God doesn't want me worrying about anything, nothing, notta, zip, zero Philippians 4:6, don't worry about anything. That's pretty clear. Instead pray about everything We've talked about this many times.
You can pray or you can panic If you're not praying you're panicking. You can worry or you can worship If you're not worshipping you're worrying. You invite worship in the front door worry goes out the back door And so God says I don't want you worrying about anything now why?
He says worry is Unreasonable. It's unreasonable. In other words.
It doesn't make sense It's illogical. It is irrational it is Unreasonable. In the first place.
We typically worry about the wrong thing. We worry about the little stuff how I look How I appear, what I say, who who I'm talking to, am I gonna be late for this meeting Stuff that isn't gonna matter in five years. It's all temporary If you really gonna worry and God says you shouldn't but if you were gonna worry worry about things that are eternal Don't worry about stuff that's not gonna matter tomorrow Jesus says you should never worry not only because it's unreasonable.
It's unnatural Nature does not worry, it's unnatural Jesus says, you know look at the birds Look at the birds of the air. They don't sow or reap or store away in barns They're not worried about you know, do I have enough to live on Then he said and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more valuable Than birds if God takes care of birds isn't gonna take care of you and then he says in verse 28 and 29 Matthew 6.
Why do you worry about your clothes? Look at the flowers. Look at the field lilies.
They don't worry about about how they look Yet King Solomon in all of his glory Was not clothed as beautifully as they are And he said all of creation trust my care except humans. He's saying worry isn't natural Jesus says worry is unhelpful What does he mean by that it's useless it doesn't work worry is worthless It doesn't change anything when you worry. Matthew 6 verse 27 Jesus says who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life Worry can't make you an inch taller.
Worry can't make you an inch shorter. Can't make you bigger or smaller Thinner or fatter worry doesn't work and he says who of you could change anything He said you can't add even a single hour to your life Worry about any problem in your life will never move you one step toward that situation worry is worthless Worry cannot change anything in your past. It's already done.
Your past is past So why are you worried about it. Worry cannot control your future No matter how much you think you can you're not controlling it by worrying about it So if it can't change the past and it can't control the future. What does it do messes up today?
And he says there's no need to worry because your heavenly father will take care of you You know when I was a kid If I had any need in my life, I didn't worry about it. I went to my dad Dad I need this or mom I need this and if I needed money to buy something I said dad I need some money to buy this I never once worried about where he was gonna get the money That was his worry You're worrying about a lot of things that are God's responsibility Worry is assuming responsibility that God never intended for you to have Every time you worry, it's a warning light. I'm playing God.
I'm acting like God Thinking that it all depends on me that I don't have a Heavenly Father So you never worry if you understand That God is your Heavenly Father and you understand the goodness the goodness of God Matthew 6 verse 30 says this if God cares so wonderfully Even for the flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow in other words They're only a bloom for a few days and then they're gone But your life last decades, if God cares so wonderfully even for the flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow won't he surely care for you? You see what he's saying here is that God has assumed responsibility for the needs in your life And he cares for you because he says you are valuable You have value you want to know how much you value look at the cross Jesus died for you on the cross that shows how much value you have to God. You're not junk.
You're not worthless No, no, you are valuable to God because you're his child And like the shepherd takes cares of the defenseless sheep when you need it. I'm there What am I saying? I'm saying that worry in your life Every time you worry it comes from the fact that you misunderstand the goodness of God Worry is a warning sign.
It's a yellow caution light going bamp bamp bamp that's saying at this point I've forgotten How good God is I've forgotten the promises of God, I've forgotten what God has promised to do in my life to meet all my needs He says it over and over and over I will meet all your needs. There's no need that God will not meet if you trust him now if you don't trust him, you're out there on your own But if you trust him, he says I will meet every need in your life and worry means I've forgotten that the goodness of God It want comes from misunderstanding what God is really like and you know what, we always get into trouble Every time whenever we start doubting God's goodness. When we start saying God's not gonna take care of me God doesn't really love me God isn't a good God every time you start thinking like that, you know where those thoughts came from You're gonna get in trouble.
You're gonna go down a blind alley hit a dead end have all kinds of Discouragement in your life and it doesn't even make sense. Most of you here sitting here this in this day are Believers you've stepped across the line spiritually you've said, you know, I've put my trust in Jesus Christ because I know heaven's perfect And I'm not there's no chance I'm getting to heaven on my own goodness because I'm not good enough So, I'm trusting Jesus Christ to forgive me and to save me by his grace not by my works But I'm just trusting God to say because he loves me he wants to forgive me He sent Jesus to die for me. When Jesus died on the cross for you.
He solved your biggest problem You don't have any bigger problem than eternal salvation But if that's your biggest problem, why do you doubt his taking care of the smaller things in your life What's the logic of saying I'm gonna trust God to get me to heaven But I'm not going to trust him to help me make my car payment What what's the logic in that it makes no sense Why would you trust God with something so big eternal salvation, but not trust him with Who am I supposed to marry Am I ever gonna get married or am I gonna get a job or what school Should I go to and all the other major questions in life Why don't you trust him with those things - it doesn't make sense to say Oh, I don't doubt him for my salvation, but I do doubt that he's gonna care for my health I do doubt that he's gonna care for my career. It doesn't make sense at all If God can be trusted for salvation, he'll carry everything else And when you doubt that You are an unbeliever at that moment You're an unbeliever. Every time you worry you act like an unbeliever You see it's actually an insult to God every time you worry You're acting like an orphan Every time you worry you're acting like you don't have a Heavenly Father who is promised over and over again Over 3,000 promises in this book to take care of your needs How many times do you act like God doesn't know what you need And we start depending on ourselves and we start taking matters into our own hands We assume that we have to figure it all out Rather than jusr trusting that's called playing God When we get to heaven you're gonna see how many times you set yourself up for failure by worrying Instead of trusting John chapter 14 verse 1 Jesus says this don't be worried What do I do instead of worrying?
He says believe in God And Believe in me. How do you do? How do you trust God to meet your needs?
Number one you do this every day. It's not a one-time thing Every day Ask him to be my shepherd Every day I asked Jesus to be my Shepherd the Lord is my shepherd You do this every morning when you get up you sit on the side of your bed and you say the Lord is my shepherd And then I say it throughout the day You've got a major decision to make the Lord is my shepherd. You might say it 10 or 15 times a day But if you'll start saying that phrase your worry will go down every time you start to worry You need to say the Lord is my shepherd Now in John chapter 10, Jesus says this verse 14, 15.
I am the Good Shepherd When you say the Lord is my shepherd. Who is that? Jesus says I'm it I'm him.
I am the Lord I am The Good Shepherd and I know my own sheep and they know me and I lay down my life for my sheep That's what he did on the cross He gave His life for you Second this is very important. I give him Jesus first place in every area of my life This is extremely important that I give Jesus first place in every area of my life Now the Bible says this Matthew 6 verse 31 to 33 your heavenly father Already knows perfectly well what you need. Let me stop right there.
Your heavenly Father perfectly knows already What you need So any needs you mention to God he already knows So anytime you come to God with a need he's not gonna go. Whoa, I never saw that one coming. He knew it before he made you But he says I already know what you need before you even ask and he says and he will not might He will give you what you need if here's the condition if you give him first place in your life And you live as he wants you to so you give God first place in every area of your life Now let me just tell you something any time you worry That is a warning light that that particular area of your life.
You have not given him first place When you make Jesus Christ number one in every single area of your life it really Simplifies your priorities and it also gives you a whole lot less to worry about See when it's given to God then you don't have to worry about it Too often we worry about things We worry about physical possessions Now as long as you love anything else in your life more than God That area is going to become a source of worry to you Just count on it It's gonna become a source of stress and a source of insecurity If you love it more than God, you're gonna be victimized by worry and anxiety And eventually everybody has to decide you and me and everybody else What am I going to live for And who am I gonna live for And whatever that answer is becomes your Lord You know one of the things we worry about the most of course is money What I've discovered Is that no matter how much or how little you've got about it. You still worry about it And if you don't have it you worry about getting it if you've got it You're worrying about keeping it, saving it, spending it, investing it, protecting it And God says I know what you worrying about that I'll take care of all your needs Matthew chapter 6 verse 34. Jesus says this so don't worry about tomorrow Because tomorrow will have its own worries Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Anybody agree with that verse You can't change the future you can't change the past just work on today. There are two days of every week you should never worry about Yesterday and tomorrow Because you can't do anything about them Take one day at a time through your life. Now why?
Why does God say that you should only live your life one day at a time. Well, because it's true It's the only thing you can do you You can't live in the past You can't live in the future You can only live today But there's a couple reasons why you should only live one day at a time first when you worry about tomorrow's problems You miss all the blessings of today Some of you are so worried about retirement you're not enjoying today It's okay to plan for tomorrow, it's okay to plan for the future just don't worry about the future Planning is good. Worrying is bad You can plan for tomorrow, but you can't live in tomorrow.
You can only live today Now I know that the future can often seem, you know, very overwhelming But God Graciously divided it up into 24 hour segments so you don't get all the future at once You get it 24 hours at a time. And if God gave you all the future at one time it would overwhelm you But you're not there yet. You're not ready for it.
So it's not going to come at you all at once.
