Oh good evening. It's great to be with you all. It is always a pleasure worshiping with you and it is. I also want to take this moment just to say thank you for many of you who are praying for myself and my dear wife. Just some difficult things we've been going through. So I want to just say thank you to the whole church for doing that, for praying and providing in other ways for us. And so I want to go ahead, if you would, turn to Matthew 6, 25 through 34. Matthew 6, 25 through 34. Needless to say, there is a lot going on in our world. There is a lot of uncertainty between November and January. And I don't think it's very questionable what I'm alluding to, but There's a lot of things that could happen. And also for you individually, I'm sure there's a lot of things going on in your life that is very troublesome, very anxious, very worrying. And so I simply ask, what is grounding you right now in this season of your life? What is keeping you? What is guarding you? Is it things? Or is it the Lord Jesus? This, in my own personal life the past few years, and my wife and I, This has been a passage we have clung to very dearly. If I had to pick out my favorite promise in scripture right now, it is this promise in this passage, simply that God will take care of you. Not anything extravagant, but he will take care of you. So not just in the life to come, but also right now, he's taking care of you right now. And so with that being said, I want to go ahead and read Matthew 25 through 34. Sorry, Matthew 6, 25 through 34. It says, for this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life as to what you will eat or what you will drink, nor for your body as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of air that they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you, by being worried, can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow. They do not toil, nor do they spin. Yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field which is alive today, and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will he not much more clothe you, you of little faith? Do not worry then, saying, what will we eat, or what will we drink, or what will we wear for clothing? For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, for your Heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. This is not something that is time bound. This is not something that was just for a certain people at a certain time. This is for you, Christian. This is for you. This promise is for you. And so I encourage you to remember these verses, remember this promise, and cling to them. And hold dear to it. So looking at verse 25, we see, for this reason, and just very briefly, this is kind of towards the end of a subject Christ was dealing with on the Sermon on the Mount, and it's kind of in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, and what preceded this in verses 1 Verse six was related to how to pray, giving to the poor in prayer, and not praying to be seen and have attention, but praying in secret. And you see a little phrase in verse four that the Father will reward you. That's interesting. And then if you go a little further in chapter six, looking in verse 6, relating to praying again, saying, He will reward you. And giving in secret was in verse 4, and then verse 6, praying in secret, He will reward you. And then Christ goes into teaching them, showing them an example of prayer as we know the Lord's Prayer. And then in 16 through 24, he gets into fasting and where our treasure is and related to wealth and mammon. And so you see in verse 19, do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in or steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. And then at the end of verse 24, he says, you cannot serve God and wealth. And this is directly tying in to verses 25 through 34. So we can rightly say that this has some assemblance related to material things, related to wealth. So is there a connection between worry and wealth, material things? Well, we're going to find out. And so looking in verse 25, Christ says, I say to you, do not be worried about your life. Now, you'll see Christ use worry six times in this passage. And this word to worry, or some of your translations may say anxious, anxiety, I'm reading out of the NASB. And so this only occurs 19 times throughout the New Testament. And I kind of want to set up some background beforehand because not all worry is sinful. Not all anxiety is sinful. And so just very briefly, you can write these down and look at them, but 1 Corinthians 7, 32 through 34, is related to being single, being married, and it uses the word concern. It's the same root word. where we will see worry here in this passage or anxiety, but in that sense you have kind of a positive affirmation of concern, concern for the things of the Lord for those who are single, not saying it's better per se to be single, and then those who are married, the concern is for the person they're married to. And then interesting is in Philippians 2.20, concern is used in relation to Timothy, Paul sending Timothy, and it says that Timothy is concerned for you, or you could say Timothy is worried for you, is anxious for you. Now that's obviously a positive thing. Timothy cares for God's people. So you see those examples, and then it's interesting, because later in Philippians, you have the famous verse, be anxious for nothing. So there is good worry, good concerns, and there's sinful worry and sinful anxiety. And so in verse 25, where Christ says, do not be worried, this is a command. Christ is commanding you not to be worried. Now, the way this command is used is in the sense of, if you are worrying, stop. Stop worrying. If you are worrying, stop worrying. And worried about what? He says about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink. nor for your body as to what you will put on. And so this command, do not be worried, occurs three times in scripture. So here in Matthew 6, and then in the parallel passage, Luke 12, verse 22, and then in Philippians 4, 6, to be anxious for nothing or do not be worried for anything. And then Christ gives three areas related to life being our very basic needs, food, drink, and clothing, right? I think this is summarizing, I believe Christ is summarizing just the necessities of life. You don't need to be worried about this. Stop worrying about this. And then at the end of verse 25, he asks the first of four rhetorical questions. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Well, we would say the obvious answer is, well, yeah, of course. But think about it. Do you answer that with a positive yes? If you had many of your comforts stripped away, would you answer that as a yes? What if you could only eat beef and rice? That's kind of what I'm doing right now. Veronica can't cook right now. But could you? Could you right now? Would you be content with just food, drink, and clothing? And looking at verses 26 through 30, creation testifies to the Father's care. And so Christ says, look at the birds. John MacArthur has a book called Be Anxious for Nothing, and he kind of gives this picture, he does more of a, related to the birds, that that region is a very migratory region for birds. So he's imagining Christ literally looking up and pointing at the birds. Christ saying, look at the birds. They do not sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns. So birds don't have farming practices. They don't have fancy refrigerators with four doors. They don't have any tools. They don't even have thumbs. They don't plant seed, wait for it to grow and reap it later and then put it in their stock for later in case they get hungry. They see and they eat. They just wait and expect food. Something I asked when I was reading verses 26 through 30 is, what are the birds doing? Why is Christ looking at the birds saying, they don't do this, they don't do this, they don't sow, they don't reap, they don't gather into barns. It's like, what are the birds doing? What are they doing? Well, I have a simple answer. They're just being birds. Think about it. Think about Genesis. Think about all the creatures God created, each to their kind, the instincts that each of them has. They're just being birds. They're flying around, singing bird melodies that in my mind are just simply worship to the Lord. They're just being birds. Boy birdie finds a girl birdie, they have little birdies. in a birdie nest, and then they see a worm, they get the worm and they eat, satisfied. Simple life. The birds are just being how the Lord has created them to be. Notice in verse 26, don't miss this, very simple. It says, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. So emphasis on the feeds them. It doesn't say that the Father has fed them. It doesn't say that the Father will feed them or that He might feed them. It says that the Father is feeding them, present right now, present in Christ's day right now. And what's the beauty of this is we can still look at the birds, can't we? And say, the Father is feeding the birds right now. And then we see the second rhetorical question from Christ, are you not worth much more than they? Now, personally, I think this is an allusion to Genesis, just a very minor allusion. Obviously, we are. If we just go back and see what the Lord has said about us in creation in his word, I'd say, yeah, we are worth much more than the birds. Contrary to some people think, trying to save creation, we're worth way more than creation. We're the pinnacle of God's creation. Everything else good, mankind, very good. Are you not worth much more than they? And then the third rhetorical question comes right after that in verse 27, and who of you by being worried, so there's a second time Christ is using worry, and who of you by being worried can add a single hour, or you could say a single cubit, to his life? Now this, what good is being a worrier? Just think about it. What good is being a worrier or one who worries? Can you by worrying change the providence of God? Worry doesn't add days. If anything, it takes away from the quality of days. What each of us have in common, 100% certainty, we all will face death. The Lord has appointed a day for each one of you. And do you think worrying will change that? You know, I like, I like exercising. I like working out. It's great. I don't think it's going to add a single day to my life. I really don't. I think it adds to the quality of life. I don't think it's going to add a single day to my life. So looking at 28 through 30, Christ also says to observe the lilies. And 28, and why are you worried? So there's a third time. So why are you worrying about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow. They do not toil, nor do they spin. The lilies don't clothe themselves, do they? They don't work for it. They don't provide their own water, nourishment, and those things, do they? Similar to the birds, the lilies don't have a sewing machine. They don't stitch fabric together. They don't have a store to buy fancy clothing. And yet the Father beautifully clothes them. I mean, look at verse 29. Yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. The wisest man, a side from our Lord Jesus, the wisest man on the earth could not clothe himself like the Lord clothes a lily. And just like the birds, the flowers are being just how they are created to be. Both the birds and the flowers are dependent upon the Father, and the Father always provides. I hope you're seeing a theme here so far. Always provides. where I was at for a number of years in Nacogdoches, they had these beautiful azalea gardens. And I didn't know this, but azaleas are very seasonal. I would only see them bloom for a number of weeks out of the year. And so it's like, what's the purpose of that? You know, they're there, they're ready to bloom. What's the purpose? literally just God glorifying himself in the beauty of his creation, how he has clothed a flower like azaleas. And he clothes them very well. So again, what are you worried about? What are you concerned about? Birds aren't worried. Lilies aren't worried. What are you worried about? In verse 30, but if God so clothes the grass of the field which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will he not much more clothe you, you of little faith? Now, that's the fourth rhetorical question with a rebuke on the end of that. Now, you of little faith is used only six times in scripture, and interesting, five of those times in Matthew's gospel. And once in Luke's, in this very parallel passage. So if you would just very quickly, we're going to just thumb through some verses in Matthew. So if you would turn to chapter eight, verse 26, just maybe a page or two over for you. So this is when the disciples are in the boat, a storm came and starting in verse 25, and they came to him and woke him saying, save us, Lord. At least they had enough faith to say that. Save us, Lord, we are perishing. He said to them, why are you afraid, you men of little faith? Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm. Thumbing over again to chapter 14, verse 31. Chapter 14, verse 31. And this is when Christ was walking on water and Peter had asked the Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water. And then in verse 29, and he said, come. And Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened. And beginning to sink, he cried out, Lord, save me. Again, at least enough faith to say, Lord, save me. Immediately, Jesus stretched out his hand and took hold of him and said to him, you of little faith, why did you doubt? When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. And then just one or two pages over for you, chapter 16, verse eight. Now this is when the disciples were discussing about how they forgot to bring bread when they had crossed over the sea. So starting in verse five, and the disciples came to the other side of the sea, but they had forgotten to bring any bread. And Jesus said to them, watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Notice how Christ is pointing them to something that's way more concerning than bread. And verse 7, they began to discuss this among themselves, saying, He said that because we did not bring any bread. Really? Verse 8, But Jesus, aware of this, said, You men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that you have no bread? Do you not yet understand or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets full you picked up? Like this, in Matthew, the gospel according to Matthew, this just happened. This was not that long ago. Jesus just fed the 5,000 and the 4,000. You know, quite literally, they just saw bread just coming out, flowing out of the basket abundantly, actually. You men of little faith. And then the last one, chapter 17, verse 20. Now this is, you notice a theme here. A lot of this has to do with tangible things. The storm and the sea, the bread, and Peter walking on the water, some physical things. Now this is a little bit different, but same concept. This was when they were trying to cast out the demon. Chapter 17, verse 19, then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, why could we not drive it out? And he said to them, because of the littleness of your faith. Virtually I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you. So this you of little faith is some very harsh language in rebuking them for not having enough faith. Even in the case of them not having any bread, in just seeing Christ give them bread, not even having enough faith to say, you know, Christ is going to give us food. He's taking care of us. So we see here in Matthew 6 saying, you have little faith. What is that in reference to? You don't even have enough faith to believe that the Father is going to take care of you just as he takes care of everything else in creation. I mean, at least the disciples had enough faith to say, Lord, save me. Right now, in this season of our life, in this time, after November, after January, if we lose all of our comforts, all of our little pleasures that we've accumulated, and we just had food, drink, and clothing, would we be complaining? I can struggle with this, I really can. A lot of the worry, anxiety about so many things that in the end just won't matter. You remember 1 Timothy 6, where it says, but godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, we cannot take anything out of the world. What are you gonna be taking with you out of this world? Some of you have a lot of wealth. That wealth is gonna stay here. It's not gonna go with you. Moving on to our next verse here. In verse 31, it says, do not worry then. Now, just pause there for a second, because this is, This is really good. So we have the first command in verse 25. If you're worrying, stop. Stop. Now, in this, in verse 31, and we will see in verse 34 as well, it's a command, but it's a little bit different. So the first one, if you are worrying, stop. In this one, Christ is saying, don't even start. Don't even start worrying. saying, what will we eat, or what will we drink, or what will we wear for clothing? Who worries about this? The Gentiles, for the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things. So Christ is saying, don't even allow yourself to get to the point of worrying about these things. And verse 32 shows that the Gentiles, or the nations, are seeking after these things, food, drink, clothing, base pleasures. In other words, their purpose and direction in life doesn't go beyond these things. I've had co-workers, and I currently have co-workers, that their work doesn't go further than beer money and pleasures over the weekend. That's what they work for. Their concerns are not toward the Lord, but toward themselves. Now again, I'm trying not to do too much of a word study here, but these things are important. So the word for eagerly seek or seeking or seek after is used only three times in Matthew's gospel. You know, this verse, Matthew 12, 39, and 16, 4. And each time, now the other two times are in relation to the Jews craving for a sign, eagerly seeking a sign. So here we have the Gentiles eagerly seeking just pleasures of the world, and the Jews eagerly seeking a sign when Christ, the Messiah, is right in front of them. The Jews were blind and the Gentiles just cared about pleasure. And each of these three times, the association is unbelief. So if this is what the unbelieving world does, the Gentiles, the nations, when you are overcome with worry and anxiety, what's the comparison? Are you worried for the right things? Worry truly is, if you want to just flatten it out to brass tacks, it's just, the root of it is unbelief. If that's you right now, if there's something like relationships, friendships, If it's family relationships, people at your job, if it's your job, if it's stuff related to money, if it is food and drink and clothing. Maybe some of you are struggling right now. If it's other stuff, whatever it is. Do you not think the Lord will take care of you? I'll tell you what I do sometimes, and what Veronica and I have struggled with, is we try to find a solution immediately. You get so worked up, so anxious, so worried, you try to find a solution immediately. The Lord is an afterthought. Prayer, an afterthought. Seeking righteousness and afterthought. Seeking His kingdom and afterthought. What's the difference between that and what the Gentiles do? Now, there is good news in this. This isn't just meager. There is good news. There's a very, very big transition here in 33. Now, first, let me point out in verse 32, the Father knows that you need food, drink, and clothing. Remember, He created you. He knows you need these things. He's going to take care of you. But instead of worrying about these things, seek first, now that's a command, seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things related to the subject of what Christ was talking about, these things will be added to you. And these things pertaining to your needs, Notice that this is an absolute certainty. This is the promise that I'm talking about that I cling to in times of great hardship, of times where it's difficult. That he will take care of you. He knows you need these things. Whereas the other commands were a command to not do, this is a command to do. So don't do this, but instead do this. Now, this command to seek in Matthew's gospel only happens twice. And the second one is not far away from this one. And it's just as wonderful in chapter 7, verse 7, seek and you will find. And then not long after that, it talks about the father being a good father, giving good gifts. This is a certainty. The Lord will take care of you. In verse 34, Christ is summing it up, repeating the command to not even start worrying. So don't worry. Don't start worrying about tomorrow. For tomorrow will care for itself. Now that will care for itself is the sixth and final time Christ uses worry. But in relation to tomorrow, tomorrow worries about itself. There's no need to worry about tomorrow. You know why? Because the Lord is the same yesterday, today, tomorrow, and forever. And I would say verse 34 takes it further than just basic physical needs, but beyond into tomorrow, into the uncertainty for us. that He will take care of us. He's taking care of you today, and what we don't know about tomorrow, no matter how much we can predict it, right? I mean, at this point, every conspiracy theory has come true, so it almost feels like we know what tomorrow will bring. It really does. But we don't. We don't know. So trust the Lord today. Seek the Lord today. Now, as a segue into application, I very briefly just want to look at 1 Peter 5 because it feels necessary to do so in light of this. 1 Peter 5, 6 through 7. Now, this is the application. So, what you do with your worry is what matters. Where you take it is what matters. Are you going to take it upon yourself or are you going to take it to the Lord? 1 Peter 5, 6-7 says, Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all, casting all your anxiety upon him. Why? Because He cares for you. This is one of the few commands where, so the humble yourselves, that's the command. It's one of the few commands where it's given, it shows you how to do it, and the Lord gives you the why. So the humble yourselves is command. Well, how do you obey this command? Casting your anxieties upon the Lord. So, again, the sermon's not on this, but what does that subtly say if you don't cast your anxieties upon the Lord? You're prideful. You're arrogant. Are you saying that the Lord's not worthy of your worries? Even the littlest things. I mean, seriously, this is getting into the application here. Here's an application, okay? You need to spend time in prayer. You need to spend time in prayer. You don't necessarily have to have long, drawn out times of prayer every single day, but you need to be praying hundreds of times a day. Hundreds. Take every little worry, every little concern, every little anxiety, just give it to the Lord. You're worried about a conversation? Take it to the Lord. You're worried about a situation at work? Take it to the Lord. You're worried about politics, election coming up, the state of our country? Please, take it to the Lord. Everything, take everything. Don't let there be something that you're holding onto that you aren't giving to the Lord. And you see there in those verses, because He cares for you. I don't know how much more clear that can get because He cares for you. He's kind and compassionate. So another point of application, if you are in constant cycles of anxiety and worry, the proper thing for you to do is what I just said, repent and cast it before the Lord. Do not double down on your worries. Do not double down on your anxieties. Pastor Danny did a sermon not too long ago on fretting in the Psalms. That'd be a good one to go to and be reminded of. Don't fret. And as I said earlier, be in constant prayer. Send up, I think it was J.C. Ryle in related to prayer. He talked about just sending up hundreds of winged messengers to God every single day. Let that be your prayers every single day. Take all your worries and simply meditate daily on the Lord's promises that the certainties of His word would nourish your souls. Start with this one. Start with this one. actually believe, trust the Lord will give you something as simple as food and drink and clothing. And then go through the other parts of Scripture. There's hundreds and hundreds of promises, and know based on Scripture that the Lord is faithful in all things. He never goes back on His word. So those promises, when you pray in accordance to those promises, you know that the Lord hears and you will have what you ask for, praying in accordance to his word and his promises. Simply another application, commune regularly with the saints. I mean, worshiping with y'all, being with y'all, Wednesdays, Sundays, small groups, care groups, times outside of the corporate times we gather. It just nourishes you. Those things seem to just fade away, those worries and troubles, especially when you have other people. But bring it to other people. Let the church obey the one another commands. Don't withhold those things where the pastors and elders could be caring for you or other brothers and sisters could be caring for you. and also cut back or completely cut out things that would cause what I would say is fabricated worry. Social media, sports, these things in and of themselves aren't bad but are meant to have you frantic about the next thing. Cut time or just cut it out. And then I do have an application for those of you who are not believers in Christ. And I'd like to share a conversation I had in closing here very briefly. I had a conversation with a coworker a number of months ago, and he was asking me about the Bible. And right before this conversation, I was just giving background, I was burdened about sharing the gospel with my coworkers. I prayed to the Lord, and surely enough, the Lord answered that prayer, and this conversation arose. And he was asking me about scripture. He was asking me about various things. And then he asked me, what does the Bible say about worry and anxiety? And I shared with him this passage and some other passages. But I told him, and what I'm telling you, unbelievers, is that those promises aren't going to be a reality for you. What the Bible says about worry and anxiety isn't a reality for you unless you repent and believe upon Christ and be made alive. The worry that you experience, the anxiety that the world tries to cover up with drugs, alcohol, various pleasures, it doesn't matter. That anxiety and worry is, you know deep down, death that awaits each and every one of you that you are trying to suppress and shove down. So I'm saying, if that's you, Don't shove it down with pleasures and other things to mask it. Instead, take it to the Lord. Confess your sins, repent and believe upon Christ. Let's pray. Lord, I'm very thankful for your word. I'm very thankful for your promises. Lord, I know I err so much and being worried about these things and being worried about things that just don't have much of an eternal value to them. Lord, please gear our hearts on the things that matter. Teach us to seek more of your kingdom and righteousness. And Lord, increase our faith in times of weakness and unbelief. And teach us better to pray, Lord. to pray with faith, to pray with trust, knowing that you will move and you will glorify your name and that you will take care of us. So please, Lord, in this time period that we are in, as we know from your scripture, your faithfulness, and your promises, and how you've always taken care of your people, please take care of now. You've said so in your word. You've promised. Take care of us, Lord. Provide us with our needs. For we don't have anybody else that we rely upon. So we give you thanks, in Christ's name, amen.