WEBVTT 00:00:01.624 --> 00:00:01.965 Hey, what up? 00:00:01.965 --> 00:00:03.830 It's Mark Carter on, the Pastor of Fierce Church. 00:00:03.830 --> 00:00:04.871 Welcome to our podcast. 00:00:04.871 --> 00:00:07.190 I'm so pumped that you're able to join us today. 00:00:07.190 --> 00:00:16.707 I hope this encourages you, inspires you, strengthens you, gives you hope to keep pressing on, and it's my prayer that this sermon gives you a more expansive view of God's love for you. 00:00:16.707 --> 00:00:17.850 Enjoy the message. 00:00:19.879 --> 00:00:23.989 A good chunk of my junior high years, there just wasn't a lot of money around. 00:00:23.989 --> 00:00:26.321 Now this was nice. 00:00:26.321 --> 00:00:29.609 It taught me that I didn't have to spend a lot of money. 00:00:29.609 --> 00:00:33.573 My friends and I would go out and they would have food and I would not. 00:00:33.573 --> 00:00:35.381 And they would say, hey, are you hungry? 00:00:35.381 --> 00:00:37.911 Of course I'm hungry, just don't have any money. 00:00:37.911 --> 00:00:46.762 If you have a junior higher who has a spending problem, I recommend this strategy Just take the money away and then they can't spend it. 00:00:46.762 --> 00:00:50.999 Sorry, if you're a junior high, go to the fusion. 00:00:50.999 --> 00:00:52.381 You don't have to hear these harsh messages. 00:00:59.694 --> 00:01:26.307 It was coming around Christmas time and I don't know if my folks said this directly, but I was getting the vibe that maybe Christmas was going to be without presents this year and in my English class we were supposed to write an essay about what we wanted for Christmas and I remembered like being worried that morning and then remembering God and being like you know what would be good Another Christmas would be great, that would be great. 00:01:26.307 --> 00:01:34.027 I wrote that essay and my teacher called my mom and thought I was dying of cancer or suicidal. 00:01:34.027 --> 00:01:34.748 She's a great teacher. 00:01:34.748 --> 00:01:43.064 But this morning we're talking about the financial woes that continue right. 00:01:43.064 --> 00:01:55.040 As a junior higher, my parents tried to protect me from some of these things, but as I've grown up and I've had to take responsibility for my life and the lives of my children and my wife, there's a lot of things to worry about. 00:01:55.040 --> 00:01:59.950 We are in the wealthiest country that has ever existed. 00:01:59.950 --> 00:02:07.515 I know that wealth isn't evenly distributed, but we also worry more than we ever have. 00:02:07.515 --> 00:02:11.926 If you try to get into a counselor, you know that this is the case. 00:02:11.926 --> 00:02:20.716 They're booked up, they're booked up, and so if you're a teenager, you know that college is super expensive. 00:02:20.716 --> 00:02:28.246 How are you going to pay for that, especially coming out of school when you don't know if you're going to be able to land a job or you have entry level salaries? 00:02:28.246 --> 00:02:43.300 How are you going to afford housing Mortgages now if you have the same house, like if you got a mortgage two years ago and you had the same house under 7% interest rates, your mortgage monthly rate is twice as expensive as it used to be. 00:02:43.300 --> 00:02:44.824 That's tough. 00:02:44.824 --> 00:02:49.711 That's tough If you're trying to pay for kids. 00:02:49.711 --> 00:02:59.091 The last estimate that I saw was $218,000 for zero to 18, excluding college, to raise one child. 00:02:59.091 --> 00:03:11.794 My wife and I have four of them Planning for retirement? 00:03:12.094 --> 00:03:13.135 Are you saving enough? 00:03:13.135 --> 00:03:15.525 What if you live to be 95? 00:03:15.525 --> 00:03:22.604 Do you have enough money Taking care of elderly folks or trying to provide for your family if you're gone? 00:03:22.604 --> 00:03:30.723 Trying to figure out a way to pass on an inheritance to an ungrateful generation? 00:03:30.723 --> 00:03:33.649 You know these financial problems we have. 00:03:33.649 --> 00:03:37.044 They go on and on and on. 00:03:37.044 --> 00:03:48.211 But the thing about worrying is that if you worry, you'll get to the end of your life and you won't have financial decision regrets. 00:03:48.211 --> 00:03:52.241 You will have a lack of financial decision regrets. 00:03:52.241 --> 00:04:06.102 To be more clear, worry keeps us from doing anything and sadly, that's a decision as well. 00:04:10.050 --> 00:04:20.850 This series, trustonomics, is about laying a foundation for you during financial hardship, and this morning we're going to square up against kind of first step. 00:04:20.850 --> 00:04:24.805 How does faith hit the road? 00:04:24.805 --> 00:04:25.728 How does rubber hit the road? 00:04:25.728 --> 00:04:29.225 How does faith hit our lives when it comes to financial hardship? 00:04:29.225 --> 00:04:33.622 And if we're worried about things, what does faith have for us? 00:04:33.622 --> 00:04:35.026 Jesus here. 00:04:35.026 --> 00:04:38.096 Jesus is about to tell us how to not worry. 00:04:38.476 --> 00:04:53.694 And so if you don't want to get to the end of your life filled with a lack of financial decisions because you worried away your life, then this message is for you Matthew 6, 25, sermon on the Mount. 00:04:53.694 --> 00:04:57.149 This is a famous sermon that Jesus gave outside. 00:04:57.149 --> 00:04:58.432 That'll be important for later. 00:04:58.432 --> 00:05:02.564 He just taught about finances. 00:05:02.564 --> 00:05:05.737 You shouldn't treasure things, material things, on earth. 00:05:05.737 --> 00:05:09.596 You should treasure things that are eternal, things of God, things in heaven. 00:05:09.596 --> 00:05:12.223 That's where our treasure should be. 00:05:12.223 --> 00:05:16.451 You can't serve both God and money. 00:05:16.451 --> 00:05:19.918 You can't serve both God and money. 00:05:19.918 --> 00:05:22.184 And then this is the verse 25 here. 00:05:22.184 --> 00:05:25.752 Therefore, you can't serve both God and money. 00:05:25.752 --> 00:05:34.480 Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, what you drink, about your body, what you will wear. 00:05:34.480 --> 00:05:42.795 Do not worry is a command for those of us that are following Jesus. 00:05:42.795 --> 00:05:44.384 That's what the sermon on the Mount's all about. 00:05:44.384 --> 00:05:46.348 What does it mean to follow Jesus? 00:05:46.348 --> 00:05:53.088 And one of the signs that we're pulled by worldly things is if we worry about finances. 00:05:53.088 --> 00:05:57.324 Therefore, don't. 00:05:57.324 --> 00:05:59.529 Therefore, don't worry. 00:05:59.529 --> 00:06:01.680 Now, this isn't like that. 00:06:01.961 --> 00:06:06.040 Uh, the Bob Newhart sketch I don't know if you're familiar with Stop it. 00:06:06.040 --> 00:06:08.529 It goes like this he's a psychiatrist Gal comes in. 00:06:08.529 --> 00:06:18.529 She says I'm uh terrified of being buried alive in a box, and then he's super calm and says you know, like here's, here's my pricing structure. 00:06:18.529 --> 00:06:20.529 It's $5 for the first five minutes. 00:06:20.529 --> 00:06:21.737 It's free. 00:06:21.737 --> 00:06:23.470 After that she said, oh, that sounds great. 00:06:23.470 --> 00:06:25.529 He's like I have two words for you. 00:06:25.529 --> 00:06:27.509 You might want to write them down. 00:06:27.509 --> 00:06:28.514 You know you. 00:06:28.514 --> 00:06:29.798 If you want to write them down, that's fine. 00:06:29.798 --> 00:06:31.365 It's two words, you could probably remember it. 00:06:31.365 --> 00:06:32.529 And she's like oh, okay, I'm ready. 00:06:32.529 --> 00:06:35.838 And he says Stop it. 00:06:43.326 --> 00:06:46.377 For those of us who struggle with anxiety, we've been told that as well. 00:06:46.377 --> 00:06:47.959 Have you tried? 00:06:47.959 --> 00:06:49.529 Have you tried not being anxious? 00:06:49.529 --> 00:06:57.963 But here Jesus is going to lay out the case for why. 00:06:57.963 --> 00:07:02.040 It's going to lay out the case for why in verse 25. 00:07:02.040 --> 00:07:06.529 Life is more than food and the body, more than clothing. 00:07:06.529 --> 00:07:09.497 Life is more than food in the body, more than clothing. 00:07:09.497 --> 00:07:10.120 Okay. 00:07:10.529 --> 00:07:26.264 So if you're worrying and you're just over and over again, you're going to miss life, you might justify it by saying ah, but if I don't have the things that I need to survive, I won't be alive. 00:07:26.264 --> 00:07:30.223 Good point, but surviving isn't thriving. 00:07:30.223 --> 00:07:38.529 And if all you do is worry, that's where you end up. 00:07:38.529 --> 00:07:47.141 Worry is an over concern, it's a rumination on thoughts. 00:07:47.141 --> 00:07:48.172 You know how? 00:07:48.172 --> 00:07:49.233 Okay. 00:07:49.233 --> 00:08:08.529 So the basis of cognitive behavioral therapy if you go to counseling and it's CBT, the basis is this If you change your thoughts, it will lead to different behaviors, and if you behave differently, it can change your thoughts, and so by working on both in conjunction, you can transform as a person. 00:08:08.529 --> 00:08:10.478 That's cognitive behavioral therapy. 00:08:10.478 --> 00:08:17.916 Jesus here is saying we need to think differently about the context of our financial worries. 00:08:17.916 --> 00:08:23.339 If all you do is think about surviving, you're going to miss life. 00:08:23.339 --> 00:08:27.778 You'll just spin and spin and spin. 00:08:29.418 --> 00:08:30.529 Verse 26, again he's outside. 00:08:30.529 --> 00:08:32.336 He says look at the birds. 00:08:32.336 --> 00:08:34.865 I've been to this part of the Sea of Galilee. 00:08:34.865 --> 00:08:35.529 There were birds. 00:08:35.529 --> 00:08:37.529 You can imagine them right now. 00:08:37.529 --> 00:08:39.135 Are you imagining birds? 00:08:39.135 --> 00:08:41.256 Great, we're on the same page. 00:08:41.529 --> 00:08:42.956 There are birds in the air. 00:08:42.956 --> 00:08:47.080 Do they sow or reap or stow away in barns? 00:08:47.080 --> 00:08:50.259 No, they are terrible planters. 00:08:50.259 --> 00:08:52.056 They are terrible at heart. 00:08:52.056 --> 00:08:54.529 They miss harvest time. 00:08:54.529 --> 00:08:56.437 They don't store anything. 00:08:56.437 --> 00:08:58.355 Their economy is jacked up. 00:08:58.355 --> 00:09:02.635 Birds they're really missing trading opportunities. 00:09:02.635 --> 00:09:07.873 The birds, they don't do any of that. 00:09:07.873 --> 00:09:10.719 Yet your heavenly father feeds them. 00:09:10.719 --> 00:09:18.523 This isn't saying that we too shouldn't sow or reap or store. 00:09:18.523 --> 00:09:22.220 It's saying we are already better at finance than the birds are. 00:09:22.220 --> 00:09:23.456 But they don't worry. 00:09:23.456 --> 00:09:27.095 But they don't worry because God will provide. 00:09:27.095 --> 00:09:27.875 They wake up. 00:09:27.875 --> 00:09:29.578 They're like another good day. 00:09:29.739 --> 00:09:30.821 Early bird gets the worm. 00:09:30.821 --> 00:09:31.322 That's me. 00:09:31.322 --> 00:09:32.303 I'm going to go get that worm. 00:09:32.303 --> 00:09:34.015 There's a worm out there for me. 00:09:34.015 --> 00:09:35.653 I imagine that's what birds say. 00:09:35.653 --> 00:09:35.894 I don't. 00:09:35.894 --> 00:09:39.916 Do they know English? 00:09:39.916 --> 00:09:49.977 Worry gets you focused on the wrong things and it also devalues you. 00:09:49.977 --> 00:09:52.174 Did you catch that question at the end here? 00:09:52.174 --> 00:09:55.736 Are you not more valuable than they? 00:09:55.736 --> 00:09:58.394 Are people not worth more than birds? 00:09:58.394 --> 00:10:00.059 Of course they are. 00:10:00.059 --> 00:10:02.177 They're made in the image of God. 00:10:02.177 --> 00:10:04.756 There's dignity to all people. 00:10:04.756 --> 00:10:06.371 Praise God. 00:10:10.111 --> 00:10:14.119 Third argument Anxiety doesn't add to your life. 00:10:14.119 --> 00:10:23.321 In verse 27, he says it this way can any one of you, by worrying, add a single hour to your life? 00:10:23.321 --> 00:10:26.317 Or maybe you have a translation that says an inch to your stature. 00:10:26.317 --> 00:10:29.414 It does worry add anything? 00:10:29.414 --> 00:10:32.155 That answer is no. 00:10:32.155 --> 00:10:39.998 If you get in the spin cycle of thoughts, you end up back in your same spot. 00:10:39.998 --> 00:10:58.000 If you're like, oh, my kids struggling in school and if they don't get past this class, then their grades are going to be messed up, and then they don't get into the college that they need, and then they won't have the career to find a spouse to be able to support the children, my family line is ruined and you end up in the same spot that you were in. 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:00.495 There's no difference that was made. 00:11:00.495 --> 00:11:04.331 You just worried yourself in a circle, circular thinking. 00:11:04.331 --> 00:11:11.240 It doesn't add to your life. 00:11:11.770 --> 00:11:13.640 Here's in economics. 00:11:13.640 --> 00:11:15.529 There's this idea of opportunity cost. 00:11:15.529 --> 00:11:21.657 It's very simple when you think about cost, you should think about all of the costs. 00:11:21.657 --> 00:11:37.539 So, if I buy a new pair of shoes that are I don't know how much do Yeezys cost $600, that $600 shoes not only did I spend $600, but I didn't spend that $600 on a whole bunch of other things. 00:11:37.539 --> 00:11:41.259 This is true with our lives. 00:11:41.259 --> 00:11:43.498 This is true with our time, right? 00:11:43.498 --> 00:11:51.469 If I worry an hour away, not only did I not add anything to my life, but I cannot get that hour back. 00:11:51.469 --> 00:11:54.879 I did not use that hour for anything else. 00:11:58.501 --> 00:12:02.898 This was me in my 20s, and this is a common guy thing. 00:12:02.898 --> 00:12:11.529 We worry about having a great career and so we don't make any decisions about a career. 00:12:11.529 --> 00:12:13.557 We're kind of underemployed. 00:12:13.557 --> 00:12:14.379 Underemployed. 00:12:14.379 --> 00:12:22.817 And then your 30s happen and then you don't have the same options that you did when you were in your early 20s. 00:12:22.817 --> 00:12:27.572 I'm not saying it's over, I'm not. 00:12:27.572 --> 00:12:30.594 You know, wave the white flag, give up on life or something like that. 00:12:30.594 --> 00:12:32.432 That's just a real statement, right? 00:12:32.432 --> 00:12:33.557 These are facts. 00:12:33.557 --> 00:12:36.115 You can't go back to your 20s and live them over again. 00:12:36.115 --> 00:12:37.774 Opportunities are gone. 00:12:37.774 --> 00:12:43.500 Worry took some of my life. 00:12:43.500 --> 00:12:54.131 If I get in my head about things that keeps me from relating to my children or calling my mom. 00:12:54.131 --> 00:13:09.407 Worry keeps you from enjoying the things that you already have, and that's why we say worry, don't work. 00:13:11.297 --> 00:13:15.807 This is based on a country chorus that Pastor Steve Furtick wrote. 00:13:15.807 --> 00:13:21.267 It is as follows work, don't worry because worry don't work. 00:13:21.267 --> 00:13:29.291 Right, work, don't worry because worry don't work. 00:13:29.291 --> 00:13:30.278 You guys should. 00:13:30.278 --> 00:13:32.124 You're going to sing that to your neighbor ready. 00:13:32.124 --> 00:13:37.495 Work, don't worry because worry don't work. 00:13:37.495 --> 00:13:39.139 One more time Work. 00:13:39.139 --> 00:13:43.514 Don't worry because worry don't work. 00:13:43.514 --> 00:13:47.384 Man, let's go to Nashville. 00:13:47.384 --> 00:13:57.660 You can get addicted to worry. 00:13:57.660 --> 00:13:58.945 I think this is how it happens. 00:13:58.945 --> 00:14:15.368 If you're in your spin cycle, right, and then the problem resolves itself, you're like what I was doing worked, but then there's a lot when it doesn't work, when it doesn't work out. 00:14:15.368 --> 00:14:17.321 We lie to ourselves and we're like man. 00:14:17.321 --> 00:14:20.201 I should have spun faster, could have got to more thoughts. 00:14:20.201 --> 00:14:23.381 I could have got through more concerns. 00:14:23.381 --> 00:14:27.504 I should have thought about all of the negative things that were even possible. 00:14:27.504 --> 00:14:31.153 That would have helped. 00:14:35.907 --> 00:14:38.114 Another illustration he's outside says look at the flowers. 00:14:38.114 --> 00:14:41.514 Birds don't worry about food. 00:14:41.514 --> 00:14:43.408 Flowers, they don't worry about clothing. 00:14:43.408 --> 00:14:48.065 The flowers of the field. 00:14:48.065 --> 00:14:51.514 They're more beautiful than even Solomon in all of his splendor. 00:14:51.514 --> 00:14:55.495 This is verses 28 through 30. 00:14:55.495 --> 00:15:00.495 Even Solomon, in all of his splendor, is not dressed up as nice as the flowers are. 00:15:00.495 --> 00:15:04.946 The flowers don't labor or spin. 00:15:04.946 --> 00:15:09.004 They don't work at all and God dressed them up. 00:15:09.004 --> 00:15:11.802 They don't spin either. 00:15:11.802 --> 00:15:13.779 They don't worry. 00:15:13.779 --> 00:15:15.398 God dressed them up. 00:15:17.837 --> 00:15:27.081 Who would have thought that Jesus, talking about food and clothing, would be predicting like 85% of Instagram? 00:15:27.081 --> 00:15:35.745 You want to see a picture of my great-great-grandfather? 00:15:35.745 --> 00:15:56.767 They had those old cameras where he's kind of like you know, you're staring at the Norm McJohnnell jokes like I got to get back to them all, but our great-grandchildren would be like hey, do you want to see 10,000 pictures of my great-grandma's brunch? 00:15:56.767 --> 00:16:04.428 Our dietary concerns are a little bit different. 00:16:04.428 --> 00:16:12.085 There's the ultra-processed foods that you got to be careful of, the gluten-free diets or keto or whatever you're doing. 00:16:12.085 --> 00:16:25.024 Clothing has different brands, communicates with a different kind of person, but the flowers don't worry about anything and they're pretty good. 00:16:25.024 --> 00:16:29.601 Verses 31 and 32. 00:16:31.339 --> 00:16:34.514 If you just look at the world, though, this is what they chase after. 00:16:34.514 --> 00:16:36.514 The pagans chase after these things. 00:16:36.514 --> 00:16:44.981 Jesus talking to a Jewish audience saying hey, you guys take God seriously, don't do it like people who don't. 00:16:44.981 --> 00:16:50.203 If you get in the rat race if you're keeping up with the Joneses. 00:16:50.203 --> 00:16:51.025 This is the race. 00:16:51.025 --> 00:16:53.038 Can you die with more stuff? 00:16:53.038 --> 00:16:58.099 But there is no winner to that race. 00:16:58.099 --> 00:17:04.982 Rather, our Heavenly Father knows what we need. 00:17:04.982 --> 00:17:14.955 He already knows what we need, like the birds, like the flowers that could be us. 00:17:21.895 --> 00:17:33.382 When I look back on my times of anxiety, I often was trying to solve a problem in the future, as if it was entirely up to me to solve. 00:17:33.382 --> 00:17:42.063 I'll say it more explicitly I was forgetting that God is also in the future. 00:17:42.063 --> 00:17:58.221 I was forgetting the promises that God made, the work that he began in me He'll bring the completion, and that all things he will work for the good of those who love him. 00:17:58.221 --> 00:18:03.321 Well, that's my own devices. 00:18:03.321 --> 00:18:08.083 Yeah, that's worrying, but God doesn't sleep or slumber. 00:18:08.083 --> 00:18:10.961 He's working on your behalf all the time. 00:18:10.961 --> 00:18:30.440 Why would we want to forget the greatest treasure that we have, and I'll say it again, the great treasure. 00:18:36.515 --> 00:18:41.946 Verse 33, seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be given to you as well. 00:18:41.946 --> 00:18:44.307 Do you remember how the context of this passage? 00:18:44.307 --> 00:18:47.453 You can't serve both God and money. 00:18:47.453 --> 00:18:49.515 You've got to choose. 00:18:49.515 --> 00:18:52.413 In economics they talk about trade-offs. 00:18:52.413 --> 00:18:54.515 You've got to make a choice. 00:18:54.515 --> 00:18:56.482 You've got to choose between efficiency or if you have more. 00:18:56.482 --> 00:18:59.156 Whatever Like one or the other. 00:18:59.156 --> 00:19:01.916 You've got to choose somewhere in between, or all or nothing. 00:19:01.916 --> 00:19:06.136 Here there is no trade-off. 00:19:06.136 --> 00:19:11.784 It's either God first or nothing. 00:19:11.784 --> 00:19:17.539 Either you seek first the kingdom of God or you serve false idols. 00:19:17.539 --> 00:19:24.494 And here it says and then it will be added unto you. 00:19:25.116 --> 00:19:36.241 Now, all these things doesn't mean the new iPhone, 14 and Yeezys and a Tesla and a mansion, on and on and on. 00:19:36.241 --> 00:19:40.059 All these things are the things that you need to do, what God has for you. 00:19:40.059 --> 00:19:49.152 But I just refer to God as our greatest treasure. 00:19:49.152 --> 00:19:51.194 Is that true or not? 00:19:51.194 --> 00:19:54.469 Do we obey God? 00:19:54.469 --> 00:19:57.880 Do we follow Jesus because of the good stuff that he gives us? 00:19:57.880 --> 00:20:00.163 I mean, that's a reason. 00:20:00.163 --> 00:20:12.589 But better yet, follow Christ because you love Him, and then all these things will be added unto you. 00:20:12.589 --> 00:20:17.681 Grace, then obedience, then blessing. 00:20:17.681 --> 00:20:24.230 Grace, then obedience, then blessing. 00:20:27.075 --> 00:20:32.505 Verse 34, tomorrow will be anxious for itself. 00:20:32.505 --> 00:20:36.095 Do not worry about tomorrow. 00:20:36.095 --> 00:20:38.201 Tomorrow will worry about itself. 00:20:38.201 --> 00:20:42.627 Today has enough trouble of itself. 00:20:42.627 --> 00:20:50.688 I don't think this is like hey, I know you all struggle with worry. 00:20:50.688 --> 00:20:53.882 If you could just limit yourself to worrying about today, that would be great. 00:20:53.882 --> 00:21:08.906 Rather, god is trying to work into our lives this new perception on our finances, on our life itself. 00:21:08.906 --> 00:21:10.790 We put God first. 00:21:10.790 --> 00:21:12.661 God is in our future. 00:21:12.661 --> 00:21:14.203 God was in our past. 00:21:14.203 --> 00:21:17.770 God has done amazing things for us. 00:21:17.770 --> 00:21:25.342 We'll continue to do amazing things in us and through us, and so we don't need to worry about tomorrow. 00:21:25.342 --> 00:21:27.269 Leave that to tomorrow. 00:21:27.269 --> 00:21:28.815 Tomorrow can worry about tomorrow. 00:21:28.815 --> 00:21:31.683 But there are troubles for today. 00:21:31.683 --> 00:21:37.362 There is work to be done today and we have to rise to the occasion. 00:21:37.362 --> 00:21:40.409 We can't just stay stuck in anxiety. 00:21:40.409 --> 00:21:45.881 I will reveal some of my nerdiness to you. 00:21:45.881 --> 00:21:54.751 I like chess, thank you, nobody laughed again. 00:21:55.773 --> 00:22:06.733 If you play chess, even if you don't, here's a tip about chess you make better moves if you take longer to make them, not always, but generally. 00:22:06.733 --> 00:22:15.320 If you play Blitz chess, which is you try to finish a game in under a minute, you make mistakes because you're not thinking through all the things that could go wrong on the board. 00:22:15.320 --> 00:22:18.049 So you become a better chess player if you take more time. 00:22:18.049 --> 00:22:22.902 Okay, does every chess player worry? 00:22:22.902 --> 00:22:34.376 I think worrying is an over concern. 00:22:34.376 --> 00:22:40.693 At some point you have to act, and if you never act, you stay stuck and worry. 00:22:40.693 --> 00:22:49.282 You can worry time away where you know you're probably at the best move that you can make and you need to make a decision. 00:22:49.282 --> 00:22:54.453 But you can worry forever. 00:22:54.453 --> 00:22:57.160 Today has troubles. 00:22:57.160 --> 00:22:58.846 Today has work to do. 00:22:58.846 --> 00:23:00.692 I'm not the Sabbath. 00:23:00.692 --> 00:23:01.957 You should take a day off. 00:23:01.957 --> 00:23:10.175 Some of you especially work way too much, but when it's time to work, we should work. 00:23:10.175 --> 00:23:17.844 If you are crippled, like me, by a fear of failure, it's going to keep you from doing the work for today. 00:23:23.241 --> 00:23:27.653 One more analogy, less nerdy Baseball Pictures. 00:23:27.653 --> 00:23:31.423 Relievers come in at the end of the game and they try to finish the game. 00:23:31.423 --> 00:23:52.413 They usually throw really fast, from really hard, not always, but they almost always throw better if they're from behind, if they're down, if they're losing, why Aren't they worried? 00:23:52.413 --> 00:23:58.228 Because they have to perform well in order to win. 00:23:58.228 --> 00:24:03.521 So then, who are we comparing them to in this analogy? 00:24:03.521 --> 00:24:07.891 Pictures who are ahead, pictures who are winning. 00:24:07.891 --> 00:24:10.080 They don't throw as well. 00:24:11.563 --> 00:24:19.994 Why A sports terminology, introduction One the loser. 00:24:19.994 --> 00:24:27.450 The loser at the time is playing to win and the winner is playing not to lose. 00:24:27.450 --> 00:24:32.582 Fun fact anxiety. 00:24:32.582 --> 00:24:36.630 The exact same neural pathways as excitement. 00:24:36.630 --> 00:24:57.226 One is focusing on the good things that can possibly happen Excitement, junior high fusion, car wheels and another is focusing on the bad things that can happen. 00:24:59.115 --> 00:25:04.106 Does Jesus ever tell you to stop thinking about the good things that God's going to do in your life? 00:25:04.106 --> 00:25:10.027 Stop thinking about God's faithfulness yesterday, today and forever? 00:25:10.027 --> 00:25:17.246 No, it's this focus on only the negative things, to the exclusion of God. 00:25:17.246 --> 00:25:18.268 This is on me. 00:25:18.268 --> 00:25:24.761 I've got to do it In terms of the race that we run as Christians. 00:25:24.761 --> 00:25:30.951 We're supposed to run as to win the prize. 00:25:30.951 --> 00:25:38.048 You've got to play to win, and so many of us are playing not to lose. 00:25:38.048 --> 00:25:48.535 So many of us are too scared of all the things that can go wrong, forgetting the birds and the flowers. 00:25:48.535 --> 00:25:50.515 We're more valuable than them. 00:25:50.515 --> 00:25:53.691 Our lives are longer and more important than theirs. 00:25:53.691 --> 00:25:54.535 God takes care of them. 00:25:54.535 --> 00:25:57.125 We're forgetting that worry doesn't work. 00:25:57.125 --> 00:26:05.348 We're forgetting that God knows our needs and that worldly people are already chasing after these things. 00:26:05.348 --> 00:26:09.346 We can seek first the kingdom of God. 00:26:09.346 --> 00:26:21.535 So applications now We've gotten through the text and you know a country song about worry don't work and now we'll just apply it. 00:26:23.079 --> 00:26:27.494 So if you struggle with anxiety, you know that typically this isn't a conversation that we have. 00:26:27.494 --> 00:26:30.664 We don't tell people to not be anxious anymore. 00:26:30.664 --> 00:26:39.509 There are chemical imbalances and childhoods and things that we don't fully understand on any given person, and that's true. 00:26:39.509 --> 00:26:44.535 But we can't think differently. 00:26:44.535 --> 00:26:46.515 It is possible. 00:26:46.515 --> 00:26:54.402 Okay, so if you have generalized anxiety disorder this is my brief aside It'll go something like this you don't know what you're scared of. 00:26:54.402 --> 00:26:57.494 This here specifically are you scared about food? 00:26:57.494 --> 00:27:01.126 Are you scared about clothing, life, body? 00:27:01.126 --> 00:27:03.502 Then there's arguments. 00:27:03.502 --> 00:27:06.515 Jesus is making a case on why we don't have to worry about those things. 00:27:06.515 --> 00:27:11.067 If you don't know what you're scared of, you can't apply this text to your life. 00:27:11.067 --> 00:27:13.535 So don't beat yourself up. 00:27:13.535 --> 00:27:16.525 First figure out what you're scared of. 00:27:20.799 --> 00:27:29.530 But that said, emotions are our language of significance. 00:27:29.530 --> 00:27:36.487 It's our perception of reality, and when we perceive things in a certain way, we feel a certain way about them. 00:27:36.487 --> 00:27:46.446 That's why, when you're arguing with your spouse and they say something crazy, you say you're being too emotional, which isn't a kind thing to say. 00:27:46.446 --> 00:27:50.826 What you want to say is I disagree with how you're perceiving things. 00:27:50.826 --> 00:27:55.051 I don't think it's that important. 00:27:55.051 --> 00:27:57.462 I think it's like this I don't think it's that important, right? 00:27:57.462 --> 00:28:03.599 Jesus is making these arguments, your financial worries. 00:28:03.880 --> 00:28:09.982 In light of nature and in light of all that God is doing, it doesn't feel the same anymore, right? 00:28:09.982 --> 00:28:12.863 There's a song that I love. 00:28:12.863 --> 00:28:17.863 It's called Is he Worthy, and it's kind of a call and response. 00:28:17.863 --> 00:28:28.535 It starts off with the world being not great, and then you agree with it, and then talk about God being good, and then you agree with it. 00:28:28.535 --> 00:28:34.535 The God being good part goes like this Does the Father truly love us? 00:28:34.535 --> 00:28:36.182 He does. 00:28:36.182 --> 00:28:39.884 Does the Spirit move among us? 00:28:39.884 --> 00:28:41.740 He does. 00:28:41.740 --> 00:28:47.987 Does Jesus, our Messiah, hold forever those he loves? 00:28:47.987 --> 00:28:49.680 He does. 00:28:49.680 --> 00:28:55.023 Does our God intend again to dwell with us? 00:28:55.023 --> 00:28:56.606 He does. 00:28:56.606 --> 00:28:59.784 All right, you feel differently now. 00:28:59.784 --> 00:29:05.535 I'm not saying it takes anxiety completely away. 00:29:05.535 --> 00:29:11.965 I'm not saying this won't be an ongoing battle, but this, jesus, is how to. 00:29:11.965 --> 00:29:20.515 Jesus is how to, for fighting anxiety is a list of whys that we're to rehearse, and you have those arguments now. 00:29:20.515 --> 00:29:24.535 So I will give you a very specific context in which to use them. 00:29:25.240 --> 00:29:29.261 Every month, I do the finances, I do the data entry. 00:29:29.261 --> 00:29:32.384 If you don't do this, I recommend it. 00:29:32.384 --> 00:29:35.844 As a data person, you can't change what you don't track. 00:29:35.844 --> 00:29:39.864 That's an overstatement, but it gives me job security. 00:29:39.864 --> 00:29:44.970 But it's hard to know. 00:29:45.652 --> 00:29:59.535 It's hard to make financial decisions if you don't know what your finances are, and so you have to track everything that you spend on, like if your wife or kids or if anybody has different credit cards. 00:29:59.535 --> 00:30:08.535 You got to list all the credit cards out, all the accounts out, checking and savings, whether you're pulling stuff from it, all the cash expenditures. 00:30:08.535 --> 00:30:09.700 Write these down. 00:30:09.700 --> 00:30:10.462 It's very simple. 00:30:10.462 --> 00:30:15.535 I write the date and then I categorize them, but you don't have to yet. 00:30:15.535 --> 00:30:25.386 Then I write where I spent it and then I write how much this is available readily on Google Drive or Apple iOS stuff. 00:30:25.386 --> 00:30:26.368 You can do this. 00:30:26.368 --> 00:30:28.422 It's kind of mindless. 00:30:28.422 --> 00:30:32.286 So if you want to automate it, I can help with that as well. 00:30:32.286 --> 00:30:38.515 This is step one, kind of finances 101. 00:30:38.515 --> 00:30:41.715 Then you can make decisions about your finances because you got finances in front of you All right. 00:30:41.715 --> 00:30:44.083 When I do this, I have a choice that I can make. 00:30:44.083 --> 00:30:47.494 I can get worried as money goes out the door. 00:30:50.801 --> 00:30:58.221 Or and this is what I recommend to you you can bring Matthew 6 into that time. 00:30:58.221 --> 00:31:04.185 Just rehearse God's faithfulness. 00:31:04.185 --> 00:31:10.666 It might go something like this God, thank you so much. 00:31:10.666 --> 00:31:12.597 Thank you so much. 00:31:12.597 --> 00:31:14.020 This is a prayer, god. 00:31:14.020 --> 00:31:17.307 Thank you so much for what you've already given me. 00:31:17.307 --> 00:31:30.519 God, I know that you are acting for my good, that you know my needs and that you love me and God, I'm so thankful for what you've given God. 00:31:30.519 --> 00:31:39.925 You also want me to not worry, and so I asked not only now, but going forward God, that you would sink it into my bones. 00:31:39.925 --> 00:31:48.101 God, that I would trust in you, that I, every time I look at a bird and I think of your provision, every time I look at a flower, I might think of your provision. 00:31:48.101 --> 00:31:55.468 God, in Jesus name, amen. 00:31:55.468 --> 00:31:56.308 This. 00:31:56.308 --> 00:31:59.273 This can, this can be your financial time. 00:31:59.273 --> 00:32:02.041 Right, there's no reason why you can't bring God into your finances. 00:32:02.041 --> 00:32:06.116 In fact, jesus is saying you can't. 00:32:06.116 --> 00:32:08.963 You have to if you serve God. 00:32:08.963 --> 00:32:15.442 This is how it's got to be, okay. 00:32:15.442 --> 00:32:18.627 So you're gonna track your finances right now we're in week one. 00:32:18.627 --> 00:32:24.887 We're gonna track finances, we're gonna, we're gonna rehearse the arguments that Jesus made about why we don't have to worry. 00:32:24.887 --> 00:32:27.434 And here's here's the final point. 00:32:27.434 --> 00:32:33.441 I want you to start tracking, riding down you can just, you know another column. 00:32:33.441 --> 00:32:40.796 Here's column number four notes when God has been faithful, all right. 00:32:40.796 --> 00:32:47.148 So I'm rehearsing this with my wife, who's taking care of some four-year-olds right now that you know. 00:32:47.148 --> 00:32:47.608 Pray for her. 00:32:47.608 --> 00:32:57.095 Going over this with my wife and she is just bursting at the seams to remember God's faithfulness in our lives. 00:32:58.759 --> 00:33:02.528 Well, I switched careers a year and a half ago. 00:33:02.528 --> 00:33:07.460 Now I'm 30, I was 35 on Monday and so that's later. 00:33:07.460 --> 00:33:09.226 You just, it's a late career switch. 00:33:09.226 --> 00:33:10.289 I was nervous about it. 00:33:10.289 --> 00:33:12.337 I was worried. 00:33:12.337 --> 00:33:24.022 We had a credit card pill that was bigger than we had expected because we didn't stop spending as much as we had hoped and we didn't know how we were gonna pay for it. 00:33:24.022 --> 00:33:34.525 And Then a check from the IRS came Because we overpaid a previous year's taxes. 00:33:34.525 --> 00:33:49.345 We had done our taxes, the same with the same guy for our entire marriage, but this year God gave to the hundreds amount the exact amount that we needed. 00:33:49.345 --> 00:33:55.319 You could say coincidence. 00:33:55.319 --> 00:34:04.130 I say God's faithfulness, right, you, you guys. 00:34:05.115 --> 00:34:12.329 This May we be a church that proclaims God's faithfulness in our lives. 00:34:12.329 --> 00:34:15.981 People in our community are going through financial hard. 00:34:15.981 --> 00:34:21.862 People in this church are going through financial hard times right now we can speak Christ to them. 00:34:21.862 --> 00:34:25.523 There's a deeper well to draw from. 00:34:25.523 --> 00:34:29.054 The greatest treasure is available to us. 00:34:29.054 --> 00:34:31.842 Let's do it. 00:34:31.842 --> 00:34:40.143 Let's pray, heavenly Father, lord, again we confess our need for you. 00:34:40.143 --> 00:34:44.940 Again, we apologize for any worry, any overwork in God. 00:34:44.940 --> 00:34:54.054 To compensate, god, we ask for a deeper faith in you because you provide, because you are faithful, because you promised, because we have seen it done. 00:34:54.054 --> 00:34:57.021