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Following Jesus When You Worry - Minister Max Lucado · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

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  Speaker 1: And you can't sleep. You pound your pillow. You adjust
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  Speaker 1: your blanket. You roll to one side and then the next.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing works. Everyone else sleeps. Your spouse has taken up
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  Speaker 1: residence in dreamland. Your dog is curled up in a
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  Speaker 1: lump at.
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  Speaker 2: The foot of the bed. Everyone else is asleep. but you.
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  Speaker 1: In six hours, you'll be walking into a new chapter,
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  Speaker 1: a new office, a new season. You'll be the rookie
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  Speaker 1: on the sales team. You'll be the new customer representative
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  Speaker 1: at the fledgling organization. You're wondering if you've made the
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  Speaker 1: right decision. The hours are long The economy is uncertain.
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  Speaker 1: The competition is increasing. Besides, you're 23 years old, right
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  Speaker 1: out of college, starting a new job. You're 33 years
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  Speaker 1: old with two kids to feed and a family to
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  Speaker 1: care for. You're 43 years old, the victim of a
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  Speaker 1: latest series of layoffs and downsizing. You're 53 years old.
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  Speaker 1: Not the ideal age to start working. a different career.
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  Speaker 1: You're 63 years old regardless.
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  Speaker 2: Of what age you are.
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  Speaker 1: The questions fall like hailstones. Will I make enough money?
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  Speaker 1: Will I make any friends?
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  Speaker 2: Will I have a cubicle?
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  Speaker 1: Will I be able to Learn the software program, the
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  Speaker 1: sales pitch. Will I be able to find my way
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  Speaker 1: to the restroom? What does all this anxiety mean? All
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  Speaker 1: this trepidation, all this restlessness, all this insecurity.
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  Speaker 2: What does this mean? Simply this.
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  Speaker 1: You are a human being. Does that mean you're emotionally underdeveloped?
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  Speaker 1: It does not mean that you're stupid. It does not
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  Speaker 1: mean that you're demon-possessed. It does not mean you're a failure.
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  Speaker 1: It doesn't mean your parents failed you or vice versa.
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  Speaker 1: And this is important. It doesn't mean you're not a Christian.
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  Speaker 1: Christians battle anxiety. Jesus battled anxiety for heaven's sake. In
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  Speaker 1: the Garden of Gethsemane, he prayed three times. that he
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  Speaker 1: wouldn't have to drink the cup of suffering. And his
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  Speaker 1: heart pumped with such ferocity that capillaries broke and rivulets.
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  Speaker 2: Of crimson streaked his face. He was anxious. But he
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  Speaker 2: didn't stay anxious.
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  Speaker 1: He entrusted his fears to his Heavenly Father and he
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  Speaker 1: completed his earthly mission with faith.
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  Speaker 2: And he will help us do likewise. And he does
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  Speaker 2: so through.
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  Speaker 1: What I believe to be the greatest section of the
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  Speaker 1: Sermon on the Mount. That is why I tell you
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  Speaker 1: not to worry, he said, about everyday life. Whether you
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  Speaker 1: have enough food and drink or clothes to wear. Isn't
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  Speaker 1: life more than food and your body more than clothing?
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  Speaker 2: Look at the birds. Can't you just picture him right
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  Speaker 2: here saying that? Look at the birds.
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  Speaker 1: They don't plant. They don't harvest. They don't store in barns.
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  Speaker 1: For your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren't you far
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  Speaker 1: more valuable to him than they are? Can all your
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  Speaker 1: worries add a single moment to your life? And why
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  Speaker 1: worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field.
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  Speaker 1: Look how they grow. They don't work. They don't make clothing.
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  Speaker 1: Yet Solomon and all his glory was not lost. dressed
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  Speaker 1: or arrayed as beautifully as they are. If God so
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  Speaker 1: wonderfully cares for wildflowers that are here today and thrown
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  Speaker 1: into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you.
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  Speaker 2: Why do you have so little faith? So don't worry
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  Speaker 2: about these things. Saying what will we eat? What will
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  Speaker 2: we drink? What will we wear?
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  Speaker 1: Now these things dominate the minds of unbelievers. But your
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  Speaker 1: Heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the kingdom
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  Speaker 1: of God above all else.
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  Speaker 2: And live righteously. And He will give you everything else
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  Speaker 2: you need.
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  Speaker 1: So don't worry about tomorrow. For tomorrow will bring its
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  Speaker 1: own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today. Matthew 6,
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  Speaker 1: 25 through 34. This occupies the largest section of the
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  Speaker 1: Sermon on the Mount. It was tempting to take you
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  Speaker 1: through the entire Sermon on the Mount, but I was
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  Speaker 1: afraid somebody would need a haircut. But the largest section
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  Speaker 1: of the Sermon on the Mount seems relevant to the
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  Speaker 1: day and age in which we live. It's hard to
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  Speaker 1: miss the themes of these verses, right? Jesus said, I
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  Speaker 1: tell you not to worry about everyday life, verse 25.
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  Speaker 1: Then he asks in verse 27, can all your worries
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  Speaker 1: add a single moment to your life? Then verse 28,
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  Speaker 1: why worry? Verse 31, so don't worry about all these things.
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  Speaker 1: Verse 34, don't worry.
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  Speaker 2: He makes a big point here.
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  Speaker 1: And that is, worry doesn't work. worry simply does not work.
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  Speaker 1: Fret won't fill a bird's belly. It won't fill a
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  Speaker 1: flower's petal with color. Birds and flowers, according to Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: seem to get along just fine and they don't take antacids.
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  Speaker 1: More importantly, you can dedicate a decade of worry and
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  Speaker 1: anxious thoughts to your life and not grow one inch.
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  Speaker 2: Worry accomplishes nothing. But still we worry. And now that we've.
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  Speaker 1: Read that Jesus doesn't want us to worry, we will
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  Speaker 1: worry about worrying. So lest we add anxiety to our
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  Speaker 1: list of anxieties, let's be certain what Jesus means when
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  Speaker 1: he says, Don't worry. He's not condemning a healthy concern.
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  Speaker 1: A certain level of unease is good for us. It
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  Speaker 1: gets us out of bed in the morning. It helps
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  Speaker 1: us get on with our responsibilities. Jesus and the Apostle
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  Speaker 1: Paul later never condemned legitimate healthy concerns.
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  Speaker 2: But rather, they speak.
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  Speaker 1: Of this continuous mindset that dismisses God's presence.
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  Speaker 2: Another translation of these same words.
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  Speaker 1: Therefore, I tell you, I like this, stop being perpetually uneasy.
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  Speaker 2: Perpetually uneasy.
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  Speaker 1: And then in parentheses, anxious.
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  Speaker 2: And worried about your life.
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  Speaker 1: There's our definition. Worry is not legitimate concern. Worry is
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  Speaker 1: not careful planning. The call to not having worry is
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  Speaker 1: not a call to be a surfer on the beach
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  Speaker 1: in California.
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  Speaker 2: Although, forgive me, you surfers. But worry is a state
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  Speaker 2: of mind in which God is disregarded, even distrusted.
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  Speaker 1: An outlook on life that subtracts God from the future
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  Speaker 1: and faces uncertainties with no hope or no faith, tallies
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  Speaker 1: up the challenges of the day without entering God into
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  Speaker 1: the equation. A friend of mine saw an example of
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  Speaker 1: perpetual uneasiness in his six-year-old daughter. In her hurry to
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  Speaker 1: get dressed for school, she tied her shoelaces in a
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  Speaker 1: knot and And she plopped at the base of the
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  Speaker 1: stairs and she fixated her thoughts on that tangled mess.
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  Speaker 1: She knew the school bus was coming. She knew the
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  Speaker 1: minutes were ticking. And she gave no thought to the
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  Speaker 1: fact that her father was standing right beside her. And
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  Speaker 1: he watched her grow so anxious, bless her little six-year-old heart,
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  Speaker 1: that she began to cry. Tears began to drop. Finally,
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  Speaker 1: in an expression of total frustration, she dropped her forehead
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  Speaker 1: to her knees and began to sob.
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  Speaker 2: I wonder if that's the picture of worry. when we
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  Speaker 2: never lift our eyes off of the tangled messes.
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  Speaker 1: Of life, and we forget the presence of our Father,
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  Speaker 1: who is ever one request away, who has experience in
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  Speaker 1: disentangling knots. My friend finally took it upon himself to
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  Speaker 1: come to his daughter's aid, and he asked me a
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  Speaker 1: Great question.
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  Speaker 2: Why didn't she ask me for help? That's a good question.
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  Speaker 2: Why don't we? Using the same Greek tense.
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  Speaker 1: For worry, the Apostle Paul wrote, be anxious for nothing. Again,
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  Speaker 1: do not allow yourself to be perpetually anxious. Philippians chapter 4.
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  Speaker 1: Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication,
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  Speaker 1: with thanksgiving, Let your requests be made known to God.
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  Speaker 2: You just heard the most underlined verse in the Bible.
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  Speaker 1: The moment you feel anxious, take your thoughts to God.
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  Speaker 2: Instead of, oh no, highway construction, I'll never make it
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  Speaker 2: on time. How about this?
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  Speaker 1: Highway construction. God, can you help me? Instead of I'll
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  Speaker 1: never survive the layoffs, how about, God, are you opening
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  Speaker 1: another door to lead me through the layoffs? You could
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  Speaker 1: lie in bed and stress about the day ahead or
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  Speaker 1: you could climb out of bed and open a Bible
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  Speaker 1: and say, thank you, Lord. You have been good to me.
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  Speaker 1: Turn every fret into a prayer. And you'll be praying
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  Speaker 1: all the time. I'm going to close with eight worry stoppers.
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  Speaker 1: Don't worry. I'll go quickly. But just real quickly, okay?
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  Speaker 2: Here they come. Number one, keep a worry diary. Keep
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  Speaker 2: a worry diary.
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  Speaker 1: Over a period of days, record your anxious thoughts and
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  Speaker 1: maintain all the thoughts that trouble you. Then review them
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  Speaker 1: and ask the question, how many of them became a reality?
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  Speaker 1: Number two, evaluate your worry categories. Evaluate your worry categories.
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  Speaker 1: You have a thematic type of worry. Some of us
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  Speaker 1: worry about health. Some of us worry about money. Some
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  Speaker 1: of us worry about what people think. Some of us
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  Speaker 1: worry about you fill in the blank. And there's usually
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  Speaker 1: a reason For every fruit, there is a root. And
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  Speaker 1: maybe there's a legitimate reason. Maybe you have a wound
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  Speaker 1: in your life that's never been healed. And for fear
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  Speaker 1: of it happening again, you worry. So evaluate your category,
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  Speaker 1: and once you find that theme, talk to Jesus about it.
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  Speaker 1: Best number three, take your worries to Christ. Just take
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  Speaker 1: them to Christ. Be like the mother of Jesus at.
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  Speaker 2: The wedding in Cana. They ran out of wine. First
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  Speaker 2: thing she did, she went to Jesus. They have no
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  Speaker 2: more wine. See how quickly you can do the same.
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  Speaker 1: And then number four, leave your worries with Christ, casting
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  Speaker 1: the whole of your care on him. 1 Peter chapter
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  Speaker 1: 5 and verse 7. Number five, recruit a worry army.
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  Speaker 1: The reason God invented text messaging. And so you can
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  Speaker 1: recruit a team of people to help you. Jesus took
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  Speaker 1: three prayer warriors into the garden of Gethsemane.
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  Speaker 2: Granted, they didn't stay awake.
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  Speaker 1: But if Jesus took three prayer warriors, how much more
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  Speaker 1: should we Number six, become a worry slapper.
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  Speaker 2: Become a worry slapper. Treat frets like mosquitoes.
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  Speaker 1: Slap them like the energy-sucking critters they are.
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  Speaker 2: The moment a concern surfaces, deal with it. Deal with it.
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  Speaker 1: Don't assume that worry is a part of life. Number seven,
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  Speaker 1: understand God's manna plan. He meets daily needs daily, not weekly.
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  Speaker 1: You do not yet have.
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  Speaker 2: What you need for tomorrow. You don't.
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  Speaker 1: God gives man a daily, not weekly, not annually. You'll
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  Speaker 1: have what you need tomorrow when tomorrow comes. But now
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  Speaker 1: you have enough for today, and that's enough. And then
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  Speaker 1: number eight, let God be enough. Let God be enough.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus concludes his call to calmness with this challenge. Seek
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  Speaker 1: first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all
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  Speaker 1: these things shall be added unto you. Worry disappears as
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  Speaker 1: we seek God's kingdom. Seek first the kingdom of wealth,
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  Speaker 1: and you'll worry over every dollar. Seek first the kingdom
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  Speaker 1: of health and you'll sweat every blemish. Seek first the
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  Speaker 1: kingdom of popularity and you'll relive every conflict. Seek first
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  Speaker 1: the kingdom of safety and you'll jump at every crack
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  Speaker 1: of the twig. But seek first the kingdom of God
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  Speaker 1: and you'll breathe deeply and sleep well. We worry less
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  Speaker 1: when we seek God most.
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  Speaker 2: As long as.
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  Speaker 3: You're somewhere out there, that's enough for me.
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  Speaker 4: I don't need to hold you near me.
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  Speaker 5: Don't need promises to keep.
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  Speaker 2: Just the thought that you are breathing Somewhere.
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  Speaker 3: In this world I see.
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  Speaker 5: Even if I'm not beside you Even if you never know.
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  Speaker 3: There's a quiet kind of comfort Just in knowing you
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  Speaker 3: still glow.
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  Speaker 2: I don't need forever.
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  Speaker 3: I just need you to exist.
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  Speaker 5: You don't have to stay with me You don't have
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  Speaker 5: to feel the same Just as long as you're still
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  Speaker 5: out there Calling softly through my days You don't have
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  Speaker 5: to look my way You don't have to be my
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  Speaker 5: home It's enough to know you're living In a world
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  Speaker 5: I'm not alone I won't chase you through the distance
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  Speaker 5: Won't disturb your chosen life I'll just keep you in
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  Speaker 5: my silence Like a star that shines at night.
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  Speaker 2: Through the dark and through the.
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  Speaker 3: Blue I still think of you.
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  Speaker 5: You don't have to feel the same Just as long
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  Speaker 5: as you're still out there Calling softly through my days
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  Speaker 5: You don't have to look my way You don't have
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  Speaker 5: to be my home It's enough to know you're living
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  Speaker 5: In a world I'm not alone.
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  Speaker 3: I don't need to be your light I don't need
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  Speaker 3: to cross your mind All I need is just the
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  Speaker 3: truth That you're somewhere Still alive.
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  Speaker 2: You don't have to.
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  Speaker 4: Stay with me you don't have to feel the same
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  Speaker 4: just as long as you're still out there calling softly
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  Speaker 4: through my days you don't have to look my way
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  Speaker 4: you don't have to be my.
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  Speaker 5: Home it's enough to know you're living
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  Speaker 2: In a world i'm not alone