Worry Fear Anxiety

00:01 I want to greet you this morning in the name of Jesus. And give glory to God, who is worthy of all glory and praise and adoration. Invite you to take your Bibles and turn to the book of Matthew. And I don't think anybody except maybe my wife knew what I was preaching on this morning, but it seemed like the songs in the service just has flowed together. 00:22 I appreciate the selections, Brother Justin and Corbin, as well. Even the first song, "Great Is Thy Faithfulness," we'll be looking a bit at that this morning. But from Matthew chapter 6, begin reading at verse 25 through the end of the chapter. "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, 00:43 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? 01:04 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. And yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now, 01:24 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. 01:45 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. 02:01 Sufficient for the day is its own troubles." We are living in a day and an age of anxiety, worry, fear. I think the term anxiety kind of, in my mind, ratchets up a bit more than worry. And so anxiety is kind of worry gone to seed. 02:21 But it all kind of comes from the same place and the same origin, that of fear. Anxiety disorders have surpassed depression as the greatest mental health challenge, we're told by experts in our day and age. Greater than depression. People are anxious. In fact, someone has written and said, 02:41 "If you're a human being living in 2017" that's when the quote was issued "if you're a human being living in 2017 and are not anxious, there's something wrong with you." Well, maybe we could say that if you're a human being and are anxious, maybe there's something wrong with you, with us. 03:00 Some of us have a tendency to wake up in the middle of the night and fret and fear. We're anxious, playing scenarios over in our minds. What could happen? What might happen? What might go wrong? What someone else might do? 03:16 In fact, someone did a study not too long ago where they kind of tried to measure what people are worried about. Asked them at 10:00 at night to write down the things that they're worried about. And then about 20 days later, they reflected back on those things that they are worried about. 03:34 And 91 point something percent of those things didn't happen. And I think it was Mark Twain that said, "I have worried about a great many things in my life, most of which never happen." But we do. We worry. We're anxious. We're fearful. And I can attest to that. This past week, 03:54 I spent several days up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, doing a series of tests for Parkinson's and clinical trials. And I was a guinea pig doing PET scans. Now figure that out. But anyway, I had three PET scans and an MRI. And I'll tell you what. 04:12 They don't make those things for pleasure by any means. Except you hope maybe you can go to sleep and take a little bit of a nap while you're stuck in that machine. Your head, since it was up my head, back in the machine. And wow. I woke up the night before the MRI and I was afraid. I was afraid. I was nervous. I was anxious. 04:31 I was worried. I was, you know, can I do this? Can I make it? God, are you going to be there with me? And it just had to come back to center, come back to Christ, come back to the promises of God's Word. That God can be trusted to care for and to provide not only for his creation, 04:51 but much more for his own, who seek his righteous kingdom and glory. So we want to look at this this morning about worry, about anxiety. Because I think probably in some form, at some time, in some way, we all experience those times where we're anxious and worried. 05:10 I want to give you four things to think about this morning. Number one, prevention of anxiety. And then practical examples of victory over anxiety. Provisions from the Father and priorities for the anxious. Now, as we look at this passage of Scripture, we see that three times Jesus says, 05:30 "Do not worry." Verse 25, "I say to you, do not worry." Verse 31, "Therefore do not worry." Verse 34, "Therefore say it, do not worry about tomorrow." And so Jesus is trying to get a point across that we should not worry. We should not be anxious, overly anxious. 05:51 The ancient English versions would translate this something like this: "Be not careful or full of care." Meaning the idea is to not be full of care and anxiety, to be overly concerned. I don't believe in this passage of Scripture that Jesus is rebuking caution nor concern. 06:11 There are great many things that we should be cautious about. When you pull out of the stop sign, you should be cautious. When you make investments, you should be cautious. When you change jobs or change houses or when you get married or you have children, you should be cautious about things. But you should not fret. You should not worry or be anxious. 06:31 I don't believe Jesus is rebuking caution and concern, but he's rebuking worry and anxiety. Now, this obviously is something that we have some control over. Or else Jesus would not have told us not to do it. He's not going to tell us something not to do that we can't help but do. 06:50 And so there is something to be said about his command here. He is not calling for a reckless, thoughtless, careless approach to one's responsibilities. Neither is he telling us that we should not work. He is not telling us not to work, but he is telling us not to fret and to worry in our work. 07:10 There is a fine line, admittedly. But I think we can all kind of know by experience when we cross from caution and concern and work and responsibility into worry and anxiety and fretting and being full of care. 07:30 We see in verse 25 that life consists about more than just the temporal things. And yet how often we are so worked up about temporal things. I could worry about whether the groundhogs and the rabbits are going to eat my green beans. Or I could worry about whether my children are going to be home safe. 07:50 And my mom's famous last words when we left the house. Every time, even as an adult with children, "Be careful." I tell my children the same thing. "Be careful." And it's like that's concern. That's good. That's okay. 08:05 But then to worry about it and fret about it and stew about it and work ourselves up into 08:12 a tizzy, as it were, we cross a line there somewhere. We realize that life consists of more than just meat and drink and food and clothing and work and money and finances and all those things. Yes, there are relationships that we worry about, that we're concerned about. But even those we need to commit to the Lord. 08:30 And so he is telling us to be responsible and yet not to worry. In verse 26, he's giving us some examples. In verse 26, the birds of the air, we'll look at that in a little bit. Verse 28, he gives us the lilies of the field. And in verse 29, he talks about the or verse 30, he talks about the grass of the field. 08:52 And yet he says, "If God is concerned about these minor things of creation, how much more is he faithfully concerned about the really important things such as eternity and relationships and our soul and our spiritual lives?" Now, 09:12 verse 27 gives us an idea that there really is not much in life that we have control over. We can't even add an inch or a cubit to our stature. We can't make ourselves taller. We are what we are. It's genetic. And it's ordained by God. 09:33 And then we can't make ourselves have any more time, a span of time. It could be translated either way. Who can, by worrying, can add one cubit to his stature, to his height, or our span of his life? In fact, I think it was Queen Elizabeth that said, or it might have been Queen Victoria, that said, 09:52 "All my possessions for one more ounce of time." Or whatever measurement she said there. "One more stitch of time." And yet she could not get any more time. And so there's really a lot of things that we cannot control. And yet we try to control. 10:12 We try to manipulate. We try to hold on. We try to figure out ways to minimize our cares and our worries when instead of committing our way unto the Lord. Now, we see also here in this passage that in a greater way than God closed the flowers of the meadow, he closed us. 10:32 He is our provider. He is our strength. He is our source. 10:36 And just like he provides for all of creation, his glory is very evident in his provision for his people. "If God so closed the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, 10:58 O you of little faith? He knows what we need." Verse 32, "He knows that you need these things." Jesus is not saying that you don't need food. He's not saying that you don't need shelter. He's not saying that you don't need ramen. He's not saying that you don't need cloth. But what he is saying is that we need not worry about those things. 11:20 He does tell us in his Word that we should go to the ant and look how they prepare for the future. They put up their... they accumulate their goods. And nature does. It accumulates its goods. It prepares for the future. But it doesn't worry about the future. Nature trusts its heavenly Father. 11:41 He knows what you need and he has what you need. Someone has said that if God doesn't have it, you don't need it. And so he does have the things that we need. And it is a life without faith that leads to worry. Martin Lloyd Jones said this very characteristic of him. 12:01 He said, "Faith is a refusal to panic. Faith is a refusal to panic. It is life without faith that leads to worry." And so what leads to calmness and quietness and peace is our faith. Our faith in Jesus Christ. Our faith in the sovereignty of God. 12:20 Our faith in the goodness of God. Our faith in the providence of God. Our faith in the ability of God to provide, protect, and procure those things that we need. George Mueller said it like this: "The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith. 12:37 And the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety." I like that. It comes from Emanuel. He really knew what he was talking about. George Mueller, having care of hundreds of orphans, not knowing from one day to the next how he's going to feed these dear children. And yet through prayer and faith in the power, 12:57 provision, and goodness of God, God came through time after time after time after time. And so he is one that we can look to as an expert in how to overcome our fears through our faith and through prayer. You see, there will always be things to worry about. 13:19 Jesus just said, "Don't do it. Don't fall into that trap of worry." Because one of the things that happens is you borrow the enjoyment of today over what you could have happened later. 13:35 You forfeit the enjoyment of today by thinking of what might happen tomorrow. 13:42 And Jesus just simply says, "Don't do that." Whether you're George Mueller with hundreds of orphans to feed or a president of a company with employees to pay and business to do or a father with a family to support or a person with a health crisis or a family to nurture 14:01 and mother and father and nurture and educate and all those things that we worry about, just don't worry, Jesus says. But there must be more than not worrying. And so we cannot just prevent something. We must replace it with something. We must replace it with faith. So let's look at some practical examples. 14:21 Well, he gives us three of them. Two of them will kind of lump the last two together. But he looks at the birds. We talk about the birds and the bees. This is the birds and the lilies. The birds and the lilies. The birds, they don't store up. It doesn't mean that they're inactive, however. It doesn't mean that birds don't work. 14:43 They build nests. They garner things for their nests. They take care of their young. They go searching for food. They go to the seeds and to the gardens and to the plants and to the yards and to the worms and whatever they can find to take care of their young. And they migrate. 15:02 They migrate upon instruction from their provider, God. The difference is between them and us, they don't worry. They're trusting a heavenly Father to protect them, to take care of them, and to provide for them. And the Bible says here, 15:21 Jesus says, "Your Father feeds them." Now, how much are birds worth? I guess you could debate that, how much birds are worth. Maybe a bald eagle is worth more than a pigeon. And a pigeon is worth more than a sparrow or a swallow or a starling. But Jesus said like this: "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny or for a farthing? 15:40 And yet your Father in heaven knows when one of those sparrows falls to the ground." He is the provider. He is the protector. We have a word for this in theology. It's called the providence of God. The providence of God that God protects, provides for his creation. 16:03 You are more valuable, however, than birds. Isn't that good? It's very simple. But if Father God will protect the birds, provide for the birds, Jesus says, "Why wouldn't he protect you, O ye of little faith?" And then he looks at the flowers of the field. Beautiful flowers, lilies. 16:25 Amazing the things that God has created by means in terms of flowers. But they don't toil. They don't grow weary and tired and exhausted. You don't see a lily saying, "Boy, I'm so exhausted. I've been showing forth God's glory all day. And I think I'm just going to wilt." Well, 16:45 maybe they do, but it's not because they got tired. It's because their life came to an end. And our lives also will come to an end where we will wilt and we will perish and we will die. But it should not be because of worry. It should not be because of stress. 17:02 It should become because of the fact that we have fulfilled the purpose for which God placed us here. So they do not labor with worrisome effort or toil. They do not spin like a cloth or a tapestry. 17:18 But the beauty of nature that they possess is greater than Solomon's glory. Solomon's glory was based on things he could produce. The glory of the lily is based on what God gives it. And it just receives it and shines in it. 17:37 And that reminds us that natural beauty always exceeds manufactured beauty. Natural beauty always exceeds manufactured. Now, you can look at some pictures that are painted and some things that people paint and seascapes and landscapes. And a beautiful picture is one of my favorite artists. 17:59 It's Thomas Kincaid. I love the pictures of Thomas Kincaid. It makes you think like he could just walk right into the picture. And a place where you'd like to live. But you know what? It falls far short of natural beauty. And if God could give those lilies the natural beauty of nature, then why would you worry about adding to it? 18:20 Adding to it. So coming back to our theme this morning is that God can be trusted to care for and provide for his creation and much more for his own who seek his righteous kingdom and glory. Now, Jesus talks about some priorities. He talks about... 18:41 Excuse me. I think maybe I'm getting ahead of myself here. Now, he talks about the grass. And he tells us from scripture that God takes care of his world. God takes care of his world. Nehemiah 9:6 says, "You alone are the Lord. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens with all their hosts, the earth and everything on it, 19:01 the seas and all that in them are, and you preserve them all. The Lord upholds all who fall and raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look expectantly to you, and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing." It's called, 19:22 like I said, the providence of God. And so we look at the prevention for worry. And then we look secondly at the provisions of our Father. Our Father knows the things that we need. He knows our daily needs. He knew the need of Hagar. She went out in the wilderness with Ishmael, 19:43 having been evicted from Abraham's home, and sat under a bush, put her son under a bush, and went across so she wouldn't have to see him die. And yet God provided for her. Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin of water and gave the lad a drink in Genesis 21. 20:03 God provided for Israel out in the wilderness. Then the Lord said to Moses, "Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you." They were so worried. They were so worried about bread. They were so worried about water. They were so worried about meat. 20:22 That instead of asking God to meet their needs, they grumbled and complained against the meeting against the God who would meet their needs. "And the children of Israel ate manna forty years until they came into inhabited land. They ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan," Exodus 16 says. In fact, we even pray, 20:42 "Give us this day our daily bread." Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew 5:11. "Give us our necessary bread," it could be translated. "Give us our necessary bread." The things that we need to sustain life: food, shelter, water, cloth. He has promised to do that for his children. 21:03 Elijah is an example of the provision from the Father. "Elijah looked and there by his head was a cake baked on coals and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again." And so here he was all concerned about somebody trying to kill him. And he ran and ran and ran. 21:22 And then finally he collapses. And the angel of the Lord shows up to provide for his needs. To provide for his needs. 21:33 And so then we remember what Paul said in Philippians 4:19, "That my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus." Now, he has obviously not promised to provide for all our wants. And sometimes the things that we need are cluttered with things that we want. 21:53 And sometimes we get confused about what's what. Do we need it? Do we want it? How bad do we need it? How bad do we want it? He's not promised to provide everything the way that we think it should be provided. But we can trust him. That's the point of this message, is that God can be trusted to protect, to provide for his people and for his creation, 22:13 especially those who seek first his kingdom. And so then we have the traveler's prayer. Do we ever get worried and concerned that we're going to have an accident? We're going to perish on the highways. Well, people do perish on the highways. People do have accidents. They do have bad things that happen. But we don't set out on a trip and say, "Oh my. 22:34 I wonder if it's going to be mile marker 121? Or is it mile marker 122? Or is it at exit 35? Where are we going to have this crash at?" Thank the Lord that he protects. 22:46 I should be dead by now of all the miles that I've put on the road through the years and times when I was not as responsible or cautious as careful as I should have been. But God has protected. Now, that doesn't mean that we do foolish things. That doesn't mean that we act irresponsibly. 23:06 It doesn't mean that we don't take care and make sure our vehicle's in proper working order and make sure that we have enough rest and enough attention to pay to the road and so on. But what it does mean is that we can step out in faith and in confidence and not in fear. Psalm 121, "I will lift up mine eyes into the hills. From whence cometh my help? 23:26 My help cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee will not slumber." You can go to bed and sleep at night knowing that God is going to be awake all night. He'll take care of what you can't. He'll be faithful. "He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee shall not slumber. 23:46 Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper. The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul. 24:01 The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this day forth and even forevermore." Write that and put it on your steering wheel column or on your dash when you're tempted to worry and be fear. "The traveler's prayer," Psalm 121 has been called. 24:19 And then we have the protection and provision for spiritual protection. We don't necessarily sometimes worry so much about our physical needs. But will we have enough to make it through? Will we have the sufficiency of Christ to be faithful to the end? And then we think about things that people go through. 24:38 How could we go through those things? What will it be like to die? What will it be like to live? What will it be like to live in the future? What will it be like to live in 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years if the Lord tarries? And we worry about those things. I worry about those things. I'm concerned about those things at times. I have to stop and say, "You know what, Todd? Get a grip. 24:57 Get a grip on the Lord. Not a grip on yourself. Don't get a grip on your resources. Get a grip on Jesus. Get a grip of faith. For he will supply and protect." 2 Timothy 4:18, "The Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for his heavenly kingdom." Psalm 57 says, 25:19 "Be merciful to me, O God. Be merciful to me. For my soul trusts in you. And in the shadow of your wings I will make my refuge until these calamities have passed by." Psalm 91, "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 25:38 I will save the Lord. He is my refuge and my fortress. My God, in him shall I trust. Surely thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by day nor for the arrow that flieth by night. For he shall keep thee in all thy ways." And so on. 25:52 Philippians 4:7, "The God of peace which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Appreciate the testimony, Sister Emily, this morning. That I have found the place of peace. Found the place, the person of peace. Jesus said it like this when it comes to our protection, our spiritual protection. 26:13 "Holy Father," you know Jesus prayed for you back there in the garden. He's praying for you today. "Holy Father, keep through your name those whom you have given me that they may be one as we are one. Keep them through your name. The name of the Lord is a high tower. The righteous run into it and they are saved. 26:36 They are saved." 2 Thessalonians 3:3, "But the Lord is faithful who will establish you and guard you from the evil one." Jude 1:24, we use it as a benediction at times. 26:48 "Now to him who is able to keep you from falling or from stumbling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise God, our Savior, be dominion and power both now and forever." You see, God can be trusted to provide for his creation. 27:08 We say it again. "And much more for those who seek him." And yet the world, the world is in such a mess. It's in such a mess. There was a writer by the name of Scott Stossel. I don't know who he is, but he wrote for a magazine. 27:28 And he shared openly about his lifelong attempts to deal with the anguish of anxiety. "Oh, the world has the anxiety and the church has the answers." Amen? The world has the anxieties and the church has the answers. The problem is when we get that turned around and think that the church has the anxieties and the world has the answers. The world doesn't have the answers, folks. 27:48 Not for anxiety. It doesn't have the answers for worry. It doesn't have the answers for peace. It doesn't matter who you vote in for president. It's not going to... You're going to have something to worry about and be concerned about. It doesn't matter who's in charge of this or that or the other thing. There's going to be things to be concerned about. But the church has answers in Jesus Christ. And so this fellow by the name of Stossel, 28:08 this was his testimony. He shared about his lifelong attempts to deal with the anguish of anxiety. "From an early age he's been what he calls a twitchy bundle of phobias, fears, and neuroses." That's a sad existence, brother and sister. That is a sad mess. He said, 28:27 "Here's what I've tried to deal with my anxiety: Individual psychotherapy, 28:33 three decades of it; family therapy; group therapy; cognitive behavioral therapy; rational-emotive behavioral therapy; acceptance and commitment therapy; hypnosis; meditation; role-playing; interoceptive exposure 28:51 therapy; in vivo exposure therapy; self-help workbooks; massage therapy; prayer; acupuncture; yoga; Stoic philosophy; and audio tapes which he ordered from a late-night TV infomercial." Wow. That's a lot of therapy. "And medication, lots of it: Thorazine, 29:13 imipramine, desipramine." Wow, some of this stuff. "Clorazepamine, Nardil, BuSparv, Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Wellbutrin, Effexor, Celexa, Lexapro, Cymbalta, Luvox, Trazodone, Levoxyl." Oh my. And the list goes on and on. 29:32 "Centrax, St. John's Wort, Zolpidem, Valium, Librium, Ativan, Xanax, Klonopin. 29:41 Also beer, wine, gin, bourbon, vodka, and scotch." And this is the end result. Nothing. This is his testimony. "Here's what worked." Nothing. Brothers and sisters, we have the answer to anxiety. We have the answer to worry. It's faith in Jesus Christ. 30:00 It's faith in our good heavenly Father. It's faith that he's going to take us through it. That he is providential. He is sovereign. And he is especially committed to the well-being of those who are committed to his kingdom. Praise God. What a difference. 30:21 The story is told of a missionary man. His name was James Fraser. In 1908, he gave up a promising career to go as a missionary to China. And he worked hard to learn the language so that he could save souls for the kingdom of God. He was working at the foothills of the Himalayas. 30:38 And he could regularly travel from village to village evangelizing and discipling and holding worship service and evangelistic services, except during the winter months where the snow made travel to the villages in the highlands virtually impossible. And he was often frustrated, even blaming God at times. 30:57 "God, why don't you want me to get in there to those dear people? Those dear souls need what I have to offer. And these converts, they need to be discipled." Then he sensed the challenge from God. He said, "Why don't you take the three days that it would take you every week? Three days going up, being there, and coming back. 31:19 Take those three days through the winter and pray for those dear souls that they would be strengthened and established in God." When spring arrived and the snow melted, he found it eager. He was eager to get up there to his flock and his churches. And through the winter, 31:38 what he found was that the people had been reading their Bibles and praying and discovered that they had grown far more in their faith than the disciples that he had contact with in the lowland. You see, we don't even need to fret and worry about people. 31:56 We do what we can and then we commit to God. There's great peace in that. He was anxious, afraid that they would fall back into demon worship. But God enabled him to cast all his care upon him. His testimony was, "I am not anxious, not nervous. 32:16 If I hugged my care to myself instead of casting it upon him, I should never have persevered in the work so long. Perhaps never even have started it. But if it has begun in him, it must be continued in him." And so we look at this this morning. One more thing here. 32:37 When he says, "Much more, much more, much more than the grass, much more than the lilies, much more than the birds," he's available for us. 32:54 Now, I would be remiss if I did not point out this fact. That one of the few things he tells us to do here, he tells us to not worry. But then he tells us what to do. Look at verse 33. 33:12 "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these things shall be added unto you." I want you to take a trip with me back to 1 Kings 17. 1 Kings 17. 1 Kings 17 tells us the account, 33:31 gives us the account of Elijah as he was instructed by God to go to the widow at Zarephath. And so he went to the widow at Zarephath, which is in Sidon. It wasn't even in Judea or Israel. It was in the pagan area. 33:50 And he was commanded to go to a widow there. And he sat outside, came to the gate of the city. And the woman was there gathering sticks. And he asked her for a drink, which was not uncommon for a man to ask a woman stranger for a drink of water. And then he asked her in verse 11 for a morsel of bread. 34:11 I don't know if Elijah knew what all was going to happen here or not, but God did. "So she said, 'As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread. Only a handful of flour in a bin and a little oil in a jar. 34:28 And see, I'm gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son that we may eat it and die.'" Pretty bleak, pretty bleak. I'm sure that she was very concerned about this. I'm sure she probably spent some time worrying. And what are we going to do? 34:47 What are we going to do when the oil runs out? What are we going to do when the meal runs out? What are we going to do? What's my son going to do? I have to prepare for my son. And Elijah said in verse 13, "Do not fear." You see, faith, fear, anxiety. Anxiety comes from fear. And worry comes from fear. Faith produces peace. 35:07 Faith, not in just in positive thinking, but faith in Jesus Christ, faith in God. "So go and do as you have said." Now, get this. Now, Elijah, I think humanly speaking, we would be tempted to say he is a little selfish here and self-centered. 35:29 He said, "Do not fear. Go and do as you have said. But make me a small cake from it first." Elijah, where are your manners? "Make me a small cake first and bring it to me. And afterward, 35:48 make some for yourself and your son." Folks, Elijah was not unmannerly. Elijah was not egotistical. Elijah was not into male dominance. Elijah was into investing in the kingdom of God. He knew that when we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. 36:11 All these things that your father knows you need will be added to you. "For thus says the Lord God of Israel, the bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth." So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah. And she and he and her household ate for many days. 36:31 The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by Elijah. And I think you could insert right there into that passage, right into this passage, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. 36:50 And all these things shall be added unto you." You see, our Father is able to take care of what he creates. And much more, he is able to take care and provide for those who are committed to his glory, who are seeking his righteous kingdom and his glory. 37:12 He loves you this morning. He cares for you. 37:14 And he carries us so much that he gave his one and only begotten Son to deal with our sin. Now, let me ask you a question. We believe that God did the impossible, the humanly impossible, the impossible which no one other creature, no other entity could ever do. 37:35 And that would be to pay the price for our sins and to remove our sins from us. Amen? You've trusted Christ. His death on the cross is sufficient payment. His resurrection, nobody else could produce this. Nobody else could pull this off. 37:51 No other person, not you, not me, not anyone, could take our sins and remove them from us as far as the east is from the west. Nobody. And if God can be trusted with our sins and knows what to do with them, how much more he knows what to do with our peas and carrots, 38:11 our house, our clothes, our shelter, our drink. You see, if he's got the big stuff, why do we worry about the little stuff? I'm talking to me this morning. Much more, he can be trusted. 38:30 Surely, he can be trusted with our future, our failures, our frustrations, and our fears. Let's bow our heads this morning. "Lord, we consider the lilies. They toil not nor spin. They bask in God's sunshine. 38:49 They drink in God's rain. If God cares for them in such marvelous ways, how much more, how much more, how much more will he care for you and provide everything that we have need of, legitimate need of, every day?" And so, 39:11 Lord, we not only consider the lilies and consider the grass of the field, which today is beautiful flour and tomorrow's perish. Today, the birds are here. They eat. Tomorrow, they're gone. Your Father feeds them. 39:25 But we consider God, our heavenly Father, our provider, who takes care of his own, who never starts a project that he doesn't intend to finish, and who brought us to faith in him by taking care of our sins and removing them and saving us and placing us in his family, 39:46 a miraculous, marvelous act of God that no other entity in heaven or earth could ever do. Why do we wait to cast our cares upon him where he cares for us? And so, Lord, we do that this morning. And with your communion with God this morning, 40:08 I want to just have you do something. And I don't think this is visualization. It's certainly not trying to create a spiritual reality. But it is something to think about and an exercise. I want you to take that which you are anxious about, that which you are worried about, 40:29 and put it in your hand. 40:32 Put it in your hand and cast it somewhere. Where do I cast it? On him. Casting, a deliberate act of determination, your cares upon him, 40:53 for he cares for you. Do that this morning. Do it tonight when you crawl into bed. Do it tonight when you wake up in the middle of the night. Can't sleep. Do it tomorrow morning when you get up. Cast those cares. Put them in your hand. Lay them on Jesus' shoulder. Put them in his hand. Nail them to the cross. 41:13 Whatever you need to do to picture doing that, do it. Get it done. And you'll find that faith will overrule fear and cast out fear. And so, Lord, would you dismiss us this morning with your blessing? And take care of those things, 41:32 Lord, that we just simply can't. We want to do the things we can. Take care of the things we can without fretting. And Lord, those things that we cannot control, we have no control over. And even the things that we do, we give them to you. We put them on your shoulders. 41:51 We cast them in your direction. In Christ's name. Amen.