Faith Over Worry

Hello Church! Welcome back this morning. I hope you enjoyed the worship, and I'm so glad to see you here with us once again. Man, can you believe it's already been a week since Easter? It feels like it was yesterday.

But man, I'm excited because we got a message for you. I've got something special for you today. So, here's what I want you to do. As usual, you know what to do. I want you to be active.

I want you to be alive. I want you to interact. I want you to be with people as we do this. I want you to show me in the comments section that you're here. Do an Amen.

Do a Hallelujah. Do a hand clap. Do whatever. You know, connect with somebody while we're in this message. We want you to engage because there's power and presence.

So do that. But I'm just happy that you're here with us today. Also, you know, start a watch party. Don't forget to do that. If you're on your page, go ahead and hit that watch and hit that button and share it.

And let's go, man, because this is a great opportunity to share the gospel of Jesus Christ across the platforms. If you've been trying to share the gospel with somebody, this is a great opportunity for that. So do that for us real quick. OK, do that for us. And and we'll get started.

So, guys, we are starting a new series today because I know a lot of you are facing a lot of worry. You got a lot of things that are happening in your life. And I bet you're even more worried now than you were in the beginning, because at the beginning of all of this, of the covid crisis, you were probably like, hey, two, three weeks. We'll be back on maybe a month. But now we're seeing a lot of things change every day.

It's different. We really don't know. And there's a lot of uncertainty about what's going on. So we're dealing with a lot right now. And there's a lot of anxiety.

There's a lot of worry. And, you know, I had something planned in this for the next series. I had something planned, but I I'm siding that right now. I'm tabling that right now. And we're going to deal with what you're dealing with right now.

And I bet that's worry. So many of us are are worried and anxious about things. So we are doing a series called Faith Over Fear, how we're going to practice our faith over our fear. We're going to we're people of faith. We are different than this world.

We're not going to be like this world. So as we come to to a place where we're dealing with fear and dealing with anxiety, we need to practice faith over fear. So we're going to start a series today. I'm going to talk generally about worry. But next week, I'm going to talk about anxiety.

We're going to talk about the economy. And I don't know how long this is going to go. Maybe a couple of weeks, maybe three, maybe four. I don't know. I'm just allowing God to input some things inside of me to share with you.

So so follow along with me. Don't miss a moment of the series. I really believe God's got something special for you. So hang in there and let's enter the scripture here. So the theme verse, 2 Timothy 1 7 says, For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of love, power and a sound mind.

So why worry? Let's talk about worry today. And I want to start off with worry because it's very general. A lot of what we deal with starts off with worry. A lot of things that we struggle with are rooted in worry.

Anxiety, it starts with worry. Fear, it starts with worry. Depression, it starts with worry. And Jesus talks a lot about worry. So we're going to look at scripture today.

And here's the thing. There's different types of worriers. Some of you are the type that just worries all the time. Worry, worry, worry. I'm nervous.

I'm worried. I'm worried about my friends, best friends, best friends. And you kind of carry the spiritual gift of worry. You're just worried all the time. And then you have those who perhaps aren't worried at all.

And you're wondering, why aren't you worried? You should be worried, right? You don't just don't get worried at all. They're never worried. Everything's good.

Everything's smooth. Everything's going well. And then you have those that are probably a little bit more like me and in those categories. And all of you are probably dealing with this in some way. And that you don't usually worry about much.

But when situations and circumstances happen right now, you're looking at your bank account. You're looking at your 401k. You're looking at all those things. And you're like, wait a minute. You know, there's there's some things to worry about.

And I'm really concerned. So we're all dealing with worry. So we're going to look at worry. And, you know, there's a lot of books written on worry. In fact, worry sells because we live in a society of worry.

If we were already worrying way before all of this happened, everybody is in a state of worry and nervousness and anxiousness. And we deal with that all the time. So if you want a book, they're out there. There's lots of books. So what a great thing to talk about today is worry.

So let me ask you this question. I got a few questions to ask you here. Who of you, by worrying, can add a single hour to your life? Does that sound familiar? I think there was a smart man that said that in Scripture.

Who, by worrying, can add a single hour, a single minute, a single day, a single year to their life? Think about that. You, by worrying, have you added that to your life? Let me ask it this way. Who of you have worried so much that you may have taken a year off your life?

How many of you would have worried so much or have worried so much that you may have had a spouse that has a year taken off their life? Or your children has a year that's taken off their life because of your worry? Let me ask it this way. Is there anything more valuable to you than staying alive? Even something more valuable than your life?

Now, by worrying, has that thing, that thing that you value, that thing that you're devoted to, has it added any more to that particular thing that you value most by worrying? The answer is probably no. It probably is no. See, the thing you are most devoted to is the thing you worry about the most. Let me say that again.

The thing that you're most devoted to, your devotion, the thing you put your devotion most into is probably the thing that you worry about the most. It's the point of your greatest devotion. Whatever that thing is, the point of your greatest devotion is probably what you worry about the most. That's probably the thing that causes the most worry. Let me say it like this.

No one else, no one else worries about your job as much as you do. Now, if you called me and said, you're getting reduced in your hours and you're struggling and you're not making as much money and you're worried about your finances, you know what? I'm going to have compassion for you. I'm going to pray for you. I feel for you and I want to be there for you.

But I'm not going to stay up at night thinking about your job. You know, nobody else is going to do that but you. You're going to worry about that more than anybody else, more than me, more than anybody else. Nobody's going to be staying up at night outside of yourself about your kids, your kids' grades, or whether your kid gets into the right college. No one's going to worry about your bills as much as you worry about your bills.

Nobody's going to worry as much about your retirement as you worry about your retirement. Yeah, I mean, we'll pray for you. We'll come by you. We want you to retire. We want you to do well.

We want you to build a big 401K. But we're not going to stay up at night. You're the only one that's going to stay up at night worried about that. Why? Because you're devoted to that thing.

So the thing you are most devoted to is the thing you're going to worry about the most. So what if you shifted your devotion? What if your devotion shifted? What would happen to your worry if you shifted your devotion? Well, Jesus talked about this.

In fact, worry was a big thing 2,000 years ago. It's always been around. It's kind of an old thing that was dealt with then. And He talked about it. And we're going to look at Matthew 6.

We're going to start with verse 24. And we're going to look at worry. And what the interesting thing that Jesus launches the conversation about worry on the subject of money. Now, before you check out, because I just said money. Don't talk about my money or don't talk about money.

If this message is going to be about money. No, it's not about money. It's about worry. But I think it's very interesting that we point this out because before He even talks about worry, He sees and He knows what people deal with the most. And for most of you, you'll worry, the things you worry about most are probably two things, money and security.

It comes off of money and security. And Jesus knew this and He introduces this and He says this right here in verse 24. He says, No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

You cannot serve two masters. You cannot be devoted to two things, to two masters. You cannot serve both God and money. See, the term money there was actually, in the original Greek, was mammon. And ultimately it translated into stuff.

You know, the stuff that people had, the money that people had, the things that they cared about most, they were devoted to, was the stuff. Well, you know, you're probably thinking, well, I love God and I can love my stuff too, but Jesus doesn't give us that option. He says you're either going to be devoted to God, or you're going to be devoted to your stuff, your money, your things, and you're going to pay devotion to one or the other. And there's going to be situations that when it comes down to it, you're going to have to opt whether you're going to serve God or you're going to serve mammon. You're going to serve God, or you're going to serve stuff.

But Jesus doesn't just leave it there. See, he wanted to introduce this because he wanted to bring us into a place where perhaps we can think a little different about this. Excuse me, verse 25 says, therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life. You might want to underline that, your life. What you will eat, what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear.

So the people in that day were concerned about, what am I going to eat? What kind of clothes I'm going to wear? Our clothes are wearing out. You know, we need clothes. What are we going to drink?

There's a lot going on here. They had this worry going on. And he talks about life and life in general. What Jesus is saying here is, I know what you are thinking. I know the things that you were stressed about.

And it's life. You're worried about the things you're worried about. The things that you're worried about in life. For them, it was like hand and mouth kind of stuff. You know, like food.

It was clothing. It was water. But for us, it could be a lot of different things. It could be retirement. It could be our jobs.

It could be our kids. It could be the crisis that's happening right now. It's all those things. The stress, the anxiety of life life is based on those things that we are devoted to, the most important things in our life. And he says, don't worry about your life.

Don't worry about the things that you make life about. Don't worry about your life. Is he saying that those things aren't important though? Some of you are like, well, are those things not important? No, he's not saying that.

Here's the point he's making. He's saying that those things are important and you should be concerned about those things and you should practice, you know, saving up and doing things properly. But ultimately, life is not about those things. Life is about something greater. You shouldn't worry about it.

The things that you worry about, you shouldn't be worried about. And he knew this. He knew exactly what they were worried about. And he wanted in the uncertainties of life that were coming and not knowing where they were going to eat and drink and where they were going to go and how they were going to live and things like that. He says, don't worry about those things.

Yes, be concerned about them. And they're important. Your kids are important. Your retirement is important. Your job is important.

Whether you're getting married one day is important. I'm sure that's very important to God too. But he says, those aren't life. If you focus on those things and make them all about life and life and life and that's all, then you're missing out on the point. There's something more.

And there's a way to face uncertainty without worry. We can face uncertainty without worry. Going on in verse 25, it says, is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothes? Think about it like this. Is life more important than your 401k?

Is life more important than your job? Is life more important? See, we've made it all about our job, our health, our security, our money, our things like that. We do that. We focus on those things and then we forget about what's more important.

In verse 26, he goes on, look at the birds. Look at the birds. Jesus, the birds? Look, my bank account's dwindling away. You're telling me to look at the birds?

What are you talking about? Look at the birds. And Jesus is like, oh, let me talk to you here. Let me show you something here. Look at the birds.

Look at the birds. They do not sow or reap or store away in barns. We do that, right? And it's a good thing that we do that. But they don't even do that and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not much more valuable than them? They don't have 401ks. They don't have jobs they're trying to advance in. They just wake up in the morning and they go out and there's worms. There they are.

There's twigs so they can build their nest. They're not concerned about their kids having helmets and having all the security things, you know, when they go out and they're not worried about that. In fact, they're pushing their kids out in the middle of the nest. Oh, okay. There you go.

Fly. You're on your own, right? They're not concerned about those things. Look at the birds. Look at the birds.

They do not sow, reap or store away in barns, yet your heavenly Father, your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they are? Let me ask you this question. Do you think God is more concerned about you than birds? Do you think God is more concerned about you than the birds of the air?

Maybe you need to say that as an act of faith right now. God loves me more than the birds. God is more concerned about me than the birds, yet He feeds the birds. He, and somehow they, they're okay, right? Let's fly south for the winter.

Let's, you know, they just know and they do it and there's no reason a rhyme. It's just the way God's created them. God's made that. But you were made in God's own image. You were formed in your mother's womb.

You were made special. Does not God think of you more than the birds? Look at the birds. So at the end of the day, what Jesus is saying, hey, be responsible. He's not talking about being irresponsible.

I mean, you reap, you sow, you do all these things, and they're important, and you should be concerned about them. But ultimately, at the end of the day, after you've done everything you can, after you've done all that you're capable of doing, that you've put in the work, you've put in the time, you've put in the retirement, you've done all you can to help your kids. Ultimately, you've got to let God be God and let Him be in control of the things that you're not in control of. Don't worry. Don't worry about those things.

In verse 27, it says, can any one of you be worrying, by worrying, can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? I asked that question. That was the first question I asked before we even started this. Does worrying now, does worrying today, does worrying now add comfort and confidence in tomorrow? Does worrying this day bring certainty for tomorrow, for the next day?

Does worrying we can do that? Well, Jesus says, I've got this revolutionary idea. Let's look at the birds. Look at the birds. See, am I not...

Am I not worrying about tomorrow not because, see I'm not worrying about tomorrow because I'm not worried about what's, not because I'm not concerned about tomorrow. I'm not worried about tomorrow because I'm not, I don't, I don't have any kind of certainty about tomorrow. It's not about that because I have uncertainty about tomorrow, but I'm trusting in the one who can do anything and everything about tomorrow. That's the one I'm trusting in. Look at the birds.

And he goes on in verse 28, And why do you worry about clothes? Why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow? They do not labor or spend. I mean, like you do.

We make clothes. We have to labor. We have to spend. We have to make clothes. We have production companies that do that.

We have to do that. But they don't even do that. Yet I tell you that even Solomon, you know, Solomon, the king, the richest man in the Bible, David's son, had everything, had the most beautiful, glamorous clothes probably of all time. He didn't have to worry. You know, he, he had all that.

But yet these flowers, Solomon in all of his splendor was dressed like one of these. See, the flowers, they're just clothed. They look beautiful. And if that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown in the fire, will he not much more clothe you? Is he more concerned about the flowers and the birds or is he more concerned about you?

Ask yourself that question. Are you more important to God than the flowers? Are you more important to God than the birds? If God takes care of the flowers and the birds, will he not take care of you? Will he not take care of you?

And then he goes on to say this in verse 30, you of little faith. And the original language, it doesn't make much sense to us, but I think Jesus is probably playing with words here when he said, you little faithers, you little faithers, you're such little in your faith. See, here's the thing. So worry isn't necessarily a devotion issue. It's a faith issue.

Our emotions are attached to the things that we are most devoted to. So we attach our emotions, our worries to those things that we're seriously devoted to. And not that those things aren't important. Again, Jesus isn't telling us that those things aren't important. It's just that our devotion is in those things and our emotion attaches to those things we're most devoted to.

And that's where our worry steps in. And here's where we get stuck. This is where I get stuck. This is where you get stuck. This is where we all get stuck.

I know he can, but I don't know if he will. I know he can do it, but I don't know if he will do it. I know that he can bring me out of the situation, but I don't know if he will because I'm uncertain. I know he can, but I don't know if he will. What if we could wake up with confidence every day knowing that our God has everything taken care of?

What if we could do that? Not because you can see tomorrow, but you just know that it's going to take care of itself because you know that everything is in order and in perfect place in the way that it should be. And you can wake up with complete confidence. How would that change your life? How would that change everything?

Worry is all about the future, right? I mean, the uncertainty of the future. That's what it's all about. It's the future. It's not the now because we're okay in the now because we're here in the now.

But worry is always focused on the future. But here's the news flash for you. Not one second of your life has been certain. It's never been certain. Since you were a child, it's never been certain what tomorrow will bring.

When you're young, you don't know any different. You have the faith like a child, right? So you kind of go through life and you think it's okay when you're young, but as you get older, you start to see the uncertainty. And that's where worry comes in. Not one minute of your life has ever been with certainty.

And what Jesus does is he introduces this relationship between the size of your faith and the size of your worry. Bigger faith, smaller worry. Bigger worry, smaller faith. He has a connection here. He's asking us to devote ourselves to one or the other.

We can either devote ourselves to worry, the things of this world, or we can devote ourselves to faith through the avenue of faith and we can connect the faith. And he says this, he goes on to say, So do not worry, saying, what shall we eat and what shall we drink or what shall we wear? For the pagans run after these things, and your heavenly Father knows what you need. What does he mean by this? See, we don't look like the world.

He talks about the pagans. Who are the pagans? Pagans are those who don't know the Lord, who don't believe in God, yet they run after these things. So he's making a comparison here. We look like them, but we have something more than they do.

We have hope. We have trust. We don't need to fear because we have faith. We have something to connect our faith to. We are different.

We don't act like everybody else. We don't worry like everybody else. We don't experience the things that other people experience because we have a hope. We have something more. So here's the thing.

Something you can do. There's something you can do. A solution to redirect your devotion. Here's where the switch comes in. This is where Jesus shares with us and tells us we can do something different.

Here's what he says. He says this, but seek first the kingdom and his righteousness. And then he adds on and all these things, all those things that you think are important and you've devoted all your life to and you put all your focus on, they'll be added. But first, seek his kingdom. He says, first, I need your devotion.

I need your surrender. What you have been seeking, you worry about. But if you seek me first, my kingdom, what does that mean kingdom? It means seek his way, seek his agenda, his agenda for the world. Put his agenda first and put your agenda to the side, the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

And he says all these things will be added to you. All the stuff that you've devoted yourself to, all the stuff that you've put focus on will be added anyway, but in a way that you don't have to worry. It will kill the worry. It does something very interesting. It says this peace that passes understanding that scripture tells us will overcome us.

It will lead us through. So seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Something supernatural happens there when we begin to do that. But you have to surrender it all. You can't surrender it some.

You can't have two masters. You can't have two devotions. You need to be devoted to one or devoted to the other. Well, pastor, I can be devoted to both, right? Yeah, but how is that going for you?

You're probably worrying. If you want to worry, devote yourself and split it up. But if you devote yourself to the kingdom, something happens. And that worry that you experience, that worry, all of a sudden peace comes in. All of a sudden hope comes in.

That you can walk into the next day, even though it's uncertain, even though there may be some concerns, you can walk into that next day with a peace, with a confidence, with something that... A bearer of the kingdom... The world doesn't experience, but we as believers can experience a hope and a God who has it all in His hands, who is sovereign, in control, and cares about you even more than the birds and the flowers. And it says, Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Ultimately, worry is about tomorrow, right, as I mentioned earlier. We put our focus on tomorrow, the uncertainty, and our devotion on the things outside of Christ. It will cause anxiety, it will cause fear, it will cause worry, it will cause depression, it will cause all these things. The worry is the root of all of that. But he says, just take it one day at a time.

I was reading a book one time, and it wasn't even a Christian book. The author of the book was talking about this man who kind of got through a really heavy life crisis. He had lost a seven-year-old child, and just devastating to him. He went through alcohol and drugs, and he was delivered from that, and he came through that. And this author asked this guy that went through all of that, you know, how did you get through it?

How did you conquer that? And he says this one statement, he says, take it one day at a time. You just take it one day at a time. And the author was like, wow, that was just revolutionary. I mean, the way he said that, it made so much sense.

It was so simple, but it made so much sense. Well, guess what? That's exactly what Jesus said. Jesus said, take it one day at a time. I mean, each day has its own troubles.

Why are you worried about tomorrow? That's where the worry comes. That's where it roots in tomorrow. If we keep our focus on the uncertainty, if we keep our devotion on the things that cause the emotion, we're going to worry. We're going to worry.

We're going to worry. But if we focus on Jesus Christ and his righteousness, the kingdom of God, his agenda for this world, for the hope of mankind, it becomes very clear that there's no reason to worry. There's no reason to experience what so many of us experience, because God has it all in his hands. See, worry equals fear. Fear brings about all the things.

Anxiety and depression and all those things. But the question comes down to this. Where is your faith? Where are you placing your faith? Are you placing your faith in Jesus?

Are you placing your faith on the stuff? On the security? On the things that you worry about? You place your faith and your hope in Jesus. Your heavenly Father.

I love that term where they use heavenly Father. Your heavenly Father. It's an endearing term. Your Father. Abba Father.

Paul calls him Abba Father. Because he does deeply care for you. And he is concerned about you. And today, right now, you can place that trust. He doesn't give us an option.

We can't split it. We can't do it both ways. Because worry comes in. But if we completely surrender everything we are, our life, our kids, our jobs, our finances, this crisis, this state, this government, this nation, everything, if we just surrender it to Jesus Christ, surrender it to him, that's what he asks us to do. Then we will experience.

It will conquer worry. We will experience the peace that passes understanding and conquers all worry. That's the solution. That's what it comes down to. Are you worried?

Where are you placing your trust? Faith over fear. See, faith isn't faith in faith itself. Faith is in the person of Jesus Christ, who he is, that God has everything in his hands and in control. We used to sing that song when I was a kid.

He has the whole world in his hands. But that is such a truth. That's the truth we need to carry on and carry home, is to know that God has it all in his hands. So, what does that mean for us today? What does that mean?

How do we operate in that? Anytime you are experiencing anxiety and worry, anytime you are going through something that you don't see any certainty in, I want you to take your eyes off of that. Focus on Jesus. Focus on God. Surrender and go to him in prayer.

It's all yours, God. Everything I have, everything you've given me is yours anyway. So, I just surrender and I'm just placing it back in your hands. Today, I want to pray with you as we end this, as we close. Some of you out there, some of you around here, you're believers, you've been to believers for a long time, but you struggle with this all the time because you haven't completely surrendered.

Today is an opportunity. You know it's an act of faith to even surrender. It's a walk, it's a step forward to surrender your life, to surrender everything. I want you to do that today as we pray. And there are others of you out there, maybe you've never had a relationship with Christ.

Can I tell you, the best thing that can ever happen to you is to know Jesus, is to come into a relationship with him. He cares about you more than the flowers, more than the birds, and he takes care of those. He takes care of everything. But he most importantly loves you and wants to take care of you. If you would surrender your life to him, and watch what God does right there where you are.

God, you just make a confession of faith. And if you would pray this with me, both sides, if you would pray this with me. Father, in the name of Jesus, I surrender my life to you. All you believers out there, all of you who are struggling just right now, all of you that are unbelievers, just say this. God, I surrender my life to you.

I surrender my heart to you. It's all yours. It's all yours. Take it all. Take it away, Lord Jesus.

Just take everything I have. I invest it, my time, my treasure, my talent, my everything, Lord, is yours. You are in control of every piece of my life. I surrender it all to you. I will no longer worry because the things I worry about never get me anywhere anyway.

And you own it all anyway. But I can trust in you because you are a God that cares deeply for me. You care more for me than the flowers and the birds. So God, I make that confession today. And maybe I'm that person that doesn't know you, God, that's never had a relationship with you.

This is the first time I've actually watched something like this or been a part of something like this. And I never really knew God, but today I want to make myself available to you, Lord. I want to make a decision for you, Jesus, today. I want to surrender my life because I've done it my way for a long time. And I've sinned and I've been far from you, Lord Jesus.

I've done things that are terrible in your sight. I've lived the way the world wants me to live, but it didn't go anywhere. But today I surrender my life to you. I give you my heart. Come into my life.

Come into my heart because I believe in you. Believe that you died on the cross and rose again for me, so I receive your blood, Lord, over my life. Make me new. Change me from the inside out. Transform me to be like you.

If you gave your life to Jesus today, man, I want to celebrate with you. It says the angels in heaven are celebrating right now, and I'm super excited. So, if you could connect with us, maybe by email at info at saltchurch.org, or you could message us right here on Facebook. It doesn't matter.

We want to connect with you, or connect with a local church in your area if that serves you better. But you need to get connected. You need to get baptized. When we get back together, we're going to have baptisms, and we're going to do a lot of things like that. So, there's a lot of opportunities to grow in Christ.

And for those of you who made the decision to basically be all in today, we're celebrating you as well. And I can't wait till we see what God does through our church and our people and in this world in this coming season. So, thank you, guys. Next week, again, we're going to be entering into, we're going to talk about anxiety, how the cure for anxiety. Some of you probably want to know that, and the Bible tells us a bit about that, too.

So, I can't wait to see you next week. But God bless you. We'll see you again. I can't wait till we're back together. Hey, everybody.

Thank you so much for your generosity. We've been able to do an incredible amount through your giving. It's awesome to see what you're doing. We're engaging in some projects during the crisis. We're providing food for the elderly by dropping groceries off at their door, and we're able to do that through your giving.

Also, remember that Elevate 2020 is still happening, and we're giving 20% of that to cancer research for children and to help families in need. Also, we'll be providing a lot more information about some of the things that we're doing during this crisis. So, your giving helps this happen. Continue to give. We love you so much.

God bless you.