OPENING STATEMENT: As a tool, worry is counterproductive. It cannot provide solutions

What’s the big difference between worry and concern?

• To worry: to give way to anxiety; to allow one’s mind to dwell on difficulty or troubles, on actual or potential problem.
• To be concerned: to calculate and assess actual and potential problems, and develop solutions.

²⁵ “Therefore I say to you, DO NOT WORRY ABOUT YOUR LIFE, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ 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? ²⁷ Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

²⁸ “So why DO YOU WORRY ABOUT CLOTHING? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; ²⁹ and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

³¹ “Therefore DO NOT WORRY, SAYING, ‘WHAT SHALL WE EAT?’ OR ‘WHAT SHALL WE DRINK?’ OR ‘WHAT SHALL WE WEAR?’ ³² For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

³⁴ Therefore DO NOT WORRY ABOUT TOMORROW, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

• Sandwiched in between these verses, Jesus gives us the solution to worry:

³³ BUT SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, and all these things shall be added to you.

• But He provide the solution in the form of Himself.
• In Matthew 7:11, He reminds us He is a Good Father:

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! (Matthew 7:11 NKJ)

#1 – PRAY

 ⁶ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; ⁷ and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7 NKJ)

• Sometimes the worry is more lethal than what you are worrying about.

#2 – REST IN GOD’S GRACE

“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”

And Paul’s response was:

So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me (2 Corinthians 12:9 NLT)

• There is no denial of weakness or problem here. But there is a solid acknowledgement of God’s grace in the midst of a crisis.

¹⁰ That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:10 NLT)

#3 – DISCIPLINE YOUR MIND

⁸ And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. (Philippians 4:8 NLT)

• It’s hard to worry when our thoughts are centered on God’s true and faithful promises.

#4 – TAKE ACTION

⁷ Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. (1 Peter 5:7 NLT)

• You can’t just pray you must surrender or give

CONCLUSION:

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message?