional. [00:37:47] Listen, now, he will provide. Always give you what you need. [00:37:57] Now, I said need. [00:37:59] There's a great deal that we think of as needs until we can. And we figure out we can live without them. And sometimes that's painful, is it not? But God will never fail giving you what you need. [00:38:14] Never. Never. No matter if you believe or don't believe, no matter if you doubt or your faith falters or it's strong, he will never fail to give you what you need. You know why? Because it's based on his character, not your performance. [00:38:34] You know, sometimes we. We get. We get news, right? Get news of a huge bill that we didn't know was there or some, you know, some big thing. It alarms us. [00:38:45] You know, we find out our house has some great leak and it's going to cost $10,000 to repair, you know, any number of things. And when we get first get the news of that huge thing, our faith kind of. Kind of trips up, right, because we, you know, immediately we're the fear and the worry, and we start to stumble. Our faith stumbles a little bit, our trust in the Lord stumbles. But then we take it to God. Like Philippians 4, 6. Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication. Notice in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. [00:39:28] We take that matter to God, we commit that matter to him, and we remind ourselves of these truths. You know what that does? [00:39:37] Even though the shock of it kind of made us stumble, our faith, the worry came in. [00:39:44] It allows us to refocus right on trusting God and these truths that we've seen. So let me ask you some questions. [00:39:55] Do you believe that God made the birds and the lilies? [00:40:01] Do you believe that God gives the birds their provision each day? [00:40:06] Do you believe that God is personally behind the beauty of the clothing of the flowers? [00:40:14] Do you believe that you are of infinitely greater value to God? [00:40:20] Do you believe that God already knows your needs? [00:40:24] Do you believe that God is able to give you what you need? [00:40:30] Simple questions, are they not? [00:40:32] Simple questions? But if we really are, we truly have trust in God on these things, the worry cannot last long. [00:40:43] A couple other things and we're finished. [00:40:47] Look at verse 33 in the context of all of this worry about what our provision will be, how the bill will be paid, will we have enough? What's going to happen in the midst of all that? [00:41:01] He says this, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. [00:41:07] And again, as if it's a trivial thing and all these things shall be added unto you. That's the way I read it, Right? It's just nothing. [00:41:17] You set your focus on God's kingdom and God's righteousness. You know what that is? Eternal spiritual things. That's what that's talking about. Eternal things. That's what we saw this morning. [00:41:27] When we choose. And here's the point. I'll just read it because I know some of you like to take notes. You are. Once you are. Okay, I'll just read it. You are free to seek God's kingdom and his righteousness because. [00:41:42] Because you trust the or entrust your needs to Him. You're free to seek God's kingdom and his righteousness first because you have entrusted your needs to Him. So you see, when we seek God's kingdom and his righteousness, we do so by faith. We choose to prioritize spiritual and eternal things, seeking his face above our physical needs. [00:42:10] By faith, we know that we do not need to worry about those things because we've already seen all the reasons why we should be confident that he's going to provide. [00:42:22] And because of that, we are safe to give ourselves to God's will. Right? [00:42:29] Give ourselves to God's kingdom, Give ourselves to God's righteousness. Knowing that all these things that would completely consume us and bump out any God in our life, we know that he will take care of that. That's what verse 33 says. [00:42:54] So seeking God's kingdom first, as in verse 33 above every other consideration, is actually an act of extremely practical faith, right? [00:43:08] As I said previously, seeking God's kingdom first means that in every matter, no matter if it's physical or spiritual or whatever is brought to God for His provision and is secondary to his will, he is first. He is preeminent. Everything goes through Him. [00:43:29] Everything. [00:43:31] You know, if you're in a place where you don't make enough money at your job, take that thing to God. [00:43:37] And when that. You know what happens when that raise comes or that side gig or whatever comes, you know what you'll find? You'll see because you took it to God and you submitted that thing to his will and you sought him first on it instead of just doing it on your own and worrying about it and then choosing something that wasn't his will. You know what? You'll find that when that thing comes, you will look to God and say, thank you, God, you did it. [00:44:02] And your faith will be built. [00:44:05] Everything. [00:44:07] When you have a need and when you bring it to Him. He provides, and he provides it within his will. That's the way it's supposed to be. Right? [00:44:17] The last thing is in verse 34. [00:44:20] Therefore take. Therefore no thought for the morrow. [00:44:26] For the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. [00:44:33] This trust in God that drives worry away is a trust in God that's daily. It requires daily renewal. [00:44:47] Tomorrow. [00:44:49] That's a few hours from now, right? So tomorrow we wake up, we're going to have to renew these truths. [00:44:58] We're going to have to renew these truths. The Lord says, don't worry about tomorrow. Today. [00:45:03] When you wake up tomorrow, these truths are still true and they'll still apply tomorrow. No use in worrying about it today. [00:45:12] We see a constant need for a daily reminder that God will provide for us and so that we can seek him first. Today, tomorrow. When tomorrow comes, you know what? It'll be the same as today. [00:45:29] Circumstances might be different, but these truths will be the same as they were yesterday or today. Rather, we entrust our needs to his provision tomorrow, just like we did today. [00:45:45] Let's pray.