Don't Worry About Your Life

[0:00] Please turn your Bible to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 12.! I will be leaving some time at the end for questions, if there are any.

[0:36] Luke, chapter 12, beginning in verse 22. He said to his disciples, Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on.

[0:55] For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens. They neither sow nor reap.

[1:07] They have neither storehouse nor barn. And yet, God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds?

[1:21] And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do a smaller thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?

[1:37] Consider the lilies, 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.

[1:51] But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith?

[2:09] And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your father knows that you need them.

[2:24] Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. Fear not, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

[2:38] Sell your possessions and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with money bags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail.

[2:51] Where no thief approaches and no moth destroys, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

[3:03] Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we are grateful that we are able to gather in this place, lift our voices in song, in prayer, and now to be addressed by you from your word.

[3:23] Lord, would you speak to our hearts? You know where each one of us is. And we ask, O Father, that you would cause us to hear your word, and to hear the call in your word to each of us, and then to respond to your call.

[3:45] Lord, I ask that you would grant me grace to be faithful to proclaim your word to your people. We ask that you'd use your word to build up this local church and to glorify your holy name.

[4:02] We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. I believe you would agree with me that two of the most stressful times of year are the periods leading up to Christmas and right after Christmas.

[4:20] And that's because prior to Christmas, many people are stressed and preoccupied and anxious about many things. The gifts that they want to get for people, the things they want to acquire for themselves, and then after Christmas, many of them are stressed, dealing with Christmas bills and realizing that gifts of materialism can never fill the longings of the human heart.

[4:51] And so as David wisely and rightly shared with us, we would all be wise to celebrate the person of Christmas who is the Lord Jesus Christ and to practice good financial stewardship.

[5:06] But the truth is that even away from Christmas, life can be stressful. Life can be filled with much of the worries, worries about whether we will have enough finances to meet the demands of today and the demands of tomorrow and the days ahead.

[5:25] And really, the stress is not confined to those in lower incomes, those who may be on minimum wage. People of all income levels, whether they are on minimum wage or whether they are multi-millionaires, experience financial stress and the worries that come with it.

[5:47] And that's because as a general rule, the more we earn, the more we spend. Economists call it the marginal propensity to consume that when we earn more, we have a tendency, even though we may be living at a certain level now and getting by, when we earn more, we have a tendency rather than to save it, to spend it.

[6:11] And even where we save, we tend to spend more than we actually save. So after a while, income levels don't really matter as it relates to stress and financial difficulties.

[6:24] They may just be larger, but they exist across the income bands. And since, for all of us, I believe, our days are largely taken up with working, working to earn money, care for needs, care for our families, and so it's not difficult to see how easily our lives can be consumed by worry, by how do we get what we need to take care of ourselves.

[6:58] Money and financial means can hold a very central and consuming place in our lives. In this passage that we have just read, Jesus addresses this issue of worry.

[7:14] And in a nutshell, what he says to his disciples, all of his disciples, his disciples, past, present, and future is this, don't worry about your life because God will meet the needs of those who seek his kingdom.

[7:33] That's in essence what Jesus is saying to his disciples in this passage. Don't worry about your life because God will meet the needs of those who seek his kingdom.

[7:47] This is a promise that Jesus gives to all of his disciples, past, the ones he was talking with, present, and future. And giving this promise, Jesus addresses three realities.

[8:03] And these three realities are the points of this morning's sermon. The first one, our life. Jesus addresses our life and he says, don't worry about it.

[8:19] Look again at what he says in verse 22. Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on.

[8:31] Notice that the first word that Luke records Jesus is saying is therefore. And you probably have heard this that whenever you read the word therefore, you need to stop to see what it is therefore.

[8:46] And when we consider why Jesus said therefore, what we find is that Jesus is continuing to address a particular topic or concern that he had already raised.

[9:00] He is connecting what he just said to what he's now saying and that's why he's saying therefore. And when we check, we see that Jesus was addressing a particular issue in verses 13 through 21.

[9:16] A man in the crowd, a nameless man in a crowd called out to Jesus and said, Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.

[9:28] It's in verse 13. This man was trying to bring Jesus into a dispute over an inheritance with his brother. And Jesus refuses to get involved.

[9:40] He doesn't ask him what are the facts. He just refuses to get involved. And he says to the guy who made me to be arbitrator over you. And then Jesus proceeds to tell his disciples that they should take care and they should be on their guard against all covetousness because one's life does not consist or our life is not held up or held together by the abundance of our possessions.

[10:11] And then he tells them a parable. Tells them a parable about a rich man who had land that was very fruitful that produced plentifully. And this man decided that what he was going to do was he was going to break down his corn barns and he was going to build larger ones and he would store his grain and his goods.

[10:31] He'd have them for many, many years and then what he was going to do was he was going to relax, eat, drink, and be merry. And Jesus goes on to say but that very night God said about that man you fool tonight you're going to die.

[10:51] And whose are these things going to be? And Jesus ends by saying so it is to the one who lays a treasure for himself and is not rich towards God.

[11:06] Now what's the point of all of that and what Jesus is beginning to address in verse 22 when he says therefore. The point is that even this man's abundant life even this man's enormous wealth could not prolong his life even for a day.

[11:28] And that's because God determines the day of our birth he determines also the day of our death. And yet we forget this and we worry about our life and the things we believe we need in order to sustain our lives and we become like the man in the crowd and we begin to covet.

[11:51] We begin to covet things because we believe that our life is more secure with financial and material means. And Jesus makes the point that having an abundance gives you no certainty over life.

[12:05] God is the one who ultimately is going to determine all of that. And so it is in this context that Jesus addresses his disciples starting in verse 22 when he says don't be anxious about your life what you will eat or about your body what you will wear because life is more than food and the body more than clothing.

[12:31] Jesus really is making a further point about life. He's already said a person's life does not consist in the abundance of what he possesses.

[12:45] And now he is saying that life is more than just getting what we need to sustain ourselves the food and the clothing that many people are anxious about.

[13:01] Jesus reduces it to those two basic necessities food and clothing what people tend to be anxious about. Here again Jesus is referring back to the rich fool in the parable.

[13:18] He's referring back to those people who tend to think that the more I have the more secure my life is going to be. But he's also saying there's so much more to life than that.

[13:35] So much more to life than that. This man in the parable was not thinking about dying he was thinking about living.

[13:49] He was not thinking about death and standing before God and giving an account for his soul. he was only focused on living eating drinking relaxing being merry.

[14:04] And brothers and sisters when we reduce life to that when we reduce life just to focusing on and worrying about what we will eat and what we will drink then we have made life that is so much more than that to be very insignificant.

[14:30] And I imagine that even this morning there may be some of us who may be anxious about these very things. things. They may be anxious about aspects of our lives in terms of our ability to meet life's necessities.

[14:50] You might be concerned about the stability of your job or about the profitability of your business in this difficult economy. So it's a kind of indirect worry where we may not say that we are specifically worried about what are we going to eat or what are we going to drink.

[15:04] we're worried about the means to be able to get those things. And as we do that, we are worried about the very things that Jesus is addressing.

[15:19] And the reality is that our lives can become consumed by this worry. And so starting in verse 24, Jesus begins to help us to see how those who worry need not worry.

[15:46] Because I believe that's a logical question we will ask. Well, how can I not worry? I see people being laid off around me. I have to pay back and all the other things.

[15:57] how can I not worry? Well, Jesus tells us how, starting in verse 24, when he calls us to consider God's care, he calls us to consider God's care.

[16:13] This is my second point, God's care. Jesus says, consider it. What Jesus now does is he draws from nature and he gives us two illustrations of God's care and he makes this argument.

[16:31] This is the argument he's making by these two illustrations. He's saying if God cares for his insignificant creation or part of his insignificant creation, he will certainly care for you.

[16:46] And the first illustration is the ravens. Notice in verse 24, he says, consider the ravens. ravens. And here he's illustrating a point about food.

[16:58] In ancient times, ravens were considered to be unclean and they were among the least respected birds. And yet Jesus says that the ravens don't have storehouses, they don't have barns, and yet God cares for them and God provides for them.

[17:19] And so he's arguing from that and he exclaims, he says, of how much more value are you than birds? Meaning, if God cares for unclean, unrespected birds, how much more will he care for you?

[17:38] So why do you worry? And then in verse 25, he gives a further reason against worrying.

[17:51] He says, it can't change your life. It can't change anything about your life. He says, which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to the span of his life?

[18:08] Which of us, by worrying, can add, extend our lives, by even an hour? Jesus says, you can't do that.

[18:22] And he says, if you can't do that small thing, why are you anxious and worried about the rest? rest? And so, for us brothers and sisters, we have to remember what the Lord is saying to us now, worrying about life changes nothing in our life.

[18:49] And then he gives a second illustration, verse 27, the lilies of the field. And here he's illustrating a point about clothing. clothing. These lilies would have been a variety of wild flowers.

[19:04] And Jesus says, consider how they grow. They don't toil or spin. And the idea is spinning fabric, making clothing. You know something?

[19:17] The primary reason that we wear clothing is to cover our private parts. flowers. And when you consider a flower, you consider a plant that has petals on it, flowers on it, I really wish I could elaborate more on this.

[19:38] As I thought about this particular part of the sermon, I said, boy, if I was better in biology, I could really tell you something. But all I can tell you is basically the petals cover the reproductive system of the flower.

[19:52] the Lord put them there. The Lord closed the reproductive system of the flower plant with petals, with clothing.

[20:07] And so Jesus calls it, he calls it that they're closed. And he makes the point, he says, the clothing, these petals on the flower plant, he says, they're more glorious than anything, Solomon wore.

[20:25] More glorious than Solomon in all of his splendor and the garments that he wore. In verse 28, he points to the insignificance of the lilies of the field by referring to them as grass.

[20:46] Grass is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven for fuel. and here we're reminded of the words of Isaiah 40 where we read, the grass withers and the flower fades.

[21:04] And again, he makes the point, how much more valuable are you than grass? God clothes the grass, he clothes the flower.

[21:17] he's going to clothe us as well. And then notice this phrase at the end of verse 28, oh you of little faith.

[21:30] And what Jesus does here is Jesus puts worry into context. He puts worry into context. Worry is not just worry. Worry is lack of faith in God.

[21:42] lack of faith in God to care for us the same way that he cares for the birds of the air and the flowers of the field.

[21:56] And brothers and sisters, we need to remember that when we worry, it's not in a vacuum. When we worry, we are not trusting God who has demonstrated that he can be trusted and he's demonstrated it in nature.

[22:08] Not just, I mean, certainly not just in nature because we can look back at our lives and we can see God has been faithful to us. There's some of us this morning who are worrying about particular things that God has already shown himself faithful to us in and we forget.

[22:31] This is all you of little faith. When we worry about what am I going to eat and am I going to have enough to pay for this?

[22:44] He says, you're not trusting. You have little faith. And so what Jesus does is he says, consider, consider the lilies, consider the birds of the field.

[23:02] If you're worried this morning, the Lord is inviting you to consider God's care for the insignificant parts of his vast creation.

[23:16] Birds, a lot of them, and the flowers of the field. And then realize how much more he cares for the most significant part of his creation, which is mankind.

[23:33] 29. And so he tells us in verse 29, do not seek, do not run after these things.

[23:44] Do not run after what am I going to eat and what am I going to drink and what am I going to wear? He says, don't do that because the nations of the world, meaning those who don't know God, they seek and run after these things.

[24:01] And your father knows that you need them. He knows that you need them.

[24:17] Notice in verse 30, verse 30 is a further indication that Jesus is addressing those who belong to God, those who are God's children.

[24:28] God is their father, he is their children. And this doesn't mean that God does not care for everyone, he does. He cares for everyone.

[24:41] The Bible says in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus in Matthew 5, 45, it says that God makes his sun to shine on the just and on the unjust, sends the rain on everyone, the good and the evil, and those would be factors, especially in that day, of blessing the ground, that crops can come up, that they would be able to eat and be fed and so forth.

[25:12] God does that for all. He does it for all people. But Jesus is communicating something that is more particular and even more special, which is a promise from God to his own children.

[25:27] And here we should see that though God is the creator of all, God is not the father of all. God has created every single person, but he is not the father of every single person.

[25:42] We become God's children through adoption, through Jesus Christ. And so it's not right to say we are all God's children to the whole wide world because that's not true.

[25:55] We're all God's creation to the whole wide world, but we are only God's children through the new birth, through adoption, through Jesus Christ. And here a more particular, a more personal promise is being given to those who are his children.

[26:17] He's our father and we are his children. And Jesus says your father knows that you have need of these particular things. So don't act like the world, don't run after them like the world who don't have this particular promise.

[26:42] So he tells us, consider, consider God's care for these insignificant parts of his creation, these birds that nobody regards, these wild flowers that are just all over the place and yet God has shown his care for them.

[27:03] Likewise, even more so, he will show his care for you. Brothers and sisters, these need to be words that don't just go through one ear and out of the next.

[27:18] They need to lodge in our hearts and to remember that our father knows about us and he cares about us and he knows about our needs and he has promised that he will meet our needs.

[27:30] and he says, when you are doubting, just look around, look at birds, look at flowers and be persuaded.

[27:43] so Jesus speaks about our life, he speaks about God's care, and third and finally, he speaks about God's kingdom and he calls us to seek it.

[28:10] Notice in verse 31 that instead of being preoccupied with seeking after what are we going to eat and what are we going to wear and where are we going to live?

[28:23] We are to instead seek the kingdom. This doesn't mean that we quit our jobs and say, well, you know, God is going to take care of us.

[28:34] No, God will meet our needs through these means that we have of jobs and businesses and other means of income. What he is saying to us is we are not to be consumed by it all.

[28:47] We are not to be worried by it all. Jesus tells us to seek the kingdom of God rather than be worried about what am I going to eat and what am I going to drink?

[29:05] He says when we seek the kingdom of God, what's going to happen is these things are going to be added to us. The things that the heavenly father knows that we need, he's going to add them to us, he's going to give them to us.

[29:22] As we take the energy and the focus of seeking those things and we begin to seek his kingdom. kingdom. So what does it mean to seek the kingdom of God?

[29:39] Or even more fundamentally what does this term kingdom of God mean? It's more than a popular term that many preachers have reduced to a worldly humanistic concept where they liken the kingdom of God to the kingdoms of this world.

[29:59] It's so much more than that. the kingdom of God is best understood to refer to the sovereign rule and government of God over all things.

[30:14] And through Jesus Christ God's kingdom has come to this earth and through the death and burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ men and women, boys and girls can enter into a relationship with God through the new birth.

[30:30] and they can live as citizens of the kingdom of God. They've surrendered their lives to God, surrendered to live under his rule, under his government, under his authority, following his law which is his word as best they know.

[30:50] kingdom of God. That's the kingdom of God and that's what comes to us. And that's what we are invited to seek. We're invited to go after that, go after the rule of God in our lives.

[31:04] God has full sway over every aspect of our lives and we live with that awareness that there's nothing that I experience in this world, nothing that happens to me that is outside the scope of the sovereign rule and will of God and his kingdom.

[31:26] And through Jesus Christ, those whom Christ has saved, those who have come to him, they are able to have right standing before God.

[31:38] Though they in themselves have no holiness, they have no perfection that is accepted to God. That's where the kingdom of God is.

[31:55] And how do we seek that? How do we go after that? Well, we do it by allowing the Lord and the things of God to be the center of our hearts affections and not the things of this world.

[32:13] We do it by serving the Lord. We do it by seeking to be generous with our resources and being concerned with the needs of others and not just our own needs.

[32:28] We do it by seeking to rely on God and to trust in the Lord rather than to fearfully hold on to what we have. Notice what Jesus says in this context.

[32:39] It's quite interesting that here's this greedy man who wants something. He is so preoccupied by greed, he is willing to threaten the relationship with his brother over the inheritance.

[32:52] sins. And Jesus says no, that's not the way you seek the kingdom. The way you seek the kingdom is you seek the kingdom not by wanting to grab and take but by giving.

[33:04] We give to the needy because that's an expression of trust in God to meet our needs.

[33:26] It's an expression of being others centered and not just being self-centered. And in one word we can sum up what it means to seek the kingdom of God in the word discipleship.

[33:42] It means to follow Jesus. It means to do our best to walk in his ways. To hear his word and to obey his word.

[33:56] That is what it means to seek the kingdom. The kingdom is central in our lives. It's not something over here. It's not something that is secondary that we kind of have this straddling approach.

[34:13] This world and the things of God. No. That is to be the center and the focus of our lives. And as we do that, as we seek the kingdom of God, our priorities will be shaped more and more to reflect what it means to seek the kingdom of God.

[34:35] And none of us does this perfectly. None of us. As a matter of fact, it will matter not how long we live in this life. It doesn't matter.

[34:46] We will never perfectly seek the kingdom of God. But we're called to seek it. There needs to be some measure of our hearts in this direction, in this general direction of what God is calling us to.

[35:00] loving the Lord and loving the things of God, seeking to obey his word, seeking to serve him.

[35:12] Notice the promise that we have in verse 31. At the end, all these things will be added to you.

[35:27] Jesus promises that as we seek the kingdom, these things will be added to us. Why? They'll be added to us because God knows that we have need of them. And he knows, too, that we will be tempted to worry and be engulfed by life's common anxieties.

[35:51] And so, in essence, what Jesus is saying is be preoccupied with going after the kingdom of God, seeking to learn, seeking to grow, seeking to serve, seeking to live for God. And as you do, God will provide.

[36:04] He will take care of us. Yes, through our businesses, through our jobs, through the means of income that we have, he is going to take care of us.

[36:22] Notice in verse 33. Well, in verse 32, Jesus says, fear not, little flock. Don't fear. It is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

[36:38] And then he makes this odd statement, this odd command. Sell your possessions and give to the needy.

[36:51] God's love. And some people think this means that you go out and you set every single thing you have. that can't be what Jesus means because if you do that, then you will be needy.

[37:05] But he is certainly calling us to be generous. He is certainly calling us to not just be focused on our needs and what we want. And see, that's what anxiety will do for us.

[37:15] when we are just focused primarily on ourselves, even when we get excess, when we have more than enough, what do we want to do?

[37:26] We want to hold on to it. We want to store it up like this man because we think by storing it up, I'll have more security over tomorrow and over the days ahead.

[37:37] And Jesus calls us to counter that kind of attitude by giving to the needy. So when you think about it in this context of thinking about needs, he's saying don't just think about your own needs.

[37:50] Think about the needs of other people. And be willing to be generous and to give to them.

[38:03] This is a practical expression of what it means to seek the kingdom of God. Being thoughtful of those of those who have needs.

[38:20] And more than being thoughtful, meeting those needs to the extent that you are able. Jesus says when we sell our possessions and give to the needy, we provide ourselves with money bags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that will not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.

[38:50] Jesus says when we give to the needy, we're not just giving charity, we're not just giving to charity, we're not just doing something that is good. He says it has eternal consequences.

[39:02] He says we're actually storing up value, we're storing up treasure in heaven. It is something more valuable.

[39:15] Whatever we give in this life and in this world is not near as valuable as what it is in the world to come. It is real treasure there.

[39:27] It is protected treasure there. Anything that we have down here is subject to loss. Thieves can take it, moths can rot it, nothing on this earth is permanent.

[39:45] And Jesus makes the point in verse 34 where he says, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

[39:59] Hearts that are set on the things of this earth, are not seeking the kingdom of God. Our hearts are to be set in heaven, on heavenly treasure.

[40:22] And the truth is, wherever we find our hearts this morning, it's what we value. And again, this is not something that any of us will ever do perfectly. we need to deal with it honestly and sincerely before the Lord, but we won't do it perfectly.

[40:40] Hearts will not be set on God perfectly, but we need to be growing, we need to be convicted, and we need to repent where we are convicted, and we need to seek to grow, to love the Lord more, to seek his kingdom more, to make adjustments to the priorities of our lives, that they reflect a heavenly priority.

[41:08] And one of the things that is so essential for what the Lord is calling us to, and the fact that he speaks to his disciples, there is a measure of this that we are to be engaged in on an individual level, but you know what?

[41:20] This is lived out in community. This isn't lived out in isolation. This isn't lived out by a lone ranger. It is lived out in community, because many times it's in community that we get the adjustments that we need.

[41:33] It is in community that we are inspired to say, you know what? This is passing away. But that which is to come, that is eternal.

[41:46] And so much of what God will give to us to help us to seek the kingdom first, he provides it in community. and so I just encourage us to embrace this, to embrace the counsel, the encouragement, the correction, the support in times of trial that comes to us in the context of the community of the local church.

[42:15] And one of the things we experience is in community there is blessing to be on both the giving and the receiving side of these things.

[42:29] I want to close by just saying a word to those who may be here and you don't know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

[42:41] Here in this passage, Jesus helps us to see that people who are away from God will run after the things of this world and will be engulfed by the anxieties of this world.

[42:58] And so he invites you to seek the kingdom. But as Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3, he said, except a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

[43:11] It is only when something out of this world happens to us. We can't give ourselves new birth. we can't give ourselves spiritual birth and life any more than we could have given ourselves natural birth and life.

[43:29] We only see the kingdom of God. We will only be able to see it, to seek it, to pursue it when we are begotten from above. When God gives us life, when God brings us from spiritual death to spiritual life through the power of the Holy Spirit.

[43:49] What that means in practical terms is we get life to surrender and live for the Lord. And so this morning I urge you if you are here and you don't know Jesus Christ as Lord and personal Savior and you may agree that you are on this road of just seeking and pursuing what am I going to eat and what am I going to wear and where am I going to live?

[44:14] The Lord calls you to surrender that to him this morning. He calls you to trust in Jesus Christ who gave his life on the cross and who has promised that all who come to him he will never turn away.

[44:31] Let's pray. Heavenly Father thank you for your word that reminds us that we need not worry about our lives but instead we should seek your kingdom because you meet the needs of those who seek your kingdom.

[44:56] I pray for us this morning Lord you know where each one is and I do pray that you would help us to see that it is not just getting rid of anxiety but it is seeking your kingdom first.

[45:18] Lord those of us who have put our trust in Jesus I pray that you would remind us that your care for us is far greater than your care for insignificant parts of your creation.

[45:36] And oh Lord I do pray for any under the sound of my voice who have not trusted Christ to come to trust him.

[45:51] Come to trust him not just with this life but also with the life to come. We pray and ask these things in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.

[46:02] And any questions from this sermon? Yes. No questions?

[46:17] I guess my thought process when I used to think of anxiety in my life, I didn't always take it as a negative or something I needed to completely surrender to Christ.

[46:47] Because I thought of it as somehow impetus, a way of making me plan for something ahead.

[46:58] For example, I know they have layoffs. I've heard my name is on the chopping block. I get anxious about it. My anxiety tells me, look for another job, do something about it.

[47:13] I don't know if anxiety, anxious is the word I should use because I've heard your example of your definition, rather, saying that it's a wholesale consumption of our concerns.

[47:28] So I guess would concern be a better way to look at something in life? You still have something there that tells you, hey, I need to do something.

[47:41] How do I address that? Yeah, I would say, Troy, it may be a matter of speaking in terms of how you are referring to it, but I would encourage you to think about what's going on in your own heart as relates to what you define as anxiety.

[47:57] Notice what the Lord says is, don't be anxious. Now that doesn't mean that situations won't come our way to cause us to be anxious.

[48:10] As a matter of fact, one of the indications that there will be situations that cause us to be anxious is he says, don't be anxious. So I think when we see those kinds of situations that could cause us to be fearful, I believe what we need to do in that moment, like you gave the example of layoffs.

[48:32] In that moment, when you hear layoffs are looming, where's your heart turned? Is it turned towards God and trusting in him and even bringing your temptations to worry to him?

[48:49] Or is it over here, well, I better start looking for a job and I need to start doing all these other things. And those are practical things you need to do. But I think we need to be aware of what's going on in our hearts and honest with ourselves.

[49:03] And if we are being anxious and fearful, we need to lay it before the Lord, because the truth is our jobs don't meet our needs. God does. Our jobs and our businesses, they are channels through which, but they're not the source of what God does in our lives.

[49:24] So I've heard people use anxiety in a particular way where it's almost as if the warnings about anxiety don't apply to them, because they say, well, no, it's a good thing and so on like that.

[49:39] So I would just encourage you to think about really what's going on in your heart. Is it, are you being gripped by fear? And truth be told, a lot of the fears that we have, if we really thought about them and say, okay, if this happens, then what?

[50:00] And I think the greatest fear for us this morning, all of us, I believe, will be death. And truthfully, if we really think about death, if we know Christ, there should be a peace in our hearts at the end of it, that you know what?

[50:15] I will be with Christ. Don't understand all the ins and outs about that, but I will be with Christ. And so, worse comes to worse with the things that we may be fearful of losing, threatened about losing.

[50:32] If we lose them, life will go on. And we've seen others have realized some of the same fears that we have, life goes on for them. And at the end of the day, this life is confined to this life.

[50:47] This life doesn't carry into the life to come. So I know I've kind of talked broadly about your question, so hopefully I got to it. I'm not sure if I did. Yes.

[50:58] Yeah? Okay. Anyone else? Calvin, over here. Hi, Pastor.

[51:20] You indicated at the beginning that there are some preachers that preach this message of the kingdom. And some have almost made a doctrine out of it.

[51:32] Some have. Almost made a doctrine out of it. And I've heard individuals separate their kingdom of God from the kingdom of heaven.

[51:46] Can you speak to that? Sure. They're the same. They are the same. There's no, there's no, they're used interchangeably.

[51:58] There is no real distinction about them. God doesn't have two kingdoms, you know, one here and one there. He has this all-encompassing, vast kingdom of God that encompasses everything and everyone.

[52:13] I mean, that's in one sense. And I don't know if this is what they may be referring to in terms of what they may call like a functional kingdom of God.

[52:25] In the sense that every single human being, every animal, every atom, every single thing is in the kingdom of God in terms of God's broad sovereign dominion and control.

[52:45] Now, one could say there's an aspect of the kingdom of God that has to do with those who are living for Christ as those who have been born again and those who are serving him.

[52:58] And so we are living in the kingdom of God in a more functional way serving the Lord. I don't know if that's what they're referring to. But as you read scripture, there is no distinction between kingdom of God and kingdom of Christ.

[53:11] They're used interchangeably. Yeah. All right. We have time for one more. I'll ask a question then.

[53:22] Sure. One of the verses that we read today is not life more than food. It reminds me of when Christ was tempted and he said to Satan, I should not live by bread alone.

[53:43] Can worry be a tool that the enemy uses against us? Is that a tool? Can we think of it in that sense? I'm not sure I would call it a tool other than to say I think worry is something that we human beings do.

[54:08] So I wouldn't necessarily attribute it to the devil. I do think that he can maybe enhance it and make it bigger by trying to bring fear in our lives and cause things to be mountainous when they may not be.

[54:23] But I do think part of the human condition is that we will worry away from the devil's active influence in our lives.

[54:35] I think we will worry. We will worry. But I do believe that sometimes when we are faced with difficult situations that can be fearful, the devil could have a field day on us and try to make that thing bigger than it is.

[54:55] Maybe he got some bad news from the doctor or, as Troy mentioned, a work situation, and he could actually come and try to compound the worry and cause that to seem bigger than it really is.

[55:08] But I think it is a natural thing for us to worry. We will do that. But what Jesus says is, don't worry. Trust God instead.

[55:21] So I guess I would have to say yes and no to that clients. Thank you.