01 - Winning the War Against Worry

Text: “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?” – Matthew 6:25, NASB

Theme: Jesus has given us genuine wisdom about how we can win the war against worry.

Intro: How can you overcome worry and anxiety about life? Today, we begin a new series. We’ve been focusing on healing and how Yahweh is your healer. Now, we will start to fade out of our emphasis on healing and into the truth that Yahweh is our provider (Yahweh Yireh, Yahweh Provides). But the two are connected. Worrying about provision steals our health and life, leaving us sick both mentally and physically. Modern scientific studies have shown the correlation between negative stress and reduced life span. However, this is also an ancient thought. The Sirach, written between the Old and New Testament times, states, “Jealousy and anger shorten life, and anxiety brings on old age too soon” (Sir. 30:24). The good news is Jesus gave his disciples wisdom about how they could live a worry-free life. This doesn’t mean you won’t experience worry (worry is a part of life), but if you listen to Jesus, you won’t be caught in the web of worry or sucked into its black hole. So how can you war against worry and win?

1) S - Store (Matt 5:19-24).

Today, my three points spell SOS, the international distress signal – a call for help.

Have you seen the old Berlitz language advertisement?

“My ship is sinking?” - Play Clip

Do you know what SOS stands for?

In Morse Code its … - - - …

Some say it’s “Save Our Ship.” Others say it’s “Save Our Soul.”

But according to Reader’s Digest, originally, it was none of these things. The Germans developed it in 1905 to be a simple and unconfusing way to call for help. SOS is symmetrical and can’t be confused with something else.

SOS is both a palindrome and an ambigram, which means you can read it both backwards and forwards, as well as upside down and right side up.

God also hears our calls of SOS. That’s one of the aspects of prayer: calling for help.

Listen to Philippians 4:6-7

Philippians 4:6–7 NASB95

Be anxious for nothing, 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 comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Let the feelings of worry and anxiety be a trigger for you to pray and thank God.

So what does my acronym for SOS stand for?

Well, it’s based on three main things Jesus taught us about overcoming worry in Matthew 6:19-34.

First, store. Second, observe. Third, seek.

So let’s briefly talk about storing (Matt. 6:19-24).

Matthew 6:19–24 NASB95

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, 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 that is 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 one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

To overcome worry, we need a fundamental shift in how we view life.

Your focus needs to be off this life and directed toward the life to come.

Shift your vision from earth and its stuff, which is passing away, toward heaven, which is eternal.

What you’re living for should be the unshakeable Kingdom.

A disciple of Jesus has a single, undistracted eye toward God and his Kingdom. There’s a simplicity about their life––they live for eternity, not the treasures of this world (Matt. 6:19-24).

A disciple stores treasures in heaven.

They live to sow by the Spirit.

2) O - Observe (Matt. 6:25-30).

Jesus calls his disciples to observe the birds and the fields.

Matthew 6:25–30 NASB95

“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? “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? “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? “And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. “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!

God provides for them even though they don’t work.

This is not a call to laziness because God wants us to all work and be productive.

Instead, Jesus is teaching us that Yahweh is a provider. Even if we work or give, it’s because Yahweh first provided for us.

The word ‘PROVIDER’ has a biblical meaning.

‘Provider’ is made of two parts: ‘Pro’ and ‘Videre,’ and it comes to us from Latin, providere (pro - vee - DE - rey)

‘Pro’ means ‘ahead’ or ‘for.’

‘Videre’ means ‘see.’

In other words, God sees after you.

If you live for his eternal Kingdom, he sees after your success.

You are much more valuable than the birds and fields. So if he looks after them – and he does – he will look after you.

Getting out in nature is a good cure for worry. Why? Because you are seeing God’s handiwork.

I want to end with a story on Provision. Next week, we will discuss the third point in SOS, SEEK.

I haven’t shared this story yet. It happened about six months ago, and I was waiting for it to be tested and sure before sharing it.

In October, things were looking scary for our church, Bible School, and personal finances.

I even messaged one of my closest friends, Koro and Tiqvah, who live in Israel. I wanted to reach out to someone outside for prayer. I said something like this, “Please pray. If God doesn’t come through, it looks like we’re going to go bankrupt.”

A few days later, I was sitting at my desk in my office (working away), and the postman slipped a letter under my door. That was unusual because it usually goes in our PO BOX.

But the letter wasn’t good news. Basically, it said, “If you don’t submit this BAS statement, we will take legal action, and you're in danger of large fines.”

I was late because of COVID issues. But now, my grace period ran out.

God gave me amazing grace to finish the bookkeeping, and I submitted the late BAS.

I was expecting a massive fine for a two-year-old BAS, but instead, our organisation got a large cash bonus.

The letter that I thought would shut us down helped us access all the money we were owed.

Of course, the government didn’t have to give it to us because we were late.

Even though it felt surreal, I had this deep sense that Yahweh was looking after us, and he knew I wasn’t going to be checking the PO BOX anytime soon, so it came under the door.

Then, moreover, God put it on a few people’s hearts to give to ourselves and the ministry.

In all, the provision (from government and givers) came out to around $30,000. This provision helped us to survive up to this point.

I’m telling this story to remind myself what God did because we are in another challenging situation.

As you know, the last three years have been very challenging for our church and many churches worldwide. And to top it all off, our whole meeting place was flooded.

Yet, I want to go on record to say that God provides. I don’t know precisely how, and I don’t know exactly when, but God will provide.

3) S - SEEK (Matthew 6:31-34)

To be continued…

Conclusion: Jesus has taught us to war against worry by 1) Storing our treasures in heaven, 2) Observing his provision in creation, and 3) Seeking his Kingdom first.

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