Introduction:
I Am Worried About: ___________________.
"I Refuse to Worry..." (Matthew 6:25–34):
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Because of WHO MY FATHER is. (Matt 6:26-30)
Romans 8:32 – He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
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Because of my FAITH. (Matt 6:31-33)
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Because It DOES NO GOOD. (Matt 6:34)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:39-00:46
Open up those Bibles to Matthew 6, and we're going to be picking up in verse 25.
00:48-00:52
We're in the greatest sermon ever preached, the Sermon on the Mount.
00:53-01:03
And in this section that we're in here, Jesus is talking about how His followers should relate to the world.
01:06-01:16
As Pastor Taylor prayed a moment ago, the subject that our Lord covers is worry.
01:19-01:20
Do not be anxious.
01:21-01:28
I've shared this story with you in past time, but I couldn't help but thinking about it all week this week.
01:30-02:07
years ago I was at the doctor and the PA comes in and slaps on the the blood pressure cuff you know and I was taking my blood pressure and I remember the PA she just looked at me and her eyes were huge she goes you you feeling okay and I'm like yeah I feel good she says we need to we need to talk to the doctor I I said, "What's going on?" She said, "Your blood pressure is critically high." And then she left the room.
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So I sat there for what felt like an eternity, looking back at my life, regrets, And then thinking about the future, you know, am I about to drop over dead?
02:30-02:31
What's gonna happen to my family?
02:33-02:35
What's gonna happen to the ministry?
02:36-02:36
What's gonna?
02:41-03:01
Well, the doctor eventually came in, first words out of his mouth, he says, "Buddy, we gotta talk about this blood pressure." I said, "Yeah, I know your physician's assistant said it wasn't good." He goes, "Oh, it is not good." Then he looked over at the counter behind him.
03:01-03:11
He said, "Is that the cuff that she used to take your blood pressure?" And I said, "Yeah." He says, "Oh, that's for little kids.
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Guess no wonder your blood pressure's so high." So he got a big boy blood pressure cuff and took it.
03:18-03:20
Then I lived to fight another day.
03:21-03:35
But I gotta tell you, and that time from when the physician's assistant left the room and the doctor came in, I don't know if in my life I've ever felt such worry.
03:38-03:53
And some people, sadly, live in that zone where it's just worry, anxious, That's what we're going to look at today.
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What is worry?
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What is anxiety?
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Well it's defined as an uneasiness about the future.
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That's an understatement.
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You know, it's that, well, what might happen?
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What might not happen?
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And worry has a way of consuming your thoughts.
04:19-04:55
has a way of keeping you from sleeping. Worry for some of you has you stop eating and for some of you you can't stop eating. So on the top of your outline you'll see a line I am worried about. I just want you to take a minute that write down the thing in your life that makes you anxious, or write down what it is in your life where you are most tempted to worry.
04:56-05:05
And if you're like, "Well, Pastor Jeff, I never worry about anything." Well, come and see me after service because I've never met such a person, and I would love to.
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What is the thing that you are most tempted to worry about?
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Write that down.
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Or maybe for some of you, you are worried right now.
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Write that down.
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All right, we're in church right now, so I'm gonna ask a question, you give me the Sunday school answer.
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Are we supposed to worry?
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We're not.
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It's real easy to say in here right now, isn't it?
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After worship, after prayer.
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but we're going to leave here and many of you are going to worry and you are going to justify your worry.
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It's funny how that's a sin that we're all so eager to justify.
05:55-06:00
And we say things like, we just sort of try to make it sound like it's not a thing, right?
06:01-06:04
We're like, oh, I'm just a worrier, right?
06:05-06:09
Oh, you know, just stuff that bothers me because I'm a worry wart.
06:12-06:29
But you know, if you really grab what Jesus has to say in this passage about worry, if you've ever referred to yourself as a worry wart, you're going to be pretty embarrassed that you've ever called yourself that.
06:32-06:36
You might say, well, yeah, yeah, Pastor Jeff, well, I'm not worried about stupid things, right?
06:36-06:38
I'm not worried about trivial things.
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My worries are over legit needs, okay?
06:43-06:44
Well, let's see what our Lord has to say.
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Look at verse 25 in Matthew 6.
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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.
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"Is not life more than food?
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and the body more than clothing?
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Notice Jesus is talking about legit needs.
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You see that?
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Food and water and clothes, legit needs.
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And keep in mind, the people that Jesus was talking to, in this day, they didn't have the Walmarts.
07:30-07:34
Think of food, right?
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How did they get their food?
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they had to grow it, or they had to go to the market and hope that there was still something there to buy.
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I think about water.
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They didn't go to the kitchen sink and just flick their wrist and have water appear out of the tap.
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And they lived in a climate that made having clean drinking water absolutely crucial.
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and their clothes.
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Again, they didn't have closets and storage and they usually had to make their clothes.
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So when you consider their culture, you would note obviously it was much easier for them to be tempted to worry.
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I was thinking about that this week.
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You know, if we had a time machine we could bring somebody from Jesus' day to our day.
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I think they would be absolutely baffled at the things that we worry about.
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And someone's gonna say, "Well, Pastor Jeff, "how can I not worry?
08:52-08:56
"I mean, look at the environment "that kids are growing up in today.
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"Look at the economy.
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"How can I not be worried about money?" Yeah, what about my health?
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Do you know what's going on health-wise?
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How can I not be worried about that?
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You know, they're eliminating positions where I work.
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I might be next and I might not have an income.
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How can I not worry about that?
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You just can't help it, right?
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And you would say, "Well, you know, Pastor Jeff, I remember you've said in past time, you've said feelings are feelings, right?
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Feelings you can't help how you feel." That's true.
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But we talk about worry, this isn't about feelings, this is about a choice.
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Because your feelings are going to change if your focus changes.
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And what you focus on is your choice.
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you focus on affects everything. Three times in this passage, Jesus gives the command, therefore do not be anxious. He says it in verse 25. He says it in verse 31. He says it in verse 34. And each time Jesus says it, he gives a reason why we in turn must say, I refuse to worry.
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You ready to say that?
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All right, we're gonna take a run at it.
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I want you to say that.
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I refuse to worry.
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Not much conviction from some of you.
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I'm hoping that maybe in a few minutes we can change your mind about that.
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I refuse to worry.
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Why?
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Number one, right just done.
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I refuse to worry because of who my father is.
10:58-11:00
Let's pick up here verses 26 through 30.
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Jesus says, "Look at the birds of the air.
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"They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, "and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
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"Are you not of more value than they?
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"And which of you by being anxious "can add a single hour to a span of life?
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"And why are you anxious about clothing?
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"Consider the lilies of the field, "how they grow, they neither toil nor spin.
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"Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory "was not arrayed like one of these.
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"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?
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Oh, you of little faith?" This is where Jesus starts, "I refuse to worry because of who my father is." And he gives a couple obvious illustrations, right?
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He says, "Look at the birds, God feeds them." Oh, by the way, God doesn't drop the food into their nest, right?
12:20-12:28
For those of you who might think, oh, okay, well, I can just go home and sit down and do nothing and God will just, you know, God will just door dash me every day for the rest of my life.
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No, that's not how it works.
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Work is the God ordained way that he feeds us, right?
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That's another serving for another time.
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But the birds are fed and Jesus says, notice the flowers are dressed despite their very short life.
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So he talks about the birds, he talks about the lilies, and it's really the same point.
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God values His people more than anything on this earth.
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This is Jesus' point.
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God values you.
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Listen, God values you.
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More than anything on this earth, He values you.
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Not convinced of that.
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Well, let me ask you, when you look at all of the stuff created on the earth, what is made in the image of God?
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There's only one thing on this planet that is said to have been made in the image of God, with God's fingerprint, His likeness stamped on, and that is you.
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Not the dogs, not the goldfish, not the trees.
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You are made in His image.
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What is it on this planet right now that God sent His Son to die on the cross for?
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Jesus didn't die for the cats.
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Jesus didn't die for the parakeets.
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God bought you with his son.
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Oh, and speaking of sons, who is it, what is it on this planet that is said to be adopted by God?
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God doesn't run down to the humane society and adopt a dog.
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Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, to those who believe God adopted you.
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Are you starting to see your value here?
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Oh, oh, and what is it on the earth that God says is going to spend eternity in glory with him?
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There's only one thing.
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You.
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You.
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You see, you do understand now, you have incredible value to God.
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And by the way, Jesus is obviously addressing believers here.
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Those who have turned from their sin, those who have received and believed in Jesus Christ.
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He's talking to believers because He says, "You're heavenly Father." Jesus says, "Believers, if your heavenly dad gave you life, he's gonna take care of it." I refuse to worry because of who my father is.
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You know, a couple of weeks ago, my son Cade works at Chick-fil-A across the street.
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A couple of weeks ago, I pulled in to pick him up And it was hot, I had the windows down, I was sitting there waiting.
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And there was a guy walking around the front sidewalk by the entrance door.
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And he was on the phone.
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Now listen, I wasn't eavesdropping.
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This guy was talking so loud, I could have heard him from Zillian Opal.
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All right?
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But this guy's walking around and using some choice words that we don't use while we preach.
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He was complaining, obviously, about something that happened in his interaction in the restaurant, in the Chick-fil-A.
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So he's walking around and he's like, "This is, this is," expletive deleted.
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He goes, "I'm going in there to cuss somebody out." And he heads towards the door.
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So I'm like, "Here we go." shut off the Jeep and I followed him in.
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So close that he held the door open for me.
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He walked into the lobby, there were no customers there, rare time in Chick-fil-A.
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He walks into the lobby and stands there for a second and turns around and sees me looking at him.
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And then he just leaves.
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Well, Kate's standing there and Kate's like, then I leave and Kate's like, what was that all about, right?
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So, Cade comes out into the car, and he's like, "Why'd you just come into Chick-fil-A?" And I said, "Well, did you see that guy "that came in ahead of me?
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"He said he was coming in to cuss somebody out." Now, look, I know my son, and I know the last thing he would ever do is intentionally offend a stranger.
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I said, "That guy said he was gonna come in "and cuss somebody out, "so I was gonna make sure that that wasn't you." Kade's like, "What were you gonna do?
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"Like, throw him out the window?
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"He could just roll right onto the hospital." I said, "But I was not going to let him cuss you out." And Kate said, "You would do that for me?" Like, "Would I do that for you?
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"Yes, yes I would." I'm like, "How could you even ask that question?
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"I would do anything for you, "including take a beating in Chick-fil-A.
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"I would do anything for you." Listen, if I thought dude was going in there after somebody else, I never would have got out of the car, not my business.
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But my son, oh no.
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That is not going to happen.
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I would do anything to provide for my son.
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I would do anything to protect my son.
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And when Kate's like, "You'd do that for me?" All I could think of was, "Do you have any idea how much your father loves you?" And that's exactly what Jesus is saying here.
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"Worrier." That's what Jesus is saying.
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"You're worried?
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Do you have any idea how much your father loves you?
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And you're worried that you're not going to be taken care of?
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You don't know how much you mean to him.
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Like, "Well, how much?
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How much?" I think there's one verse more than any in the Bible that tells us how much.
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It's Romans 8.32.
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Can we get that on the screen?
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"God, He who did not spare His own Son, "but gave Him up for us all, "how will He not also with Him graciously "give us all things?" I wouldn't give up my Son for any of you.
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I wouldn't give up my Son for all of you, but God gave up His Son to death so that you can be saved.
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And that's what Paul was saying in Romans, and this is the truth that Jesus is saying here, if God gave you his son, it's proof he's going to give you everything else that you need.
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I refuse to worry because of who my father is.
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Notice the end of verse 30.
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Jesus says, "Oh, you of little faith." See, that's the issue.
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Look, some of you have little faith.
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Some of you do have faith enough to be saved, but you need to grow up.
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And you know why you're worried?
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The reason you're so worried all the time is you haven't really reckoned with the implications of what your salvation means.
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Your father loves you, and your father has a concern for you.
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Your father has a personal interest in what happens in your life.
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In the way a parent does for their kid, but not someone who's not their kid.
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You know what I mean by that?
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parents here today whose kid do you make sure eats yours right how many times have you wandered in the past week if my kids have eaten like not at all right Whose kids do you make sure have clothes?
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Yours, right?
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Whose kid do you make sure brushes their teeth?
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So parents, what would you say to your kids?
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What would you say to your kids, parents, if you're home someday and you could hear your kid in the next room pacing and worrying, saying, What if mom isn't going to feed me tomorrow?
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What would you say?
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What would you say if you heard your kid in the next room going, "I'm really growing.
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What if I grow out of these clothes and dad doesn't buy me new clothes?" What would you say?
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That's Jesus' point.
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When you worry, you're acting like you forget who your father is.
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You're demonstrating, in the words of our Lord, little faith.
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Oh, speaking of faith, I refuse to worry, number two, because of my faith.
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I refuse to worry because of my faith.
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Look at verse 31.
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Says it again, here we go.
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"Therefore do not be anxious, saying, "What shall we eat or what shall we drink "or what shall we wear?
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"For the Gentiles seek after all these things "and your heavenly father knows that you need them all.
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"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness "and all these things will be added to you." The Gentiles seek after all these things.
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Obviously in this context, Jesus is using the word Gentile as it was commonly used in that day to refer to a heathen.
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In other words, somebody who doesn't know God, right?
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So Jesus is saying that when I worry, I act like I don't have faith.
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See, people who don't have faith, They just go after all the stuff, right?
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It's all about me.
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People that don't have faith, honestly, they live no different than an animal.
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An animal only thinks about getting needs met, right?
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Hungry, thirsty, tired.
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Like I live with animals, right?
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That's all they do.
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All they're thinking about is getting their next physical need met.
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And when you don't have faith, that's how you are.
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Verse 25, Jesus said, as we already read, that isn't life more than the physical?
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Child of God, isn't your life about more than physically surviving?
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Isn't it?
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You know, when Jesus was tempted by the devil, remember what he said?
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shall not live by bread alone." Isn't that a statement of faith? Again, we talked about this last week, but this is exactly why people store treasure on earth. This life is all there is. I got to make the most out of it. I got to get what I can here now. Child of God, aren't you supposed to be different than them?
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Aren't you supposed to be salt and light?
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Do people see that?
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In the way that you live, in the way that you talk, in the way that you refuse to worry.
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Look at verse 32 again.
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Jesus says, "Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all." Your unsaved friends, your unsaved family, do they know that you know that your Father knows and you know that He knows?
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Yeah.
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Do you say, "Well, I'm in need of something, but it's okay.
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My father knows what I need, and he's going to provide it when he knows that I need it." That's faith.
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That's what faith looks like.
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And if you're right now, right now at this point in your life, if you're in a place of of need, if you're in a place where God has to show up and provide, you're in a place of want, guess what?
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As a child of God, that means you have a front row seat to see God at work.
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Because according to Jesus, He already knows.
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Look, we've sort of taken the sin of worry minds, that's like a minor league sin, right? Oh, there's the big sins like murder and, you know, adultery and things like that, but worry, that's kind of a minor league sin, right? No, it's not. Worry strikes at the character and the promises of God. Worry makes some assumptions.
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Worry assumes that God doesn't know.
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Worry assumes that God doesn't care.
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Worry assumes that God is completely unable to provide the thing that I need.
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Worry is just, it's just, worry is just bad theology.
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It shows a complete lack of faith.
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And Jesus says it makes you no different than an atheist?
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Are you on your own?
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You have to fend for yourself.
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You have to take care of yourself.
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Or are you a child of God that is richly provided for by your heavenly father?
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Which one are you?
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Like I'm a child of God, right?
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So why do we worry then?
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Why do we worry?
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I'm wrestling with this question, you know, the sort of armchair psychologist, sociologist that I am.
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Why do we worry?
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So I went to that very authoritative source, Psychology Today.
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I looked it up online.
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I wanted to see from a secular perspective how worry is defined.
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And I was blown away.
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You wanna hear that?
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Listen to this.
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I looked up, why do we worry?
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According to Psychology Today, Their website says, "We worry because we have a hard time living with uncertainty." I want you to think about that for a second.
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You have a hard time living with uncertainty.
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If you're a Christian, what are you uncertain about?
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Go ahead and shout it out.
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If you're a Christian, shout out the things that we are uncertain about.
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Pastor, is there anything?
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I rack my brain all week.
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Like surely there has to be something that we are uncertain about.
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The only thing I can come up with is the time of the return of our Lord.
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If you're a Christian, you have no uncertainties.
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If you're a Christian and you're worrying, what you have is a lack of faith.
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You're like, "Oh yeah, I know, I know Jeff, but I just, I got this, I got this need.
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I get this really bad need, I've been praying about it, and look, I just, I just don't know how God's going to provide." You don't need to know.
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That's his problem.
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You know what your problem is?
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Verse 33, "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you." What you need to worry about is seeking God.
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You seek the spiritual, He'll provide the physical.
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Do you see that?
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is on your walk with Christ, instead of focusing on the stuff and your needs and what's worrying you, Jesus said you need to focus on being the person that God wants you to be.
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You draw near to God and he'll draw near to you.
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And when your heart is so near to the heart of God, you're gonna have a worry-free faith.
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So do you have that?
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Do you have a worry-free faith?
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I'll tell you how you can evaluate it.
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A worry-free faith shows up in how you pray.
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How do you pray?
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If you're like, "Well, I really don't.
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I really don't pray." Okay, then you have no faith.
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All right, so we'll knock that one off.
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But if you pray like this, if you pray, "God, I'm desperate and God, I don't know, I don't know what I'm gonna do, God.
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And God, I'm so afraid of what's gonna happen tomorrow." That's little faith.
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But if your prayer sounds like this, "God, I'm seeking you for this, and you already know what I need, and I'm trusting that you're gonna provide it when I need it." That is a prayer of faith.
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I'm asking, I'm trusting, I'm believing.
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But I refuse to worry.
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Why?
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Because of my faith.
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And finally, number three.
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I refuse to worry because of who my father is because of my faith.
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And number three, I refuse to worry because it does no good.
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It does no good.
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Look at verse 34.
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Jesus says, "Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, "for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.
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"Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." And you're like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, right there, right there, tomorrow, yes, tomorrow.
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That's what I'm worried about.
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That's the day that I'm worried about, and Jesus says, don't.
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Why not?
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Jesus says, you got enough trouble today.
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Can I get an amen?
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You mean to tell me you got nothing going on today that requires your attention, nothing.
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And my schedule is clear.
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There is not a single thing that requires my attention, effort, energy, nothing.
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You're telling me that tomorrow needs all your attention.
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Obviously not.
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Obviously, you would say, "You know what, Jeff?
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"I really got plenty going on today." And our Lord would say, "Good, go after that.
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"Just go after that." Jesus said, "Tomorrow will be anxious for itself." Some translate that phrase, "Tomorrow," quote, "brings its own anxieties." In other words, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it because I can't cross it now, right?
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No, not cross that bridge when we come to it.
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How about cross that bridge if we come to it?
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When we worry about the future, what we do is we start imagining all these little scenarios that are surely going to devastate us.
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What if I get sick?
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What if I have car trouble?
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What if I do lose my job?
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How much time, my friends, have we wasted worrying about something that never happens?
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That's what our Lord reminds us here in this verse.
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Worry isn't just sinful, it's pointless.
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There's no upside.
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benefits you nothing, it does no good. In fact, Jesus talked about this in verse 27.
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You can't add to your life by worry, can you? Because nothing good's ever added to the worrier.
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Nobody in the history of mankind has ever said, "You know what? I am so glad that I I worried about that because I worried so hard that it fixed everything.
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It's pointless.
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It's pointless to worry about tomorrow because the reality is not everybody gets a tomorrow.
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You might not have a tomorrow.
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But if you do, if you do have a tomorrow, tomorrow has literally one guarantee that you can take to the bank.
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that is this, tomorrow God will be just as much God then as He is today.
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And if God's Word is true, and I believe it is, the future is something to be excited about, not worry about, because the Bible says our best days are ahead.
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All worry does, in addition to dishonor the Lord, is steal your joy today.
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It steals your peace today, and it ruins your testimony today.
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Does no good.
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Our worship team will make their way back up front.
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Each of us might be feeling really confident right now, but when you leave here, when you walk out those doors, you are going to be tempted to worry about something.
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Probably not so much here now, but home later, yes.
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I want you to take this outline and I want you to tuck this away in your Bible for later.
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Oh, and that little thing you wrote at the top, I'm worried about.
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No, no, no.
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Instead, what we're going to say is, I refuse to worry about this.
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Why?
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Why am I not worried about this?
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Because of who my father is, that's why.
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I'm not worried about this because of my faith in that father.
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I'm not worried about this because according to Him, honestly, it's not going to do any good anyways.
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I refuse.
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I refuse to worry.
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Let's pray.
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Father in Heaven, we confess before You that we demonstrate a complete lack of faith when we worry.
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And we can come into this room We can sing about your power and your love and your goodness, but we deny all of those things with our lives when we choose to worry.
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So Father, I pray that today is a new day for my brothers and sisters here.
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The thing that weighs on us, the thing that has kept us up at night, Father, I pray that We would look back at your faithfulness throughout history.
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We would look back at your faithfulness in our own lives.
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And that thing that burdens us, Father, I just pray that we would do as your word says, that we would cast it at your feet and we would refuse to worry about it.
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We pray in Jesus' name, amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 6:25-34
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
What is it that you are most tempted to worry about? Why have you struggled to let go of this? How should you view this in light of Jesus’ teaching here?
What is Jesus illustrating with the birds and the lilies?
What are some practical steps you can take to actively “refuse to worry”?
Breakout
Pray for one another.