Luke The Orderly Account of Truth - The Cure for Anxiety - Luke 12:22-34

God created everything, and he created everything good. Right. He

created a standard for mankind to hold, and not a

single person on this planet can hold to that standard.

It's the bad news, right, that not a single person

on this planet can hold to that standard. We all

are in need of a savior. But God had a

perfect plan, and that plan was to come to earth

as himself sent his son Jesus to die on the

cross for the sins of all who would turn and

repent and put faith in him. So he made a

way to fix the brokenness and the broken relationship between

man and God. He made a way for it to

happens all through faith in Jesus Christ. Amen, grab your bibles.

We're going to be in Luke chapter twelve today. If

you don't have a Bible, we have some at the

resource table in the back. We'd love for you to

keep it. If you don't own a Bible, or if

you just want a second one. We're not gonna be

mad if you want to have a second Bible. But

we do have him out there at the resource table,

so I won't be offended if you get up and

go grab one. If you don't happen with you right now.

But We're going to be in Luke chapter twelve today,

and we've been in a series called Luke The Orderly

Account of Truth. Luke the Orderly Account of Truth. We've

been going verse by verse through the Gospel of Luke,

and we're learning all about the life and ministry of Jesus.

And this physician who is named Luke. This doctor went

and investigated everything about Jesus' life and ministry. If there

was an eyewitness, he would go and investigate it and say,

tell me what happened. And he brought this orderly account together,

and he did it so that they would so we

would have this certainty of the truth about who Jesus

is and what he did and what he taught. And

I thank God for that orderly account. It's helpful to

have that orderly account because we can know the exact

truth about who Jesus is and what he did. So

I want to read our text, which is Luke chapter twelve.

We're gonna be in verses twenty two through thirty four,

and then we're gonna pray. So let's go ahead and

read our text. Then Jesus said to his disciples, therefore,

I tell you do not worry about your life, what

you will eat, or about your body what you will wear.

For life is more than food, and the body more

than clothes. Consider the ravens. They do not sow or reap,

they have no storeroom or barn, Yet God feeds them.

And how much more value excuse me? And how much

more valuable you are than birds? Who of you, by worrying,

can add a single hour to your life. Since you

cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry

about the rest? Consider how the wild flowers grow. They

do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you not

even Solomon, in all his splendor, was dressed like one

of these. If that is how God closed the grass

of the field, which is here today and tomorrow was

thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you,

you of little faith, And do not set your heart

on what you will eat or drink. Do not worry

about it, for the pagan world runs after us all

such things, and your father knows that you need them.

But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given

to you as well. Do not be afraid, little flock,

for your father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.

Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses

for yourself that will not wear out. A treasure in

heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes in

or comes near, and no moth destroys. For where your

treasure is bear, your heart will be also. Let's pray God,

we thank you for your word. God, as we open

it up, as we spend time, and as we've just

read it. God, I pray that it pierces our hearts. God,

that we are ready to receive whatever you have for

us today, every encouragement you have for us, every challenge

or correction or rebuke you have for us to day. Hey, God,

we are ready to receive it from you. So God,

give us an open heart to receive from you today. God,

let none of these words that I speak be my words,

but only your words. Gotta let your word ring true.

We know that it does not return void, that it

sets out to accomplish something in us, and you will

accomplish that work in us. So God, we just submit

to your will for this service. And we're so excited

to go through your word today. And Jesus name, everybody

said a men. I think that today's message specifically today's

message from Jesus might be one of the most important

messages for our entire generation and even more specifically, our

entire generation of Christians believers, those who say I follow Jesus.

I think it's one of the most important messages for

our generation. Everyone say, don't worry, don't say trust God.

A men who here is seen the movie inside Out

to kids, you guys have seen it too. Yeah, we

went to the drive in movie theater to see it

on the hottest day of the summer. They had like

all these activities outside. They had bouncy houses, square guns,

writing in chalk. We were all sitting in our car

with the ac on playing on our phones. It was

so incredibly hot. But we went to the movies, the

drive in movie theater to see this movie inside out.

To the main character from the first movies, starting to

grow Up is I'm not trying to spoil anything, but

I'm gonna give you a little bit of information about

the movie. The main character is starting to grow up, right,

and she hits puberty and is experiencing some brand new

feelings and emotions things she's never felt before. Well, one

of these brand new emotions is named anxiety. Anxiety is

this new emotion, and when anxiety shows up, at first,

it seems like a super helpful emotion. Anxiety shows up

and almost seems like the hero of the story because

anxiety is considering the future. What are all these potential

things that might happen, And let's create plans to accommodate

for those future things that might happen. Right, That's what

anxieties do, making all these plans. But as the movie progresses,

anxiety starts to step in and take control over all

the other emotions, starts to take over, pushing all the

other emotions and feelings off to the side. So the

main character's only emotion to every situation and circumstance is

what anxiety. That's all the person feels is anxiety. And

eventually anxiety takes over everything and starts literally spinning out

of control. If you saw the little control for the

person in her brain spinning out of control over everything,

and nobody could stop anxiety. And I think that this

is a rather accurate picture for how many people view

anxiety and worried today. But what is worry? What is anxiety?

What are these things? Well? I have some definitions for

us worries to give way to anxiety or unease, allow

one's mind to dwell on difficulty or trouble or troubles.

And anxiety is experience worry. Wait a minute, The first

two definitions in these words are each other. Worry is

to give way to anxiety in the first part of

the definition of anxieties to experience worry unease, which is

a second piece or nervousness, typically about an imminent event

or something with an uncertain outcome. So very similar, aren't

they synonymous? Some would say, I mean, they're a little different,

but they're basically saying the same thing. Worry and anxiety

are basically the same thing. And in our text today

we just read the first thing that Jesus said to

his disciples was what do not worry? He said, do

not worry. Jesus tells him what not to feel. He

gives his followers a command, and it's a command of

their emotions. He commands them not to worry. He tells

them how to feel. And that begs the question, or

at least I beg the question in me when I

was studying this week. If we think that worry and

anxiety are some in uncontrollable emotion that we have. There's

something completely out of our control. Yet Jesus commands us

not to do it. Then our anxiety and worry truly

out of our control? Are they truly out of our control?

When I read today's text, I see Jesus lovingly and

compassionately giving us the remedy for our worry. And that's

entitled today's message. This the cure for anxiety. The cure

for anxiety. Remember, I think this is the most important

message for our generation. The cure for anxiety. Not what

I'm saying, what Jesus is saying. And that's why we're

going through the Bible, because I don't have anything important

to say, not everything helpful to say. What God has

to say is the truth. God is the truth. Buy

a T shirt or I don't thin I'm supposed to

say that from the stage, but he's got some cool

shirts out there. Just says God is the truth. He

speaks the truth. What God says affects us, right, the

cure for anxiety. Jesus is going to give us the

antidote for the poison that is worry and anxiety. And

I'm gonna be upfront with you The cure is trust,

Tony right out the gates. The cure for anxiety is trust,

and trust is a choice. Trust is a choice that

flows from belief. Trust is a choice that flows from belief.

If you believe something, you will trust it. And if

you trust it, then there's no need to worry, right.

I like this example. Literally, look at the chair you're

sitting in. Look at it. You see that chair that

you that you chose to sit in. You made a

choice to trust the chair to hold your weight. If

you didn't believe it would hold your weight, you wouldn't

say it the chair. You trusted the chair. You chose

to trust it based on the belief. Who here has

done a trust fall before? Oh man, there's way more

people I thought like would do a trust fall. Trust

fall for those who don't know, is you stand someone

behind you and they just say fall and you trust

them to catch you. You just fall. Or if you

guys have seen that meme where you know usually a

guy standing behind is like trust fall the guy the

person starts to fall and they step by the way

and say never trust man, trust Jesus, and they let

him fall to the floor. Don't do that even if

you're trying to make that good point. We should trust Jesus.

But that's what a trust fall is. And my level

of anxiety and worry is directly related to who's standing

behind me in a trust fall. Right, Do I trust them?

Do I believe that they will catch me? Do I

believe that they can catch me? If Jordan is standing

behind me, I don't have any doubts that he can

catch me, because he's really strong. I might second guess

his willingness to catch me just a little bit, but

I don't doubt his ability to But what if my

eight year old Grayson is standing behind me. He's not

even paying attention, thanks buddy. What if he's standing behind me,

There's no way I'm doing a trust fall my eight

year old behind me, I'll crush him. I'm not concerned

with his willingness to catch me. I'm concerned with his

ability to catch me. No matter how willing he is,

he is not able, and so based on the information

that you have, based on the information that I have,

I will make a choice whether or not to trust.

My level of trust is directly tied to my belief

about the person's ability and willingness to catch me is

here that the ability and the willingness to catch me.

And what did we just read in our text today?

Jesus is speaking directly to the disciples belief. That's what

he's speaking to. He's not just speaking to them, He's

speaking to us, speaking to our belief. He is speaking truth.

And when we believe what he says, it leads to

trust in God's willingness and ability. It leads to both.

And when we trust his willingness and ability, what do

we have to be worried or anxious about? What do

we have to be worried or anxious about? If we

know that God is able and He's willing to catch us.

So that's what I want to do today. I want

to do what Jesus did. I want to go through

his words, read them, and I want to confront your belief.

I want to confront my belief. I want to challenge

your feelings. I want to challenge my feelings. And I

want to grow your and my faith in Jesus. Also

that we can walk through life anxiety and worry free. Amen,

say don't worry, say trust God. Say trust is a choice. Okay,

let's look again at what Jesus told his disciples, and

by disciples, it's just everyone who was following him at

the time. So let's look at verses twenty two and

twenty three. Then Jesus said to his disciples, therefore, I

tell you, do not worry about your life what you

will eat, or about your body what you will wear.

For life is more than food, and the body more

than clothes. What did Jesus just get done teaching the

people last week? Well, the last few verses which we

went through last week, you guys, remember he was warning

them about greed. He was warning them about greed. He

told a parable about the rich man who wanted to

build bigger and bigger barns to house the surplus he

had of his harvest, to hoard his possessions. But in

this parable, the man dies that very night, and all

his plans for his possessions were forfeited. They're all gone,

Every plan that he set up evaporated in that one night.

Jesus said, that's how it will be for people who

store up things for themselves and are not rich towards God.

So in light of that, what Jesus taught this right

before the text we're reading today, Jesus is now addressing

the most natural response a person would have to hearing

that news. But Jesus, if I don't store up things

for myself, who's going to meet my needs? Don't? I'm

the only one who thinks that when Jesus is like,

give away all your stuff, like, don't worry about it.

God will take care of you. Don't. Does anybody else think? Like?

But what about me? Is anybody else concerned about that? Okay,

that's awesome, just me. If I'm not looking out for me,

who's looking out for me? That's what their question is.

I think it's an actual concern to consider. But Jesus says,

do not worry. Do not worry. He said, Therefore I

say to you, do not worry. Therefore he's what's the

therefore Therefore it's because of what he just said. So

this is all in response to him talking about not

being greedy, not storing up things for yourself, being rich

towards God. Do not worry. This is a command from Jesus,

And I want you to sit with that for a second.

Think about it. How do you feel about Jesus commanding

you not to worry, commanding you not to be anxious?

How do you feel about that? He's saying a command.

This is not a suggestion, says, do not worry. Jesus

is commanding the people how to feel. He's commanding us

how to feel and commanding our feelings and our emotions.

It's not a new thing. This is something God commanding

our feelings and emotions is all over scripture. And I

have just a few examples I want to go through.

These are not gonna be on the verse. I'm just

gonna are on the screen. I'm gonna go through pretty quick.

Philippians four four says rejoice in the Lord always. What

does it mean to rejoice, feel or show great joy

and delight? How about Romans twelve nine hate What is evil?

That's a weird verse to grab. No, it's not because

hate means feel intense or passionate dislike. It's telling you

how to feel what to hate? Romans twelve fourteen mourn

with those who mourn. To mourn is to feel or

show deep sorrow or regret. The next verse Romans twelve fifteen,

don't be proud or conceded. What does it mean to

be conceded? Excessively proud of oneself? Vain Clausans three twelve.

Clothe yourself in compassion. Compassion is sympathetic pity and concern

for the sufferings or misfortunes of others. That is something

you absolutely have to feel. We just read in Luke twelve,

verse five, fear him who, after the body has been killed,

has the authority to throw you into hell. We're told

a fear? What's fear? An unpleasant emotion? I thought that

was a funny description or definition. One Corinthians twelve thirty one.

Eagerly desire the greater gifts? Okay, versus about the gifts,

the spiritual gifts. But what is he telling you to do?

Eagerly desire? Eager is wanting to do or have something

very much, And desire is a strong feeling of wanting.

And I save the best for last Matthew twenty two

and this verses thirty seven through thirty nine. But in

there it says, love the Lord your God with all

your heart, all your soul, with all your mind, and

love your neighbor as yourself. What is love? Whoa baby?

Don't hurt me? Love is an intense feeling of deep affection,

an intense what feeling of deep affection. God commands our

feelings and our emotions all the time. He tells us

what we should feel, and oh that we would obey.

He tells us and commands us all the time, and

he's allowed to do that because he's God. And if

he's demanding this of us, then we have a choice,

don't we. This whole message is not for non believers.

The whole reason I started today's message with the Gospel

message was in case anyone wasn't a believer. I'm praying

that God just saved you in that moment. So this

whole message, Jesus is speaking to those who are following him,

and those who followed him follow him have been freed

from the bondage and slavery of sin and are now

slaves to righteousness, right amen, Which means we now have

the ability to choose to obey him. So when he

commands our emotions, we have a choice. We can choose

to obey or we can choose to disobey. And Jesse

and I actually my wife, Jesse, we just had a

great conversation with my oldest jackson. He has no clue.

I'm going to give an example from one of our

conversations nothing bad. He's a teenager now, so we have

great conversations. That's awesome. But Jackson asked a really important

question and we got a chance to talk through this.

He said, if I'm mad, how am I just supposed

to not be mad anymore? How you're just supposed to

not be mad? And so we got to remind him

that no matter what happened, no matter what causes your anger,

that he's in control of how he reacts and responds

to it. But it's not only that he gets to

choose how he feels about it. He gets to choose

there is nothing outside of his control that is making

him feel the way he is feeling. Influences external circumstances, Yes,

they are going to be there, but the choice is

still his. He gets to choose how he's going to respond,

and he gets to choose how he feels about it.

I mean, think about what you told your kids and

they're small and they start fuming. What do you say?

You tell them? Count backwards from ten, right, take some

deep breaths, go for a walk. What are you doing

when you're What are you actually telling them to do

when you're giving him these coping mechanisms? What are you doing.

You're helping them learn how to control or choose their emotions.

You're having them take a pause, recalibrate their hearts and

choose how to feel in a way. You're telling them

how to feel. You're saying the way you're feeling now

not going to lead to anything good, and you're telling

them how to feel in a way that does lead

to something good. And God, as a loving father, through

the text, is telling us how we should feel, not

just this text, all the texts I just read. He's

telling us how we should feel. He's commanding our emotions

and our feelings. And right now he's telling the people

do not worry. And I can't think of another command.

I've probably broken more than that. So let's repent and

stop worrying. Amen. Okay, let's read that verse one more time,

because it's been a minute since we read it. And

also Jesus is going to really start challenging our beliefs.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, Therefore, I tell you

do not worry about your life what you will eat,

or about your body, what you will wear. For life

is more than food, and the body is more than clothes.

He says do not worry. The life is about more

than what you eat and what you wear, and most

of us don't actually have to consider this in the

context of survival, right, we're not worried about. The things

we're worried about is what do I want to eat

for my next meal? Do I waned the Italian? Or

do I want Mexican this time? Do I want? I

want pizza and tacos all the time. So that's really

my only examples. Do want pizza? Do want tacos? Right?

Or for clothes of all my outfits, which one do

I want to wear? What do I feel like wearing today?

But I think we need to understand this in the

most extreme example of survival. Why because Jesus is saying

that even in the case of survival, do not worry,

even if you didn't know where your next meal was

gonna come from, Even if you didn't know what you

were going to wear, which I think goes all the

way into shelter, Even if you didn't know where those

things were gonna come from, do not worry. Jesus tells

us to consider the birds. Look at verse twenty four.

Consider the ravens. They do not sow or reap. They

have no storeroom or barn, yet God feeds them. And

how much more valuable you are than birds? Have you

ever seen a bird gathering sticks for next year's nest? No,

they gather sticks for the nest they're building right now.

That's when they gather sticks. God takes care of the birds.

And Jesus told us in verses six and seven of

this very same chapter. What do you say? He said,

Are not five sparrows sold for tuppence? Just kidding? Two pennies?

Get it? Tuppens a bag Mary Poppins anyways in the movie. Yeah,

it's a deep cuts, all right? Are not five sparrows

sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is

forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head

are all numbered. Don't be afraid you are worth more

than many sparrows. And now he says the same thing

here in verse twenty four. Now I'll go back one more.

Consider the ravens. They do not sow or reap, They

have no storeroom or barn, Yet God feeds them. And

how much more valuable you are than birds? This isn't

a question. He didn't ask a question. He didn't say

how much more valuable are you than the birds? Question mark?

Now we made a statement. He said, how much more

valuable you are than the birds. He's making a statement.

God cares for each and every bird. But look at me.

You are worth more than the birds. And I think

we need to remember how valuable we are to God.

There's times we forget. Psalm one thirty nine says that

we were knit together in our mother's wombs. We were

fearfully and wonderfully made. Fijians one tells us that we

were chosen in him before the world was even created,

that we were predestined for adoption as his children. Are

you kidding me? That's amazing. Ephesians two says that we

are God's handy, were created in Christ Jesus to do

good works that He prepared in advance for us to do.

That means he had a plan for you. He had

a plan for you, for something to do. That's amazing, you, guys.

He loves us so much that he would send his

only son to die in our place. You are worth

more than many spareros. We are much more valuable than

the birds, the same birds that he promises to take

care of. So why are you worried? Why are you anxious?

And what has been worried? Ever gotten? You think about that,

what is being worried ever gotten? You look at the

next couple verses twenty five and twenty six. Who of you,

by worrying can add a single hour to your life?

Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do

you worry about the rest? Some translations say a single

q bit to your life, or cube it to your height.

Which I'm really short, so worrying about that ain't gonna

make me needs taller. But I like this idea of

looking at a single hour to your life. Who of

you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?

It can't. You can't add time to your life by worrying.

There's no amount of worrying that will add a single

hour to your life. Anxiety doesn't add to life, It steals.

It doesn't prolong your life. It robs you of your life. Now,

and just think about how short an hour is in

your life. So short an hour is nothing at all.

It passes in a blink. When you sleep, you close

your eyes and wake up. If you're making good choices,

eight hours later, sometimes maybe six passes in a blink

of an eye. Or how about when you down to

watch a show or a movie, an hour goes before

you even know it. Can't believe it's been an hour.

Most movies an hour like two and a half hours long.

It's crazy. An hour passes by so fast. And Jesus

asked the question, can you add an hour, just one

hour to your life by worrying? And the obvious answer

to jesus question is no, you cannot. We cannot do that.

If you can't add this tiny amount of time to

the end of your life by worrying, then why are

you worried about the rest of your life? There are

so many things much bigger than adding an hour to

your life, and you can't even do the little thing

by worrying, So why would we continue to worry? Being

worried is a fruitless endeavor. It produces nothing of value.

Jesus used the birds as an examples show that he

will make sure that we are fed, and now he

points to the flowers as an example to show that

he will clothe us too. So let's look at verse

twenty seven. Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do

not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon,

and all this splendor was dressed like one of these.

If that is how God closed the clothes, the grass

of the field, which is here today and tomorrow, was

thrown into the fire, how much more will we clothe you?

You have little faith? Exclamation point? Who's here? Has been

to the Festival Tulips? Anybody been to that? Be brave, Jerry,

you can raise your hand high Festal Tulips. I've never

been personally. I would love to go at some point.

It's a little bit of a drive, and I hate

driving anywhere, so that's just my problem. But I have

seen pictures, and even though this will not come close

to being in person, I want to show a picture

for those who haven't been there. It looks even better

than the bigger screens. Look at that. That's real. That's

not AI, that's a real picture. Look how beautiful that is.

These are tulips. If you don't see beauty in God's creation,

you are walking around with your eyes shut. You have

a blindfold on your face. If you don't see the

beauty in God's creation. And Jesus said, look at the flowers.

Toil or spin, just grow, That's what they do. They

just grow. And not even Solomon, the son of David,

the wisest and richest man on the planet at the time,

Not even Solomon, when he's dressed in the finest clothes,

looks as good as the flowers of the field. And

you know what these flowers are good for in the end,

Jesus says they're good for f for the fire. This

incredibly beautiful flower, in its end is useful to fuel

the fires of our furnaces to be burned. And if

God the clothes the flowers of the field more beautiful

than Solomon on his best day, only to throw these

flowers into the fire in the end, than you, child

of God, who is of incredible value and worth to him,

how much more will he clothe you? This is worthless

compared to you in God's eyes, And he closed them

that beautifully. Why do you worry that He will not

clothe you? And then he ends it with that sweet

little rebuke, you of little faith. Thanks Jesus, we need

to hear that it's real though, we need to hear it.

Why do you doubt? Why are you worried? It may

only take this faith the size of a mustard seed

for salvation but don't keep your faith that size. Grow it.

Grow your faith. Remember that trust is a choice that's

born out of belief. So grow your faith or your belief.

Grow it. Know the truth and the promises of God.

Listen to what he said. It's all in here. This

is not the writings of Jesus. This is the words

of God that someone wrote down. This is what God said.

We have to view it that way. His promises, his truths,

are all in his word, and thank God they wrote

it down so we get to read it today. Believe

what God says and choose to trust him. Jesus is saying,

you're the followers of God, right, So don't be like

the pagans. Don't be like the rest of the world,

slig of verse twenty nine. And do not set your

heart on what you will eat or drink. Do not

worry about it, for the pagan world runs after such things,

and your father knows that you need them. But seek

his kingdom, and these things will be given to you

as well. He keeps repeating over and over and over again.

Do not worry, don't be afraid, don't worry about it.

The pagans chase after these basic needs, but you are

a follower of God. God knows you need these things.

He created humanity. He knows we need food. He knows

we need warmth and heat. He knows we need air.

He's a good father who gives good gifts to his children.

We just preached through that a little bit ago, a

few weeks ago, and as his children, we should have

complete trust that he will take care of us because

he said he would. He will meet all our needs,

because that's what a good father does. Now, I feel

like it would be wise now to ask, does this

mean we get to sit back and be lazy and

do nothing. Well, no, that doesn't mean we can just

be lazy and not work for anything, because God wouldn't

be a good father if he did that. Either. We

aren't told to sit and wait for the Lord to

wait on us. We aren't sitting back fanning ourselves, eating grapes,

ringing a bell whenever we need something right now, even

though some preachers might preach that that does not what

God would have us do. Read your bibles. It's all

over the place. He has a job for us to do,

and I think that the first step of that job

is what we just read. Instead of being worried, instead

of being anxious about whatever our needs are, instead of

running after things that the world chases, what are we

supposed to do seek his kingdom? To run after? Because

what doesn't mean to seek? He needs to run after

strive for aim at, which I always stop at aim

at because I think that's a very intentional thing to

seek in order to find his kingdom. There's a difference,

a big difference between looking for something and seeking something.

Who here has misplaced their keys? Yeah? Man, where did

I put those keys at? Like I've annoid putting right

here right just looking for your keys. It's a big difference.

When you've lost your keys and you're late for somewhere,

you're not looking anymore. You're seeking. Everyone in the house,

stop what you're doing. We've got to find the keys

because we're runing late. Everybody's looking. This to a family affair.

Seeking is way different than just looking for something. There's

urgency behind it. We must find the keys, right, So

Jesus here songs to seek God's kingdom, to seek it

like you seek for your keys when you're running late

for something. But what does Jesus mean by God's kingdom?

I think we need to break that down and talk

about it a little bit, and I think the easiest

way to kind of summarize it all together is God's

rule and his rains. What it means to seek God's

kingdom is to seek his rule and his reign, God's

perfect and proper order for all things. And I mean,

if you dig down to the root word, it's not

just his order, but it's also all the blessings and

benefits that come with His kingdom for his children, the

blessings that never fade, which is what our text is

talking about, instead of running after or seeking what the

world gives, which is never ever a guarantee. There's no

guarantee for those things that we seek, His rule, his reign,

his plan, ends, his purposes, his will, his desires, that

they would all be fulfilled in our lives and the

world around us. That's what we're seeking for. And instead

of setting our hearts on material possessions, that we would

set our hearts on worshiping Jesus as king, serving and

proclaiming Jesus as king, and obeying his commands, because that's

what you do when you have a king, you obey

his commands. Seeking his kingdom is seeking that everything falls

into obedience to the King. Everything that we would just

do what Colossians three says. It says, since then you've

been raised with Christ, believers, set your hearts on things above,

where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

Set your mind on things above, not unearthly things. Where

are we at in our heads, the here and now

or the then in forever? Jesus is telling us repeatedly

to not worry. And when our eyes are set on

this temporary life and this temporary world, it's really hard

not to worry. You're be anxious. It's really hard to do.

We have to set our hearts on the eternal, to

think about forever, not just the hear and now. We

don't have to be worried. We don't have to be

anxious about what we will eat or what we will drink.

We don't have to seek after all that stuff. God

will take care of those needs so that we can

be concerned with seeking His kingdom. God's like, don't worry

about those things, worry about this seeking his kingdom. And Jesus,

with what all I can say, say, his great tenderness

reminds us of this. So we're going to look at

the last section of our texts today, and if I'm

gonna have the worship team come up, just read verses

thirty two through thirty four. Don't be afraid, little flock.

If your father has been pleased to give you the kingdom,

sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses

for yourself that will not wear out, a treasure in

heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near

and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is there,

your heart will be also Again, do not be afraid,

don't worry, don't be anxious. We have nothing to be

anxious about. God, our father has been pleased to give

us the kingdom. That means he was happy to do it.

It brings him joy to give us the kingdom. As

his children co errs with Christ. We have an inheritance

waiting for us that outweighs any need we could ever imagine.

And God not only meets our needs forever, doesn't just

meet our eternal needs, but Jesus has been continually saying

that he will meet our needs here now too. So

we have no need to be worried, none, no need

at all. We can confidently sell our possessions and give

to the poor, knowing that God's going to take care

of us. We can be generous everywhere, which is a

command to be generous everywhere, everywhere they go. And we

can do so without fear. Why because our Father is

going to take care of us now. He said he would,

and he will take care of us eternally. So we

just read through the text. We walked through all the

verses again. What's the resounding point of today's text? Do

not worry? To trust God, do not be anxious. He

commands us not to be anxious about the most important,

necessary thing that we need to survive. And the great

implication in telling us not to be anxious about those

things is that we're commanded not to be anxious about

anything less important too. So my question is, what are

you anxious about? What are you worried about? What is

causing you strife and turmoil, what's causing you to lose

sleep at night? And what in all of what Jesus

just taught gives you an acceptable excuse to be worried.

He just told you that he will take care of

your most make your most important, biggest physical needs. He

just told you. Do you not believe him? Do you

not believe that he's a good father? Do you not

believe that he follows through on his word. We're confronting

and challenging belief because that's what Jesus is doing to

us in our hearts through the text. Jesus has given

us the cure for all anxiety, and I see that

play out from the text in three simple steps. Number

one is don't worry. It's command. Number two is a

seek God's kingdom. He tells us what to do instead

of worry, and the third step is to trust God.

That first one, don't worry. We need to obey God's

command to be in control of our emotions and feelings.

Be in control because He told you how to feel,

and this is me setting you free. You are in

control of your feelings. We decide how we're going to feel.

We do what Tewod Corinthians ten says. We take captive

every thought and make it obedient to Christ. Every thought,

whether that's a fleeting thought that comes in and you

don't even know where it came from in your head,

or something you're being taught from this very stage. You

take captive of every thought and make it obedient to Christ. Two,

we seek God's kingdom. We pray that his reign, his rule,

his plans, his purposes, his will and desires, that they

would all come to pass. That we would worship and

serve Jesus, proclaim his name and obey his commands because

he's king, and to make all of We're doing all

that just to make his kingdom come to pass. That's

what our goal is. We want the King of the

Kingdom of God to rule all things, so we start

acting like it now. And the third one, we trust God.

Trust is a choice, so right now, choose to trust

everything God said. If he set you free from the

bondage of sin and death, and you were one of

his children, you can choose to trust him right now

because He's revealed the truth to you. Proverbs IIE says

trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean

not on your own understanding. In all your ways. Submit

to him and what he will make your paths straight,

not crooked, not rocky straight. We don't try to do

this in our own strength. It may not make sense

to us in our own understanding. Why do you think

that verse says, well, peace that surpasses all understanding. It

doesn't make sense why you'd have peace in these moments

in the middle of a storm. But that only comes

from knowing Christ. He will guard our hearts and our

hearts in Christ, our minds and our hearts in Christ. Jesus.

Trusting in him leads to straight paths. His track record

is perfect, says song. A firm foundation never fails. Is that?

How's the course going? They say, he won't he won't.

He won't, he won't. It's all about he won't fail.

That was like, it's a really simple course. Just remember

it's two words, he won't fail. It's track record's perfect.

If he tells us not to worry about something, then

we have no reason to worry because we trust him.

We believe him. We can choose to be obedient to

him and stop being anxious. We don't worry. We seek

God's kingdom and we trust God. What else are you trusting?

What else are you trusting in other than God? To

cure your anxiety? What would you be anxious if you

didn't have money, certain relationships? How about your job? If

you didn't have your job, would you be anxious? Recreation?

High love, video games? Would it be anxious? If I

wasn't able to play video games? How about lust substances?

I don't know kids are in here, but smoking stuff

and drinking stuff. Would you be anxious if you didn't

have those things? How just entertainment and distraction? What would

you be anxious if you didn't have What are you

running to as the cure for your anxiety? That was

never ever meant to be a cure. I was talking

with Pastor Jordan about I send the pastors my notes.

They can go over it and make sure it's say

anything crazy. We all do that. That's great. And he

was just talking through some of the and he's like,

I think you should talk about some of the things

people put their trust in. And then he said something

that was like and I had to write down, so

I'm stealing a quote from Pastor Jordan right now. And

he said everything else is a treatment, not a cure.

Blow your mind as much as a blue mind. No

matter what else you chase after to cure your anxiety

will never be a cure. It will be a treatment

you were trying to treat. You were trying to put

a band aid over a bullet hole. The only cure

for anxiety is trust. In God. You must trust in God.

Say don't worry, Say trust God. Say trust is a choice.

Can you, guys, stand to your feet?