SPEAKER_00: This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit GrandProquay.org.
SPEAKER_01: When I was growing up because in my hometown in Kansas City, Missouri, it was a very segregated town.
SPEAKER_01: And my parents and I, and my brother and my youngest sister, we lived on what was considered the other side of the tracks.
SPEAKER_01: And so to my sheer excitement, in the fifth grade, I can remember my father coming to us and saying that he and mom had worked hard.
SPEAKER_01: So they wanted what they called a better life for us.
SPEAKER_01: So we were going to move to the other side of the tracks to a new home.
SPEAKER_01: They described the home, and they said it was going to have two bedrooms and two bathrooms and a living room and a dining room and a beautiful kitchen, and then even a special room in the basement that was going to be called the recreational room.
SPEAKER_01: We were so excited as kids.
SPEAKER_01: All of us have rooms in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: Some of the rooms in our lives are extremely organized.
SPEAKER_01: Some of the rooms in our lives, we have inside those rooms very cherished memories.
SPEAKER_01: Other rooms, there's so much clutter that we have to hide it.
SPEAKER_01: Yet there are some rooms in our lives that have a sign on the door of the room.
SPEAKER_01: The signs read somewhat like this.
SPEAKER_01: No entrance.
SPEAKER_01: Off limits.
SPEAKER_01: Enter at your own risk.
SPEAKER_01: And there are some rooms that are so destructive that the sign says caution, danger.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I don't know about you, but no, I'm very protective of some of the rooms in my life.
SPEAKER_01: I try my best at times to tackle some of the things, some of the problems in these rooms almost like a football player.
SPEAKER_01: But to my discouragement, I find that each time I try to tackle a problem in one of these dangerous rooms, one of these rooms where I'm hiding stuff, I find as I try to tackle one problem, another problem arises.
SPEAKER_01: And to the point problems pile on top of each other.
SPEAKER_01: And before I know it, I'm find myself, I'm just stressed out.
SPEAKER_01: I'm overwhelmed with trying to handle the stuff.
SPEAKER_01: But what's most shocking is that inside one of our rooms, and each one of us in this room this morning has this room.
SPEAKER_01: There's something unassuming and small in the corner, tucked away in the corner, almost out of sight.
SPEAKER_01: And in this room, there's an emotional atom bomb.
SPEAKER_01: This small, unassuming, powerful, very destructive force is in our rooms.
SPEAKER_01: It's even more destructive than the atom bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
SPEAKER_01: It is just that powerful.
SPEAKER_01: This unassuming emotional power that's in our room.
SPEAKER_01: It's called worry.
SPEAKER_01: The question is this morning that each of us should be asking, is there any help for us to deal with this today?
SPEAKER_01: Must we continue to hide this from other people?
SPEAKER_01: Do we even know that it's in the room?
SPEAKER_01: Do we know that it's like a disease that it can become airborne, even passed on to others?
SPEAKER_01: Must we continue to wrestle with this problem on our own?
SPEAKER_01: I want to tell you this morning, it's a resounding no.
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus understands, because of our humanness, that we have a tendency to fall into this trap.
SPEAKER_01: There are times when this disease, when this problem of worry is so strong, it devastates us.
SPEAKER_01: And it even moves us into fear where it's happened to some of you in this room, it got so bad, you were so worried about something that you even refused to leave your home because you were afraid.
SPEAKER_01: So what I need to do is I need to define the difference between worry and concern.
SPEAKER_01: Concern embodies embracing the proper mindset of caring about important issues, important decisions, events, or conditions.
SPEAKER_01: It also means taking proper steps to create effective solutions, monitoring their outcomes and making changes or modifications where necessary.
SPEAKER_01: When we're concerned, we've made, it's almost like going to the shallow end of a pool.
SPEAKER_01: First, we we step in and we test the waters.
SPEAKER_01: But when we're worried, what we merely do, we go to the pool and we just begin to circle the pool, looking at the abyss, pondering what the water feels like, but never taking the plunge.
SPEAKER_01: Concern is not negative.
SPEAKER_01: It's important to be concerned about your children.
SPEAKER_01: It's important to be concerned about your family.
SPEAKER_01: It's important to be concerned about your job, even to be concerned about the future of our great country.
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing wrong with that.
SPEAKER_01: But worry gets to the point where it's defined this way: worry is the preoccupation with our mental and physical powers, with things that are future, hypothetical, and beyond our control.
SPEAKER_01: Worry is the antithesis of faith.
SPEAKER_01: Faith perceives potential problems with a view of the infinite power and fatherly concerned of our God who saved us.
SPEAKER_01: Worry, on the other hand, sees the obstacles, actual or imaginary, and meditates on all of the possible disastrous possibilities while neglecting the fact, while neglecting the fact of God's divine care and control in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: Worry only sees the negative.
SPEAKER_01: Worry only perceives the potential dangers.
SPEAKER_01: Worry only sees the problems.
SPEAKER_01: And I promise you, each of us in this room have had moments in our lives where we found ourselves worrying.
SPEAKER_01: If you've ever worried, can I see your hand?
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: And someone in this room right now, because of some information that you received last week, you're sitting in this place extremely worried about next week.
SPEAKER_01: You're worried about the blood work that you're gonna go back to the hospital and you're gonna get the resolution.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna find out the information.
SPEAKER_01: You're worried about the diagnosis.
SPEAKER_01: You're worried about that young man that your daughter's dating.
SPEAKER_01: You're worried about that son of yours in the career that he's chosen.
SPEAKER_01: You're worried, and you've already decided what the outcome is going to be.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus knew that this would happen to us.
SPEAKER_01: He knew that this is serious stuff, and so he talked about it.
SPEAKER_01: So I want you to turn your Bibles with me to the book of Matthew, chapter six.
SPEAKER_01: It's a very familiar passage to many of us.
SPEAKER_01: By scholars, this is referred to as the Sermon on the Mount, chapter 5 through chapter 7 of Matthew.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is becoming extremely popular to the point where crowds are following him to hear his sermons.
SPEAKER_01: So the crowd had gotten so big what the text says, he goes to the mountain so that he can speak and be heard by all.
SPEAKER_01: And he discusses many issues of life.
SPEAKER_01: But all of these issues are couched in this greater issue, which is about his kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: He's come to talk about his kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: He's come to invite people into this new kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: He says, the kingdom is here, and yet the kingdom is coming.
SPEAKER_01: There's even a point in chapter 6, beginning at verse 7, where he says this: When you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.
SPEAKER_01: Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
SPEAKER_01: So instead, pray like this: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, honored as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Give us this daily bread, and forgive our debts as we have also forgiven our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus recognizes that there's an aspect of his kingdom at the very moment that he was on planet earth that was already in existence, and yet he says, pray for the future kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: So right now we live in the midst of his kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: We are kingdom people, and he is the ruler of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: And there is a lifestyle, that's a way that we as his subjects are supposed to act.
SPEAKER_01: We're supposed to act like representatives of the king.
SPEAKER_01: Listen and understand, and don't get it twisted.
SPEAKER_01: As crazy as it may sound, you are not here for your personal enjoyment.
SPEAKER_01: You are not alive for your own personal happiness.
SPEAKER_01: The only reason why your heart is still beating in your body right now is because he declares that it beat.
SPEAKER_01: You are here and you are alive to bring him glory and honor.
SPEAKER_01: And at the moment where you're no longer bringing him glory and honor, he will stop your heart.
SPEAKER_01: He created us.
SPEAKER_01: Go all the way back to Genesis chapter 1.
SPEAKER_01: Let us make man in our image and in our likeness, and let's let them rule in our stead.
SPEAKER_01: We are to be image-bearers.
SPEAKER_01: And when we worry, it is implying that the God that we serve is powerless.
SPEAKER_01: And so let's look at our text.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 25 of chapter 6 begins this way.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore I tell you.
SPEAKER_01: Now, one of the things I teach my students in the seminary, whenever you see the word, therefore, what it's doing, it's a word of summation.
SPEAKER_01: It's summarizing something that's been said prior.
SPEAKER_01: And so if we go back to verse 19 of the text, it says, Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroys, where thieves break in and steal.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 20, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
SPEAKER_01: For where your treasure is, listen to that.
SPEAKER_01: There your heart will be also what you treasure.
SPEAKER_01: That's where your heart is.
SPEAKER_01: So if the eye is healthy, verse 22, and your whole body will be full of light.
SPEAKER_01: But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.
SPEAKER_01: If then the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness?
SPEAKER_01: No one, no one can serve two masters, which is exactly what the Pharisees were trying to do.
SPEAKER_01: For either he will hate the one and love the other, he will be devoted to the one and what despise the other, you cannot serve God and money.
SPEAKER_01: You cannot serve God and materialism.
SPEAKER_01: And with the Pharisees, the Pharisees had been taught, and they were teaching that when you had stuff, it implied that you were under God's blessings.
SPEAKER_01: And the more stuff that you had demonstrated your true spirituality.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus says it's not about the stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And oftentimes we worry so much about the stuff that we spend thousands of dollars protecting our stuff.
SPEAKER_01: The only problem is one day there's no protection that you're gonna have that's gonna protect you what?
SPEAKER_01: You from your stuff.
SPEAKER_01: Because guess what?
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna die, and none of your stuff you can take with you.
SPEAKER_01: And don't misunderstand what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying don't care or be concerned about your stuff, to be concerned about your children, to be concerned about your possession, your possessions.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying don't care.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying don't be concerned, but don't find yourself consumed about your stuff.
SPEAKER_01: One of the things that your stuff is, is you.
SPEAKER_01: So watch what he says in the text.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, I tell you, again, let's summarize, Jesus says what I've said, do not be anxious or do not worry about your life.
SPEAKER_01: Why, Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: Or what you shall eat, or what you shall drink, nor about what your body of what you will put on it.
SPEAKER_01: Is not life more than food?
SPEAKER_01: Is not the body more than clothing?
SPEAKER_01: He says, Let me give you an example.
SPEAKER_01: Look at the birds of the air.
SPEAKER_01: They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet, and yet your heavenly father feeds them.
SPEAKER_01: Are you not more valuable than they?
SPEAKER_01: What's the answer?
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01: We are his highest creation.
SPEAKER_01: And so he says, Well, look, the reason why I'm telling you, don't be concerned about that, because if I take care, if I meet all their needs, if I provide all that they need so that they don't have to worry, when was the last time you saw a bird saying, Man, I'm really worried about my stuff?
SPEAKER_01: He says in verse 27, and which of you by being anxious, or which of you by worrying can add even a single span to your life?
SPEAKER_01: By you worrying, it's not gonna make you live one more second or one more hour longer than he has deemed for you.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't it surprising to recognize, and I hope you do in this room, God knows, just as he knew the moment of your entrance into this world, he already knows the moment of your exit from this world?
SPEAKER_01: And as sad as it might seem, there's nothing that you can do to change that moment.
SPEAKER_01: Does that mean don't eat right?
SPEAKER_01: Does that mean don't exercise?
SPEAKER_01: Does that mean you know, don't care for yourself?
SPEAKER_01: No, not at all.
SPEAKER_01: But recognize, even regardless of all of those things that you do, you will not change what God has already decreed for your life.
SPEAKER_01: You are only sitting in these seats right now because God has a work yet for you to do.
SPEAKER_01: And when that work is over, no prayers, no machines, no special anointing oil will keep you alive.
SPEAKER_01: God will say, My child, you served your purpose.
SPEAKER_01: And now it's time for you to close your eyes.
SPEAKER_01: And there are some of us in this room, let me give you some good news.
SPEAKER_01: Some of us in this room will never experience physical death.
SPEAKER_01: You say, preacher, wait a minute, that's heresy.
SPEAKER_01: No, it isn't.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 says, The Lord shall return with a shout, with the trump of God, with the voice of the archangel, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, and then we, Paul says, which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together and meet them in the air, and so shall you be with the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: He then he says, and comfort one another with these words.
SPEAKER_01: So guess what?
SPEAKER_01: It is possible if he came back within the next 15 minutes, we would be those who want or alive and remain.
SPEAKER_01: And the dead in Christ, mama, grandpa, papa, pookie, everybody's got a Pookie in their family.
SPEAKER_01: And there's some June bugs, too.
SPEAKER_01: There's some June bugs.
SPEAKER_01: If they were in Christ, they shall rise first, and then we will rise with them, and then what?
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says, we will forever be with the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: But until then.
SPEAKER_01: But until then, we are commanded to live a life that's worthy of who we are.
SPEAKER_01: We are God's kids.
SPEAKER_01: We are kids, we are children of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
SPEAKER_01: That's worthy of shouting and saying, Amen.
SPEAKER_01: So let me tell you what not to do from this text.
SPEAKER_01: We shouldn't worry about things that are only temporary versus those things that are eternal.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because worrying about our life is unproductive, it doesn't produce anything, it doesn't accomplish anything.
SPEAKER_01: It can't change anything.
SPEAKER_01: And it has a tendency to even get you to the point to where you're extremely fearful.
SPEAKER_01: Let me give an example.
SPEAKER_01: And if my wife could come to this platform and if she could give you the story, she could give it better than I.
SPEAKER_01: But let me try.
SPEAKER_01: I'm at the doctor, and the doctor says, We've run some blood tests.
unknown: And Mr.
SPEAKER_01: Bowden, what we want you to do, we want you to go to another hospital.
SPEAKER_01: Got some special things that you want to do there.
SPEAKER_01: But my doctor didn't tell me specifically why I was going to go to the other hospital.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm sitting there in the waiting room.
SPEAKER_01: And the nurse comes back, and the nurse says, Mr.
SPEAKER_01: So-and-so, Mrs.
SPEAKER_01: So-and-so, and Mr.
SPEAKER_01: Bolton and Mr.
SPEAKER_01: Smith, come follow me.
SPEAKER_01: And so we all followed, and we were all just kind of looking at each other, you know, what's going on?
SPEAKER_01: Where is she taking us?
SPEAKER_01: And then she walked into this room, and all I could see over the top of the door, such and such cancer clinic.
SPEAKER_01: And guess what I did?
SPEAKER_01: I jumped all the way to who was going to sing at my funeral, and who was going to be the eulogist, and who was going to show up, and what I was going to be wearing in the casket.
SPEAKER_01: And as I sat in the room, I don't even remember what she said because I found my heart begin to beat.
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever found yourself where anxiety has got you so strong?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's physically you begin to perspire, and your heart begins to beat like it's gonna jump outside of your body.
SPEAKER_01: Has that ever happened to you?
SPEAKER_01: Oh yes.
SPEAKER_01: It affects you physically.
SPEAKER_01: And I was numb, I'm sweating, and I'm worrying.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because I've already projected into the future what I think is going to be the outcome.
SPEAKER_01: And come to find out that that room that they took us in was just a room on the way to the real room.
SPEAKER_01: I was not being tested for cancer.
SPEAKER_01: That was just the room on the way.
SPEAKER_01: And I bet you it's happened to you.
SPEAKER_01: You heard something, you didn't have any further information, but you took the little bit that you heard and it turned from concern to worry.
SPEAKER_01: Any dads remember the very first time the young man came and said he wanted to take your daughter out to the movies, and you know, and you had finally said, Okay, sweetie, you're old enough to date, and then you know you, you know, you take the young man aside and you you give him the pep talk the pep talk, and then of course you pull out your gun and you set it on the counter, and you and you remind the young man, I will kill you, young boy, right now.
SPEAKER_01: And this is my baby girl.
SPEAKER_01: Now you have her back at such and such time, that's a curfew.
SPEAKER_01: I don't care what's going on, I don't care what's going on in the movie.
SPEAKER_01: If you have to leave the movie early, this is a time that she must be not on the way to the door, she must be in the house.
SPEAKER_01: Now I'll never forget my baby girl.
SPEAKER_01: She's gone, and every five minutes I'm going to the window.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to the window.
SPEAKER_01: And then it gets close to the time, and I'm pacing the floor, then I'm going to the window, and then finally the key hits the door, and my heart settles.
SPEAKER_01: Because the whole time I couldn't relax, I couldn't rest.
SPEAKER_01: Because I had gone beyond concern.
SPEAKER_01: I'd gone to the point where I was thinking, ah, the young man could do this, this could have happened, they could have had a wreck along the way.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, all these things.
SPEAKER_01: Has that ever happened to you, dad?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: That's what the Lord's talking about.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord's talking about the danger of worry.
SPEAKER_01: It is unproductive.
SPEAKER_01: It won't help you, even to the point, it'll get you to the point where it will make you physically sick.
SPEAKER_01: It will paralyze you.
SPEAKER_01: And there's some of us in this room that have been worrying about something so much that we won't even do it.
SPEAKER_01: We'll do everything in our power to stay away from it.
SPEAKER_01: Some of us know that we need to fly to that particular place and we'll do everything in our power not to get on that airplane because we've already projected that our airplane will be the only plane in America that won't make it to its destination.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone else will land safely, but not ours.
SPEAKER_01: So the best thing to do what?
SPEAKER_01: Is to avoid that thing.
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever avoided things because you were worried?
SPEAKER_01: Yes, you have.
SPEAKER_01: So watch what Jesus says.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 28.
SPEAKER_01: Why are you anxious about clothing?
SPEAKER_01: Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they neither toil nor spin.
SPEAKER_01: Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
SPEAKER_01: But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you?
SPEAKER_01: Watch this.
SPEAKER_01: O ye of little faith.
SPEAKER_01: Why should we not worry?
SPEAKER_01: Because worry is what the world does.
SPEAKER_01: Worry, he says, he says, exactly what the Gentiles do, for the Gentiles seek after these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
SPEAKER_01: He says, when you worry, you're acting like the world, you're acting like you don't have a relationship with me.
SPEAKER_01: When you worry, it implies that I'm in a situation where God is not there.
SPEAKER_01: It implies I'm in a situation and he can't fix it.
SPEAKER_01: I'm in a situation where he's either not knowledgeable, or maybe he's knowledgeable and he just doesn't have the power to do it, or he's knowledgeable and what because he's not really good, he doesn't want to do it.
SPEAKER_01: And I tell you today that God knows your situation before you know it, and God has already deemed what is going to happen in your life.
SPEAKER_01: He's an absolute control of everything.
SPEAKER_01: And so he says, as a result of that, you've got to trust me.
SPEAKER_01: And guys, I find myself too often trusting in things more than I trust in him.
SPEAKER_01: You ever been there?
SPEAKER_01: I find myself trusting in people, and the only problem with trusting in people is that people are not what?
SPEAKER_01: Infallible.
SPEAKER_01: People are not all-powerful.
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes the very people that you were trusting in, you find out that they turned their backs on you, or they stabbed you in the back, or they didn't fulfill what you thought they were going to do.
SPEAKER_01: Stop trusting in people.
SPEAKER_01: Trust in the Almighty God who never changes.
SPEAKER_01: Who's the same yesterday, today, and forever.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, When you worry, you are not trusting me.
SPEAKER_01: It is not faith.
SPEAKER_01: You have replaced faith with fear.
SPEAKER_01: And then finally, watch what he says.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 31.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear?
SPEAKER_01: For the Gentiles seek after these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
SPEAKER_01: Here it is.
SPEAKER_01: But instead of worrying, seek first.
SPEAKER_01: The kingdom of God and his righteousness, and then what?
SPEAKER_01: All these things I know you need will be added to you.
SPEAKER_01: So the three things I want you to take away this morning.
SPEAKER_01: And I pray that you practice these things.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, place your life, if you haven't done it today, finally, for once and for all, in the hands of the Lord and say to him, Lord, I give myself to you.
SPEAKER_01: I give up trying to control my life, trying to control my affairs, trying to control my situations.
SPEAKER_01: I give myself to you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm under your control and under your authority.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because not only did you create me, you loved me so much that you sent your son to die for my sins.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all, that's love.
SPEAKER_01: Number two, direct your energies toward his kingdom and the righteousness that is a part of that kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: Direct your energy on doing those things that fulfills his kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean, preacher?
SPEAKER_01: If you're not doing something now that adds to his kingdom, do it.
SPEAKER_01: He's given you a gift.
SPEAKER_01: Even before you were a Christian, he gave you talents.
SPEAKER_01: And the question is, are you watching others do things for his kingdom, or are you doing things for his kingdom?
SPEAKER_01: If you're sitting here today and you're not actively involved in some ministry, you are in spiritual disobedience.
SPEAKER_01: God is going to deal with you because he gave you something, and the Bible says, to whom much is given, much is required.
SPEAKER_01: There will be one day that you will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and He will ask you this very simple question: What did you do with what I gave you?
SPEAKER_01: Did you hold it back because you thought you couldn't do it?
SPEAKER_01: Did you hold it back because it it you th you were afraid that it would take up too much of your time?
SPEAKER_01: Stop focusing so much on your stuff and what brings you happiness and joy, and focus more on his stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And one of the things about his stuff is that it is a life of righteousness, a life of godliness.
SPEAKER_01: And guess what?
SPEAKER_01: We live in a world, we live in a culture.
SPEAKER_01: If there was ever a time in the United States of America where righteousness needs to prevail, where righteousness needs to be elevated, it is now.
SPEAKER_01: It is not about what political affiliation you are, it's not about what race you are, it's not about where you were raised, it's all about righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: And our world, who is in such utter darkness, needs the righteousness that only believers in Jesus Christ can manifest.
SPEAKER_01: And it is time, since everybody else is coming out of the closet, we might as well come out of the closet too.
SPEAKER_01: And show the world who we are.
SPEAKER_01: Stand up and show up and be counted.
SPEAKER_01: Now, guess what?
SPEAKER_01: Now, when you do that, when you do that, be ready to people to take pot shots at you.
SPEAKER_01: But even if they even if they do, your heavenly father, who is able to deflect anything, as a matter of fact, the Bible says, no weapon that's formed against you, it shall prosper.
SPEAKER_01: And even if it happens to you, Paul says, rather, John says, Happy are you if you suffer for righteousness' sake.
SPEAKER_01: And then last but not least, refuse to borrow on tomorrow's troubles.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean by that, preacher?
SPEAKER_01: Look at the last verse, verse 34.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01: Why, Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: For tomorrow will be anxious for itself.
SPEAKER_01: Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
SPEAKER_01: I start thinking about that.
SPEAKER_01: There are days where I'm having such a difficult day with today.
SPEAKER_01: Why would I add possibilities of tomorrow?
SPEAKER_01: Today's hard enough.
SPEAKER_01: And tomorrow hasn't even come, and I've already, in my mind, I've already projected what tomorrow's potential problems, and I've added tomorrow, which I'm not in tomorrow yet, into my today.
SPEAKER_01: So I start thinking about it.
SPEAKER_01: Wait a minute, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_01: The reason why I don't have to worry about my tomorrow and only focus on my today, because Jesus is not only in my today, but Jesus is already in my tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01: And since Jesus is already in my tomorrow, guess what?
SPEAKER_01: When my tomorrow comes, he'll be there with me in my tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01: So just focus on what?
SPEAKER_01: Today.
SPEAKER_01: So, Dad, focus on today.
SPEAKER_01: Have fun on Father's Day and don't worry about the bill tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01: Throw caution to the wind and have the best Father's Day.
SPEAKER_01: Moms, daughters, do the best for him today.
SPEAKER_01: We only get one time a year, anyway.
SPEAKER_01: Poor dads.
SPEAKER_01: Because if you're like me, I'll just tell you this and I'll close.
SPEAKER_01: Love mom, love dad.
SPEAKER_01: They're both gone on to be with the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Moved out.
SPEAKER_01: I'm on my own.
SPEAKER_01: I've got my family.
SPEAKER_01: And I would call back to check on them.
SPEAKER_01: And it would go something like this.
SPEAKER_01: Dad would pick up the phone and I would say, Dad, how you doing?
SPEAKER_01: Good, son.
SPEAKER_01: I would say, How the how the how the can how the chiefs playing today?
SPEAKER_01: Pretty good.
SPEAKER_01: Or how the roles playing?
SPEAKER_01: Pretty good.
SPEAKER_01: How's the weather?
SPEAKER_01: Pretty good.
SPEAKER_01: Can I talk to mama?
SPEAKER_01: Poor dad would get about 30 seconds, mama would get two hours.
SPEAKER_01: I'm talking to mama about the deep stuff.
SPEAKER_01: I'm talking to mama about my feelings.
SPEAKER_01: My dad wouldn't have it.
SPEAKER_01: How you doing?
SPEAKER_01: Need any money?
SPEAKER_01: Bye.
SPEAKER_01: His his mama.
SPEAKER_01: So in the corner of that room in your life, worry sits there almost like a bear.
SPEAKER_01: Waiting to jump and devour you if you let it.
SPEAKER_01: But remember this.
SPEAKER_01: Paul says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
SPEAKER_01: And what I will do, I will trust my life into his hands.
SPEAKER_01: And since I can't project the future, I'm going to stop trying and just live a righteous life when today.
SPEAKER_01: Father, I thank you so much.
SPEAKER_01: This morning.
SPEAKER_01: The web of worry has many of us entangled in its clutches.
SPEAKER_01: And some of us, it's even affected us physically.
SPEAKER_01: Some of us are so fearful of the potential of what we have projected is going to happen.
SPEAKER_01: We try to hide from it.
SPEAKER_01: We avoid it like the plague.
SPEAKER_01: And yet, you want us to live in the midst of your kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: And when we live in the midst of your kingdom, we don't have to worry about tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01: Because you're already there.
SPEAKER_01: And tomorrow is in your control.
SPEAKER_01: Bless us this day.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.