July 20, 2025 • 56 mins
Anxiety can feel like background noise you’ve learned to tolerate—until it drowns out everything else. In this week’s Red Letters teaching, Tyler Lynde unpacks Jesus’ cure from Matthew 6:25-34 and shows why the gospel offers something better than coping strategies.
1 | Worry Is Unnecessary
• Birds never sow or reap, yet the Father feeds them.
• Wildflowers never shop, yet God dresses them in royalty.
Takeaway: If God lavishes care on short-lived creatures, His long-loved children can rest.
2 | Worry Is Unfruitful
Stress drains energy without adding time. Modern studies confirm Jesus’ ancient insight: chronic anxiety weakens immunity, shortens lifespan, and cannot change tomorrow’s variables. Why invest in a strategy with zero return?
3 | Worry Is Unbecoming
Jesus notes that panicked pursuit of basic needs typifies those who don’t know God. Followers who act like spiritual orphans misrepresent the Father’s heart. The root issue isn’t circumstances; it’s unbelief in lavish love.
4 | The Father’s Love Is the Cure
John 3:16 and 1 John 4:18 frame the argument: the God who sacrificed His Son to adopt us will not abandon us for groceries or rent. Perfect love casts out fear because it proves our worth.
5 | Kingdom-First Practice
“Seek first the kingdom … and all these things will be added.” Tyler offers three drills:
• Morning surrender—pray today’s needs, release tomorrow’s.
• Gratitude breaks—notice God’s care in creation.
• Daily boundary—plan but don’t borrow trouble from the future.
Final Call
Ready to trade panic for peace? Spend 30 minutes with this passage and watch fear lose its grip. Share the video with anyone who needs a reminder that their Father already knows and already cares.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Tyler Lynde (00:02):
We're going to go ahead and get into the message.
I've been waiting for thismessage since the Lord gave me a
deposit earlier this week and Ifelt like that he really spoke
to me, what he wanted me toshare with you this morning, and
so let's get right into it.
We're in a sermon series calledRed Letters, and in the New
Testament, especially in mosttranslations, the words of Jesus
(00:22):
are notated by being in redright.
So they're in red.
So that's why we say redletters.
And Jesus preached the greatestsermon ever preached.
We call it the Sermon on theMount, and that's found here in
Matthew, chapter five throughseven.
And we're in the middle ofstudying the Sermon on the Mount
.
We've been seeing how Jesusgives his disciples a clear
(00:43):
picture of what it looks like tobe a disciple of Jesus Christ,
and he really focuses in on theheart.
It's the heart that mattersmost, right, the condition of
our hearts.
And last week Kelly did anamazing job of showing us that
where your treasure is there,your heart will be also right.
Scripture teaches us andexhorts us to choose our
(01:06):
treasure wisely.
Who is our greatest treasure?
Jesus?
That's the right answer, amen.
So in our passage today, jesusis continuing the theme of
single-hearted devotion to God,and he deals with the need for
his followers to walk in freedomfrom anxiety, especially over
(01:26):
our daily needs.
Now I want to give a little bit.
The title of today's message isA Cure for Anxiety A Cure for
Anxiety, and I want to give alittle bit of a disclaimer.
Before we start, I want to justmake it clear that there are
instances in people's lives whenanxiety and depression are
things that need to be treatedby professionals.
(01:46):
Okay, there are those whostruggle with, let's say, mental
illness or trauma, and so theyneed some psychological help in
order to overcome that.
There are others who also maybehave a chemical imbalance and,
because of the chemicalimbalance that they have, their
emotions and anxiety and thingslike that are affected because
of the chemical imbalance thatthey have, their emotions and
anxiety and things like that areaffected because of the
(02:07):
chemical imbalance, and so theyneed medical help.
And then there are also othersthat, because of demonic
oppression or influence in theirlives, they need spiritual help
.
They need freedom from demonicspirits that would try to cause
people to walk in anxiety andfear.
Does that make sense?
So I want to make it very clearI'm not going to be preaching
(02:29):
what I'm preaching this morningwith the idea that what I'm
going to say to you today isgoing to apply evenly for each
and every person.
It depends a lot on where theyfind themselves, where each
individual finds themselves atthis stage in their life and the
type of help that they need.
And my encouragement to all ofyou, as a person who has needed
(02:50):
these kinds of helps in my ownlife if you need help, get help.
If you need help, get help.
There's such a stigma inChristian circles at times
around people who need to reachout for help when it comes to
anxiety and fear and mentalhealth issues, and it should not
be this way.
It should not be this way.
(03:12):
We, as the body of Christ,should be embracing, welcoming
and also understanding of thosewho are dealing with things that
are outside of their control.
Now, how many of you believethat Jesus can touch every one
of us and miraculously heal usand cause chemical imbalances to
be made normal and cause mentalillness to diminish and to
(03:33):
leave?
So I'm not limiting God in anyway.
All I'm saying is let's becareful before we pick up rocks
and start to judge others, andwe're going to learn about this
next week, about being carefulhow we judge others.
Let's be careful that we notjudge others when we haven't
walked a mile in their shoes.
Amen, all right.
So there's no shame, like Isaid, in getting help.
(03:56):
We need help in whatever way,whatever form it comes.
What we're talking about todayare the things that we can make
choices about.
There are things, regardless ofwhat our background is,
regardless of what our chemistryis, regardless of what's going
on in our personal lives, thereare principles that can be
applied to each of our lives,based on the scripture, that
(04:18):
will help us to make the rightkinds of choices so that we can
avoid being trapped in theprison of anxiety.
Now we're going to use threewords today that we're using
them synonymously.
We're using fear, anxiety andworry, and we're using them
interchangeably, right?
So whatever word it is that youconnect better with in
(04:39):
understanding whether it's fear,anxiety or worry, those are the
three words that we're talkingabout this morning.
So let's turn into our Biblesand hear what Jesus has to say,
because it's his words thatmatter most and hear what he has
to say about this subject inMatthew 6, verses 25 through 34.
Therefore, I tell you, do not beanxious about your life, what
(05:02):
you will eat or what you willdrink, nor about your body, what
you will put on.
It's not life more than foodand the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds of the air.
They neither sow nor reap, norgather into barns, and yet your
heavenly father feeds them.
And are you not of more valuethan they?
(05:24):
And which of you, by beinganxious, can add a single hour
to his span of life?
And why are you anxious aboutclothing?
Consider the lilies of thefield, how they grow.
They neither toil nor spin.
Yet I tell you, even Solomon inall his glory was not arrayed
like one of these.
But if God so clothes the grassof the field, which today is
(05:47):
alive and tomorrow is throwninto the oven, will he not much
more clothe you, o you of littlefaith?
Therefore, do not be anxioussaying what shall we eat or what
shall we drink or what shall wewear, for the Gentiles.
Seek after all these things,and your heavenly father knows
that you need them all, but seekfirst his kingdom, the kingdom
(06:11):
of God and his righteousness,and all these things will be
added to you.
Therefore, do not be anxiousabout tomorrow, for tomorrow
will be anxious for itself,sufficient for the day, is its
own trouble.
Let's pray together.
Father, in the name of Jesus, Ithank you for the moments that
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we have ahead of us this morning.
We thank you that you'veprepared the way already before
we ever came into this building.
I thank you for the prayersthat have been prayed about this
time that we would spendtogether.
I thank you for the prayersthat have been prayed about this
time that we would spendtogether.
And, lord, I thank you thatwhat was in your heart and in
your mind, that you've giventhat to us this morning and
you're going to help me to beable to communicate it to your
people.
And so, father, I ask that youwould do that, that you would
(06:56):
open our ears, open our hearts,open our minds, that we would
receive the truth of the word ofGod with gladness and Lord,
that we would receive it in sucha way that our lives would be
forever changed.
And we take authority overanything that would try to
hinder us from being able toreceive the truth found in this
passage.
And we say that you have noauthority over us, in the mighty
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name of Jesus, and we give youglory.
Amen and amen, the mighty nameof Jesus and we give you glory.
Amen and amen.
So I gave these.
The elders passed out thesecards that just simply say my
greatest fear is dot, dot, dot.
And what I would ask you to dois, if you already know what
that is, if you want to go aheadand jot that down, that's great
.
We're going to do something atthe end with these, so there is
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a purpose for this other thanjust holding them right so you
can fill it out now.
If you don't know now andsomething pops into your mind or
your heart during the service,maybe that's the Lord speaking
to you and go ahead and writethat down, or, if you're not
sure, even to the very end ofthe service.
We'll have a few minutes thento contemplate that as well.
Okay, so just be prepared forthat.
(08:03):
I believe the Lord's given mesome wisdom on how to deal with
this at the very end.
So the temptation to fear ifwe're honest is very real.
Can we just be honest and realand authentic with each other?
This morning?
There's a great temptation thatwe face concerning worry,
(08:24):
anxiety and fear, and it's not aone-time temptation.
How many of you know that?
Every day and every momentwe're presented with
opportunities to choose whetherto trust God or to fear.
We are confronted with thesekinds of decisions all of the
time.
Can you imagine what it is likein the world?
And maybe you can remember whatyour life was like in the world
(08:46):
before Jesus?
There was no answer to worry,anxiety and fear.
That was the way of life, thatwas the norm.
That was the way we allexperienced life without Jesus.
But now that we have been bornagain, we've been introduced
into the family of God.
How many of you know we don'thave to live any longer under
fear, anxiety and worry?
(09:08):
Jesus has made a way for us.
We are surrounded at times withcircumstances that are either
real or imagined, and most ofthe time fear starts out as a
whisper.
Out as a whisper.
It starts out very softly,almost serene-like, but how many
(09:28):
of you know?
After it continues its work andgrows and grows and grows,
before long the whisper becomesa scream and the scream doesn't
let up.
The scream infiltrates everypart of our lives.
It attempts to infiltrate theway that we live our lives on a
daily basis.
(09:49):
The scream of fear is reallythis.
The bottom line, scream of fearis you can't trust God.
That's what fear wants us tobelieve.
And how many of you know thatSatan is the author of fear?
And Satan hates God, andbecause he hates God, he hates
(10:09):
God's children and he can't getto God.
How many of you know God got tohim and he can't get to God?
But how many of you know healso attempts to get to God by
getting to us?
And so we need to be wise, weneed to be discerning, we need
to understand what the scriptureteaches, we need to know how to
(10:30):
resist the temptation to givein to the screaming lies of the
enemy.
There's a great acronym, and I'msure most of you have heard it
Fear is false evidence appearingreal.
It's something that screams outat us that it is real, that it
is happening, that is going tohappen and that there's nothing
(10:51):
that we can do about it.
And that is the attempt thatfear makes to try to grab us and
to hold on to us and tomanipulate us.
It's very real.
To manipulate us is very real.
Perception is reality to people, whether it's the truth or not.
There are so many things thatcan cause us anxiety and worry
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and fear.
How about our job scenarios?
You may have thought your wholelife that your job was secure
and all of a sudden, there beginto become huge changes within
the corporate structure of yourcompany and all of a sudden, you
don't know if your name's goingto be on the list or not.
Are you going to make the cutor not?
What are you going to do if yougo a week or two or a month
without a paycheck?
How are you going to survive?
(11:35):
How are you going to providefor your family?
How many of you know there's alot of intrinsic fear that can
be developed in that kind ofthinking that can be developed
in that kind of thinking.
How about family relationships?
What if my wife walks away?
What if my children don't loveme?
What if?
What if?
What if?
All of these differentquestions that arise?
(11:57):
How many of you know that therewas something called a pandemic?
That happened in 2020?
And through that, guess whathas happened in the world?
There is a.
The lid has been taken off offear and fear has been unleashed
upon the nations of this world.
This is real.
We're dealing with this, aren'twe?
(12:18):
I remember, on 9-11, my wiferan into the room to let me know
that something very wrong washappening in our country and I
ran out to watch what washappening on television and
couldn't believe it when theyfinally realized this was no
accident.
This was something that hadbeen planned and had been
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executed to bring aboutdestruction and fear in our
nation.
You can go back before that andthis is laughable now, but some
of us during Y2K were concerned.
I mean, how many of you partiedhard on December 31st 1999,
right, it's like it's all goingto be over tomorrow.
(13:00):
Max out the credit cards.
Hopefully you didn't do that,but anyway, we lived.
For those of you who areyounger, you didn't know this,
but we were actually told thatthe world was going to end at
midnight on January, the 1st2000,.
Because none of the computerswere able to calculate that into
the new millennia.
(13:21):
Somehow it's 2025 and we'restill here, right?
So you can see at times.
That is a glaring, obviousexample of how foolish fear can
be at times, right?
And yet I'm sure that therewere some of us that experienced
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at least a little bit oftrepidation concerning that.
How about finances?
Money comes and money goes, andthere are times when we are
confronted with the idea that wemay be ruined, that this may be
the end of our financial health, our well-being and all of the
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things that go along with that.
How about politics?
Is there any fear orintimidation or anxiety or worry
that go along with that?
How about politics?
Is there any fear orintimidation or anxiety or worry
that go along with politics?
In today's world, it seems likethat's all that there is.
They've lost any kind ofprinciple or idea, and
everything is about how bad wehate the other people and how
much we can try to make theAmerican people afraid of what
(14:25):
those bad people over there arewanting to do.
Stop it.
That is not godly.
That is not the way that we'resupposed to live as Christian
people.
We don't have to live like that.
Christian people, we don't haveto live like that.
(14:51):
How many of you find that afterthree hours of watching the news
, your attitude changes, yourdisposition, the way you look at
life begins to change.
Why is that?
Because of fear.
Almost every newscast is lacedwith fear torpedoes that attempt
to get to us, to our hearts andto our souls.
(15:11):
Many of you know that in late2019 and into mid 2020, I had a
major health scare.
I've been spending severalmonths over that time in the
hospital with varying degrees ofproblems in my internal, in my
GI tract, it's the nicest way tosay it.
(15:37):
I can think of Four surgerieslater and several cumulative,
like I said, months in thehospital.
I was finally back on my way tohealth, but through that
process I realized that I hadbeen inundated with fear and
this wasn't new fear, it wasnew-ish, but it was fear that I
recognized from other times inmy life, and so I wanted to get
(15:58):
to the bottom of it.
How many of you are tired ofweed-eating weeds?
What's the end result of weed-eeating weeds?
Do we have less weeds or do wehave more weeds?
We at least have the same weeds, don't we that grow back up?
How many of you know it's muchbetter if you can pull them out
(16:19):
at the root?
So my desire, as I was goingthrough that very difficult
scenario and, by the way, itwasn't just me, it was my family
and a lot of you that were hereand were praying for me, and so
thank you again for walkingwith us through that very
difficult time.
But as I was going through that,I was asking the Lord, what is
it that I'm afraid of?
(16:39):
And I thought, first of all,I'm afraid of dying.
I mean, you know that's apretty common fear, right?
What I realized after I'd gonethrough this is there were three
specific times I was very closeto dying and I didn't even know
it, because God's created ourbodies with these, with hormones
and chemicals and all thesethings that get released when
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our body is under certainstrains and stresses.
I didn't even know.
The doctor in my family had totell me.
Unfortunately, my family had todeal with that from a reality
standpoint, because they knew itright Again.
So I wasn't afraid of dying.
And then I thought I'm afraid ofpain.
I'm afraid of extreme painAnybody with you on that but I
(17:23):
went through what I can onlydescribe as the most gruesome
pain.
And, by the way, when I saythese things, I know that there
are people that have sufferedmuch greater things in their
life.
So I'm not trying to compare orcompete, but to me this is the
greatest form of pain that I hadever experienced in my life, on
a daily basis, over and overand over again, over again, felt
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like Groundhog Day, right, andyet that wasn't it.
And so, finally, I was going infor my last surgery to be
repaired and everything to berepaired and reconnected and as
I went in, it was May of 2020.
It was May of 2020.
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You guess what the policies werein the hospital in May of 2020?
I went in there by myself.
I should rephrase that Me andJesus walked into that place and
I was laying in the hospitalbed with my family, not able to
visit nobody else, just me, thestaff.
The hospital was very sparse,there were very few patients
(18:27):
around and I lay in the hospitalbed, able to do nothing for
myself, and I realized what myfear was.
I've written it on my cardright here my greatest fear is
losing control.
And you know what the Lord wasso gracious to show me in that
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moment he's in control and if Iput my hope and trust and faith
and confidence in Him, he'sthere with me, he's walking with
me and, regardless of theoutcome of all of this, it's
going.
It's going to be okay.
Do I still deal with thesethings?
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Am I still tempted to fear?
Of course, but I have to say mylife is far different today
than it was in 2020.
And I believe it's partiallybecause the Lord spoke the truth
to me that brought freedom intomy life, and I want that for
each and every one of you aswell, not for you to go through
what I went through, but for youto be able to walk in freedom.
(19:35):
Jesus, in this passage, istelling those who had proposed
to be his followers that theymust think differently about
things, that they needed to havea different set of eyes, that
they needed to evaluate thingsaccording to the way he
evaluates them, especially whenit comes to fear over their
basic life needs.
He admonishes them to stopworrying and instead start
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believing.
Satan's desire is to keep us ina constant state of anxiety,
which causes our thoughts to beoverwhelming.
Anybody have an overwhelmingthought at times Again.
Are we going to be real witheach other this morning?
Thought at times Again.
Are we going to be real witheach other this morning?
Okay, overwhelming thoughts.
He disturbs our joy in God.
He threatens our restful sleepAnybody having trouble with
(20:19):
sleep.
He hinders our enjoyment of thegoodness of God.
He hinders our own enjoyment,our enjoyment of our family and
friends.
Satan hates us and he wants tokeep us crippled in our minds
when it comes to fear, anxietyand worry.
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So let's look at what Jesus saysthe worthlessness of worry.
Three things that he says thatI believe are really impactful.
First of all, he basically saysit's unnecessary.
It is unnecessary to worry.
Remember, in verse 26, he sayslook at the birds of the air.
They neither sow nor reap, norgather into barns, and yet your
heavenly father feeds them.
(21:02):
Are you not of more value thanthey?
What a beautiful picture.
Jesus is using a lesser thangreater than approach.
He's saying you don't need tobe anxious, because look at the
birds, listen to the birds.
Are they singing their songs ofjoy this morning?
Yes, they are.
Are they straining andstressing about what it is that
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they're going to eat today orwhat they're going to drink
today?
Are they stressed out?
Are they exhausted?
Are they weary?
How do they fly as far as theyfly the migratory ones?
I've never understood that.
Thousands and thousands ofmiles, some of them.
They're just little bittythings at times, and yet God has
put in their nature this innateability to be able to know
(21:43):
where they need to go, whereprovision is, to know that
they're going to be taken careof.
Jesus is saying if our HeavenlyFather takes care of the birds
like that, is he not going to betaken care of?
Jesus is saying if our heavenlyfather takes care of the birds
like that.
Is he not going to take care ofus?
This is where you answer yes,amen, he will take care of his
children.
He goes on to say and why areyou anxious about clothing?
(22:06):
Consider the lilies of thefield, how they grow.
They neither toil nor spin.
Yet I tell you, even Solomon inSolomon, we always think of him
for his wisdom.
But not only was he wise, hewas also the richest man on the
(22:34):
planet.
And being the richest king onthe planet, can you imagine what
his kingly robes must havelooked like, the adornment of
his clothing?
He must have been somethingspectacular.
Queen of Sheba came up and madeall kinds of commentary about
Solomon's kingdom and the waythat he was adorned and the way
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that he was in this life.
Jesus compares him, at thepinnacle of success in his
finest kingly attire, with thewildflower in the field.
That has a temporary lifespanhere today and gone tomorrow.
When I was growing up, we livedin Wyoming at the base of the
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Rocky Mountains.
The Rocky Mountains are justthat a lot of rock, a lot of
rock and some pine trees andthat's just about it.
Not a lot of other things tokind of catch your eye other
than the wildlife, right, butcertain times of the year there
are these certain things thatgrow up, these certain plants
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that grow up, sometimes eventhat seems out of the rocks
themselves, and they have aflower that turns this bright
crimson red.
They're called Indianpaintbrush.
If you've ever seen them,they're some of the, to me, some
of the most spectacularcreations from as far as plant
life that I've ever seen is mymom's favorite flower, okay, but
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these are basically kind oflike weeds, here today and gone
tomorrow.
And Jesus is referring to thisspecifically in the fact that
they would cut down the fieldsand the wildflowers in the
fields and they would bundlethem together and they would use
that for fuel to cook food, tokeep warm, whatever the need was
.
And he's saying to them again,to his followers we don't have
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to stress.
Just like the lilies of thefield, don't stress.
Can you imagine if a plant out,if you could like somehow see
on the inside of the field,don't stress.
Can you imagine if a plant out,if you could like somehow see
on the inside of the plant andsee it like you know what I mean
?
That's, this is weird to thinkabout.
Flowers, don't have to do that,it just kind of happens.
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A little bit of rain, a littlebit of sunshine, a little bit of
bee work right and before long.
Beauty.
Beauty is everywhere.
So not only is it unnecessary toworry, it's also unfruitful.
Verse 27, jesus says and whichof you, by being anxious, can
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add a single hour to his span oflife?
How many of you have worriedyourself into a better scenario?
How many of you have been soanxious that you started feeling
better?
How many of you have beenoverwhelmed by fear to the point
to where you were like give meanother hour of this.
(25:29):
Can we be real?
I love how practical Jesus getswith his followers.
He's not leaving anything tothe imagination.
He asked them literally can youadd an hour to your lifespan by
worrying about it?
Can you do it?
Can you make it happen?
Not only can't they obviouslyit's a rhetorical question but
(25:53):
according to the NationalInstitutes of Health, the NIH,
individuals that live livescharacterized by worry and fear
and anxiety may actuallyexperience a reduced life
expectancy the exact opposite ofwhat somebody who's worrying
and trying to make themselveslive longer, to expand their
life, to have a longer lifespan.
A lot of times when you worryabout those kinds of things, you
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actually seemingly reduce thequality of life at least, and
sometimes it seems like thelength of life.
They experience a reduced lifeexpectancy, potentially by
several years.
Now, don't worry about that.
I hear you right now.
I'm worried about being worriedabout experiencing.
(26:37):
Don't double worry, okay, it'slike a double negative, don't do
it.
Compared to the generalpopulation, obviously it's
vitally important that we dealwith this.
Let's deal with it.
It's unnecessary, it'sunfruitful to worry and, finally
, it is unbecoming.
Verse 31 and 32,.
Therefore, do not be anxioussaying what shall we eat or what
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shall we drink or what shall wewear, for the Gentiles seek
after all these things, and yourheavenly father knows that you
need them all.
I can't remember we were talkingabout this the other day.
I can't remember when the wordunbecoming became a part of our
family vocabulary, but it foundits way in sometime when our
(27:18):
kids were younger.
What does unbecoming mean?
What does it have to do with?
How do we translate it?
We translate it as acting outof character or nature, acting
in a way that is not becomingunbecoming.
So, for example, amy and I wereat a restaurant the other day
and the table behind us had whatI suppose was a mom.
(27:41):
I don't know if it was a mom ora babysitter or an aunt.
I would have thought it was agrandparent, but it wasn't.
But the kids were practicingtheir burping skills.
They'd eat a bite of pizza anddrink a soda and then they would
burp very loudly, very loudly.
And Amy and I were sittingthere trying to enjoy our meal.
(28:01):
And if it had been our kids orour family, we would have said
to them Levi, no, not Levi.
Levi would never do that.
There's a couple of my kids nothere this morning.
I could pick on them.
They have good reasons.
So do we have a picturesomewhere?
Is there a picture that we have?
Oh, what is?
(28:22):
that, oh my goodness.
That is Amelia Grace.
She's our brand new grandbabyand she's doing really well and
she'll be here hopefully nextweek.
So we love her very much.
Anyway, can't be anxious whenyou're looking at that, right,
what a cutie.
So we are so grateful.
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Yeah, jordan and Noel are doingwell and everybody's adjusting
and learning what it's like tobe big bro and big sis again,
and they're doing well.
So what was I talking aboutUnbecoming?
So, yeah, the burp.
Yeah, sorry, did I say burp inchurch?
I probably shouldn't haveAnother example, but anyway, you
(29:07):
know, dressing inappropriately,gossiping, fighting with one
another, that's unbecoming ofthis family.
That's not how we do this, right?
Well, jesus is saying to hisfollowers it's unbecoming of you
, as my children, to worry, tobe anxious, to be fearful.
He says the Gentiles,unbelievers, do that all the
(29:28):
time, but you guys don't need todo that, you don't have to do
that, you don't have to do that.
Isn't that good news?
It's great news.
So, finally, the source ofanxiety what is it?
What causes us to be anxious?
What causes us to fear?
What causes us to live in worry?
(29:48):
I believe that it's a lack oftrust in Father God.
Remember I use that word therepurposefully Father God.
Jesus refers to his Father manytimes in this passage and he's
wanting to pass on to them thissort of new reality.
To them, God is not just agreat king or a great Lord or a
(30:10):
great majestic one.
He is all of those things, buthe's also our father.
He's our father.
And how do we know that, jesus,that a lack of trust in father
God is a reason for anxiety?
What did he say to them?
Oh you of little faith.
Oh you of little faith.
We want to boil it down to itsvery root.
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We must acknowledge that,primarily, worry and fear come
from that fact.
It's a lack of trust in FatherGod.
The bottom line cause of it iswe don't really believe what,
that God loves us.
Let's bottom line it.
Let's bottom line it.
(30:53):
If we're filled with worry andanxiety and fear and we are
believers in Jesus Christ thereis one reason, and that is
because we don't really believethat our heavenly father loves
us.
So let's do a quick littleexercise together.
Does God love Jesus, his son?
(31:15):
How do we know that?
Think of some examples.
How about the fact that we knowthat he's loved him for all of
eternity?
He has loved him for all ofeternity.
They are in perfect union withone another Perfect unity.
(31:37):
Can you imagine what it musthave been like for the two of
them, and the Holy Spiritinvolved as well, to speak words
and to see the earth and all ofthe things that we experience
in our daily lives around us?
To see them come out, boom?
What a great joy that must havebeen for them, as father and
son, and with the father in hisheart wanting to create a bride
(31:59):
for his son.
That's how deep the father'slove is for Jesus.
And at his birth, not only werethere shepherds and wise men,
but, how many of you know, theskies were filled with a
heavenly choir of angels.
Because heaven couldn't containitself.
It had to express the glory andthe joy and the majesty of God,
the Son coming to this earth.
(32:21):
How about at Jesus' baptism?
Before Jesus did any mightyworks?
He comes up out of the water,heaven opens.
And what does God say?
He comes up out of the water,heaven opens.
And what does God say?
This is my beloved son, in whomI am well pleased.
And then Jesus is taken by thespirit into the wilderness to be
(32:45):
tempted.
And what does God do?
He sends ministering angels tominister to Jesus, to strengthen
him, to help him.
And then, at thetransfiguration, elijah and
Moses show up and again Godspeaks out of the heavens.
This is my son, listen to him.
And we have examples at thegarden of Gethsemane I just
learned this this morning therewere angels that were sent at
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the garden of Gethsemane tominister to Jesus and his need.
And how many of you knowsemaneto minister to Jesus in his need
and how many of you know that?
God, the father, raised Jesusfrom the dead.
He experienced the resurrectionbecause of the love that the
father has for his son, and healso caused him to be ascended
into heaven.
He sat him at his right handand he's given him the name
above every other name, the nameof Jesus.
(33:30):
Does our heavenly father lovehis son, jesus?
I know what you're thinking,but that's Jesus.
He's perfect.
He never made any mistakes.
Of course his heavenly fatherloves him.
How could he not?
Of course his heavenly fatherloves him.
How could he not?
(33:58):
I purposely left out part of thestory that I want to recircle
back to you see, god's fatherheart is so great that he
willingly allowed his son to benailed to a cross, the son that
he had loved throughout alleternity and had shown his great
love for him in so manypowerful ways, in ways that we,
(34:20):
as human fathers, try to emulate.
In some way we could just graspon, even to the hem of his
garment, to show our childrenand those around us what a
father's heart really is.
And yet a heavenly father wholoved his son so much laid him
on this cross.
Why Did he lose his love forhis son?
(34:44):
Or had his heart grown so muchthat he wanted more children,
that he wanted to express hislove in the most powerful of
ways, the most endearing of ways, in a way that could never be
discounted?
Who lays down their life notonly for their friend, but for
(35:07):
their enemy?
And yet that's what ourheavenly father did to Jesus.
He asked him to be sacrificedso that we could be adopted into
the family of God.
My friends, we are not orphansand we need, as believers in
(35:31):
Jesus Christ, to stop actinglike it.
I'm begging you, I'm imploringyou, stop that lie of the enemy.
Now you have been adopted, youhave been grafted in, you have
been chosen by God to be a partof his family, and he loves you
(35:54):
so much.
His love is indescribable.
And I'm going to read someverses over you.
And faith comes by hearing, andhearing by the word of God.
And as I speak these words, I'mbelieving that worry and fear
and anxiety is going to begin tocome off of each and every one
of us, that we're going to layit down once and for all and
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walk away from it.
John 3.16, and you can closeyour eyes if you want.
However, you want to absorbthese truths, for God so loved
the world that he gave his onlyson that whoever believes in him
should not perish but haveeternal life.
(36:36):
First, john 3.1.
See what great love the fatherhas lavished on us, that we
should be called children of God, and that is what we are.
The reason the world does notknow us is that it did not know
him.
Lamentations 3.22 says thesteadfast love of the Lord never
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ceases.
His mercies never come to anend.
They are new every morning.
Great is your faithfulness.
The Lord is my portion, says mysoul.
Therefore, I will hope in him.
(37:22):
First, john chapter four says bythis is love perfected with us
so that we may have confidencefor the day of judgment, because
as he is, so also are we inthis world.
There is no fear in love, butperfect love casts out fear, for
fear has to do with punishment,and whoever fears has not been
perfected in love.
We love because he first lovedus.
(37:46):
This is the gospel of JesusChrist.
This is the truth that makes usfree.
This is the love thatoverwhelms fear and anxiety and
worry, and this is the truththat we must remind ourselves
every day, because satanwhispers, whimpers and screams
(38:11):
at times to tell us that it'snot true.
The cure for anxiety, my friends, is for us to live like loved
children of God, to live like weare loved.
Verse 33 says but seek firstthe kingdom of God and his
righteousness, and all thesethings will be added to you.
(38:33):
In other words, seek first whatthe kingdom is like, what the
family is like, seek to be apart of what God's way and his
will is.
Live life the way that heexpects for it to be lived by
his grace, and all of the otherthings that we worry about, that
we're concerned about, willmelt away.
(38:53):
They'll run away from us in amillion different directions.
You and I will not be able tobe free from anxiety until we
put our faith and trust in theliving God who sent his son to
die for us.
Instead of living like orphans,we are to begin to live like
loved children of God, becausehe has adopted us and given us
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his righteousness as a free gift.
In doing this, we will chooseto seek first his will and his
way of doing this.
Remember the prayer our fatherin heaven.
And then, a few words later, itsays your kingdom come.
Your will be done on earth asit is in heaven.
(39:39):
What does it look like to be acitizen of the kingdom?
A citizen of the kingdom truststheir father.
Jesus is our great example ofthis.
Even though he was equal withGod, he chose to humble himself
and he became obedient to hisfather's will.
We see this in GethsemaneFather, if there's any way for
(40:04):
this cup to pass from me, let itpass.
Yet not my will, but your willbe done.
Was Jesus concerned about thebeating?
Was he concerned about theblood?
Was he concerned about thecrucifixion?
Was he concerned this was goingto be the first time in all of
eternity past, present andfuture that he was going to be
(40:24):
separated for a moment in timefrom his heavenly father, and
that was what was mostunbearable to him.
That is what he needed helpwith and when we put our faith,
hope and trust in a livingsavior that did that for us,
(40:45):
that paid the price for us, thatlaid his life down for us so
that we could be free.
What greater gift can we givethan to walk in that freedom?
And Jesus concludes the thoughtby a practical application.
Jesus was a practical teacher.
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He told his disciples to focuson one day at a time.
Therefore, do not be anxiousabout tomorrow.
He told his disciples to focuson one day at a time.
I love the fact.
It gives them an instruction onwhere to begin with
transforming their thinking.
He told them, let's just focuson today, let's focus on the
(41:31):
present, let's focus on what'sgoing on right now.
Let's focus on being tuned into my father's voice and seeing
where he's leading us andguiding us.
Let's not worry.
And how many of you know thewhat ifs?
The what if?
Questions are the ones thatcause us sometimes the greatest
consternation.
And if you go to the end ofwhat if, for example, if I had
(41:55):
died in that hospital, I knowthat my family would have been
very sad and I would not wishthat upon them, and I know that
many other people that know meand were praying for me would
have been very sad and wouldhave mourned that.
But how many of you know topass from this life to the next
as a believer is not somethingto be pitied.
To be absent from the body isto be present with the Lord.
(42:16):
So let's take it to the fullestextent.
Fear.
What are you the end result of?
Whatever?
However, this life wraps up,it's all good.
If you read the back of thebook we win, come on, we win.
(42:40):
Now here's some people sayingdoes that mean that we can't
plan for the future?
Can we not save any money?
I'm not saying that.
He's not saying that.
He's not telling us that weshouldn't think about the future
in the right ways and preparefor things to come, but he's
saying our mindset should be tolive in this moment, present
with God, with us, and then thenext moment and the next moment
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and the next moment will come.
So I want us to finish theservice this morning in a very
unique way, and I'm going to askthat the worship team or
whoever is going to come andplay would come, and I'm going
to ask that a couple of guyscome and move the cross to the
center of the stage and as I waspraying about how to finish
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this, I felt like the Lordencouraged me to have a
practical way that we couldrespond to this.
So, again, if you have notfilled your card out, I want you
just to take a minute now andjust you can write down a word,
you can write down a phrase, youcan write down a sentence.
You don't have to sign these.
There's not going to be, we'renot going to be reading these
(43:52):
over the microphone.
So don't be, don't be concernedabout that.
This is between you and God.
But what we're going to do herein just a minute, we're going
to pray together, god.
But what we're going to do herein just a minute, we're going to
pray together and ask the Lordto.
Can we be real?
We need to ask the Lord toforgive us for areas in our life
(44:13):
where we have, for whateverreason, not chosen to trust him,
where fear and anxiety andworry have taken the predominant
voice in our heads.
And not only do we need torepent and acknowledge that we
want to change, but we want totake a first step, an act of
(44:35):
faith.
And so we're just going to,symbolically, I'm going to ask
you as you feel comfortabledoing it.
I'm just folding my piece of.
Symbolically, I'm going to askyou as you feel comfortable
doing it.
I'm just folding my piece ofpaper here and I'm going to
bring it after we pray and I'mgoing to just lay it here at the
foot of this cross.
And we know this is just asymbolic cross, it has no power
(44:55):
in and of itself, but how manyof you know it represents God's
love toward us.
While we were yet sinners,christ died for us, and so we're
going to symbolically lay thesefears at the feet of Jesus this
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morning and we're going to also, by faith, we're going to let
them go.
Are you ready to let them go?
Are you ready to let them go?
Are you ready to move on pastthis fear?
Are you ready to not feel thatsinking feeling in your gut, or
that tightness in your chest, orthat lump in your throat
sweating the nervousness?
(45:37):
Are you ready to let go of that?
Can I be honest, sometimes wethink that's our friend because
we've grown so accustomed to it.
I'm here to tell you thefreedom that Jesus offers us is
so much greater than any feelingthat we can get from something
(45:59):
that we're holding onto likethis because we've grown
comfortable with it, right.
And so I'm gonna ask again, justas you feel, that after we pray
together, just to come down andlay it at the feet of this
cross and symbolically laying itat the feet of Jesus and saying
, lord, I'm responding to you,I'm responding to your word.
(46:24):
I'm saying, lord, help Lord, Ibelieve, but help my unbelief.
Does that make sense?
It's a beautiful prayer thatthe Lord loves to answer.
It's a prayer of humility thatacknowledges I have a need here.
I've tried in my own strength,I've attempted to just will
myself to somehow get better inthese ways, and yet I find
(46:46):
myself still surrounded by thesevoices in my head.
Today is a day and there's beena lot of people praying about
this Today is a day of freedom,and I believe with all of my
heart that God is going to takethe words that have been spoken
and the spirit that's behind it,and he's going to create within
(47:09):
us clean hearts today and he'sgoing to renew a right spirit
within us and he's going torestore unto us the joy of our
salvation and some of thesethings that have had a hold of
us for a long time are going tofall away and it's going to be a
new day and a new beginning inJesus.
(47:32):
Are you ready for that thismorning?
So let's just take a minutebetween you and the Lord.
I'm going to lead us in aprayer, but you just talk to him
.
He's your father and, by theway, if you're here this morning
, you don't yet know Jesus.
Everything that I said thatapplied to followers of Jesus
can apply to your life too.
If you would just humbleyourself today and acknowledge
(47:55):
your need for a savior, repent,which just means to turn away
from your way of living, yourway of thought, and recognize
Jesus.
I need you, I need you to saveme, to change me I can't do it
myself and put your faith,believe in him, put your faith
(48:16):
and trust in the Jesus who diddie on this cross and just as he
said he would do, three dayslater he rose from the grave.
Call out to him right now andhe will answer you and he will
save you and your life.
Please don't think it's gonnabe perfect in man's eyes, but
(48:36):
you'll never be alone againbecause he'll always be with you
.
So let's pray together.
Father, in the name of Jesus, Ithank you for everyone that's
here and also, lord, I just feelled to pray for those who are
watching online.
And, lord, we're not just doingthis as some kind of just to
(48:58):
make a scene.
Our hearts, lord, we just wantto trust you.
We want to trust you, we knowthat you are trustworthy and yet
we find ourselves at timestrusting in everything else and
(49:20):
not putting our trust in you.
And so, Father, I ask that youwould forgive me, forgive us,
lord, god, for our inability attimes to recognize our need.
Lord, we grow comfortable withthese strange bedfellows at
times, and it's like we'reaccustomed to being afraid, to
(49:44):
living with anxiety and fear andworry.
Father, I pray that today wouldbe a new day, a day of new
beginnings.
We ask, lord, god, that as wetake a step of faith this
morning, that, as we come and welay these burdens down at the
foot of the cross representingthe sacrifice of Jesus, I pray,
(50:05):
lord, god, that this would notjust be a moment in time, but we
pray, in the name of Jesus,that the power of God and the
spirit of God would move andthat you would break walls, that
you would remove, that youwould remove burdens off of
(50:30):
people's lives and, father, wepray that you would help us to
obey the words of Scripture andto seek first your kingdom and
your righteousness, and not beworried about all the other
things, because you promise thatyou'll take good care of us.
Lord, we know that your answerto our requests, or what you see
(50:52):
as success, or what you see asvictory, are sometimes very
different from our ownperspective, and so open our
eyes, lord.
Help us to see more clearlywhen you're working, even in the
times when it seems like you'renowhere to be found.
Father, we ask for your help.
We sincerely pray these thingsin Jesus' name.
(51:17):
And now, just again, just as youfeel comfortable, just gonna
take a few solemn moments herein the presence of God and begin
to present these things beforehim.
Thank you, lord.
Father, I thank you that youdeliver us this day from every
(51:38):
fear, every form of anxiety,every form of worry, in the name
of Jesus.
Lord Jesus, we lay themsymbolically at the foot of the
cross, we lay them at Jesus'sfeet and, father, I ask in
Jesus's name for freedom.
I declare freedom over each andevery person in this room.
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In the name of Jesus Christ, wecommand that every fear, every
form of anxiety, every form ofworry physical worries,
relationship worries, financialworries, fear of failure, fear
of All of the things, lord God,that try to hinder us and keep
(52:25):
us from trusting you Would youset us free this day In Jesus'
name.
Thank you Lord, thank you Lord,thank you Lord.
Thank you, lord.
Do you, can you do I surrenderall?
Do you know that?
One?
Okay, thank you Lord.
Thank you Lord.
Thank you, lord.
Do you, can you do I surrenderall?
Do you know that?
One?
Okay, thank you Lord.
Lord, we lay these things down.
(52:47):
We lay them down.
It's an act of faith.
Thank you, lord, god, for thefreedom that you provide.
In Jesus Christ, father, I praythat you would change our
ability to see you so that wewould see you in the way that
you love us.
Open our eyes and our hearts tothe love of God.
(53:09):
In Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Open our eyes, lord Jesus, helpus to see.
Help us to see, Father.
In Jesus name, let freedomreign.
Let freedom reign.
Let freedom reign.
Let freedom reign.
He whom the son has set free isfreed indeed thank you, lord
(53:37):
let's just sing all to Jesus andstand to our feet.
We'll finish with this song.
Let's just sing all to Jesusand stand to our feet.
We'll finish with this songThank you Jesus, thank you Lord,
thank you Father, thank youJesus, I surrender all.
(54:06):
Thank you Jesus, I surrenderall, all to Jesus, look to him,
all to thee, my blessed Savior,I surrender all.
(54:36):
Humble yourselves, therefore,under the mighty hand of God, so
that, at the proper time, hemay I surrender all.
(54:58):
Jesus, all Jesus.
I surrender all.
Thank you, lord, all to thee,my blessed Savior, I surrender
(55:23):
all.
Father, we thank you for thistime together today.
Lord, we ask in Jesus' namethat as we leave this building,
that we would not leave behindthe truth that makes us free.
We ask that you'd help us towalk now in this freedom, in
this newness of life.
We give you glory and honor andpraise, and, lord, I pray that
(55:46):
you would bless your people,that you would bless them and
keep them, cause your face toshine upon them and be gracious
to them, that you would lift upyour countenance upon them and
give them peace.
In Jesus' name, amen.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Remember this week, if thetemptation tries to come, resist
(56:13):
, resist the temptation in thename of Jesus, and it has to go.
It has to go.
We are free because Jesus hasmade us free.
We're going to go ahead and get into the message.
I've been waiting for thismessage since the Lord gave me a
deposit earlier this week and Ifelt like that he really spoke
to me, what he wanted me toshare with you this morning, and
so let's get right into it.
We're in a sermon series calledRed Letters, and in the New
Testament, especially in mosttranslations, the words of Jesus
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are notated by being in redright.
So they're in red.
So that's why we say redletters.
And Jesus preached the greatestsermon ever preached.
We call it the Sermon on theMount, and that's found here in
Matthew, chapter five throughseven.
And we're in the middle ofstudying the Sermon on the Mount
.
We've been seeing how Jesusgives his disciples a clear
(00:43):
picture of what it looks like tobe a disciple of Jesus Christ,
and he really focuses in on theheart.
It's the heart that mattersmost, right, the condition of
our hearts.
And last week Kelly did anamazing job of showing us that
where your treasure is there,your heart will be also right.
Scripture teaches us andexhorts us to choose our
(01:06):
treasure wisely.
Who is our greatest treasure?
Jesus?
That's the right answer, amen.
So in our passage today, jesusis continuing the theme of
single-hearted devotion to God,and he deals with the need for
his followers to walk in freedomfrom anxiety, especially over
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our daily needs.
Now I want to give a little bit.
The title of today's message isA Cure for Anxiety A Cure for
Anxiety, and I want to give alittle bit of a disclaimer.
Before we start, I want to justmake it clear that there are
instances in people's lives whenanxiety and depression are
things that need to be treatedby professionals.
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Okay, there are those whostruggle with, let's say, mental
illness or trauma, and so theyneed some psychological help in
order to overcome that.
There are others who also maybehave a chemical imbalance and,
because of the chemicalimbalance that they have, their
emotions and anxiety and thingslike that are affected because
of the chemical imbalance thatthey have, their emotions and
anxiety and things like that areaffected because of the
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chemical imbalance, and so theyneed medical help.
And then there are also othersthat, because of demonic
oppression or influence in theirlives, they need spiritual help
.
They need freedom from demonicspirits that would try to cause
people to walk in anxiety andfear.
Does that make sense?
So I want to make it very clearI'm not going to be preaching
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what I'm preaching this morningwith the idea that what I'm
going to say to you today isgoing to apply evenly for each
and every person.
It depends a lot on where theyfind themselves, where each
individual finds themselves atthis stage in their life and the
type of help that they need.
And my encouragement to all ofyou, as a person who has needed
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these kinds of helps in my ownlife if you need help, get help.
If you need help, get help.
There's such a stigma inChristian circles at times
around people who need to reachout for help when it comes to
anxiety and fear and mentalhealth issues, and it should not
be this way.
It should not be this way.
(03:12):
We, as the body of Christ,should be embracing, welcoming
and also understanding of thosewho are dealing with things that
are outside of their control.
Now, how many of you believethat Jesus can touch every one
of us and miraculously heal usand cause chemical imbalances to
be made normal and cause mentalillness to diminish and to
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leave?
So I'm not limiting God in anyway.
All I'm saying is let's becareful before we pick up rocks
and start to judge others, andwe're going to learn about this
next week, about being carefulhow we judge others.
Let's be careful that we notjudge others when we haven't
walked a mile in their shoes.
Amen, all right.
So there's no shame, like Isaid, in getting help.
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We need help in whatever way,whatever form it comes.
What we're talking about todayare the things that we can make
choices about.
There are things, regardless ofwhat our background is,
regardless of what our chemistryis, regardless of what's going
on in our personal lives, thereare principles that can be
applied to each of our lives,based on the scripture, that
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will help us to make the rightkinds of choices so that we can
avoid being trapped in theprison of anxiety.
Now we're going to use threewords today that we're using
them synonymously.
We're using fear, anxiety andworry, and we're using them
interchangeably, right?
So whatever word it is that youconnect better with in
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understanding whether it's fear,anxiety or worry, those are the
three words that we're talkingabout this morning.
So let's turn into our Biblesand hear what Jesus has to say,
because it's his words thatmatter most and hear what he has
to say about this subject inMatthew 6, verses 25 through 34.
Therefore, I tell you, do not beanxious about your life, what
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you will eat or what you willdrink, nor about your body, what
you will put on.
It's not life more than foodand the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds of the air.
They neither sow nor reap, norgather into barns, and yet your
heavenly father feeds them.
And are you not of more valuethan they?
(05:24):
And which of you, by beinganxious, can add a single hour
to his span of life?
And why are you anxious aboutclothing?
Consider the lilies of thefield, how they grow.
They neither toil nor spin.
Yet I tell you, even Solomon inall his glory was not arrayed
like one of these.
But if God so clothes the grassof the field, which today is
(05:47):
alive and tomorrow is throwninto the oven, will he not much
more clothe you, o you of littlefaith?
Therefore, do not be anxioussaying what shall we eat or what
shall we drink or what shall wewear, for the Gentiles.
Seek after all these things,and your heavenly father knows
that you need them all, but seekfirst his kingdom, the kingdom
(06:11):
of God and his righteousness,and all these things will be
added to you.
Therefore, do not be anxiousabout tomorrow, for tomorrow
will be anxious for itself,sufficient for the day, is its
own trouble.
Let's pray together.
Father, in the name of Jesus, Ithank you for the moments that
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we have ahead of us this morning.
We thank you that you'veprepared the way already before
we ever came into this building.
I thank you for the prayersthat have been prayed about this
time that we would spendtogether.
I thank you for the prayersthat have been prayed about this
time that we would spendtogether.
And, lord, I thank you thatwhat was in your heart and in
your mind, that you've giventhat to us this morning and
you're going to help me to beable to communicate it to your
people.
And so, father, I ask that youwould do that, that you would
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open our ears, open our hearts,open our minds, that we would
receive the truth of the word ofGod with gladness and Lord,
that we would receive it in sucha way that our lives would be
forever changed.
And we take authority overanything that would try to
hinder us from being able toreceive the truth found in this
passage.
And we say that you have noauthority over us, in the mighty
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name of Jesus, and we give youglory.
Amen and amen, the mighty nameof Jesus and we give you glory.
Amen and amen.
So I gave these.
The elders passed out thesecards that just simply say my
greatest fear is dot, dot, dot.
And what I would ask you to dois, if you already know what
that is, if you want to go aheadand jot that down, that's great
.
We're going to do something atthe end with these, so there is
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a purpose for this other thanjust holding them right so you
can fill it out now.
If you don't know now andsomething pops into your mind or
your heart during the service,maybe that's the Lord speaking
to you and go ahead and writethat down, or, if you're not
sure, even to the very end ofthe service.
We'll have a few minutes thento contemplate that as well.
Okay, so just be prepared forthat.
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I believe the Lord's given mesome wisdom on how to deal with
this at the very end.
So the temptation to fear ifwe're honest is very real.
Can we just be honest and realand authentic with each other?
This morning?
There's a great temptation thatwe face concerning worry,
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anxiety and fear, and it's not aone-time temptation.
How many of you know that?
Every day and every momentwe're presented with
opportunities to choose whetherto trust God or to fear.
We are confronted with thesekinds of decisions all of the
time.
Can you imagine what it is likein the world?
And maybe you can remember whatyour life was like in the world
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before Jesus?
There was no answer to worry,anxiety and fear.
That was the way of life, thatwas the norm.
That was the way we allexperienced life without Jesus.
But now that we have been bornagain, we've been introduced
into the family of God.
How many of you know we don'thave to live any longer under
fear, anxiety and worry?
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Jesus has made a way for us.
We are surrounded at times withcircumstances that are either
real or imagined, and most ofthe time fear starts out as a
whisper.
Out as a whisper.
It starts out very softly,almost serene-like, but how many
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of you know?
After it continues its work andgrows and grows and grows,
before long the whisper becomesa scream and the scream doesn't
let up.
The scream infiltrates everypart of our lives.
It attempts to infiltrate theway that we live our lives on a
daily basis.
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The scream of fear is reallythis.
The bottom line, scream of fearis you can't trust God.
That's what fear wants us tobelieve.
And how many of you know thatSatan is the author of fear?
And Satan hates God, andbecause he hates God, he hates
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God's children and he can't getto God.
How many of you know God got tohim and he can't get to God?
But how many of you know healso attempts to get to God by
getting to us?
And so we need to be wise, weneed to be discerning, we need
to understand what the scriptureteaches, we need to know how to
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resist the temptation to givein to the screaming lies of the
enemy.
There's a great acronym, and I'msure most of you have heard it
Fear is false evidence appearingreal.
It's something that screams outat us that it is real, that it
is happening, that is going tohappen and that there's nothing
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that we can do about it.
And that is the attempt thatfear makes to try to grab us and
to hold on to us and tomanipulate us.
It's very real.
To manipulate us is very real.
Perception is reality to people, whether it's the truth or not.
There are so many things thatcan cause us anxiety and worry
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and fear.
How about our job scenarios?
You may have thought your wholelife that your job was secure
and all of a sudden, there beginto become huge changes within
the corporate structure of yourcompany and all of a sudden, you
don't know if your name's goingto be on the list or not.
Are you going to make the cutor not?
What are you going to do if yougo a week or two or a month
without a paycheck?
How are you going to survive?
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How are you going to providefor your family?
How many of you know there's alot of intrinsic fear that can
be developed in that kind ofthinking that can be developed
in that kind of thinking.
How about family relationships?
What if my wife walks away?
What if my children don't loveme?
What if?
What if?
What if?
All of these differentquestions that arise?
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How many of you know that therewas something called a pandemic?
That happened in 2020?
And through that, guess whathas happened in the world?
There is a.
The lid has been taken off offear and fear has been unleashed
upon the nations of this world.
This is real.
We're dealing with this, aren'twe?
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I remember, on 9-11, my wiferan into the room to let me know
that something very wrong washappening in our country and I
ran out to watch what washappening on television and
couldn't believe it when theyfinally realized this was no
accident.
This was something that hadbeen planned and had been
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executed to bring aboutdestruction and fear in our
nation.
You can go back before that andthis is laughable now, but some
of us during Y2K were concerned.
I mean, how many of you partiedhard on December 31st 1999,
right, it's like it's all goingto be over tomorrow.
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Max out the credit cards.
Hopefully you didn't do that,but anyway, we lived.
For those of you who areyounger, you didn't know this,
but we were actually told thatthe world was going to end at
midnight on January, the 1st2000,.
Because none of the computerswere able to calculate that into
the new millennia.
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Somehow it's 2025 and we'restill here, right?
So you can see at times.
That is a glaring, obviousexample of how foolish fear can
be at times, right?
And yet I'm sure that therewere some of us that experienced
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at least a little bit oftrepidation concerning that.
How about finances?
Money comes and money goes, andthere are times when we are
confronted with the idea that wemay be ruined, that this may be
the end of our financial health, our well-being and all of the
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things that go along with that.
How about politics?
Is there any fear orintimidation or anxiety or worry
that go along with that?
How about politics?
Is there any fear orintimidation or anxiety or worry
that go along with politics?
In today's world, it seems likethat's all that there is.
They've lost any kind ofprinciple or idea, and
everything is about how bad wehate the other people and how
much we can try to make theAmerican people afraid of what
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those bad people over there arewanting to do.
Stop it.
That is not godly.
That is not the way that we'resupposed to live as Christian
people.
We don't have to live like that.
Christian people, we don't haveto live like that.
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How many of you find that afterthree hours of watching the news
, your attitude changes, yourdisposition, the way you look at
life begins to change.
Why is that?
Because of fear.
Almost every newscast is lacedwith fear torpedoes that attempt
to get to us, to our hearts andto our souls.
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Many of you know that in late2019 and into mid 2020, I had a
major health scare.
I've been spending severalmonths over that time in the
hospital with varying degrees ofproblems in my internal, in my
GI tract, it's the nicest way tosay it.
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I can think of Four surgerieslater and several cumulative,
like I said, months in thehospital.
I was finally back on my way tohealth, but through that
process I realized that I hadbeen inundated with fear and
this wasn't new fear, it wasnew-ish, but it was fear that I
recognized from other times inmy life, and so I wanted to get
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to the bottom of it.
How many of you are tired ofweed-eating weeds?
What's the end result of weed-eeating weeds?
Do we have less weeds or do wehave more weeds?
We at least have the same weeds, don't we that grow back up?
How many of you know it's muchbetter if you can pull them out
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at the root?
So my desire, as I was goingthrough that very difficult
scenario and, by the way, itwasn't just me, it was my family
and a lot of you that were hereand were praying for me, and so
thank you again for walkingwith us through that very
difficult time.
But as I was going through that,I was asking the Lord, what is
it that I'm afraid of?
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And I thought, first of all,I'm afraid of dying.
I mean, you know that's apretty common fear, right?
What I realized after I'd gonethrough this is there were three
specific times I was very closeto dying and I didn't even know
it, because God's created ourbodies with these, with hormones
and chemicals and all thesethings that get released when
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our body is under certainstrains and stresses.
I didn't even know.
The doctor in my family had totell me.
Unfortunately, my family had todeal with that from a reality
standpoint, because they knew itright Again.
So I wasn't afraid of dying.
And then I thought I'm afraid ofpain.
I'm afraid of extreme painAnybody with you on that but I
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went through what I can onlydescribe as the most gruesome
pain.
And, by the way, when I saythese things, I know that there
are people that have sufferedmuch greater things in their
life.
So I'm not trying to compare orcompete, but to me this is the
greatest form of pain that I hadever experienced in my life, on
a daily basis, over and overand over again, over again, felt
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like Groundhog Day, right, andyet that wasn't it.
And so, finally, I was going infor my last surgery to be
repaired and everything to berepaired and reconnected and as
I went in, it was May of 2020.
It was May of 2020.
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You guess what the policies werein the hospital in May of 2020?
I went in there by myself.
I should rephrase that Me andJesus walked into that place and
I was laying in the hospitalbed with my family, not able to
visit nobody else, just me, thestaff.
The hospital was very sparse,there were very few patients
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around and I lay in the hospitalbed, able to do nothing for
myself, and I realized what myfear was.
I've written it on my cardright here my greatest fear is
losing control.
And you know what the Lord wasso gracious to show me in that
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moment he's in control and if Iput my hope and trust and faith
and confidence in Him, he'sthere with me, he's walking with
me and, regardless of theoutcome of all of this, it's
going.
It's going to be okay.
Do I still deal with thesethings?
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Am I still tempted to fear?
Of course, but I have to say mylife is far different today
than it was in 2020.
And I believe it's partiallybecause the Lord spoke the truth
to me that brought freedom intomy life, and I want that for
each and every one of you aswell, not for you to go through
what I went through, but for youto be able to walk in freedom.
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Jesus, in this passage, istelling those who had proposed
to be his followers that theymust think differently about
things, that they needed to havea different set of eyes, that
they needed to evaluate thingsaccording to the way he
evaluates them, especially whenit comes to fear over their
basic life needs.
He admonishes them to stopworrying and instead start
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believing.
Satan's desire is to keep us ina constant state of anxiety,
which causes our thoughts to beoverwhelming.
Anybody have an overwhelmingthought at times Again.
Are we going to be real witheach other this morning?
Thought at times Again.
Are we going to be real witheach other this morning?
Okay, overwhelming thoughts.
He disturbs our joy in God.
He threatens our restful sleepAnybody having trouble with
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sleep.
He hinders our enjoyment of thegoodness of God.
He hinders our own enjoyment,our enjoyment of our family and
friends.
Satan hates us and he wants tokeep us crippled in our minds
when it comes to fear, anxietyand worry.
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So let's look at what Jesus saysthe worthlessness of worry.
Three things that he says thatI believe are really impactful.
First of all, he basically saysit's unnecessary.
It is unnecessary to worry.
Remember, in verse 26, he sayslook at the birds of the air.
They neither sow nor reap, norgather into barns, and yet your
heavenly father feeds them.
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Are you not of more value thanthey?
What a beautiful picture.
Jesus is using a lesser thangreater than approach.
He's saying you don't need tobe anxious, because look at the
birds, listen to the birds.
Are they singing their songs ofjoy this morning?
Yes, they are.
Are they straining andstressing about what it is that
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they're going to eat today orwhat they're going to drink
today?
Are they stressed out?
Are they exhausted?
Are they weary?
How do they fly as far as theyfly the migratory ones?
I've never understood that.
Thousands and thousands ofmiles, some of them.
They're just little bittythings at times, and yet God has
put in their nature this innateability to be able to know
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where they need to go, whereprovision is, to know that
they're going to be taken careof.
Jesus is saying if our HeavenlyFather takes care of the birds
like that, is he not going to betaken care of?
Jesus is saying if our heavenlyfather takes care of the birds
like that.
Is he not going to take care ofus?
This is where you answer yes,amen, he will take care of his
children.
He goes on to say and why areyou anxious about clothing?
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Consider the lilies of thefield, how they grow.
They neither toil nor spin.
Yet I tell you, even Solomon inSolomon, we always think of him
for his wisdom.
But not only was he wise, hewas also the richest man on the
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planet.
And being the richest king onthe planet, can you imagine what
his kingly robes must havelooked like, the adornment of
his clothing?
He must have been somethingspectacular.
Queen of Sheba came up and madeall kinds of commentary about
Solomon's kingdom and the waythat he was adorned and the way
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that he was in this life.
Jesus compares him, at thepinnacle of success in his
finest kingly attire, with thewildflower in the field.
That has a temporary lifespanhere today and gone tomorrow.
When I was growing up, we livedin Wyoming at the base of the
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Rocky Mountains.
The Rocky Mountains are justthat a lot of rock, a lot of
rock and some pine trees andthat's just about it.
Not a lot of other things tokind of catch your eye other
than the wildlife, right, butcertain times of the year there
are these certain things thatgrow up, these certain plants
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that grow up, sometimes eventhat seems out of the rocks
themselves, and they have aflower that turns this bright
crimson red.
They're called Indianpaintbrush.
If you've ever seen them,they're some of the, to me, some
of the most spectacularcreations from as far as plant
life that I've ever seen is mymom's favorite flower, okay, but
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these are basically kind oflike weeds, here today and gone
tomorrow.
And Jesus is referring to thisspecifically in the fact that
they would cut down the fieldsand the wildflowers in the
fields and they would bundlethem together and they would use
that for fuel to cook food, tokeep warm, whatever the need was
.
And he's saying to them again,to his followers we don't have
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to stress.
Just like the lilies of thefield, don't stress.
Can you imagine if a plant out,if you could like somehow see
on the inside of the field,don't stress.
Can you imagine if a plant out,if you could like somehow see
on the inside of the plant andsee it like you know what I mean
?
That's, this is weird to thinkabout.
Flowers, don't have to do that,it just kind of happens.
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A little bit of rain, a littlebit of sunshine, a little bit of
bee work right and before long.
Beauty.
Beauty is everywhere.
So not only is it unnecessary toworry, it's also unfruitful.
Verse 27, jesus says and whichof you, by being anxious, can
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add a single hour to his span oflife?
How many of you have worriedyourself into a better scenario?
How many of you have been soanxious that you started feeling
better?
How many of you have beenoverwhelmed by fear to the point
to where you were like give meanother hour of this.
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Can we be real?
I love how practical Jesus getswith his followers.
He's not leaving anything tothe imagination.
He asked them literally can youadd an hour to your lifespan by
worrying about it?
Can you do it?
Can you make it happen?
Not only can't they obviouslyit's a rhetorical question but
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according to the NationalInstitutes of Health, the NIH,
individuals that live livescharacterized by worry and fear
and anxiety may actuallyexperience a reduced life
expectancy the exact opposite ofwhat somebody who's worrying
and trying to make themselveslive longer, to expand their
life, to have a longer lifespan.
A lot of times when you worryabout those kinds of things, you
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actually seemingly reduce thequality of life at least, and
sometimes it seems like thelength of life.
They experience a reduced lifeexpectancy, potentially by
several years.
Now, don't worry about that.
I hear you right now.
I'm worried about being worriedabout experiencing.
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Don't double worry, okay, it'slike a double negative, don't do
it.
Compared to the generalpopulation, obviously it's
vitally important that we dealwith this.
Let's deal with it.
It's unnecessary, it'sunfruitful to worry and, finally
, it is unbecoming.
Verse 31 and 32,.
Therefore, do not be anxioussaying what shall we eat or what
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shall we drink or what shall wewear, for the Gentiles seek
after all these things, and yourheavenly father knows that you
need them all.
I can't remember we were talkingabout this the other day.
I can't remember when the wordunbecoming became a part of our
family vocabulary, but it foundits way in sometime when our
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kids were younger.
What does unbecoming mean?
What does it have to do with?
How do we translate it?
We translate it as acting outof character or nature, acting
in a way that is not becomingunbecoming.
So, for example, amy and I wereat a restaurant the other day
and the table behind us had whatI suppose was a mom.
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I don't know if it was a mom ora babysitter or an aunt.
I would have thought it was agrandparent, but it wasn't.
But the kids were practicingtheir burping skills.
They'd eat a bite of pizza anddrink a soda and then they would
burp very loudly, very loudly.
And Amy and I were sittingthere trying to enjoy our meal.
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And if it had been our kids orour family, we would have said
to them Levi, no, not Levi.
Levi would never do that.
There's a couple of my kids nothere this morning.
I could pick on them.
They have good reasons.
So do we have a picturesomewhere?
Is there a picture that we have?
Oh, what is?
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that, oh my goodness.
That is Amelia Grace.
She's our brand new grandbabyand she's doing really well and
she'll be here hopefully nextweek.
So we love her very much.
Anyway, can't be anxious whenyou're looking at that, right,
what a cutie.
So we are so grateful.
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Yeah, jordan and Noel are doingwell and everybody's adjusting
and learning what it's like tobe big bro and big sis again,
and they're doing well.
So what was I talking aboutUnbecoming?
So, yeah, the burp.
Yeah, sorry, did I say burp inchurch?
I probably shouldn't haveAnother example, but anyway, you
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know, dressing inappropriately,gossiping, fighting with one
another, that's unbecoming ofthis family.
That's not how we do this, right?
Well, jesus is saying to hisfollowers it's unbecoming of you
, as my children, to worry, tobe anxious, to be fearful.
He says the Gentiles,unbelievers, do that all the
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time, but you guys don't need todo that, you don't have to do
that, you don't have to do that.
Isn't that good news?
It's great news.
So, finally, the source ofanxiety what is it?
What causes us to be anxious?
What causes us to fear?
What causes us to live in worry?
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I believe that it's a lack oftrust in Father God.
Remember I use that word therepurposefully Father God.
Jesus refers to his Father manytimes in this passage and he's
wanting to pass on to them thissort of new reality.
To them, God is not just agreat king or a great Lord or a
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great majestic one.
He is all of those things, buthe's also our father.
He's our father.
And how do we know that, jesus,that a lack of trust in father
God is a reason for anxiety?
What did he say to them?
Oh you of little faith.
Oh you of little faith.
We want to boil it down to itsvery root.
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We must acknowledge that,primarily, worry and fear come
from that fact.
It's a lack of trust in FatherGod.
The bottom line cause of it iswe don't really believe what,
that God loves us.
Let's bottom line it.
Let's bottom line it.
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If we're filled with worry andanxiety and fear and we are
believers in Jesus Christ thereis one reason, and that is
because we don't really believethat our heavenly father loves
us.
So let's do a quick littleexercise together.
Does God love Jesus, his son?
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How do we know that?
Think of some examples.
How about the fact that we knowthat he's loved him for all of
eternity?
He has loved him for all ofeternity.
They are in perfect union withone another Perfect unity.
(31:37):
Can you imagine what it musthave been like for the two of
them, and the Holy Spiritinvolved as well, to speak words
and to see the earth and all ofthe things that we experience
in our daily lives around us?
To see them come out, boom?
What a great joy that must havebeen for them, as father and
son, and with the father in hisheart wanting to create a bride
(31:59):
for his son.
That's how deep the father'slove is for Jesus.
And at his birth, not only werethere shepherds and wise men,
but, how many of you know, theskies were filled with a
heavenly choir of angels.
Because heaven couldn't containitself.
It had to express the glory andthe joy and the majesty of God,
the Son coming to this earth.
(32:21):
How about at Jesus' baptism?
Before Jesus did any mightyworks?
He comes up out of the water,heaven opens.
And what does God say?
He comes up out of the water,heaven opens.
And what does God say?
This is my beloved son, in whomI am well pleased.
And then Jesus is taken by thespirit into the wilderness to be
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tempted.
And what does God do?
He sends ministering angels tominister to Jesus, to strengthen
him, to help him.
And then, at thetransfiguration, elijah and
Moses show up and again Godspeaks out of the heavens.
This is my son, listen to him.
And we have examples at thegarden of Gethsemane I just
learned this this morning therewere angels that were sent at
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the garden of Gethsemane tominister to Jesus and his need.
And how many of you knowsemaneto minister to Jesus in his need
and how many of you know that?
God, the father, raised Jesusfrom the dead.
He experienced the resurrectionbecause of the love that the
father has for his son, and healso caused him to be ascended
into heaven.
He sat him at his right handand he's given him the name
above every other name, the nameof Jesus.
(33:30):
Does our heavenly father lovehis son, jesus?
I know what you're thinking,but that's Jesus.
He's perfect.
He never made any mistakes.
Of course his heavenly fatherloves him.
How could he not?
Of course his heavenly fatherloves him.
How could he not?
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I purposely left out part of thestory that I want to recircle
back to you see, god's fatherheart is so great that he
willingly allowed his son to benailed to a cross, the son that
he had loved throughout alleternity and had shown his great
love for him in so manypowerful ways, in ways that we,
(34:20):
as human fathers, try to emulate.
In some way we could just graspon, even to the hem of his
garment, to show our childrenand those around us what a
father's heart really is.
And yet a heavenly father wholoved his son so much laid him
on this cross.
Why Did he lose his love forhis son?
(34:44):
Or had his heart grown so muchthat he wanted more children,
that he wanted to express hislove in the most powerful of
ways, the most endearing of ways, in a way that could never be
discounted?
Who lays down their life notonly for their friend, but for
(35:07):
their enemy?
And yet that's what ourheavenly father did to Jesus.
He asked him to be sacrificedso that we could be adopted into
the family of God.
My friends, we are not orphansand we need, as believers in
(35:31):
Jesus Christ, to stop actinglike it.
I'm begging you, I'm imploringyou, stop that lie of the enemy.
Now you have been adopted, youhave been grafted in, you have
been chosen by God to be a partof his family, and he loves you
(35:54):
so much.
His love is indescribable.
And I'm going to read someverses over you.
And faith comes by hearing, andhearing by the word of God.
And as I speak these words, I'mbelieving that worry and fear
and anxiety is going to begin tocome off of each and every one
of us, that we're going to layit down once and for all and
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walk away from it.
John 3.16, and you can closeyour eyes if you want.
However, you want to absorbthese truths, for God so loved
the world that he gave his onlyson that whoever believes in him
should not perish but haveeternal life.
(36:36):
First, john 3.1.
See what great love the fatherhas lavished on us, that we
should be called children of God, and that is what we are.
The reason the world does notknow us is that it did not know
him.
Lamentations 3.22 says thesteadfast love of the Lord never
(36:59):
ceases.
His mercies never come to anend.
They are new every morning.
Great is your faithfulness.
The Lord is my portion, says mysoul.
Therefore, I will hope in him.
(37:22):
First, john chapter four says bythis is love perfected with us
so that we may have confidencefor the day of judgment, because
as he is, so also are we inthis world.
There is no fear in love, butperfect love casts out fear, for
fear has to do with punishment,and whoever fears has not been
perfected in love.
We love because he first lovedus.
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This is the gospel of JesusChrist.
This is the truth that makes usfree.
This is the love thatoverwhelms fear and anxiety and
worry, and this is the truththat we must remind ourselves
every day, because satanwhispers, whimpers and screams
(38:11):
at times to tell us that it'snot true.
The cure for anxiety, my friends, is for us to live like loved
children of God, to live like weare loved.
Verse 33 says but seek firstthe kingdom of God and his
righteousness, and all thesethings will be added to you.
(38:33):
In other words, seek first whatthe kingdom is like, what the
family is like, seek to be apart of what God's way and his
will is.
Live life the way that heexpects for it to be lived by
his grace, and all of the otherthings that we worry about, that
we're concerned about, willmelt away.
(38:53):
They'll run away from us in amillion different directions.
You and I will not be able tobe free from anxiety until we
put our faith and trust in theliving God who sent his son to
die for us.
Instead of living like orphans,we are to begin to live like
loved children of God, becausehe has adopted us and given us
(39:17):
his righteousness as a free gift.
In doing this, we will chooseto seek first his will and his
way of doing this.
Remember the prayer our fatherin heaven.
And then, a few words later, itsays your kingdom come.
Your will be done on earth asit is in heaven.
(39:39):
What does it look like to be acitizen of the kingdom?
A citizen of the kingdom truststheir father.
Jesus is our great example ofthis.
Even though he was equal withGod, he chose to humble himself
and he became obedient to hisfather's will.
We see this in GethsemaneFather, if there's any way for
(40:04):
this cup to pass from me, let itpass.
Yet not my will, but your willbe done.
Was Jesus concerned about thebeating?
Was he concerned about theblood?
Was he concerned about thecrucifixion?
Was he concerned this was goingto be the first time in all of
eternity past, present andfuture that he was going to be
(40:24):
separated for a moment in timefrom his heavenly father, and
that was what was mostunbearable to him.
That is what he needed helpwith and when we put our faith,
hope and trust in a livingsavior that did that for us,
(40:45):
that paid the price for us, thatlaid his life down for us so
that we could be free.
What greater gift can we givethan to walk in that freedom?
And Jesus concludes the thoughtby a practical application.
Jesus was a practical teacher.
(41:07):
He told his disciples to focuson one day at a time.
Therefore, do not be anxiousabout tomorrow.
He told his disciples to focuson one day at a time.
I love the fact.
It gives them an instruction onwhere to begin with
transforming their thinking.
He told them, let's just focuson today, let's focus on the
(41:31):
present, let's focus on what'sgoing on right now.
Let's focus on being tuned into my father's voice and seeing
where he's leading us andguiding us.
Let's not worry.
And how many of you know thewhat ifs?
The what if?
Questions are the ones thatcause us sometimes the greatest
consternation.
And if you go to the end ofwhat if, for example, if I had
(41:55):
died in that hospital, I knowthat my family would have been
very sad and I would not wishthat upon them, and I know that
many other people that know meand were praying for me would
have been very sad and wouldhave mourned that.
But how many of you know topass from this life to the next
as a believer is not somethingto be pitied.
To be absent from the body isto be present with the Lord.
(42:16):
So let's take it to the fullestextent.
Fear.
What are you the end result of?
Whatever?
However, this life wraps up,it's all good.
If you read the back of thebook we win, come on, we win.
(42:40):
Now here's some people sayingdoes that mean that we can't
plan for the future?
Can we not save any money?
I'm not saying that.
He's not saying that.
He's not telling us that weshouldn't think about the future
in the right ways and preparefor things to come, but he's
saying our mindset should be tolive in this moment, present
with God, with us, and then thenext moment and the next moment
(43:02):
and the next moment will come.
So I want us to finish theservice this morning in a very
unique way, and I'm going to askthat the worship team or
whoever is going to come andplay would come, and I'm going
to ask that a couple of guyscome and move the cross to the
center of the stage and as I waspraying about how to finish
(43:29):
this, I felt like the Lordencouraged me to have a
practical way that we couldrespond to this.
So, again, if you have notfilled your card out, I want you
just to take a minute now andjust you can write down a word,
you can write down a phrase, youcan write down a sentence.
You don't have to sign these.
There's not going to be, we'renot going to be reading these
(43:52):
over the microphone.
So don't be, don't be concernedabout that.
This is between you and God.
But what we're going to do herein just a minute, we're going
to pray together, god.
But what we're going to do herein just a minute, we're going to
pray together and ask the Lordto.
Can we be real?
We need to ask the Lord toforgive us for areas in our life
(44:13):
where we have, for whateverreason, not chosen to trust him,
where fear and anxiety andworry have taken the predominant
voice in our heads.
And not only do we need torepent and acknowledge that we
want to change, but we want totake a first step, an act of
(44:35):
faith.
And so we're just going to,symbolically, I'm going to ask
you as you feel comfortabledoing it.
I'm just folding my piece of.
Symbolically, I'm going to askyou as you feel comfortable
doing it.
I'm just folding my piece ofpaper here and I'm going to
bring it after we pray and I'mgoing to just lay it here at the
foot of this cross.
And we know this is just asymbolic cross, it has no power
(44:55):
in and of itself, but how manyof you know it represents God's
love toward us.
While we were yet sinners,christ died for us, and so we're
going to symbolically lay thesefears at the feet of Jesus this
(45:16):
morning and we're going to also, by faith, we're going to let
them go.
Are you ready to let them go?
Are you ready to let them go?
Are you ready to move on pastthis fear?
Are you ready to not feel thatsinking feeling in your gut, or
that tightness in your chest, orthat lump in your throat
sweating the nervousness?
(45:37):
Are you ready to let go of that?
Can I be honest, sometimes wethink that's our friend because
we've grown so accustomed to it.
I'm here to tell you thefreedom that Jesus offers us is
so much greater than any feelingthat we can get from something
(45:59):
that we're holding onto likethis because we've grown
comfortable with it, right.
And so I'm gonna ask again, justas you feel, that after we pray
together, just to come down andlay it at the feet of this
cross and symbolically laying itat the feet of Jesus and saying
, lord, I'm responding to you,I'm responding to your word.
(46:24):
I'm saying, lord, help Lord, Ibelieve, but help my unbelief.
Does that make sense?
It's a beautiful prayer thatthe Lord loves to answer.
It's a prayer of humility thatacknowledges I have a need here.
I've tried in my own strength,I've attempted to just will
myself to somehow get better inthese ways, and yet I find
(46:46):
myself still surrounded by thesevoices in my head.
Today is a day and there's beena lot of people praying about
this Today is a day of freedom,and I believe with all of my
heart that God is going to takethe words that have been spoken
and the spirit that's behind it,and he's going to create within
(47:09):
us clean hearts today and he'sgoing to renew a right spirit
within us and he's going torestore unto us the joy of our
salvation and some of thesethings that have had a hold of
us for a long time are going tofall away and it's going to be a
new day and a new beginning inJesus.
(47:32):
Are you ready for that thismorning?
So let's just take a minutebetween you and the Lord.
I'm going to lead us in aprayer, but you just talk to him
.
He's your father and, by theway, if you're here this morning
, you don't yet know Jesus.
Everything that I said thatapplied to followers of Jesus
can apply to your life too.
If you would just humbleyourself today and acknowledge
(47:55):
your need for a savior, repent,which just means to turn away
from your way of living, yourway of thought, and recognize
Jesus.
I need you, I need you to saveme, to change me I can't do it
myself and put your faith,believe in him, put your faith
(48:16):
and trust in the Jesus who diddie on this cross and just as he
said he would do, three dayslater he rose from the grave.
Call out to him right now andhe will answer you and he will
save you and your life.
Please don't think it's gonnabe perfect in man's eyes, but
(48:36):
you'll never be alone againbecause he'll always be with you
.
So let's pray together.
Father, in the name of Jesus, Ithank you for everyone that's
here and also, lord, I just feelled to pray for those who are
watching online.
And, lord, we're not just doingthis as some kind of just to
(48:58):
make a scene.
Our hearts, lord, we just wantto trust you.
We want to trust you, we knowthat you are trustworthy and yet
we find ourselves at timestrusting in everything else and
(49:20):
not putting our trust in you.
And so, Father, I ask that youwould forgive me, forgive us,
lord, god, for our inability attimes to recognize our need.
Lord, we grow comfortable withthese strange bedfellows at
times, and it's like we'reaccustomed to being afraid, to
(49:44):
living with anxiety and fear andworry.
Father, I pray that today wouldbe a new day, a day of new
beginnings.
We ask, lord, god, that as wetake a step of faith this
morning, that, as we come and welay these burdens down at the
foot of the cross representingthe sacrifice of Jesus, I pray,
(50:05):
lord, god, that this would notjust be a moment in time, but we
pray, in the name of Jesus,that the power of God and the
spirit of God would move andthat you would break walls, that
you would remove, that youwould remove burdens off of
(50:30):
people's lives and, father, wepray that you would help us to
obey the words of Scripture andto seek first your kingdom and
your righteousness, and not beworried about all the other
things, because you promise thatyou'll take good care of us.
Lord, we know that your answerto our requests, or what you see
(50:52):
as success, or what you see asvictory, are sometimes very
different from our ownperspective, and so open our
eyes, lord.
Help us to see more clearlywhen you're working, even in the
times when it seems like you'renowhere to be found.
Father, we ask for your help.
We sincerely pray these thingsin Jesus' name.
(51:17):
And now, just again, just as youfeel comfortable, just gonna
take a few solemn moments herein the presence of God and begin
to present these things beforehim.
Thank you, lord.
Father, I thank you that youdeliver us this day from every
(51:38):
fear, every form of anxiety,every form of worry, in the name
of Jesus.
Lord Jesus, we lay themsymbolically at the foot of the
cross, we lay them at Jesus'sfeet and, father, I ask in
Jesus's name for freedom.
I declare freedom over each andevery person in this room.
(52:00):
In the name of Jesus Christ, wecommand that every fear, every
form of anxiety, every form ofworry physical worries,
relationship worries, financialworries, fear of failure, fear
of All of the things, lord God,that try to hinder us and keep
(52:25):
us from trusting you Would youset us free this day In Jesus'
name.
Thank you Lord, thank you Lord,thank you Lord.
Thank you, lord.
Do you, can you do I surrenderall?
Do you know that?
One?
Okay, thank you Lord.
Thank you Lord.
Thank you, lord.
Do you, can you do I surrenderall?
Do you know that?
One?
Okay, thank you Lord.
Lord, we lay these things down.
(52:47):
We lay them down.
It's an act of faith.
Thank you, lord, god, for thefreedom that you provide.
In Jesus Christ, father, I praythat you would change our
ability to see you so that wewould see you in the way that
you love us.
Open our eyes and our hearts tothe love of God.
(53:09):
In Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Open our eyes, lord Jesus, helpus to see.
Help us to see, Father.
In Jesus name, let freedomreign.
Let freedom reign.
Let freedom reign.
Let freedom reign.
He whom the son has set free isfreed indeed thank you, lord
(53:37):
let's just sing all to Jesus andstand to our feet.
We'll finish with this song.
Let's just sing all to Jesusand stand to our feet.
We'll finish with this songThank you Jesus, thank you Lord,
thank you Father, thank youJesus, I surrender all.
(54:06):
Thank you Jesus, I surrenderall, all to Jesus, look to him,
all to thee, my blessed Savior,I surrender all.
(54:36):
Humble yourselves, therefore,under the mighty hand of God, so
that, at the proper time, hemay I surrender all.
(54:58):
Jesus, all Jesus.
I surrender all.
Thank you, lord, all to thee,my blessed Savior, I surrender
(55:23):
all.
Father, we thank you for thistime together today.
Lord, we ask in Jesus' namethat as we leave this building,
that we would not leave behindthe truth that makes us free.
We ask that you'd help us towalk now in this freedom, in
this newness of life.
We give you glory and honor andpraise, and, lord, I pray that
(55:46):
you would bless your people,that you would bless them and
keep them, cause your face toshine upon them and be gracious
to them, that you would lift upyour countenance upon them and
give them peace.
In Jesus' name, amen.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Remember this week, if thetemptation tries to come, resist
(56:13):
, resist the temptation in thename of Jesus, and it has to go.
It has to go.
We are free because Jesus hasmade us free.
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