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Anxiety Attack (Luke 12:22-34)
20 Plays1 month ago
Sunday Message recorded 19 April 2026
by Senior Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church - Columbus, TX, USA
1700 Milam St.
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
Recommended
Transcript
Welcome and Introduction to Anxiety
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Good morning.
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One expression of God's goodness this morning was the weather. Man, that felt so nice out there. i was praising the Lord all the way here. It's good to see you this morning. Thank you so much for coming to worship the Lord with us. I pray that already you've been blessed as we've turned our hearts toward the Lord.
00:00:26
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This morning we're going to listen to Jesus. As he talks about anxiety. I know you don't deal with anxiety, so it may not apply to you. I'm kidding. If that's something you know that we all face, I'm pretty sure. But Luke 12, verse 22, down through verse 34 is where we're going to be.
Biblical Context of Anxiety
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In our text, you're going to hear Jesus say the word anxious three times. You ever feel anxious? It's going to be in mentioned in verse 22, verse 25. in verse twenty five in verse 26.
00:00:59
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And then he's going to mention a different word in verse 29, worry. Isn't it interesting they use one word for a't being anxious or anxiety and a different word for worry in verse 29. And then in verse 30, he's going to use even another word, fear, fear. wonder if they're ever connected.
00:01:20
Speaker
Do we worry about what we're afraid of? You know, I think it's very similar to Matthew. If you wanted to Hear it in surround sound. You could check out Matthew 6 verses 25 to 34. Because in that passage, he also talks about being anxious. And he mentions the word anxious four times.
00:01:40
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Later, Paul is going to write in Philippians 4 verses 6 and 7 to we who are believers, who are followers of Christ.
Personal Experience and Differentiation of Anxiety and Panic
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And here's what he's going to say. He's going to say, do not be anxious about anything. Wow.
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I kept telling myself that ah last week. I think it was maybe on Tuesday night. I woke up and I thought that there was a cotton mouth in the room with me.
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And so I thought, okay, what am I gonna do? So I thought my first thing is I'm gonna get my flashlight. My dad taught me to have a flashlight by the bed. The other thing he taught me to have was two buddies named Smith and Wesson under the bed.
00:02:21
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So i thought, in order to in order to call on my buddies, I need to use the light, because the snake might be under there with Smith & Wesson. So anyway, it turns out he wasn't there, but you couldn't have convinced me that at that moment. It's almost like I was having some kind of anxiety attack.
00:02:40
Speaker
I mean, it was really rare rare, because it's never happened before, but I'm telling you, I was i was definitely awake, and I was alert. But you know, there is a difference. i don't know if you ever looked it up between an anxiety attack and a panic attack.
00:02:56
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Now they do share some overlapping symptoms, but they don't mean the same thing. I don't know which one I was having, but something was going on that night. But anxiety is linked to a stressor.
00:03:09
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It's perceived future threat that you're thinking about. But a panic attack, you don't really know where it came from. It's like it just come out of nowhere. And suddenly it is all over you and your heart is beaten fast and so forth. But anxiety comes on gradually, slowly, whereas a panic attack is more sudden.
00:03:30
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And it's like, what is happening in my body? Anxiety can range from mild to severe while panic attacks are typically acute and intense. Permit me just another minute as I try to distinguish between the two.
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Panic attack is the fear of losing control Panic attack is the fear of dying. Panic attack is detached from reality, dizziness, trembling.
00:03:55
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Whereas anxiety, on the other hand, would be a feeling of dread, anticipation of the worst, easily fatigued, irritability, difficulty sleeping.
Contrasting Worldly Anxiety with Divine Peace
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But what you're going to hear Jesus say in verse 30, he's going to draw a contrast for us, for those of us who are in the kingdom of God, for those of us who have a personal relationship with Christ.
00:04:18
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He's going to say, it doesn't have to be that way with you. But he said, I'm aware in verse 30, for all the nations of the world seek after these things and your father knows that you need them.
00:04:30
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So what is it that people are seeking after that actually feeds anxiety? Well, we're going to talk about that as we go through this time. See, three times Jesus uses the aggressive, active word seek.
00:04:45
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Seek. You'll hear that three times as we get toward the end of our passage. That word seek means to search intensely. It's a strong desire. what is What is it that you are intently seeking?
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I mean, everything you have is in this basket. You're just trying so hard to find this or find that. Is it the kingdom or is it something else? Is it your kingdom or is it Christ's kingdom?
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You know, verse 30 is going to talk about how the world seeks material things. Verse 29 is going to say the followers of Christ are commanded not, not to seek them as though they're everything for us.
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Do you have a life apart from your things? Jesus will say that you do. Verse 31, we are commanded by our master, by our Lord and our Savior, Jesus. We're actually commanded to seek his kingdom.
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So we're going to read all about that in verses 22 through 34 of luke chapter So by now, i hope you found it. Would you stand in honor of God's word? Let me read through this. You can follow along on the screen. You can follow along on your copy of God's word. If you'd like to have a Bible, we have some pew Bibles.
00:06:01
Speaker
If you don't have a Bible, we'd love for you to have one of those. But here's what it says in Luke 12, verse 22. And he said to his disciples, therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat,
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nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens.
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They neither sow nor reap. They have neither storehouse nor barn. And yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds?
00:06:43
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And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life. If then you're not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?
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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.
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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? Oh, you little faith.
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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.
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And your father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom and these things will be added to you. Fear not.
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little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 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, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.
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For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Let's go to the Father in prayer. Lord, we need a fresh word. Lord, I've already been transparent, tried to humble myself before you and before the congregation that I love so much.
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Lord, i deal with anxiety. At least I did that night. But Lord, others here, they may be struggling with it. And I don't want to make fun of it. I want to try to actually help them to overcome it.
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And I know based on what you said in this passage, you do as well. So show us, oh Lord, how can we attack anxiety rather than letting anxiety attack us?
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Lord, open up the word of God. Show us the difference that you make in real life. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated.
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This message is not a reminder of attacks from anxiety. This message is actually how you should lead an attack with Jesus' help upon anxiety.
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John MacArthur notes, the world tries to manage or mask anxiety, whereas Christ can eliminate worry. There's a strategy that Jesus lays out in this passage.
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for winning over worry through Christ. There's five maneuvers that he gives us in this passage. So let me get to them real quickly. The first maneuver that he would give us would be, we need to admit the emptiness of covetousness.
The Roots of Anxiety and the Call to Trust in God
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Did you catch in verse 22 when he says, and he said to his disciples, therefore I tell you, Wait a minute. Wait, you got to go back in order to know what he's talking about. What does he mean?
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Therefore he's pointing back. What has he just been talking about? Well, if you were here the day that I gave the message on that, he's actually talking about covetousness.
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There were a couple of brothers and there was a death in the family. And now there was a squabble over the inheritance. And probably the younger of the two brothers said, he's not giving me my portion.
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And so Jesus said, you better take care of all the different kinds of covetousness that can come into your life. So the symptom of anxiety has a root and the root can sometimes be covetousness.
00:10:42
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It's like the reason we're anxious is because we just want more and more. When I was growing up, I don't even know if they have these anymore, but they had something on playgrounds called a seesaw.
00:10:55
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Remember the seesaw? I don't know even know if they have those. Josh, do they have those now? ah He doesn't know either. Okay. well They did. Oh, yeah. Oh, you're right. That's right. Someone's son broke his arm. on Casey, thank you for that. But anyway, on one side of the seesaw is greed.
00:11:14
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And greed says, you know what? I can never get enough. the other side of the seesaw is worry. And worry is saying, you know what, I'm afraid I may not have enough.
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And so each one's approaching the same thing from a different angle. You see, being anxious, the word merimenao is being distracted. It's being pulled. If you were to go back in Luke to chapter 10, right at the end of chapter 10 in verse 41, there were two sisters.
00:11:44
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And these two sisters were so honored to have Jesus and the disciples come to their home for a meal. But one of those two sisters, Martha, said the best thing we can do...
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is that we can, I'm sorry, I lost my train thought. The best thing we can do is to say, okay, we're going to serve the disciples and Jesus the best meal we know how. So she's in the kitchen making the meal.
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But on the other side, her other sister, Mary, Mary says, there's nothing more important than sitting right here at Jesus' feet. We can save the meal for later.
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i don't want to miss one thing that the Lord says. Which one would you be? Would you be Martha would you be Mary? Well, you know what? Jesus said to Martha, Martha, you are so worried.
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And you know, the word Mary Manal means to be pulled in this way and pulled in this way. Pulled in this way and pulled in this way. That's exactly what happens whenever we're worried.
00:12:44
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And so we need to say, God, help me. But what kind of things can pull us this way and pull us that way? Well, he we don't have to guess. Look with me at verse 22 into verse 23. And he said to the disciples, therefore, I tell you, he's talking to disciples, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on.
00:13:09
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For life is more than food in the body, more than clothing. Wow. Food, fitness, fashion. You ever get worried about those three? Food, fitness, fashion.
00:13:20
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Sometimes those things cause us anxiety. But listen to what he says in verse 23 about those. He's saying, listen, life is more.
00:13:33
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Life is more than food. Have you ever seen like an interview with people who just went through a tornado, a hurricane, a fire?
00:13:46
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And maybe they lost everything that they had. But you know what they'll say whenever they put the mic in front of them? You know, I lost everything, but I'm so thankful. And they'll hug their wife.
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They'll hug their kids. And they said, but you know what? We've got each other. there's nothing that could replace life. Life itself is so incredibly precious.
00:14:09
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Life is precious even in a disposable society in which we live. But I want to move to a second thing. There's a second part of the strategy. The first one is we've got to say, okay, Lord, you're right.
00:14:22
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I don't want to let possessions and greed and covetousness. I don't want things to be the master of my life. I want to value life.
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I want to enjoy it as I go through it. I want to love my family. I want to love other people. I want to care. So that's the first thing, but let's go to the second thing.
00:14:45
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Acknowledge the faithfulness of our creator. Acknowledge the faithfulness of our creator. I believe that if we will do that, it will be a motivation against anxiety.
00:14:59
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The faithfulness of the creator. He gives an illustration that goes against anxiety. You know what it is? It's the ravens. Consider the ravens.
00:15:11
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They neither sow nor reap. They have neither storehouse nor barn. And yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds?
00:15:23
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You know, did you realize that Israel was a migratory flyway a rather than highway or flyway? Hundreds of millions of birds would pass by Israel each year.
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And Jesus picked one type of bird, raven. The only thing is, do you know that Leviticus 11, 15 says that the raven is an unclean bird.
00:15:47
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And so it's interesting. He says the ravens are unclean. They're scavenger birds. They're also squawkers. But anyway, it's like, what in the world? But you know what? God is still faithful to the raven and to the raven's little brother, the crow.
00:16:03
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And so I think it's amazing. You know, Job 38 verse 41. If you're a taker, you to write down Job 38 verse 41. I'll read it to you. You don't have to go there. But it says, who provides, he's talking about God, who provides for the raven its prey.
00:16:20
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But wait, Lord, it's an unclean bird. God says, that raven is one that I made. And so who provides for the raven its prey when its young ones cry to God for help and wonder about the lack of food?
00:16:35
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Who's going to be there? God says, I'll be there. And then I love the fact that he goes from talking about these crows and ravens to talking about his children. I want to make this personal. He's talking about you in this room.
00:16:49
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When he says, how much more valuable are you than all of those birds? All of those birds put together. Your life is so precious and so valuable.
00:17:01
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And so I thought, thank you, God, that the application he's bringing it up. He's trying to say the father, the creator, he made you. He made you just like you are.
00:17:13
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He made you who you are. He gave you all those gifts and abilities that you have. He wants to work out his purpose in and through your life.
00:17:23
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Your life is very precious. But sometimes we get confused. you know, traveling mighty fast through life with with our worry and with our anxiety.
00:17:35
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And so guess what verse 25 is? I call verse 25 citation. The citation because the Lord is going to pull you over and give you a ticket for going fast in the anxiety lane.
00:17:49
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And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life? You know, in Psalm 139, God says he's already decided.
00:18:01
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He's already determined the number of days set aside for us. And so can you say, well, I think I'd like to live longer. Thank you. I believe I'll just go on past that deadline.
00:18:14
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We don't have that ability. We don't have that ability. And so it's just amazing that we're worrying about something that God says, I've got this. Don't worry about this.
00:18:24
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And so you don't want to get a citation because you're getting into God's lane and God says, excuse me, this is, I've got this lane. You've got enough over there in your lane. Stay in your lane. I'll be in my lane.
00:18:38
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I've got control of this. But the other thing I noticed was his capacity, his capability. But then you contrast that with our capacity, our capability. What are we able to do?
00:18:51
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And what are we able not to do? What are we unable to do? He says of which you're, ah of how much more value are you than the birds? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
00:19:05
Speaker
If then you are not able. He's talking to Victor Morrison. I'm not saying to you, saying to me. God is saying, if then you're not able to do as small a thing as that, wait a minute, Lord, adding on to life, that'd be a big thing.
00:19:24
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And God says, you can't even do something little like that, right? And he said, why are you anxious about the rest? He said, don't you have a creator? I'm here.
00:19:35
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ah like the way Chuck Swindoll says, he sort of summarizes verses 24, 25, and he says this, There's really two issues that keep us worried.
00:19:47
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And if you're a note taker, I think they're worth writing down. The first thing Chuck Swindoll said, it keeps us worried, is we fret over matters that are not our responsibility.
00:19:58
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We're fretting about matters that are not our responsibility. God's responsibility, someone else's responsibility, but that's the best way to get on that highway of anxiety. The second thing he said is we fuss over what We cannot change.
00:20:15
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Sometimes we're just so worried and so stressed about things we cannot change. And God is saying, relax, relax. i've got this. I can change things you can't change.
00:20:28
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So let's go to the third thing. Okay, we're going to acknowledge the faithfulness of our creator. But the third thing is, what are you aspiring to do? Going back to the seeking. What are you seeking? What do you aspire?
God's Provision and Reassurance against Worry
00:20:40
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Let me give you something worthy of aspiring to. Aspire to the attractiveness of his creativity. Think of the beauty of all the flowers. Think of the beauty of the flowers. Do you know, i read in Britannica that there are 352,000 species of flowers, 160 different colors or hues and so forth.
00:21:05
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Did you do that? Did I do that? You know, God did that. God made those flowers. And you know what he's saying? He said, you know what? I know how to make life beautiful. I don't know where you are in your spiritual journey, but where I am in my spiritual journey, I've reached a conclusion.
00:21:22
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I believe that God knows how to make things beautiful and sin knows how to make things ugly. It's so easy when you can back away from it and you see it and you're thinking, oh my goodness, his ways are definitely above our ways. His thoughts are definitely above our thoughts.
00:21:39
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God makes things attractive. The analogy of his creativity is what? The lilies. The lilies. You know, the lilies, when he said that, probably those that were listening to him at that time would have thought not just about a lily as in the lilies that we know about, but he we he might have been saying the scarlet anemone, the Easter daisy, the autumn crocus, or the poppies.
00:22:06
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But the one thing he's so clear on is he says that God, you know, but if God so clothes the grass, who dressed the flowers?
00:22:17
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Who dresses the sunset? Who dresses the the all the fruit trees when they blossom out and so forth? God does. Our creator does. You know, the attractiveness of God's creation, of God's ability to create is staggering.
00:22:35
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But then at the same time, sometimes he says, this is only going to be pretty. This is only go to be beautiful. This is only going to be with you for a short time. What does he say next?
00:22:47
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He says, when you consider those lilies, don't miss this. If God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today tomorrow is thrown into the oven.
00:22:59
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How much more will he clothe you? Oh, you of little faith. What does he mean by the oven? Well, when I was doing research on this passage, I found out more than likely he was referring to these hot desert winds in the southeast part of Israel that caused flowers that would be so pretty to suddenly be gone.
00:23:23
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And that wind was called the Sirocco winds. The Sirocco winds would come. But God is saying, I'm giving you an illustration. I'm giving you an analogy of lilies and of flowers.
00:23:36
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But he said once again, how much more? um i love that. He's always saying in this chapter, how much more? How much more will he clothe you?
00:23:49
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He's going to take care of you. That's why there's another commentator I love to read. If you're wanting recommendations on commentators, I'd recommend Kent Hughes. But Kent Hughes cuts straight to the heart and says, what's wrong with worry? I'll tell you what's wrong with worry.
00:24:04
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You'll never forget it after I say it. Worry insults God. Worry insults God and worry defies reality.
00:24:16
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Because reality is we can't change everything, right? We can't stop everything that's bad from happening. So that's reality. And so God already knows that. And so God said, that's why I'm telling you, don't worry.
00:24:29
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Just relax. Trust me. Trust me. Follow me. Obey me. Worry insults God and defies reality is what Ken Hughes said. And I think he did well saying that.
00:24:40
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But then let's go to the fourth thing. Aim for the greatness of Christ. Aim for the greatness of Christ. Verses 29 through 31. Now he's going to use that other word for worry.
00:24:52
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This is a different different Greek word. This Greek word... is it also used in the imperative when he says, um do not seek what you are to eat and what you're to drink, nor be worried.
00:25:07
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Verse 29. What's the difference? Well, that word was a word that we get our word meteor from. We get the word meteor. It's called meteorizomai.
00:25:18
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And meteorizomai meant that something hangs in suspension. And I think that's what worry does. it's like there's nothing there. You can't control the future. You're worried about things that aren't even, they haven't even happened.
00:25:33
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And so it's like he's saying, don't be worried about all of this. It's like you're worrying over suspended air It's though some people would take that same word and apply them to ships.
00:25:45
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When the ships would be at sea, they'd be tossed by the wind and the waves. And sometimes they go airborne like that. That right there is what he was talking about. And instead of living life like that, why don't you say, you know what? I'm aiming for something more substantial, something that's higher and nobler than all of that.
00:26:06
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So I would aim for the greatness of Christ. What is so great? about Christ. Well, let me give you three things that he mentions here that I saw between the lines. Yeah, those are, those are really good about Christ.
00:26:19
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He's great, but how is he great? Well, one thing I would say, aim for the greatness of Christ's instruction. He's trying to tell you, trying to tell me next time a snake comes in my room and there wasn't one.
00:26:33
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Okay. I was worried for nothing. He's trying to tell us I'm telling you, don't worry about stuff. Don't spend your life being anxious about everything under the sun.
00:26:45
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It's good instruction. Sometime you ought to write down Colossians chapter two, verses two through three, because it tells us where the treasure chest of wisdom is found.
00:26:58
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Where is wisdom found? It says all the riches of the full assurance of understanding are found in one person. In Christ.
00:27:10
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Colossians chapter 2, verses 2 to 3. So aim for that. Say, Lord, I'm going to trust you on what you say. The world says something different. I feel something different.
00:27:21
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But right now i'm slowing it down and I'm going to the treasure chest. And I'm just going to trust what you said. The other thing is aim for the greatness of Christ. Get this intimacy.
00:27:31
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That's why here we talk about a personal relationship with the father through Christ, a personal relationship with God, the father through Christ. Isn't it amazing that in verse 30, he brings up the father.
00:27:47
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I don't know what your experience was growing up. Maybe you had a rough experience with your dad. But don't blame that on God. Look at verse 30. For all the nations of the world seek after these things.
00:28:02
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And your father, your heavenly father knows that you need them. He knows. There used to be an old, old story.
00:28:13
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show on tv It was before my time. So don't say, now we know how old you york called Father Knows Best. All right, Father Knows Best. I would during the days of Leave it to Beaver though. But anyway, never, nevermind that. But we should say, Lord, i want to aim to have a relationship with the Father because you, you speak as though he knows what I'm going through.
00:28:36
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And Jesus say, yes, he does. He knows all about it. Do you know that all through Luke, you should say, okay, I'm going to do a study. i'm going to look this up and I'm going to try to find every time Jesus called God father, you'd find out he talks about the father's house, the father in heaven, the father knows you'd hear him give a parable of a prodigal son.
00:29:00
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The father's assignment about ah in the Garden Gethsemane. He says, father, if you are willing, the father, forgive them on the cross. Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit.
00:29:14
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You see, he had such a personal relationship with the father. And you can too through Christ. All you've got to do is get to know Christ. Come through Christ. And you can get to know the father on an intimate level, but also aim. How about this?
00:29:30
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Aim for the greatness of Christ's kingdom. Say, Lord, i want your kingdom to increase. You know, John the Baptist said, I want to decrease, but I want God to increase. I want Christ. Is that the is that the idea in your life?
00:29:45
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Boy, I think that would take away a lot of worry. We wouldn't be worried about things. Because he said, if you'll seek first his kingdom, then get the next promise that follows it.
00:29:56
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Seek first his kingdom and these things will be added to you. These things will be added to you. Wow, what a great promise. No wonder Colossians chapter 3 and verse 2 says, set your mind on things above.
00:30:15
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Not on things that are on the earth. Well, let's get to the last one and let me close. Accept the truthfulness. Accept the truthfulness of his counsel.
00:30:25
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I think that's what verses 32, 33, and 34 is all about. You know, in my research on anxiety, there's something I found out about anxiety and panic.
00:30:38
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Underneath it, same thing. Fear. Fear. Fear's underneath it It seems kind of random, doesn't it? In in the midst of talking about anxiety, Jesus in verse 32 says, fear not, little flock.
00:30:52
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That's what he would say to you. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. I think that's one thing the Lord wants to uproot and take out of our life. He wants to attack anxiety. He wants to attack the fear that's underneath anxiety.
00:31:05
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You see, here's the thing. Don't miss this. Our fearlessness is hitched to trust in his truthfulness. God didn't lie.
00:31:16
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God did not lie. He told us the truth. We can trust him. And so that would help you to say, you know what? If he said, don't fear, I'm letting go. I'm letting go with the fear.
00:31:28
Speaker
I'm not going to go through life afraid. So what you got to do is you got to say, okay, I'm going to trust him. The truthfulness, his truthfulness about these things. I'm going to believe the provision of the father because he tells me in verse 32, he's going to be giving to me.
00:31:44
Speaker
It's his pleasure to give to you the kingdom. Verse 33, he talks about, hey, I'm going to trust him that I should make a priority on giving to others.
00:31:56
Speaker
Not just collecting everything for myself, sell, sell, sell. So all of life is about me. But I'm saying, no, Jesus said, no, learn to care about what's happening in the people around you and help them.
00:32:10
Speaker
Believe in the permanence of the gifts for the father. They're in eternity. You know, did you catch what he said? Put it in money bags that do not grow old.
00:32:22
Speaker
With a treasure in heavens that does not fail. fail Where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. I get the feeling secure, isn't it? That's why, man, you focus on Christ. You focus on God, the father, focus on the kingdom.
00:32:37
Speaker
He said, you can't lose. Because he says that because there's something very important that happens in the heart. Whatever we really treasure, whatever we really value the most in our heart,
00:32:51
Speaker
That's where the heart, it just follows that. So that's why it's so important that we don't make material things, new iPhones and new cars and new houses and all
Illustrations of Faith and Encouragement to Trust in God
00:33:04
Speaker
these kinds of things. We can't make those things our obsession.
00:33:08
Speaker
We ought to say like there's a song, whenever I was in Japan, there was a movement that came out called the Passion Movement for Christ. And one of those songs was, give me one magnificent obsession.
00:33:22
Speaker
That's what we are to say, Jesus, you are my one magnificent obsession. George Mueller took care over 60 year period of time. Get this, 10,024 kids in a place called Bristol, England.
00:33:40
Speaker
And all he would do is pray. He wouldn't ask anybody for money. He just prayed. And he said, many times when tempted to obsess with worry, I was at peace with Why?
00:33:52
Speaker
Because my soul believed the truth of God's promises. Did God tell the truth? Philippians 4.19. And my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
00:34:06
Speaker
Philippians 4.19. You know, Abraham Lincoln learned to trust in that. When he was just a young attorney, he and a handful of other young attorneys were looking for work.
00:34:18
Speaker
And they said, where are we going to find somebody to represent? They said, Let's follow the circuit judge. Wherever he goes, we'll just follow him. Surely somebody's going be hanging around a courthouse that needs an attorney.
00:34:29
Speaker
And so that's what they did. But on this one occasion, man, it was a bad rain. It was torrential rains. So that all the little creeks and all the little streams turned into big, mighty rivers that were swollen.
00:34:42
Speaker
So they said, how in the world are we going to be able to get across the Fox River? And so they said, well, there's a guy here. There's a local man. And he's a Methodist elder. And he travels all around the Methodist churches in this area. He crosses Fox River. You ought to just go ask him.
00:34:59
Speaker
So they went and they said, what would you tell us is the best place to cross the Fox River? And he says, oh, yes, I know all about the Fox River.
00:35:10
Speaker
I've crossed it often and understand understand it well. But I have one fixed rule with regard to Fox River. I never cross it till I reach it.
00:35:22
Speaker
You get the feeling? He's trying to say, don't sit here and worry about it. Wait till you get there because it was still quite a ride. They were on horseback before they got there. It's kind of like Corrie Ten Boom. And she said, you know, worry's like a rocking chair.
00:35:36
Speaker
It keeps you busy, but it doesn't take you anywhere. That's the same thing. It's like, we've got to say, okay, Jesus, you told me, don't worry, trust you.
00:35:46
Speaker
And so let me review this. the the strategy he gave us for attacking anxiety in our lives. First, we got to admit the emptiness of covetousness. Second, we need to acknowledge the faithfulness of our creator.
00:36:01
Speaker
Third, we need to aspire to the attractiveness of his creativity. Say, Lord, I just want to obey you. I believe you can make my life beautiful, just like the flowers.
00:36:12
Speaker
We are to aim for the greatness of Christ and we're to accept the truthfulness of his counsel. I believe that the peace that you're missing, if life seems like a puzzle, the peace that you're missing is the peace, P-E-A-C-E, of Christ.
00:36:31
Speaker
Would you turn your life over to him? That'll be the best decision you'll ever make for overcoming anxiety. Let's all stand together. i would like to ask our musicians to come. We're going to have a ah brief time of response.
00:36:44
Speaker
you would like to respond to this, we extend an invitation, not in our name, in Jesus name, not for our credit, but for his glory.
00:36:55
Speaker
But anyway, you respond how God tells you to respond. But our prayer is that one day you would say yes to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And you would say no to being driven by anxiety.
00:37:09
Speaker
Lord, I thank you so much for dying on the cross today. So that we can have a personal relationship with the Father. Lord, we did not deserve your substitutionary death.
00:37:19
Speaker
Lord, all of us are broken, including myself. Lord, we do worry. Sometimes we're selfish. Sometimes we're prideful. That's why we needed a Savior. And you saw us.
00:37:31
Speaker
You saw us in our struggles. And you came to save us. You came to say, let me rescue you from that. And I'm glad, Lord, that you don't just watch us be attacked by anxiety.
00:37:44
Speaker
You give us strength and power that comes from you. You spin it around where now we can put the attack on anxiety. And so, Lord, please, this is your flock.
00:37:55
Speaker
These are your people. They belong to you. Please let them remember what you said to them this day. And Lord, if there's anyone here that doesn't have a personal relationship with you,
00:38:08
Speaker
Our prayer is let this be the day that they say yes to Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
00:38:22
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.