Just Do Your FAITH

11-24-2019

You Worry because you don’t practice

You worry because you don’t fast

You don’t fast because you don’t exercise your faith

Welcome

Some of you might read that title and think no I do a great job of practicing my worry, in fact I am thinking of turning pro this next month

This morning we will continue with the Sermon on the Mount

This morning we will talk about fasting and worrying

Those should go hand it hand together right

This morning we will see how fasting and the other disciplines we have talked about should keep us from worrying but we worry because church we don’t practice our faith

Nike Said it best Just Do It

Church we are to be practicing and just doing our faith

That is what Jesus is saying throughout this entire sermon that you and I are to be practicing the disciplines of walking with Jesus

Reading our Bibles, Prayer, giving, working together, loving each other and notice today we come to fasting

Yes church you and I should be fasting I believe

And that is a statement because I will be honest with you I haven’t been regularly fasting

Matthew 6:16–18 NASB95

16 “Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 17 “But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face 18 so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

Jesus is again telling those people that if you are fasting so people notice you then again you are doing it wrong

Church the message to use is the same

If you and I are fasting so that people notice you and I then we are doing it wrong

But rather fasting is something done in secret between you and God

At it core fasting is to stop something and fill that time with God

So for instance if you are going to fast from food, the time you would spend eating you would actually spend with Jesus

Because you have a personal relationship with Jesus fasting is between you and God

Most of us will sit here and agree that yes we need to be reading our bible and yes we need to be praying and giving and loving and yes we even need to be serving

But fasting come on, I can’t do that because its hard

You know why its hard right because we don’t practice at it

We don’t exercise our faith muscles!

Fasting is done to clear you mind and spend it with Jesus growing as you do!

Jesus fasted, and if we are to be Christ like then church we are to fast!

And church maybe its not a food thing, maybe church it is a media fast, or a technology fast

Church I am going to issue you a challenge to fast, I will let you and God determine what and for how long

Understand though church you are not fasting to be a better person, but you are fasting to grow your relationship with Christ, to look more like him and less like yourselves

I told you this morning we were going to tie worry to fasting

I believe Jesus does that as he moves into the next verses

Jesus jumps right into worry because Church I believe that this is part of flexing our faith muscles, this is part of using our faith muscles

When we use our faith muscles if we have exercised them then we don’t worry so much

Matthew 6:19–21 NASB95

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Jesus immediately starts off with Stop focusing on the things of this world

Stop focusing on the things of this world Church

Stop focusing on the things of this world Jeremy

Most of you know that I struggle with worry

I don’t like it

But when I worry I have stopped focusing on Jesus and started focusing on the world and the problems and the situation

Matthew 6:21–24 NASB95

21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. 23 “But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! 24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

When you are clear you are focusing on Jesus and the light is in your

But when you are focusing on the world or the current situation then there is darkness

Again I believe Jesus is challenging us to not focus so much on the problem

We have heard the saying stop telling Jesus how big your problem is and start telling your problem how big your Jesus is

Stop focusing so much on the current situation

And if you are like me you will make a list of your worries and because you are like me you will dwell on those which only adds more worry so stop it

But then you begin to justify those thoughts and those worries and before you know it

You are in darkness because you have drifted so far from God by dwelling on those problems

Jesus continues with a simple statement that you can not continue to live like that

You can focus on the world and focus on Jesus

You can’t have two masters!

Again Jesus has already begun with the worry case

Stop working so much for the world and work for eternity

Matthew 6:25 NASB95

25 “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

Jesus tells those sitting on the side of the mountain that he just told them life is more than this world has to offer

Church lets be honest if this world is it, if what this world has offered you is it, lets be real honest this morning church some of us got gibbed

But church Jesus is telling them that this world is not the end all

There is more to life than how big your bank account can be

There is more to life then the next big toy or the next new phone

There is more to life then the next meal or how full your pantries are at home

My wife and probably some of you will come to me afterwards and tell me to listen to this sermon on Wednesday

Church Jesus Himself is telling the people listening and you and I that Life is so much more than anything this world can offer

Matthew 6:26–30 NASB95

26 “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27 “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? 28 “And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, 29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 30 “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!

See church life is so much more than what you can eat, or what you can store up for yourselves this side of heaven

Jesus shows the people that God will meet their needs because He meets the birds needs

Jesus also says that we have beautiful grass, actually the desktop screen on my computer is a picture of a side of a hill or mountain and just the grass

Jesus says you think that is beautiful and the grass is here today and gone to tomorrow

One thing you need to understand is that you are more important to the God of the universe than birds, and than grass

You are his prized creation

Notice in Jesus didn’t die for the animals or the grass and trees but rather He chose to die for you and me because He loves us that much

You and I are more important than the animals and the grass and we see how well they are taken care of

Matthew 6:31–34 NASB95

31 “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ 32 “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Because we are more important to Jesus because we are loved by Him

We are to not worry because He will take of those things

It would make sense that the creator knows what the creation needs right?

Instead of worrying about the things of this world and the many many struggles we encounter rather Jesus says seek ME

Seek Me and everything I am and you will be taken care of

Church Jesus is calling us to a life of not worrying and that is done by practicing our disciplines

Church we worry because we don’t trust Jesus because we haven’t spent time with him through prayer, through reading, through giving, through loving others, and dare I say it church through fasting

You worry because you don’t fast

You don’t fast because you don’t exercise your faith

And maybe you don’t practice your faith because you don’t understand the love of Jesus

AS THE BAND COMES UP

Maybe thats you

Maybe you are here today and do not have a personal relationship with Jesus because you don’t know

We want to invite you to the front in just a minute where we can sit and talk with you and share with you that Jesus loves you

Jesus loves you so much that He chose to die on a cross for your sin to give you and I the opportunity to have a personal relationship with God the Father!

Or maybe you are here today and you have a personal relationship with Jesus but you worry

The answer for worry is found in Jesus and only Jesus

The altar is open