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[0:00] Turn in your Bible to Matthew chapter 6, verses 25-34 will be our text this morning.

[0:22] ! If you don't own a Bible, there are Bibles in the pews for you to use. And please take that Bible home today as a gift from our church to you in our hopes that you'll continue to be reading God's Word. Again, Matthew chapter 6, verses 25-34, as Jesus continues preaching His Sermon on the Mount, focusing here on the topic of anxiety. Would you please stand with me as we honor the reading of God's Word together?

[0:56] 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?

[1:13] 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 of not more value than they? And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life? 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?

[2:00] 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.

[2:17] 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.

[2:34] Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. May God add a blessing to the reading of His Word. Would you please be seated? Five years ago this month, I began working on my doctoral degree. For five years, I have taken classes, read books, researched, and I've written a lot. All in preparation to get to this point, this sermon, the last of ten sermons, which completes my dissertation project.

[3:19] Now, I chose to preach this portion of Jesus' sermon on the mount for a few reasons, but when I mapped out the text that I would preach and the dates that I would preach them, I didn't pay much attention to the fact that this last sermon would focus on Jesus' teaching about anxiety and worry. As I studied these verses this week, I have seen both God's providence in arriving at this text when I have, and the Holy Spirit's convicting work on my heart.

[4:00] Nobody knows this better than my wife, Danny. Before each seminar, before each paper that I've turned in and presented, before each chapter of my dissertation that I've submitted, she's heard me express my anxious thoughts.

[4:27] Jesus, this paper is terrible. I'm not smart enough. This is too hard. I won't finish.

[4:38] I want to quit. I'm going to quit. Why did I decide to do this? Jesus' words have convicted me this week about my past anxious attitude and my anxiety about the things that I still need to do.

[4:58] I still have two more chapters to write, which will need to be edited and then bound and then defended. And I share all this with you this morning because I want you to know that I'm not just preaching to you.

[5:13] I'm preaching to myself. I've read these words of Jesus numerous times, but this past week, the Holy Spirit has helped me to see them and understand them in a deeper way.

[5:31] There's been conviction, but there's been encouragement. And I've prayed that today the Holy Spirit will do the same for you.

[5:44] Because I'm sure that there is something this morning that is making you feel anxious.

[5:55] Maybe you're anxious about work. Tomorrow you'll face a boss, a co-worker, maybe if you're a teacher, a student, a project, or something that is making you feel anxious.

[6:15] Maybe you're anxious about keeping the job that you have and surviving another round of layoffs. Maybe you're anxious about your home.

[6:26] Something is broken or is breaking. Bills are due. Family members are fighting. Maybe you're anxious about your kids who seem to be growing up too fast.

[6:40] And you're anxious about their future and the time that you have left with them in your house. Or maybe you're anxious about the fact that maybe they won't ever really grow up. They'll be adults.

[6:52] Still acting like kids because of their over-dependence on you. Some of you students might be anxious about school. A homework assignment.

[7:05] Or all the homework that you have. Tests. Grades. Relationships. Making the team. Getting playing time. Performing well in the next concert.

[7:18] Trying to fit in. Some of you are anxious about your health. Sometimes we imagine we're sick. And we self-diagnose our symptoms on the internet.

[7:33] Making us anxious for nothing. Because you're not really sick. But in your mind you've played out the worst case scenario that whatever you think you have you're going to die from.

[7:46] Some of you have real health concerns. And as you wait for test results and for maybe a procedure or a surgery. You can't help but feeling anxious what the results will show.

[8:03] Or if the procedure will work. Your loved ones share your concerns. And they're anxious too. It's hard not to be.

[8:15] But when we get anxious. For whatever reason. We often play out the worst case scenario in our minds.

[8:26] Don't we? And we think that that will prepare us to face the future. But instead we live in the present. As if that worst thing that could happen.

[8:37] Is what's going to happen. Proverbs 12.25 says. Friends. Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down.

[8:49] But a good word makes him feel glad. Friends. Jesus. The word of God. Has a good word for you today.

[9:00] It will be convicting. But it will also be uplifting. In today's passage. Jesus gives us a command. He gives us a sharp rebuke.

[9:11] Several. That will sting. But he also provides the solution. The ointment. That will soothe our troubled hearts.

[9:22] That will ease our worried minds. And that will give rest to our anxious souls. And so the main idea from this text.

[9:33] And for our sermon. Is simply this. Jesus commands us to stop being anxious. He commands us to stop being anxious.

[9:45] Christian anxiety and worry are spiritual thieves that rob you of joy, peace, sleep, and a thousand other things.

[9:56] Jesus does not want you to be robbed of the joy of your salvation. He doesn't want you to waste your life, your existence being anxious about keeping or acquiring earthly things.

[10:17] His earthly treasures. But to seek him. And to be at peace. Because he's the prince of peace. Not the prince of anxiety.

[10:28] In John 14, 27. Jesus says to his disciples who are anxious about the fact that he's telling them that he's soon going to die. He says, peace I leave with you.

[10:40] My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled. Neither let them be afraid.

[10:53] Christian understand that Jesus has saved you from the worst thing that could ever happen to you. To die for your sins.

[11:04] In your place. That you would have eternal life. He knows you.

[11:15] He knows right now what is making you anxious. He knows your troubles. But in him you don't face troubles alone.

[11:29] Jesus doesn't give commands that he doesn't enable us to obey. But you must choose to believe what he says here.

[11:41] And obey his instruction. Are you obeying your anxious thoughts? And believing and trusting more in them than Jesus Christ.

[11:55] Your Lord and Savior. In John 16.33. Jesus makes the promise to us.

[12:09] That he will never leave us or forsake us. He said, I say these things to you that in me you may have peace. Now look at what he says next. In the world you will have tribulation.

[12:21] You will have things that will cause you to feel anxious and worried. But take heart. I have overcome the world. And so Christian Jesus commands you to stop worrying today.

[12:35] And he gives you in our text this morning good reasons why you should stop. If you don't know Jesus. If you aren't saved.

[12:49] Then friend you should be anxious. Jesus. In Matthew 10.28. Jesus says, And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.

[13:02] Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Jesus in his love for you. Jesus in his love for you.

[13:14] Has brought you here to hear this truth. And be rescued from the reality that awaits you. If you continue to reject him. I couldn't imagine.

[13:28] Living in this world without knowing Jesus. Without knowing his salvation. I would be an anxious mess. And it's no wonder.

[13:41] That the more our society has pushed Jesus out of the public sphere. The more anxious we as a nation have become. And what's crazy about this is that we.

[13:55] Have more of life's necessities than any other people in the world. Yet as a nation. We are the most anxious people in the world.

[14:09] Saint Augustine said our hearts are restless. Until they find rest in you. Oh Lord. And so friend I hope and I pray.

[14:20] And I prayed for you. That you will find rest. For your anxious heart. Through faith in Jesus Christ.

[14:31] And I hope today is the day of salvation for you. And again Jesus commands us all to stop being anxious.

[14:45] And as we go through these verses. We'll see four reasons why you and I should stop being anxious.

[14:56] The first reason comes from verse 25. Being anxious is untrusting. Jesus begins this teaching on anxiety with the word therefore.

[15:09] And whenever we see the word therefore in the Bible. We need to stop and we need to ask what is that therefore? Therefore. In the Bible the word therefore connects what has been said.

[15:23] To what is about to be said. In this case what came before this therefore. Which Jesus is teaching about storing up treasures in heaven. And not on earth.

[15:35] This therefore in verse 25 connects to what Jesus just said in verse 24. About our not being able to serve two masters. He said you cannot serve God and money.

[15:49] If you are a Christian then God is your master. Jesus is making the point that if God is truly your master. Your Lord.

[16:00] The one whom you serve and the one whom you trust. Then you should not be anxious. So he says therefore I tell you do not be anxious. Now in the Greek do not be anxious appears as something Greek scholars call a negated present imperative.

[16:19] An imperative in the Greek is a command. A negated imperative says cease doing that.

[16:31] So an imperative is a command that says don't do that. A negated imperative command says cease doing that. A negated imperative excuse me.

[16:43] For example I don't want to confuse you here. For an example I think that I am. For an example a parent might tell their kid before they go to bed. Don't eat candy because you'll be up all night.

[16:56] That would be an imperative. Now a negated imperative would be something like this. A parent walks into their child's bedroom and sees that they have a candy bar in their hand and they've taken a bite out of it.

[17:09] And they say stop doing that right now. And give me that candy bar. A negated imperative is used when the person issuing the command knows that the person who's receiving the command is guilty.

[17:24] Jesus is saying in other words here. I know that you all are guilty of being anxious.

[17:37] In the rest of verse 25 Jesus reveals that he knows what they're anxious about. And he tells them that what they are anxious about communicates an untrusting attitude towards God.

[17:54] Jesus' Jewish audience said that they trusted God. But he knew that their anxious thoughts betrayed their words.

[18:07] So Jesus says do not be anxious about your life. Life in the Greek is psuche. A word that refers to a soul.

[18:18] The soul. And what I think Jesus is doing here is taking his audience back to the beginning. In Genesis. If you remember God formed Adam out of the dirt.

[18:30] And then he breathed life into his body. The body is a vessel that contains life. Without the soul it is an empty shell.

[18:44] Not only did God give Adam's body life. He sustained his life by giving him all the necessities that his body needed. Food and drink.

[18:55] And later clothing. After Adam and Eve sinned. This is important to better understand the rest of what Jesus says in verse 25.

[19:08] He says don't be worried 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.

[19:19] And the body more than clothing. And so what Jesus is doing here is he's using a greater to lesser argument. He's saying in effect. If God can create a body out of the dirt and give it life.

[19:34] That's the greater. You as a person. You can't form anything out of the dirt and breathe life into it. All you're going to do is make a mess of yourself. Only God can do that.

[19:46] That's the greater. And now Jesus says so if God can do that. Don't you think that he also has the ability to sustain the life that he has given to the body he's created.

[20:01] That's the lesser. If you remember in Exodus. God delivered his people. The ancestors of the Jews who were listening to Jesus as he preached the sermon.

[20:14] He rescued them from their slavery in Egypt. God delivered them through great plagues. And great miracles. Remember he parted the Red Sea so that they could walk through.

[20:27] Passed through as on dry ground and then closed up the sea on their Egyptian pursuers. That's pretty awesome. But it's not long after that event that the Jews whom God miraculously saved began to grumble.

[20:49] And what did they grumble about? We're hungry. We're hungry. Look at what they say in Exodus 16, 2 through 3. And the whole congregation, all of them, all these people who had been miraculously saved, the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.

[21:13] And the people of Israel said to them, Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full.

[21:26] For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. And how did God respond? Well, in his grace and his love, he rained down manna from heaven.

[21:41] This substance that the Jews would collect from the ground and use to make bread. Now, God didn't give them all the manna they needed on Sunday to last throughout the rest of the week.

[21:52] He gave them enough for each day, except for on Friday where he gave them twice as much, so they didn't have to work on Saturday and they could worship him instead.

[22:02] And even still, they grumbled. And they were anxious instead of trusting in God.

[22:14] The Jews had a history of being anxious about life's necessities. But here's something I want you to think about.

[22:26] The people living in Jesus' day, they didn't have access to the necessities that we have. They didn't have the ability to store and preserve food and water like we do.

[22:44] Every day, they had to make their food for the day. They had to go and get water from the well. And they probably had to sew holes in the one outfit that they had to wear.

[22:57] So imagine if one of those Jews worried about drought and famine and depleted resources and patchy clothing was transported to our time and into your house.

[23:11] Imagine them seeing faucets, which seem to give an instant supply of water.

[23:25] They look into your pantries and they see food for more than one day. They look in your closets and they see clothes, mini clothes.

[23:37] Clothes that you probably haven't wore in a really long time. And they'd probably think, what do these people have to worry about? Now, if you, just as a side note, if you don't have those things, if you're going through a hard time, please come and find me after church.

[23:59] We can help you. We want to help you. Don't be afraid or don't be ashamed to ask. We're here to serve you. The bottom line, though, at this point is this.

[24:17] Being anxious about life's necessities communicates that you don't trust God. That you don't trust that the God who created you has the ability to sustain you.

[24:34] Now, prices for necessities are up. They're way up. And we feel that in our bank accounts.

[24:46] And we're concerned about this upcoming election. And we hope that things will change. But understand this. No matter who is in office here, the Lord reigns in heaven forever.

[25:03] And God wants you to trust him. And stop being anxious. In verse 26 through 30, Jesus gives the second reason that you should stop being anxious.

[25:18] Because being anxious is unnecessary. Being anxious is unnecessary. It's untrustful. It's untrusting. It's unnecessary. In verse 26, Jesus says, Look at the birds of the air.

[25:33] They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns. And yet your heavenly Father feeds them. And so here what Jesus is doing is he is literally commanding his audience to look away from him.

[25:48] And to look to the birds that were around them. And they may have just flown by. They may have been perched somewhere near. And he commands their attention. Look at the birds.

[25:59] And he uses them as an object lesson. Because you know what? Birds don't farm. Birds don't plow fields. Birds eat seed, but they don't scatter seed.

[26:13] They don't grow crops. They don't build barns. Birds. Yet God has created an abundance of food sources for birds.

[26:24] And he's given them the instinct to know where to find those things. Yes, birds have some work to do to feed themselves. But Jesus uses birds as an illustration to make an application, which he does through a rhetorical question.

[26:43] In verse 26, he says, or he asks, Are you not of more value than they? Now the word value can be translated as different.

[26:56] Birds and people are different. They are very different. Birds were not created in God's image.

[27:06] Birds are not recreated in Jesus' image. God did not promise birds that they would one day reign eternally with him in heaven.

[27:18] Jesus did not promise birds that he was going to go and die and prepare really nice birdhouses for them in heaven one day. He promised that to his disciples.

[27:32] He promised that to us. And so again, Jesus is using a lesser to greater argument here. If God gives life and sustains the life of birds, will he not take greater care of his children, whom he's made in his image, and who he's made to be recipients of all of his promises?

[27:59] In verse 27, Jesus gives more application by asking another rhetorical question. And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life?

[28:15] He's saying being anxious is not a good use of time. In fact, it's a waste of time because it adds nothing to your life. You can worry yourself to death, but you cannot worry yourself to life.

[28:32] Dr. Charles Mayo of the famous Mayo Clinic said, worry affects the circulation, the heart, the glands, and the whole nervous system.

[28:43] I have never met or known a man to die of overwork, but I have known a lot who died of worry. The Bible says that God has preordained the length of our days.

[29:03] Psalm 139, 16, David says, your eyes saw my unformed substance. In your book were written every one of them, the days that were formed for me when as yet there was none of them.

[29:21] Job declares in Job 14, 5, since his days are determined, speaking of humanity, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass.

[29:36] James says in chapter 4, verses 13 through 15, come now, you who say today or tomorrow we will go into such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit, yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring.

[29:55] What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.

[30:10] We are to make wise decisions about how we live our lives. We ought to take good care of our bodies, but ultimately, we have to trust in God, in his sovereignty, in his control of all things.

[30:32] Jesus continues with more rhetorical questions in verse 28. He says, and why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin.

[30:44] In other words, they don't plant themselves. They don't cause themselves to grow. They don't spin thread to make fashionable clothes for themselves. Jesus said, yet I tell you, Solomon, the richest man in Jewish history, was not arrayed like one of them.

[31:00] But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven to bake bread, will he not much more clothe you?

[31:14] Again, these people only had maybe one or two sets of clothing. If Jesus told them not to worry about their clothing, what would he say to you today?

[31:30] Because we care a lot about fashion, and we care a lot about being trendy. And some of you are worried about being in style.

[31:45] I remember when I was a middle schooler, I was anxious about being in style. And what was in style in my middle school was to dress like a skater, a skateboarder, which meant that you wore really baggy clothes, really baggy pants, and shirts, and shoes that were expensive named brands that I don't think even exist anymore.

[32:17] But I felt like I had to have them, or I'd be teased, or I wouldn't be accepted if I didn't. Don't be anxious about clothes and about trends.

[32:33] Because, especially for your students, that shirt that you feel like you have to have, those shoes that you feel like you have to have, that expensive pair of jeans that you think, I just can't live life without that.

[32:48] Those clothes that you're so desperate and anxious to wear, in the future, your kids are going to see pictures of you wearing those things, and they're going to make fun of you. Stop being anxious about what other people think of you, or say about you, or wasting your time trying to earn their acceptance of you.

[33:18] Because, ultimately, you will stand before Jesus, not any of them. It's not a sin to have nice things, or to want to dress nice, but it is a sin to worry about those things, and look to those things for your identity.

[33:40] Don't allow possessions to possess you. They can't give you what Jesus can. Now, listen to what Jesus says about people who are anxious about all of these things that he's mentioned.

[33:54] He says to them, he rebukes them, oh, you of little faith. Worry diminishes faith.

[34:08] Matthew records Jesus, Jesus using that phrase four times in his gospel. Each time, Jesus said it to his disciples when they were anxious, even though he was right by their side or he was nearby.

[34:27] Do you trust Jesus? Jesus doesn't say that they're faithless, but that their faith is small.

[34:43] Is your faith small? Would Jesus say to you today, oh, you of little faith.

[34:56] faith. You know, I think some of the most anxious times are Sunday night and Monday morning. Would Jesus in those moments as you're contemplating your week or the beginning of your week say, come on, oh, you of little faith, trust in me.

[35:17] Now, the third reason why we should not or stop being anxious is that being anxious is unchristian. It's untrusting. It's unnecessary. It's unchristian.

[35:28] Verse 31 through 32, again, Jesus says, 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.

[35:41] Being anxious makes us untrusting of God and it's an unnecessary waste of time. Worry does not change your circumstances and it doesn't make you feel better.

[35:53] Jesus adds to that by saying that when we are anxious, we act like unbelievers. We act like Gentiles, a word that was used to describe everyone who is not a Jew, but here in this context, Jesus uses it to refer to pagan unbelievers.

[36:10] Not only does being anxious reveal little faith, but it also reveals a misplaced faith. Those who follow Jesus shouldn't worry because their father knows what they need already.

[36:23] To worry is to doubt that God is either able to provide for you or doubt that he knows what you need or doubt that he cares whether you live or die.

[36:34] To be worried, to be anxious, is to make a theological statement. we act when we're anxious as if God doesn't exist.

[36:46] That's atheism. We act when we're anxious as if God exists but he doesn't care. That's deism. Or we act as if God exists and God might care but he's too small.

[37:01] He doesn't have the power to do anything about it. That's finite theism. When you as a believer are anxious, worried, stressed, or tense, you communicate that Jesus hasn't really changed anything about your life.

[37:21] Being an anxious Christian communicates to non-Christians that there is really no advantage to knowing Jesus. Have you ever thought about that?

[37:33] That truth stung me this week. When I worry, when I doubt my heavenly father, I act as if I'm a spiritual orphan.

[37:46] And when I do that, my kids see that. Is that what I want them to see? Unbelievers see that. How can I effectively share the gospel with them when they know that I don't act as if Jesus has made any kind of difference in my life?

[38:06] Many of you are familiar with the story of Daniel in the lion's den. Remember, King Darius is tricked by Daniel's enemies to issue this decree, this command that no petitions, no prayers could be made to anyone but King Darius.

[38:24] And Daniel is faithful and he prays anyways because his faith is in God and he's caught doing that and King Darius has to keep his decree and so he throws him into the lion's den.

[38:36] But Daniel was not anxious about that. You know who was? King Darius. Daniel 6, 18 through 19 says, then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting.

[38:51] No diversions were brought to him and sleep fled from him. Then at break of day the king arose and he went in haste to the den of the lions. The king was anxious, Daniel was not.

[39:03] Daniel survived the night because an angel, possibly the same angel who was the fourth man in the furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, a Christophany in the Old Testament, had shut the mouths of the lions.

[39:16] And verse 23 says, then the king, when he saw this, was exceedingly glad and commanded that Daniel be taken out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den and no kind of harm was found on him because he had what?

[39:30] Trusted in his God. Daniel's trust in God was a powerful witness to anxious unbelievers. If you are anxious for yourself, you will not want to share the gospel because you'll be too focused on you or you won't be very effective in communicating it because people see that, you know, you say you follow Jesus, but I don't see any kind of difference in your life.

[39:59] Stop. So instead of being anxious, what are we to do? Jesus tells us in verse 33, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you.

[40:16] If you aren't a Christian, righteousness is what you need most. And you can't achieve it on your own. only Jesus can save you and you need to turn to him and trust in him and he will save you.

[40:34] Believer, you need to trust and obey the truth that God has already made you know. When you are anxious, turn to Jesus instead of mapping out the worst case scenario in your mind.

[40:46] That won't help. It won't give you peace, but Jesus will seek him in prayer. Philippians 4, 6 through 7 says, do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.

[41:02] 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.

[41:13] Seek Jesus by coming back to these words that we've read, Matthew 6, 24 through 35. Read them again and again and again. feelings will deceive you but God will not.

[41:28] Unbelievers are watching you. Don't act like an atheist. Have faith. Seek the Lord.

[41:40] Pray. Use the Bible to fight your anxious thoughts. Assault your worry with biblical truth.

[41:52] faith. Philippians 1, 6 says, and I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

[42:05] Read that. Believe that. Read Hebrews 11. Faith, not worry, is what pleases God. And so now the fourth reason why you should stop being anxious.

[42:20] Being anxious is unproductive. In verse 34, Jesus says, for the third time, therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.

[42:33] Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Jesus knows that some people are so committed to worrying that if they can't find something to worry about today, guess what they're going to do?

[42:46] Think of things in the future that could happen, but probably won't happen, and waste their day being worried about things of tomorrow.

[42:59] Now, Jesus doesn't say that we should be carefree and willy-nilly about the future. We should plan. We should follow his will. He's encouraging us instead, though, to focus our attention on today.

[43:12] Because we are finite beings. in each day of our lives in this sinful world, there will be trouble. And there will be enough trouble that we don't need to worry about tomorrow.

[43:26] Why add more worry to our today by focusing and thinking about things that probably will never happen? Again, God has taken care of your greatest problem.

[43:40] He has provided for your greatest need at the cross. Don't you think that you can trust him for everything else? And so how should we adjust our lives according to what we've heard?

[43:54] I think it's this. It's what Jesus said. When you're anxious, seek him. When you're anxious, seek Jesus. And now what I hope, what I hope is you haven't heard this sermon and now you're anxious about being anxious.

[44:11] That's certainly not the goal. God has made us to live day by day. We can only handle so much each day.

[44:24] Being anxious helps nothing, but having faith in him pleases him. Hebrews 11, 6 says, and without faith it is impossible to please him.

[44:35] For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. God has done his part, but you must do your part.

[44:49] You must seek him. You can trust him. Trust him. In 2 Kings 19, one of my favorite stories in the Bible, King Hezekiah, king of the southern kingdom of Judah, has received threatening reports from the Assyrians and then he receives a letter from the Assyrian king with all kinds of threats.

[45:14] We're coming for you. We're going to get you. You don't stand a chance. We're going to destroy everything that you love. We're going to enslave your people. You're going to die and it's going to be bad.

[45:26] King Hezekiah gets this letter and you know what he does? He takes it to the temple of God and he lays it out before the Lord.

[45:39] And he prays. 2 Kings 19, 15 through 19. He prayed before the Lord and said, O Lord, the God of Israel enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone of all the kingdoms of the earth.

[45:59] You have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear. Open your eyes, O Lord, and see. And hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God.

[46:12] Truly, O Lord, the king of Assyria has laid waste to the nations of their lands and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the works of men's hands, wood and stone.

[46:25] Therefore, they were destroyed. So now, O Lord, our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone.

[46:38] And what did God do? Saved him. Unbeliever, that is what you most need today. You need to be saved. Or you have reason to be anxious.

[46:52] But Jesus is calling out to you today and says to you, trust in me, turn to me, and I will save you. I will give you life, and I will give it to you in abundance.

[47:05] believer, here's one thing I encourage you to do. Be like Hezekiah. I encourage you, write down all the things that are worrying you.

[47:16] Write them in a journal, write them on paper, and then find time alone with the Lord and put those things out. And pray to him in a similar way.

[47:28] Oh, Lord, I'm anxious. I'm afraid about tomorrow. I am not living the kind of life that I know that you've called me to live and enabled me to live.

[47:40] I'm anxious. I'm worried. I'm afraid. Please help me. And he will. For some of you, I know that it's not just the necessities of life that you're worried about.

[47:56] You have gone through something very traumatic and hurtful and you're anxious about that. Listen, you can seek the Lord by seeking his disciples.

[48:12] And what you need is to come find me, come find Pastor Tyler, because we will pray for you. Not only that, we will counsel you in this word. And so please, if your heart is heavy with anxious thoughts this morning, don't leave this place without seeking the Lord and seeking his help.

[48:33] Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you, God, that you have given us more than enough reason to believe, more than enough reason to be faithful, more than enough reason to not worry.

[48:47] God, forgive us that so often our thoughts are not on you and your promises, but on ourselves and our own anxious feelings. And we allow our feelings to deceive us about what is true.

[49:02] God, we've heard your word today. It is clear that you command us to stop worrying and to start seeking you. And so, God, you know each one. You know what is making us feel anxious today or what will make us feel anxious in the future.

[49:17] And Holy Spirit, we pray that you would bring your words, these words to our attention, that we would stop and that we would not waste our lives. But instead, we would seek and pursue you and your help.

[49:31] And you, Lord, as you've promised, we'll provide it. Thank you for that. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you.