Good evening. It's good to be back with you all. I missed you since last week. I was indeed blessed to be in your presence, truly blessed by the singing of this church and the praises that go up to our God. Again, thank you. Many thanks to Pastor Titus and the elders for this opportunity to break the bread of life with you all, my father's children. Again, I bring you greetings from your brothers and sisters at the Mount Olive Baptist Church in Rankin, of which a few of them have sojourned from Pittsburgh all the way to Beaver Falls to enjoy this blessed experience that I got to enjoy last week. Had my mother and my wife back and some brothers. And the chairman of our deacon board, Deacon Gerald Smith, came out on his own. He is a Iron City deacon. And I love that brother. Will you please turn with me to Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6, verses 25 through verses 34. Anybody worried about anything today? The Lord wants to talk to you about worry this evening. Hear the word of the Lord. Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Is not life... Excuse me. Let me start back over. Is that all right? Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 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? Oh, you of little faith. Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Heaven and earth will pass away, but God's word will never pass away. Brothers and sisters, just feel compelled today to deliver the message. Don't worry. Can you encourage your neighbor with those words? Just look at your neighbor and tell him, neighbor, Don't worry. There you go. There you go. There you go. There's some great songs in our culture that we all know that address the subject of worry. One of my favorites comes from one of my favorite movies. I'm sure you know it. It goes a little like this. Hakuna Matata. What a wonderful phrase. Akuna Matata ain't no passing craze. It means no worries for the rest of your days. It's our problem-free philosophy, Akuna Matata, written by those great composers Timon and Pumbaa in the movie Lion King. They told us that there's no need to worry in life. When your life finds a problem, just keep going. Akuna matata. When your life hits a speed bump, just keep driving. Akuna matata. Don't worry about it. Forget about it. Just keep going. But we learned by watching the movie, Through the Life of Simba, that your problems in life, the threats of life, the difficulties of life, have a way of catching up with you. Simba had to go back and deal with the death of his father. And that was not a good word, akuna matata, in the end. It wasn't something that we could really root our lives in because just ignoring our problems doesn't work. There are some problems that refuse to go away. I don't know if I've got a witness today. There's another song I love in our culture that deals with the subject of worry. It begins, in every life, we have some trouble. But when you worry, you make it double. So don't worry, be happy. Most of us just know the melody. Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do. Don't worry, be happy. And that song will go on to say, if you're homeless, don't worry, be happy. If you've got legal problems, don't worry, just be happy, right? If you're lonely and you have no one to share, don't worry, be happy. And don't worry because you know what? Your sad face is gonna make me feel worried. So don't worry, just be happy. It'll make me feel better about my life. But what we realize that that's no place to root out the worries of our lives, to overcome the worries of our lives. We cannot root our ability to move past life's threats, life's problems, life's difficulties, in our own self-determination to not feel worry. I don't know, but in my 36 years of life, I found that there are some issues, some problems, some difficulties, some threats that refuse to go away. And I cannot will myself pass the worry and the anxiety that I have been in, in certain experiences in life. Hakuna Matata tells us not to worry don't worry be happy says don't worry but and I believe today Jesus tells us don't worry but but Jesus is he speaks to his disciples in this sermon on the mouth he gives them a place where they can truly root their strength to not live their lives overcome by worry Jesus challenges this is disciples to root their ability not to live life overcome by anxiety in their faith in God's love for them God's provision for them and as they live their lives living for God one day at a time They can know that God will take care of them. They don't have to worry because God is on their side This is what I believe today's text is tailored to teach us. Don't worry, but have faith in God. Number one, brothers and sisters, don't worry because God loves you. That comes from verses 25 through 26. And in those verses, verse 25 and 26 are built upon what Jesus has to say in verse 24. We look at verse 24 with me, in which Jesus say, no one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. And I know we're all American in this place, so what Jesus is saying is serve God. He's saying the disciples should serve God with their life. So how do you do that? Verse 25 through 26. Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body. What you will put on is not life more than food and the body more than clothing. Jesus is saying the life is more than figuring out what you got to pick up at the grocery store and what you've got to stop by the mall to grab. That the believer is not to live their lives consumed by the everyday necessities of food, drink, and clothing. But we are to know that God loves us. And so to teach his disciples about the love of God, he says to them, consider the birds of the air. how the bird flies around carefree and living life and knowing that their creator will take care of them. I don't know, but I don't know about you, but I've never driven past a tree and seen birds huddled up on the branches trying to figure out where they need to move because the worms have dried up on tree number one. So we guys, we need to get together and move down to tree number three and they say there's some good worms down there. No, no, the bird trusts the provision of God each day and knows that they have a GPS system given by their creator that will take them to the worms. Jesus says consider the bird look at how they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns They they they go out in life expecting the provision of the Lord They don't go to work expect a paycheck and and and hold tight to their savings They they they don't they don't invest in and seek to hoard The the materials of this world to impute value and to find security in life No, the bird trust in the benevolent gifts of their Creator to care for them each day Jesus has considered God's love for the bird and don't you know that God loves you so much more that you are of more value to God than the bird But life will often bring us into places that will cause us to question the love and the provision of God for us. We see this often in the Old Testament in the story of Israel. God sends Moses to Egypt to deliver his people out of the land of bondage and God brings them through the Red Sea by what? Parting the waters of the Red Sea. Pharaoh and his army go in after Israel and God crushes the armies of the most powerful man in the world in the water. But such is life that the first problem in the wilderness after they've been delivered from bondage is a water problem. Moses, where's the water? No, no, it just seems to me, if God could part the Red Sea, one thing you should be confident in is that this is not a God who has any problem dealing with water. And if he can stop the armies of Pharaoh by parting the Red Sea, he can come up with a couple drinks to refresh us on our journey. But life will give us, bring us to places where we question the love of God for us, even though he has been faithful, even at times in the very area where we need him today in the past. Brothers and sisters, when the furnace goes out, remember the love of God. When that loved one is in the ICU, remember the love of God. Students, when that refund check doesn't come in, remember the love of God for you. Don't worry, secondly, because God knows what you need. This is verses 27 through verses 31. Let me see if I can get you through really quick. Verse 27, and which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his life? It's the span of his life. Jesus says, has worry ever put a meal on your table? Has worry ever put a gallon of water in the refrigerator? Has worry ever put a coat on your child's back? No, worry doesn't change anything in your experience. Worry might have got you up and got you to work, but work is what put the food on the table. And the providence and the care and the love of God is what put clothes on your children's back. Worry does not actually change anything. And really, if insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, then those of us who struggle with worry, like myself, need to sign up for a counseling session with the pastor because worry doesn't change anything in our experience. Then Jesus says in verse 28, and why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field and how they grow. They neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 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? Oh, you of little faith. Jesus says, Worry demonstrates the orientation of your heart towards God. Jesus says that I can know how much you trust God by the way you respond to the threats and the problems and the difficulties of life. And when you don't look to God in those issues, you are demonstrating that you are not trusting God in these issues. Maybe you're trusting your boss and your job to be your source. Maybe you're trusting in your own self-determination and your own energy and willpower. Maybe you're looking to someone else to come through for you, but God is saying, in worry, look to me. So consider the lily of the field, who is not like Solomon and who is not like us men and women who toil and spend to try to make things happen in our lives. He says that this lily of the field was far better dressed than Solomon for all the fashionistas in the room. I mean, this is Solomon church. This is one of the greatest kings of Israel. This is David's son, David, who God would not let build his house, but David was able to amass all the materials for Solomon to build God's house. All of the wood, all of the fine things that Solomon needed to build God's house, David made sure that his son had them all. Could you imagine Solomon's wardrobe? Solomon was clean, y'all. He was custom fit all the way. He was David's son. He was arrayed with glory when he stood before the people. And there was much toil and much spending. And like us today, there was much spending and too much work and much spending of money and much maxing out of credit cards so that we will be adorned with clothing that will impress a sense of awe in the hearts of people. but not the lily of the field. The lily of the field's beauty comes from her creator. Her creator who provides the rain that she might grow. Her creator who provides the sunlight to beat upon her and to warm her and give her life and to sprout her beauty out from the green grass. Brothers and sisters, I believe Jesus is saying the simplicity of the lily's trust in God and simplicity of the lily's beauty that comes from the benevolence of God far exceeds the worrisome, nail-biting toil that went in to produce Solomon's kingly garb. Jesus says to his disciples don't worry because God Loves you, but also don't worry because God knows what you need and he's willing to provide it he says To them in verse 30 that these this grass these lilies are thrown out and God loves you more than those verse 31 therefore do not be anxious saying what shall I eat or what shall I drink or what shall I wear we wear For the Gentiles seek after all these things and your heavenly father knows that you need them all Jesus in this verse brother sister says He's talking to his disciples at this point his disciples are all Jewish They're not Gentile like you and I He says, if you live in worry, you are living like people who do not know me. People who are not in communion with the one true God. People who are outside of the household of faith. And we now, being grafted into Christ's body, being spiritual in Israel, grafted into Abraham's family, Jesus says, why are you living like the pagans in the world? who seek to hold on to the materials of this world, who seek to work themselves to the bone to amass more food, more drink, more clothing, more housing, more resources, more land in order to secure their lives in this world. Jesus says, why are you, my people, living like pagan unbelievers of the one true God? This message preaches whether we are preaching in the slums of the ghettos of America or in the pristine palaces of American suburbia, why are you living like heathens who do not know God, worried about where your next meal will come from, storing so that you feel secure by what you have in your barns? Because I don't have faith that my God will supply all my needs. I remember one time feeling particularly vulnerable in life. I got a reprieve from my vulnerability by working at this Christian camp. And at the end of the summer, it was the last day. All the campers had gone. We were going to have a worship and then go home. And right before we went to this end of the summer worship service, I went and jumped in the lake by myself to pray. And as I was treading water and I was praying, I saw these great evergreens reflecting off the water like a mirror. I had the strongest inward witness of the Holy Spirit probably ever had in my life. I just felt the Lord comforting me by His Spirit's power saying, William, I will preserve you like I have preserved these great evergreens. Your life is in my hands. I know what you need. That's why Paul can say, you're God to the Philippian church. We'll supply all your needs according to his riches and glory. Paul is not saying in this text, you're gonna live a life as a Christian that's too blessed to be stressed and nobody's gonna, you're never gonna have a problem and money's always coming to you. No, he's saying that right before he promises the Philippian believers that, he is saying I've learned to abase and I've learned to abound. I've learned the secret of life. I've learned how to be rich and I've learned how to be I learned how to be rich and I've learned how to be poor Paul said I've been through it all but I can do all things through Christ who should my God will supply my needs Do you trust God today? And if he did it for Paul, he's no respecter of persons He will do it for you because he loves you and if he and he knows what you need before you even ask for it Brothers and sisters, don't worry. No matter what you're facing today, don't worry. Though that loved one has walked away from you again, God knows what you need. He can get you through. Don't worry. Though you don't think you're going to be able to get out of this semester like me. at the Reformed Presbyterian Seminary. Don't worry, God knows what you need at Geneva College and at the seminary. God knows what you need to make the ends of the month meet. God knows what you need to pay that hospital bill to get that child through college. Don't worry because God knows what you need and he's willing to give it. He will give it. Thirdly, and finally, brothers and sisters, don't worry, but live for God one day at a time. Verses 33 and 34, we see we have a very famous verse of scripture in verse 33, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. Remember earlier, Jesus asked his disciples a very important question. Isn't life more to you than what you're gonna eat and what you're gonna drink and what you're gonna, when you're going to Giant Eagle or when you're going to Beaver Valley Mall? Isn't your life more than that? He answers that in a real way right here. Yes, your life is more important than what you're gonna eat on Wednesday. and what the kids are gonna wear to school this week, or what you're gonna wear for church next week. Your life has more large, more great questions to ask than that. Your life is to be lived for the glory of the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Seek first my kingdom and its righteousness, Jesus says. Jesus says you are called to wake up and live to advance my kingdom. What is a kingdom? A kingdom is where the will of the king is done. Jesus is saying your life should bring forth my rule, my reign, my will, my righteousness, my ways. You should wake up every day and say, Lord, what do you have on the docket for me today? I'm showing up to life this morning, God, and I want to know what you have for me to do, Father. My job what is your will to be done in my home? What is your will to be done in my studies? What is your will to be done today God God? I want to know that is what your life is about people of God Not about eating drinking and clothing Jesus will supply all those things when you concern your concern yourself first with his will being done He says I'll take care of the rest of that then he says Not only are you to live for me, but you're to do that one day at a time. To all the pastors and ministry people in the room, the kingdom of God should not be a big worry on your table each morning. The kingdom of God should be something that inspires joy in your heart to live for. Jesus says that we should live, you should live for my kingdom and its righteousness and I'll add all of your needs, everything you need to accomplish that to your life, but you must live one day at a time. Verse 34, therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Jesus says, you were not designed to deal with the worries of the future today or to keep carrying the worries of the past today. You were designed to deal with the problems of today one day at a time. When you get on an elevator, there is normally a plaque that tells you how much weight that elevator can hold. And when too many of us get crowded in there, and one more big fella wants to jump on board, we all look at that sign and look at each other and say, you know, can this elevator do the trick? Now imagine we all get off and we just shove a big elephant onto the elevator that overweighs the maximum weight that it can handle. We know that that elevator will break and that cord will snap because the elevator was not designed to carry that much weight. You were not designed to carry the weight and the worries of your life or of this world on your shoulders. God designed you with the ability to deal with his assignment for the day and the barriers that will stand against his assignment for this day, one day at a time. And that's why many of us are about to snap. We're carrying too much weight. We're carrying too much worry. Jesus says, live for me one day at a time. That is my call on your life. That is my purpose on your life. You are not called to live under the anxiety and the weights of the world. You can't fix your marriage today. But you can do the right thing today that might help fix your marriage two years from now. You can't figure out a plan to get your child through college 15 years from now today. But you can make wise financial decisions today, being led by the spirit of God, according to the word of God, that will help you to be somebody who can put your child through college 15 years from now. You can't figure out your career today, but you can be faithful in your studies today that will put you in the right place that God would have you to be when your studies are over. You are supposed to live for God one day at a time, not live with the worries of your life or the worries of this world on you every day. That is not the place in which God has called his people to thrive. Maybe that's why the knowledgist writes, oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear. All because we did not carry everything to God in prayer. Maybe Paul said it even better. Don't worry about anything, but pray everything the God of peace will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus brothers and sisters Jesus did not live with the worries of the world Jesus lived doing his father's will one day at a time in Capernaum when he had to preach in the synagogue he he preached the will of God one day at a time. In Samaria, with the woman at the well, he ministered to this woman's life one day at a time. One day he had to feed 5,000, but he did that calling for that day. He lived according to the Father's will, one day at a time. And Judea, when he raises Lazarus from the dead, he was able to do that because he was on assignment one day at a time. Just outside Jerusalem's gates on a Friday, he died for the sins of the world, and he did his work that day, that Friday, for our salvation and forgiveness before God. He did it one day at a time. of time and as the old Baptist preacher would say early one Sunday morning he got up with all power in his hand because he trusted God one day at a time and found that his father was faithful to complete what he had promised brothers and sisters don't worry in every life we have some trouble but when you worry you make it double so don't worry Have faith in God because he loves you. He knows what you need. He will provide for you everything you need as you live for him one day at a time. Will you pray with me? Heavenly Father, your word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path, and we need you. We need you to guide our way. Father, I pray for and with my brothers and sisters. We lift the worries in this room, the worries of our lives to you together. We trust you with what concerns us. We trust you with what threatens us. We trust you with the problems and difficulties of life today. And we ask, Lord God, that you would supply our needs. because we know you love us, we know you already know what we need, and we know that you will enable us to live for you each day. So Lord God, as we are encouraged by your word, give us the strength now to live out your word and to lift our life to you one day at a time, to obey you with each passing hour. knowing that, Lord God, you will care for us, you will provide for us, you will watch over us and get us through whatever we face, be it storm, be it adversity, Lord God, be it even death. We are reminded that nothing can separate us from your love. This is our comfort in Christ Jesus. We ask you to make this word true in our lives. In Christ's name, amen.