Wholeness and Worry
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What do I want them to know? We don’t need to worry but we can trust God
Why? It leads to peace
What do I want them to do? Not worry but seek and trust
Why? It leads to peace
What do I want them to feel? Peace
ME/WE
Have you ever had a moment or day in your life that was suppose to be full of JOY and PEACE and happiness but instead it was hijacked by something and as a result a day of JOY, MOMENT of JOY was full of ANXIETY AND DOUBT....you thought this this day would be this ____ way and it is not heading this way?
What was it hijacked by?
That nasty bugger called WORRY
- WORRY SUCKED THE JOY AND LIFE OUT OF THE DAY
Worry got us focused on a future potential bad situation and therefore rob today of it’s joy
The what ifs or
What if that really bad thing happens
All of us, right? Yeah
One of the days that happen to me was on the day of my GRADUATION from SEMINARY, I had put in A LOT OF WORK, EFFORT, TIME, AND MONEY TO PURSUE WHAT I BELIEVED GOD HAD CALLED ME TO DO! MOVE ONTO THE NEXT THING,
- BUT here’s the thing I had no next thing (no job and it is not that I didn’t apply they either said NO to me or God told me to say no to them) and o you know who had next things? literally all my other classmates.
I am wondering and WORRYING about my future…they are all celebrating their future and I am worrying if I have a future in what God has called me to do??
ANYBODY been there? That you feel God has called you to do ____ but instead of JOY of the calling you feel worried about if the calling is going to come about???
We have all been worried at some point about some POTENTIAL FUTURE THING
Maybe for some of us it is not our CALLING FUTURE, I feel God wants me to do ____ but it is not happening quickly.
Or For some of us it is financially, we look at our financies PROVISION and things are not adding up, and on top of it things keep breaking down, the car, water heater, FOOD more expesnive, GAS IS MORE EXPENSIVE
Worry
This Pandemic has escalated and put gas on worries about to our health
Will I get Covid, what happens if I get Covid, I mean I watch 20 years olds never leave their house for over a year, because of fear and worry
Yes we are to be aware and concerned about Covid
WORRIED about every being married
Worried if you will ever be married, worried if anyone will ever like you.
WORRIED ABOUT THAT THING, if they like you, you are doing a good job at work
What do we do about this worry? Because it hijacks, steals our JOY, PEACE, LIFE
You never find someone who says today is great day! Full of worry!! Give me some more worry
WORRY HIJACK TODAY OF JOY
Before we look to see what Jesus says, lets define the difference between WHAT IS worry
DOES NOT WORRYING MEAN NOT CARING?? NO
BOB MARLEY SONG, DON’T WORRY BE HAPPY EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT
NO NOT WORRYING DOES NOT MEAN NOT CARING OR BEING CONCERNED ABOUT SOMETHING
Worry is concern or CARING about something gone haywire, on steriods, worry is unhealht concern about something.
If we have a health issue, a bump, a lump, a odd symptom we don’t go “oh well, I am not going to concerned or care about that”
after we get the results we trust the LORD
Or if our bank account is in the negative and we have no money coming in, “we don’t say oh well, don’t worry”
Praying and working
When we worry it consumes us
When we worry it keeps us up at night
When we worry JOY is absent from our life
When we worry we have more ANGRY and BITTERNESS
God says we are to care about certain things
HOW DO WE GET RID OF WORRY???
What Jesus is going to show us, how to get rid of worry is to move to complete trust.
TO MOVE AWAY FROM WORRY WE MOVE TO TRUST OF GOD
Our correlation from worry to trust in God hand in hand
WORRY REVEALS TO US WE ARE NOT IN CONTROL, BUT THE GOD NEWS IS WE HAVE
- I like and don’t like because it is true and convicting at times and so good. Worry is not believing God will get it right, and bitterness is believing God got it wrong. - Tim Keller
How many of us been through or seen someone go through a very difficult season, hugely difficult season and yet they have JOY, you are like WHAT!?! HOW!?! or that was you
You say it was all God and God said over and over TRUST ME
but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
I don’t know how this turns out, BUT I KNOW YOU HOLD THE FUTURE.
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
for we walk by faith, not by sight.
TENSION
HOW DO I MOVE TO FROM WORRY TO TRUST??
That’s the medicine
GOD
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light,
but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
JESUS SAYS TO US DO NOT LET MONEY BE YOUR MASTER, IT IS A BAD INVESTMENT, IT IS DESTORYED, FADES AWAY, IS GONE,
BUT INSTEAD SERVE AND TRUST GOD TO BE YOUR PROVIDER
What Jesus is saying is I am the one who is going to take care of you, not money, I am your provider, I know your needs, and so does the Father.
Jesus says you can either serve God or money.
either God is going to sovereign over your life or money, you chose
God says do not lay up treasures on earth, but treasures in heaven
THIS ONES FADES, THIS ONE LASTS FOREVER AND IS BETTER
IN LIGHT OF THAT JESUS SAYS
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
(because God is our provider, a Good Good Father)
(5 times Jesus says do not be anxious)
Eat, drink
Body, clothes
Jesus says to the group the crowd a
He is saying this to a group of OPPRESSED people who literally meant the Lord’s prayer give us our day our daily bread.
HE just said bread for God to give us our daily bread in the Lord’s prayer
For most of us is not the question if we will eat, but what we will eat, and open the fridge and see a lot of food and what do we say? There is nothing to eat around here. We have been so provided for...this group of people had bare cupboards and no refrigerators
Don’t worry about your provisions
Look how much God has provided for you
Not only that clothes was a big deal, not for looks, for need for protection from the elements.
For most us it is not if we have clothes to wear, but what we will wear, and sometimes we see say I have nothing good to wear and many of us we could go a whole month and not wear the same cloths.
JESUS SAYS A SIMILAR THING TO US DO NOT WORRY ABOUT YOUR PROVISIONS, don’t worry my child
I provide for my children
Is that all Jesus says, child don’t worry???
THAT’S IT RIGHT?, THE END
No, God is good He shows us why we shouldn’t worry
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
Look at the birds: they do not sow nor reap but your father feeds them.
- but every day God provides for them, every day there is food and shelther for them.
- God is providing for them, it is God’s providence.
- Are they lazy? No, if you watch birds they are workers.
- God is not saying be lazy, no work hard, and I will take care of the rest.
- Jesus is also saying look at the birds I take care of them and you are much more valuable than them. I will take care of you. I know your needs. I am your perfect Father who has, will, and does take care of you.
And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
YOU DON’T HAVE TO WORRY
Then Jesus continues
And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
What value does worrying add? None, it is a devalue, it takes away things such as JOY, PEACE, GOODNESS
The great literally says here, “Quit torturing yourself.”
How many of us have wasted countless hours wasting time worrying?
- How many of us look back and say why did I worry about ____?
Or worry about things that never happened
This thing is so going to happen
I am going to get fired, lose my marriage, lose my house, be homeless, broke, and friendless
I know 100% it is going to happen
How many of us have had meetings with our boss and we thought it is over, they are going to fire me, but instead it is a raise?
Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.
It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.
Jesus says you do not need to worry, I AM YOUR PROVIDER
Then Jesus continues with another reason why we are not to worry
And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,
yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
Jesus gives another illustration. He says look at the lilies of the field, look how beautiful they are, they do not spin nor toil yet Solomon the wealthiest man in all the Bible is not arrayed like one of these and the grass of the field is here today and tomorrow thrown into the fire. The grass was thrown into the fire everyday for them to make daily bread.
- Jesus is saying if I spend this kind of care on what is alive today and gone tomorrow how much more care do I place upon you?
o If God cares about grass which is here today and gone tomorrow how much more does he care about you? Infinitely more. Infinitely more. You are His child.
O PETE OF LITTEL FAITH
Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
God says to us we as His children do not need to WORRY, your heavenly Father knows your needs and concerns and cares.
He knows them and promises to take care of them.
Continue to work, I got it, continue to follow the path.
Do you know why we WORRY, WHY I WORRY, because under neither this label of worry is a, is I moved my trust in God to trust in myself, people, processions, money, anything else besides God.
This is unstable ground, this is shaky ground, this is worry ground
There is guarantee that we will always worry if we put our trust in anything but God.
God says don’t trust those things, TRUST ME
· I love what Martin Luther says to Phillip Melanchton a friend of Luthers who was worried and full of anxiety, Luther doesn’t say to Phillips, “Buck up, Stop worrying” he instead said “Let Philipp cease to be Lord of Philips life. This is why you are worried, you are trying to be ruler of your life. Let Philipp cease to be Lord of our Life.
God says the same thing to us, cease to be Lord of your life and worry will go away.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Jesus seek first the kingdom of God, I will provide for you, what an AMAZING THING OUR ABBA SAYS
Just seek me and I will provide for you
Jesus says
Is this what He has always done for us?
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Remebering Rocks
casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
Let God take it
do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
And if you are still struggling share with a friend
I remember early on in my life when I met with my friend and accountability partner ANTHONY, we would ask each other questions, one the things I struggled with the most was doubt, I was doubting God would provide a wife for me, doubting that I would do good at my job
Confess it to him and he pray for me and what happened was healing
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
Share you struggles and anxieties with God give it to HIM, share it with other believers, TRUST HIM to be YOUR GOOD GOOD ABBA
Where are you at today? What are you worrying about? God says give it to him, TRUST HIM, He’s Got it
REJOICE THAT GOD’s GOD IT