So Worried For What?! | Pr Steven Soon

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My topic for today is this. So worried for what?

And I'm very convicted to share this as I was

seeking the Lord because interestingly throughout the week as I

was talking to different ones, this seems.

To pop up a lot.

I remember yesterday at Michelle and Han Ming's blessing ceremony,

different ones were sharing different things. I'm like, huh, okay.

Tomorrow's message will be for you.

Yeah.

And I really believe this is a word for us,

as it is for me, all right? So worried for what?

Matthew 6.34 says this, Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow,

for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for

the day is its own trouble. We all know this scripture.

Many of us know this by heart, right? I'm going

to dive deep into this part. I'm going to highlight

the word worry here. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow.

Worry here in the original text in Greek when it

was written is this.

Marimnao.

Everyone say marimnao. Marimnao means to be anxious, to be distracted.

And here's the part.

Okay. I want to highlight the word distracted.

Okay.

Distracted there. Just now someone wrote distracted from your task, right?

Drawn in opposite directions, divided into parts, to go to

pieces because food apart.

I put here, do you know what this is? Yes,

this is a cow, correct. This is a yoke. We

all know how yoke works, right? There are two cows.

If one decides to go to another direction, what happens?

It won't move. If, let's say, the farmer.

Once the cow with the yoke to go and prepare

the ground so he can sow seeds, right?

One says, I'm going to go. I know the task.

Walk straight. The other cow says, I don't want. I

want to go to the right. What will happen? It

will divert from the original path, right?

Right?

To be divided.

That's what scripture means when it says worry. We will

be distracted. Worry is actually distraction. Worry is actually division.

Look to your neighbour again and say, jangan marinao. Because

marinao sounds very bahasa. Worry is a distraction. And catch this, okay?

This is what worry is. We are essentially allowing something

that has yet to happen with a high possibility that

will not happen, to infiltrate our own psyche and influence

our decision for the present.

No, sorry, not LGBT. For me. I prayed about this.

And the Lord ministered. And actually, this came about when

I was counselling someone. And I said this. Of course,

I used fancier words here.

We are essentially allowing something that has yet to happen

with a high possibility that will not happen to infiltrate

our thoughts and influence our decision for the present. Let

that sink in for a moment. That's what worry is.

Okay?

I'll give you some real examples.

So, I have this anxiety. Okay?

I have something called low battery anxiety. I cannot tahan

my device's low battery on. Especially my phone. And it's

a legit anxiety. Let me explain to you. It's not just,

I would love for it to be at 100% all

the time.

It's not that.

I would actually feel anxious when my battery is depleting

and I have no way to charge it.

Because let me tell you what are the thoughts going

through my mind.

What if something happened and someone needs to call me?

What if something happened to Sharon and then she calls

me and then I have no battery? Huh?

Cannot drive easily.

True.

Yeah, because some use phone to unlock the car, right?

Those are the thoughts that actually go through my mind, right?

That's why I have the tendency to keep my phone

charged all the time, right?

I will not shut off my phone at.

Night because what if someone in the congregation is hospitalized

and they call me? I actually have those thoughts. I

have low battery anxiety. First world problem. I found out

recently that my wife has fridge anxiety. I had low

battery anxiety, she has empty fridge anxiety. Interesting, we were

talking and then she's like, I feel, don't feel good.

I'm like, why? Fridge is empty. I feel anxious.

For me, all my life, I'm like, I have empty

fridge because I don't cook. So I'm like, this every day.

But she feels that, right? Because she's thinking about, I'm

thinking about groceries. You get groceries and all that, right?

And you see, anxiety is real. Anxiety is real, right?

And we worry about things. And most of the times,

things that have yet to happen. And we allow it

to emotionally and mentally affect us now. Just now I

mentioned about how this thing came about was I was

counselling someone and I was having a conversation with this student.

And the student was sharing about, hey, if I... I

don't know, I'm worried about my graduation. Because I think

my parents would want me to come back home. But

I'm not sure yet.

I'm worried, I'm worried. And I'm also worried about my

parents' health. when I'm away. Real concerns, real things.

But one thing that struck out to me was, this

student was worried about things that are years ahead. And

I can sense the worry, I can sense the anxiety,

and I can sense the lack of peace, now.

But it has not happened yet.

And I remember sharing with the student this, that moment

the Holy Spirit just inspired me, And I shared about this.

And I told, that's what I said, brother, you got

to overcome this because this will eat you up from

the inside. You see, when we allow worry to overcome us,

we are allowing something that has yet to happen again

with a high possibility that will not happen to mess

us up today. All right? We always hear this saying,

I don't know if you guys know this, right? Statistically,

it's proven. Most worst-case scenarios.

Do not happen, right?

We will always think about worst-case scenarios, but more often

than not, it does not happen. It's all residing in

our imagination and never actually comes into reality. And this

next slide, I'm going to show you this. When we

worry about the future, we are allowing something that's non-existent

to mess up things that are very present, very real

and very tangible. Is that sinking in? Something that's not

there to mess up with things that are there. I

don't know how many of us are like that.

I am.

I'll admit. That I allow things that are non-existent, things

that has yet to happen, with a chance that won't happen,

high chance, to affect how I feel, because I'm worried,

and that affects whatever that I have now, that otherwise

wouldn't have been affected. One thing about me I recognise,

I've come to recognise this, is I tend to, so

I have a very packed schedule, right? And one bad

side effect of that I've noticed in myself is I

tend to worry about what's next in my schedule. I

tend to think about it. Has not happened yet. Yes,

it's in the schedule. I look at it, I'm like,

oh my goodness, I have a really packed tomorrow. And

then I start to think, what if I don't have

enough sleep?

Catch that.

It has not happened yet. Chances are, I may have

enough sleep. But what if tomorrow I don't have enough sleep?

It has not happened yet. But because of that, it

affects me today. And I start to feel very queasy,

very uneasy about something that has yet to happen.

I have that.

And the result of that also is because I'm constantly

stressed out or rather I'm constantly worried about what's happening next,

I'm in a constant.

State of stress and unrest and unhappiness. It's true.

Because I'm constantly thinking about what's happening next. Well, another

thing that happens out of that is, it's very hard

for me to be present at the moment. I'm allowing

again what's happening next to affect my now. John 10.10

says this. Many of us can recite by memory. The

thief does not come except to steal, kill and destroy.

But I've come that you may have life and life

more abundantly. I want to highlight the thief here. Of course,

when we talk about the thief, we usually think about

the enemy, the devil, Satan. But when Jesus was talking

about this, He meant it literally and figuratively. He's literally

talking about an actual thief. Yeah, this is what a

thief does. Comes to steal, kill and destroy. I believe

he's also talking about different things that can be thieves

in our lives.

Not literal thieves that will come and rob us. But

things in our.

Life that we allow in that will rob us of

different things that makes us feel alive.

Now, we just learned that worry is a distraction. Right?

By definition. Marinao.

Worry means distraction. It is a stealing of our attention.

A worry, my friends, as a thief, is not robbing hood.

Worry is robbing our livelihood.

You like that one?

I thought of it just now during worship. The Lord

just dropped this. Jokes can be from the Lord.

Also one, okay? Worry is there to steal. whatever you

have now.

When we allow ourselves to worry, we are allowing ourselves

to be robbed, to be killed and to be destroyed.

When I worry about what's next on my schedule, I'm

allowing the worry to rob my joy that I can

possibly have and attain from the present.

Catch that so far?

That means I'm supposed to have a chance to be

really happy now. I can be really happy with the present.

But because I think about and I worry about tomorrow,

about what's in my schedule, I allow it to rob

away that possibility. When that student I was talking about,

that I was talking to, is worried about what will

happen after his graduation, he's also killing his chances of

experiencing the best outcome of his present. Because what happens

when we worry is this. It causes us to make

decisions out of fear. Instead of being objective of the

reality of the situation right now.

I know it's a lot of big words. I'm going

to slow down a little bit. Did you catch that?

Fear clouds our mind.

It distorts our view of reality and we are no

longer objective of what is actually happening here.

And it's about something in the future. Not even present yet.

Have you been in those situations where your worry affects

your words, your actions, your responses, your behaviour, which also

in turn spills over to other areas of your lives

which are otherwise alright? That means, actually without the worry, right,

the things are okay. But because we worry, it influences

our speech, our words, our thoughts, our actions, our behaviour,

our response and our reactions. It messes things up. that

are otherwise alright. I have been there many times. It

affects my relationships with people because I'm stressed about tomorrow.

When we do that, we kill our chances of experiencing

the best outcome of our present. The thief does not

come except to steal and to kill and to destroy.

Why?

But you see, the good news is God gives us

a solution in the second part of John 10. Jesus

has come so that we may have life and we

may have it more abundantly. So this is the solution.

When we fix our eyes on Jesus, we don't just

remove worry as a distraction.

We don't just get.

Clarity of the reality of the situation because worry takes

away the actual objective reality of the situation. Because of emotions,

our assumptions, that's what worry does. So not only when

we fix our eyes on Jesus, not only we get

clarity of our situation, takes away the distraction of worry,

we also gain another dimension that supersedes objective reality. I

want you to hear this. We gain a new dimension

beyond just... Objective reality is.

Already good, right? Okay, very clear. Things are alright.

But when we fix our eyes on Jesus... He gives

us a new dimension. That dimension is called faith. And

let me tell you what faith can do. When we

focus on Jesus, John 10.10 says that you will not

only gain life, which is objective reality, life as is.

You gain abundant life. That's what faith can do.

With faith, your best outcome based on objective reality has

just leveled up.

You catch that?

You're worried about this bad thing that is, that may

happen or you feel it's about to happen. The world says, hey,

worst case scenarios rarely happen.

We find comfort in that. Objective reality, right? Rarely happen.

Rarely happen.

Low percentage. But God says, I'll do you better. He

gives you the best possible outcome. He gives you a miracle.

This is what faith can do. This is what objective

reality can offer you. God says, I'll do you better.

He gives you exceedingly abundantly above all that you ask.

Ephesians 3.20.

It's unfair, right? You think about it.

That means God is giving us something more than reality

should by right offer. That means cause and effect. You

do this, this is supposed to happen. But God is saying, oh,

I have something better. There is reality and choosing not

to worry will give you objective reality.

You'll be clear. There's clarity of mind of the situation

and you realize actually no need to worry. It's okay.

But God is saying, I'm going to give you more

than that. You're worried about this. I'm going to tell

you this. I'm going to turn it around for you.

That's why the Word of God says, Matthew 6, 34, again,

do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.

Sufficient are today's worries. It's unfair.

If you think about it, Christians, we have an unfair advantage.

And I would also say, sometimes Christians, we forget that

we have this unfair advantage. Even Christians can forget to

have faith. But when we have faith, it is unfair

because faith gives us an unfair advantage against the realities

of this world. You mean to say you didn't have

to work your head off and God can cover your bills? Yes.

Unfair, right?

You mean to say that you are supposed to pay

this much for your wedding but God gave you favour

and you got more than you paid for?

Unfair. True story by the way. Just happened seven weeks ago.

You mean to say you have this serious health issue

like many other people but God healed you?

Unfair. So unfair.

You mean to say that you are meant to die

but God paid for your sins so that you may

have life?

Unfair.

So unfair.

Aren't you glad now that life is unfair? If we

live life by fairness, we will never have faith. And

that's my encouragement to us. Practice faith. When you worry,

practice faith. Because faith gives you an unfair advantage beyond

objective reality can offer you. Objective reality is already decent, good.

But you're not living the abundant life. Because God wants

to give you this added dimension of supernatural life. So

don't let worry, my friends, mess up what you already

have in the present.

That's what worry can do. And the enemy uses that

all the time.

Don't let worry mess up what you already have in

the present and what you potentially will have in the future.

Because worry can rob you of your destiny. as well

because it messes up your decisions today. I want to

share a testimony. Actually, our wedding, Sharon and I, is

filled with testimonies. Some closer to us would have heard

the whole journey because we asked them to pray for

us and they got to see things happen. Whole wedding,

from start to end, testimony upon testimony. So this venue,

very nice, right? Most of you were there, right? You

can cycle through the slides. Very nice venue. But you

may not know the story behind this venue, right? When

we got engaged in July 2024, you know, 2025, when

we got engaged July 2025, we were like, okay, we're

going to make things fast so that it can be stress-free.

Find venue fast, everything prepared fast, fast, fast. This is

a project planner in me, right? And wow, within four weeks,

we found venue.

Secured. Verbally. That time.

Right?

It was another church. Went to see.

Wow. Hits all our criteria. Here, church is in Subang.

And we found our luncheon place as well, which is Concord, right?

The only downside is the distance, right? From Subang travel

to KL. But, ticks all the boxes, fantastic, right? And

we say, okay, we want it. And they say, yes,

this date is available.

Fantastic. We'll give you a discount some more. Hallelujah. It's

from the Lord. You have heard my prayers. Discount some more. Wow.

well within our budget, felt good, felt really good. And

then I waited.

I really wanted to pay the deposit to really lock

it down, but there was delays. Oh, our pastor is

not around, he's travelling, wait for the pastor to come

back and then we will sort this out. And then

as time passes, one month passed, one and a half

months passed, two months passed, and it felt uneasy one

day and I just called the person and I said, hey,

what is going on? I really want to lock it down. Uh,

We are, at that time, actually three months passed. It

was October already, I believe. I could be wrong, but

I think it was already October, which was maybe nine

months away from the wedding. Verbal confirmation so far. And

then the person says, Steven, I got bad news. That

month is going to be our missions month. Number one,

there'll be a lot of decorations that you can't move.

Number two, our church committee is not very keen to

have weddings during this month. Even said this, at that time,

we got a good friend, also getting married, and also

found the same location two weeks apart. I think if

you know the couple, you probably know who, right?

From ex-church or so. Two weeks apart. They also found

a venue. And the person actually told me this.

The person said, our church leaders, the pastoral board is

willing to do one wedding. One. You and your friend, right?

You guys chose. Why not you discuss with your friend?

Which one want to do it here?

Funny, right?

And I was like, number one, that friend of ours,

they actually booked the venue first. So, we didn't feel

at peace to do stuff like that. I mean, if

anyone should get it, it's them.

Not us.

But the person felt really bad. To his credit, he

actually really felt really bad. And he said, give me

one more week. One more week to talk to the

pastoral board.

Let's see how it goes.

Just give me one more week. But as the days passed,

I just felt uneasy. And I went like, okay, I

don't feel peace with this. And even if they gave

it to us, I'm not sure if we really wanted it.

So one day before that week passed, I called the

person up and I said this, Brother, I.

Understand.

I myself as a pastor understand the importance of missions.

I understand Missions Monday is very important for your church.

Totally understand. Don't worry about the booking.

God, I believe, will provide us somewhere else. When I

say that, I meant every word I said when I

said that. After that, I ended the call. It's a

faith thing to do, you know, because I could have

gotten the place. Nine months away from the wedding. Didn't

help that different ones were starting to ask, hey, where

are you going to have? Part of me still have faith,

you know, I'm like, I don't have yet, God will provide.

And then, our friends will go like, don't have yet.

People book one year in advance.

I'm like, thanks.

But no, I know, it's natural. Natural response. It was

a step of faith. Really trusted God. But can I

be honest with you? As each week passed by, I

started to feel anxious. October passed. November passed. We tried

every venue possible. And here's the worst thing, right? We

actually got plan B, plan C on a planner, right?

Planner.

In case this venue don't work out, we got plan B,

plan C. I call up those plan B, plan C's. Aiyo,

someone just booked.

So in my mind, if only they told me earlier

that the venue is not available, I could have gotten

this venue. Natural, right? To think that way.

Can I tell you, to be honest, even as a pastor,

there are days I am so tempted to shift the blame.

How can a church do this? How can the pastoral

board do this to another pastor? Tempted ah?

Can I be honest? Human here, tempted. But every time

the Holy Spirit will whisper, Stephen, honour them. This is

God's house. I told myself, no, I will not shift

the blame. Even when people ask, I will share the story.

I will say this is the decision, but it's okay.

God has a better place in store. But it was

a struggle ah. Worry was very real. Because January came,

No venue. February, maybe got, but didn't work out. I

think it was end of February that Pastor Sandra and

Pastor Kenneth came into the picture and say, we know

a place.

You try lah. Try lah. Don't know lah, can or not,

but you try lah. You try lah. KLBC.

And you know the crazy thing was this right, like,

The original venue was already cheap.

We got this cheaper. Discount.

Really give discount. The pastor doesn't even know me. The

funny thing is, the pastor doesn't even know Pastor Kenneth,

Pastor Sandra. It was through another contact, because Baptist Church,

Pastor Palan, through Pastor Palan, Pastor Kenneth, Pastor Sandra, thought

of this church and asked Pastor Palan, hey, This church would.

And then pass the content, pass, pass, pass, pass. Got

discounts and more. Oh, they're so good.

Got this venue and here's the crazy thing. 10 minutes

away from Concord. But it wasn't easy, to be honest.

Wasn't easy. Worry was there.

What? Five months away, no venue. Those conversations still happening,

by the way. So how your venue? God will provide. Huh?

Five months away.

I'm like, I know, I know. And I'm trying to

keep it in. It's going to be okay, Stephen. It's

going to be okay. Look to the Lord. Look to

the Lord, Stephen. Look to the Lord.

Fix your eyes on Jesus. Don't let the thieves rob away.

Because one thing that Sharon and I, we discussed and

we wanted this is that the planning, we don't want

the planning to be, to rob joy from us. Yes,

things didn't work out the way we wanted it to.

But it turned out perfect. The way God wanted it to.

So fix our eyes on Jesus. Wasn't easy. Really tough.

Wasn't easy. Fix our eyes on Jesus. And God came through.

You see, worry says this. Worry says, get that venue regardless.

Okay lah, don't care about your friend lah. Your wedding

more important right? Your pastor status some more. Maybe you

get higher chance of getting that venue over your other friend.

Worry says, do that. Because you get your problem solved.

Faith says, do the right thing. Honour that friend of yours.

They booked it first. And the funny thing was, the

friend eventually didn't even use that venue. Because of the

whole missions month situation.

The deco.

Faith says, do the right thing. Honour the church anyway.

Even though they did that, they pulled a fast one.

It's okay. I remember who my God is. Worry says,

make them pay. Tell people don't book their venue. because

they did this to me. Faith says, honour them regardless.

Worry says, you haven't got a venue yet. Your wedding

is six months away.

Faith says, do not be anxious.

God has got your back. And that is the outcome.

Many of you were there. You see, as I close,

I want to share this. God is in the makeover business.

Have you seen those makeover series before? Oh, I watched it.

It was a big thing, you know, back then. Maybe

10 years ago. The TV shows, reality TV. The house

is in a mess. Then the host comes in. Oh

my gosh, this place. You've been living here? Yeah, we

make it work. We're going to turn this place around

for you. Give us one month. And then you see

the process. And after that, you see them walking into

the newly renovated house.

Wow. And then the wife will be.

The couch. The couch.

It's my favorite color.

I've watched. I've watched, so I know.

In those moments, right, as a viewer, I always thought,

how in the world are they going to turn this

place around with cockroaches everywhere? Leftover lunch from don't know

how long ago piled up in one corner.

Cannot know, cannot envision. Impossible.

How?

Have you ever seen those car makeover videos? I watched

those more. I've been driving this truck for the past

20 years. My dad passed it down to me. I

need this for work. It's breaking down, but it's okay.

The person comes in. We're going to turn your car around.

And you cannot imagine, right? This 20, 30-year-old truck.

Becomes a super truck after that. Turbocharger, big wheels, almost

a monster truck like that after that. We oftentimes cannot

see past situations that we feel are impossible.

But don't forget God is in, ultimately, the business of makeovers.

And He, I'm talking about God, He loves an impossible challenge.

The more impossible you think it is, it's like, I'm here,

I'm going to prove you wrong. I'm going to show

you that I'm God. He's a specialist in turning things around.

God has been in this business since the beginning of time.

Nothing existed, created the heavens and the earth. Things go wrong,

He turns it around for good. This is our God.

So instead of choosing to worry, and I close with this,

worry is natural. Choose to surrender to God and let go.

That is supernatural. Don't stay on the natural. Everyone has that.

Don't forget about your unfair advantage. You have the supernatural.

Practice your faith. I wish I can have more time

to share with you more stories of our wedding.

It's crazy. It's crazy. No time. I'm really tempted to

share but no time. No time.

But that's my encouragement to us, my friends. All of

us worry. And more often than not, we worry about

things that have yet to happen. That's usually the case.

Let me tell you how I've been helping myself and

how God has helped me in the past few weeks.

I told you I have a... I tend to worry

about what's ahead in my schedule. I would intentionally just

close my eyes for a moment when I detected that

worry coming. I just close my eyes, stop whatever I'm doing,

stop looking at the calendar.

I don't know. For me at work, I don't know

if my calendar is always on my screen.

Oh, Nancy was interning. She can testify. It's always on

my screen.

My calendar is there on my second screen, staring back

at me.

Stephen, you see, tomorrow, you got four meetings. You haven't

even prepared for three. Stephen, you're preaching two sessions this week,

Friday 80. This week, it was this week.

Honest, honest. But God says, I got you covered, man.

Don't worry.

So let me tell you what I do. When I

start to worry, in the past few weeks, I practice this.

I take a moment, I stop. Take a deep breath

and go like, that is a worry for tomorrow. Today,

I know what I need to do. I do what

I need to do today. God will do the rest.

Almost like mantra like that. God will do the rest.

Enjoy what you need to do today. It has worked

for me the past two weeks, so far. But it

requires a lot of discipline. A lot of self-awareness.

Right? Try that.

Take a moment and go like, oh, looking at our finances,

we're going to go into the red in the next

two months. I don't know how my business will survive this.

Oh God, I'm starting to worry. God, I got things

I need to do today. Help me to focus on

just today. Tomorrow's worry is for tomorrow.

Today. And Lord, Help me to enjoy the present. Pray.

Take a moment, pause, pray. Because worry robs you of

what you can get today. Imagine every day you're allowing

a thief access to your bank account. That's what you're

doing when you worry every day. Taking a bit here, there,

everywhere and you will.

Never have enough. That's my encouragement to you. Can I

get us all to stand as I close us all

in prayer?

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God bless.