If you have your Bibles please turn to Phil. 4:6 as we talk this morning about worry free living. Medical science confirms that many major illnesses are born in the womb of worry.
How many of you have a PhD in worry. Let me see your hands. How many of you worry more than you should. Let me see your hands. How many of you are so worried you can't raise your hand, let me see your hands.
Preachers worry about the quality of their sermons. One preacher got up and preached as hard as he could, he was an evangelist, when he got thru as he was walking out with the pastor, one of the members of the church came up and said, "That's the dumbest sermon I've ever heard in all of my life". The preacher said, "Don't worry about that man, he's not well, he just goes around repeating what he's heard other people say." Some of you will get it tomorrow.
Parents worry about their children, what they're learning, what they're not learning in public school, in Sunday School. Some of you are masters of worry. You give the absolute best moments of the day to worry. You dedicate your finest efforts to it. It's become a science. You worry about your health. You worry about your job. You worry about the economy. You worry about your children, who are 40 years old. Worry is like a rocking chair, it will give you something to do, but it won't get you anywhere.
What does God's Word say about worry? Plainly stated worry is a sin. Listen to this. Worry means there is something going on in your life, over which you do not have control and you cannot have your own way, therefore in reality, you are in a state of personal distrust and irritation with God. I want you to listen to that closely. Something is going on that you can't control and you are in a state of distrust and irritation with God and we call it WORRY.
Paul conducted a worry seminar is Phil. 4:6. Read it with me please. "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;" -- Phil 4:6
Jesus Christ the Son of God gave a worry seminar in Matthew 6, saying, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry 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, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? "Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? "So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; "Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' "For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. ""Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." -- Mat 6:25-34
Those are the most profound statements about worry that have ever been printed on planet earth. Jesus is saying in those verses "I have designed you, I have created you to make it possible for you to live in a state of worry free living. Stop worrying, stop wringing your hands over crisis, stop living in anxiety over the past, or anxiety over the future. Stop living on pills. "My peace I give unto you, not as the world has but such as I have, give I unto thee."
Father, in Jesus name, let us grasp what Christ is saying about peace and then let us practice it.
And all of God's children said, praise the Lord.
We are commanded by Paul and we are commanded by the Prince of Peace NOT TO WORRY. Five times in Matthew 6 Jesus says, "take no fault", than He says, "Be not anxious." This is (Bible) the owners manual of the soul. It says you were designed for worry free living.
In verse 25 the Word says "don't worry about life", it's the Greek word "SUKIE", meaning the temporal, physical features of life. Verse 27 says, "which of you by worry can add one cubic (approximately 18")" Verse 28 says, "Why do you worry?" Verse 31, "do not worry about food and drink" Verse 34 "Do not worry about tomorrow" Verse 25 says "stop worry" Verse 34 in the Greek says, "don't start worrying", because worry has no place and it has no part in the mind set of a child of God.
How many of you have ever noticed that worry always comes at a bad time. It comes at a time of crisis. Just when you need a clear mind and steady nerves to make a great decision, here comes worry. Like a dark cloud to hide the sun. Worry saps you, drains you and leaves you incapacitated. Worry is a killer. Worry makes cowards out of agressive men. Worry robs the body of rest at night and sends you to work the next day second rate.
Worry is the mother of cancer. Worry is the mother of heart desease. Worry is the mother of high blood pressure. Worry is the mother of ulsers. It's not what your eating, it's what's eating you that making the difference in your life.
When you open the Word of God Jesus plainly says, "do not worry". Worry is faith in fear. Worry is trust in the unpleasant. We worry about our appearance. I saw a lady in the mall the other day that look like 92nd day of her 10 day beauty plan. Her hair was frezzed out like she had stuck her nose in an electric socket. I looked a little longer than I should have, I'm sure. She said, "I teesed my hair" and I said, "It does look a little irritated."
People are funny. I enjoy watching people. Don't worry about what you can't change. The prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, "Lord grant me the courage to change the things I can, the grace to know what I can't change and the wisdom to know the difference." A great prayer.
So what do you have need of? A new beginning? There is a new beginning in Jesus Christ today. For the alcoholic there's a new beginning. For the person whose life has been crushed by divorce, there's a new beginning. To the person who is trying to feel love, God is love and this church is full of people who will put their arms around you and love you back to a new beginning in Christ.
Do you need joy. In His presence there is the fullness of joy. And Christ the Lord is in this place to give you joy unspeakable and full of glory. Embrace Him and you'll go home today and new creature in Christ Jesus.
Don't worry. God the Father is on the throne and there is no reason to worry. Don't worry about fashion. I'll get a little quiet now, but just bare with me. There was a man who went to his barber and he said, "I'd like for you to give me a hair cut. I would like for you to just shave it on the left side, right down to the scalp. And on the right side I would like for you to cut it so that it just goes up and down so that it looks like somebody cut it with a weed eater." The barber looked at him and said "Nobody can cut hair like that" He said, "Oh yes they can, you cut it like that last month."
Don't worry about the future. I don't know what tomorrow holds but I know Who holds tomorrow. That gives me a lot of comfort. We exercise to try to lengthen our lives and all of that is good. Jesus was a physician and as the creator of the body, the soul and the spirit He says, "I have designed you for worry free living and if you want to kill yourself, worry all you want to." Then He took 3 illustrations.
He took the sparrows of the field, He took the lillies of the field and grass.
Sparrows were so very, very common they have no value. And God said, "I attend the funeral of every sparrow that falls from heaven, are you not much more valuable to me. If God takes care of birds, can't He take care of you.
Worry kills more people than work. But some are playing it safe and doing neither one. Birds don't read books on how to relax. Birds don't say "Next year I'm going to build a bigger bird's nest. I'm going to store more worms. I'm going to say, 'bird, eat, drink and be merry'" Birds do not overindudge. Birds do not get greedy. Birds do not get fat unless some one cages them. But men do. Men get greedy, they horde. They stockpile. They ignore God's provisions. And when they store it up they start fighting to keep their relatives from getting it.
They drink Malox trying to figure new ways to get it and they take Valum and then they get a pschiatrist to explain to them why they are so screwed up. And they come to church and they are sitting on the edge and grinding their teeth and they won't pay the tithe because they don't won't anybody to get their money. And just before they go to the nut house they go out and buy a pair of binoculars and they go out and look at birds. (OH, look how they live, isn't that wonderful)
And God's up in heaven scratching His head saying, "I made it possible for you to live just like them." "I take care of them and I can take care of you. So why are you worried?"
This story and I close. It's a true story. I read of an aviator making his flight around the world. Stopping every 4 hours at selected landing fields. On one leg of his journey, 2 hours before he reached a landing field, exactly half way between take off and landing he heard a knawing sound in the cockpit of his plane and recognized it as a rat.
Not knowing what delicate instruments the sharp teeth of the rat might destroy, he began to worry. Then he remembered that a rat is a rodent, not made for heights, but made to live in the ground in dark holes. So he nosed the plane higher and higher and higher until the knawing stopped. Two hours later when he landed the plane a dead rat fell out of the cockpit and he lived to fly around the world.
Worry is a rat. It cannot live in the secret place of the most high. Worry cannot breathe in the demension of faith. Worry cannot breathe in the demension of confidence. When you are sure that God is your Father and that everything is going to be alright, worry cannot prosper in your mind. It will not be a part of your speech. It will not be a part of your heart, because God is your Father and you are sure everything is going to be alright.
You're sure He's in charge and while you may not understand the crisis you are going thru, and while you may not understand the burden you are carrying, you are certain of THIS, that God will not forsake you, He will not leave you and when you come to the BOTTOM LINE, you will be more than a conquerer thru Christ because He will stand by you, guide you, provide for you and give you peace that passes all understanding and worry will not conquerer you.
Stop worrying. Say- "God is my Father,(have them repeat) and everything is going to be alright."
Stand to your feet.
Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus, may the spirit of peace fill this room. Confidence in Christ, knowing that whatever our future, God is already there and everything is going to be alright.
While your heads are bowed and the organist is playing, how many of you here can say Pastor, I have given far too much time to worry. Let me see your hand right now.
Some here can say Pastor I've given time to worry about the future, my past, my health, my children, my employment, my business, my relationship with my children.
If worry about anyone of those areas is destroying the quality of your life I want you to raise your hand right now and say, Lord, I want to be free from that. Just lift your hand high.
While we sing, There's room at the cross for you" #645, those of you who are raising your hands, I want to meet you right here and we are going to have a casting service. The Bible says, "Casting every care on Him, for He careth for you" God says, "I'll carry the burden. I'LL CARRY IT. All I want you to do is cast it on Me." I want you to go home today as happy as a lark and as light as a feather, because Jesus becomes your burden barrer and you are living a worry free life.
As they sing, Please come (sing)
Our God is a prayer answering God and He is a burden barrer and we are casting the cares of our life at the feet of Christ and we are going to go home today, free, free from that worry. Pray right now with me. Lord Jesus Christ, I ask in the authority of Your name, for You to set me free, from every form of worry, Let me be free, from every form of insecurity, Let me live today and tomorrow, and every day the rest of my life, with absolute confidence, in God the Father, God is my Father, therefore I will not fear. I will take no thought of tomorrow, I will not worry, Jesus Christ is my burden barrer, and I lay that burden on Him right now. (I want you to specify what it is. What ever it is, just lay it on the Lord now.) and now say this, Lord Jesus, that burden is Yours, solve it, as I live, with worry free living. In Jesus name Amen Just thank the Lord for delivering you.
