Luke 12 and verse number 22. Luke chapter 12, verse number 22. This is a part of a sermon delivered by the Lord Jesus and As always, his words are timeless. And he said unto his disciples in Luke 12, 22, Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life what ye shall eat, neither for the body what ye shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body more than raiment. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which neither have storehouse nor barn, and God feedeth them. How much more are ye better than the fowls? And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit? And our text says in the next verse, and if ye then be not able to do that which is least, why take ye thought for the rest? I invite you to think with me for a few moments on the subject, why worry? Why worry? I'm glad Christians don't have to worry. Sometimes we do, but we don't have to. Worry is a rocking chair that gives you something to do, but never gets you anywhere. When you get done in the rocking chair, you're in the same place where you started. Just like when you're worrying, you're in the same place you started. Many times the Lord Jesus warns against worry and fear and anxiety. When He speaks here of taking no thought for your life or your body, He does not mean just do nothing. He's talking here about anxious thought. That is, don't be worried about the situation. Don't worry because God's going to take care of you. And I think this message is very needful. In our time, we're certainly living in the most stressed out generation there's ever been. We've got more time-saving gadgets, but less time than any generation. My grandpa used to go to Charlotte and back, and it didn't bother him, but it was going to take him a week. Of course, he peddled apples, and he was glad to make it to Statesville by nightfall. Now we have to go to Charlotte and back in four or five hours or maybe even less. Mighty big difference in just a generation or two. So we're living in a time characterized by stress and pressures of all kinds. We've got so much to live on and so much to live on and so little to live for, as one man put it. But I do thank God that as Christians we can trust God, though we may not always be able to trace Him, we can trust Him. And we don't have to worry or fear or be burdened down all the time. When you study the life of the Lord Jesus, you find that nobody ever had more problems than He did. Nobody was ever more hated and despised than He. Nobody ever had more enemies, more opposition. But his whole life was a perfect calm. He was always at peace because his trust was in the care of his loving Heavenly Father. And ours can be and should be as well. Now I can understand the sinner man being fearful and fretful because he doesn't have a strong arm to lean on. And as far as the outlook is concerned for the men of this world, there's not much hope, realistically. The outlook is not good for this world. I don't know any economists or politicians or many others who are forecasting their great days ahead. So you better make sure your hope is beyond this world. because Christians take the up look and not just the out look. Why worry? That's what Jesus is saying in these verses. Listen to him again. If ye then be not able to do that which is least, why? Why take ye thought, why take ye anxious thought or worry for the rest? Why worry? And I'll give you a couple reasons why a Christian shouldn't worry. And Jesus here says that the Father in heaven who feeds the fowls is the same God who is our Father if we're saved. And how much better is one soul than the fowls of the air? Why, there's no comparison. How much better are ye than they? The Lord says. There's an old Jewish proverb, and it says there's three things that will sap your strength. And one of them is traveling. And if you've ever traveled much, you know that's like work or more. And there's something else that will wear you out in a hurry, and that's sin. Because the way of the transgressor is hard. And the third thing that will wear you out and sap your strength is worry. Worry just eats away at body and soul. So Jesus here says that worry is useless. He says, which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit to his stature? Which of you, by worrying about his or her height, can do anything about it? You can worry all day long and wish you were 18 inches taller. It will never happen! And which of you, with taking thought, can add to his stature one cubit?" Verse 25. So worry is a useless endeavor. Every time you worry, you are wasting your time. You are wasting your energy. I'll tell you what's worse than being useless. Worry is faithless. Because when you trust, you don't worry, and when you worry, you don't trust. And so, when we worry, we dishonor God. Because worry is faithless. Do we not have a Bible where God promised to take care of us? Did He not say in the Sermon on the Mount, That earthly moms and dads know how to give good gifts to their children? How much more? Shall your Heavenly Father take care of His children? Matthew 7 verse 11. Does God not love His children? Sure He does. He loves them so much, sometimes He says no to their request, just like mommas and daddies do. But God loves His children. So the wonderful truth is that God is holding Himself responsible for us. His name is at stake. If God ever deserted one of His children, then that would look bad on God's record. But that's never going to happen. Thank God that's never going to happen. Isn't it an amazing thing how we trust everybody else, but we can't seem to trust the Lord sometimes? This fellow said to the preacher, he just couldn't trust the Lord. He found it so hard to trust the Lord. And the preacher said, what are you getting ready to do? He said, I'm getting ready to get in a taxi and go to the airport and make a flight, a business flight. And the preacher said, well, who is that taxi man? And who's flying that plane? He said, I don't know. He said, isn't it an amazing thing you get in the car with a man you don't know and trust him to take you to the airport and fly in the plane you don't know the pilot? And your life is in their hands and you don't even know them? And yet you can't trust a God that you do know? That's quite a paradox, isn't it? We trust earthly friends. How much more we can trust God? I'm glad it says in one place, God is not a man. God is not subject to our frailties. Sometimes we make promises that we just can't seem to come through. But God keeps His Word. And God will do what He says. And He means what He says. And He says what He means. And why can't we trust Him? I don't know why we scheme and fret so much. Instead of just relying upon the One who's brought us this far. Has He brought us this far to leave us? I don't think so. The grace that brought us this far will take us all the way home. The God who was faithful yesterday is the God who is faithful today is the God who will be faithful tomorrow. And the world is wringing their hands and wondering what's going to happen. We've read the last page. We know what's going to happen. I know the political future of this world because I've read the Bible. We're not surprised by the United States of Europe. God told us that 2,500 years ago. We're not surprised by increased travel and technology. That was in the book of Daniel 25 centuries ago. So, we can trust the Lord. God is not only to be known and loved and served, but He's to be trusted. I like the story of these two fellows, they were talking and the one wanted to illustrate a point and he said to two young boys, he said, come here boys, and he put them both up on a wall. Then he said to the one, jump to me, I'll catch you. And the first boy wouldn't do it. And the other boy, when the fellow said, jump, I'll catch you, he jumped right to him. He said, thank you boys, and they went on their way. And he explained to his friend, you see, the second boy is my son. He knew I'd catch him. That other boy, he didn't know if I would or not. I may not trust everybody, but I do trust God. Because I'm his son. And you're his son if you're saved, or his daughter. And you can trust God. Not to disappoint you, not to deceive you. It's a part of the Christian life. Some people just want to be a part-time Christian and that's kind of a hard thing to do. When you're a part-time Christian, you wake up every morning and you're not quite sure, is this the day I'm a Christian or is this the day I'm not? Amen or oh me? Is this the day I trust God or is this the day I don't? Is this the day I do what God wants, or is this the day I do what I want? This trusting God is part of the whole lifestyle of Christianity, which is a 24-7 life, not a coat we put on and wear every once in a while. And the day would look a whole lot brighter for most of us if we'd resign our will to God's will on a daily basis. If we just tear down everything that's hiding God's face from us, however dear and cherished that may be, if we just throw open our whole being to God's control, the day would be brighter. I think of what one preacher said, Henry Ward Beecher said, work never killed a man, but worry has slain multitudes. If you don't believe that, ask your doctor. Worrying has slain multitudes. And have you ever worried about something and it never happened and you look back and thought, why did I do that? It never even happened. Well, when you worry about things, you are pulling tomorrow's clouds right in front of today's sunshine. Just commit it to the Lord and say, I will be done, and Lord, you just show me what you want me to do, and I'll leave the rest of it up to you. Worry is perfectly useless, perfectly faithless, and perfectly needless. Would you not laugh at a little fish swimming around in the Pacific Ocean when that fish was thinking, I sure hope this ocean don't go dry. What am I going to do? What am I going to do? Little fish, that ocean's not going to go dry. You don't even occupy one billionth of the space in that ocean. It's impossible that that ocean's going to go dry. But more than that, it's impossible that the grace of God will ever run out. It's impossible that God will ever fail to keep His promise. It's impossible! Beyond all realm of possibility. I know God takes us through the valley sometimes, but that's to teach us. That's to correct us and perfect us. That's for our own good. If everything was rosy all the time, we'd quit praying. I've known several families in my life that came in the great sums of money at once, and it ruined both of them. That's right. It ruined both of them. And both of them were good, strong Christian families. They've never recovered from it to this day, 15, 20 years later. They probably thought it would have been one of the best things that could have happened to them, but it was actually, as far as my opinion, the worst thing that could have happened to them, because it made them think, we don't need God anymore, we got money. And they do have money, but that's all they got. Lost their family, lost their testimony, and it's just been an unspeakable tragedy. And so, God knows what He's doing. And something that makes us trust Him and makes us pray is good for us. Why worry? God's already provided for our greatest need, which is salvation. Will He not also provide for all of our smaller needs? That's like somebody setting before you a great big Thanksgiving meal, everything you'd possibly want. And you say to the hostess, I'm sorry to ask you, but could I have a little bit of salt? Well, sure you can have salt. You can have pepper. You can have sugar. They've already put everything in the world you can imagine. Sure they're going to let you have the salt too. God's already given you everlasting life, a mansion in heaven, forgiveness, redemption, reconciliation, adoption, sanctification. Don't you think He'll give you a loaf of bread too? He's already taken care of your greatest need. Your whole eternity is already taken care of in grand style. He's going to take care of you. And He may not give you any more resources. He just might teach you how to better use what you already got. He might be putting you through the test because somebody's watching you and somebody is going to determine from the way you react whether this Christianity thing is real or just a farce. God might just be showcasing you. Because anybody can be a Christian in the good times. Anybody can be a Christian at church. I'm glad there's an eye that never sleeps beneath the wing of night and an ear that never shuts when sink the beams of night and an arm that never tires when human strength gives way and a love that never fails when earthly loves decay. We don't have to know what the future holds. We know who holds the future. I was talking to the captain of a Chinese ship years ago. His sister was a Christian. He was a Buddhist. He knew nothing about Christianity except he said, I've noticed about Christians, they're not afraid to die. That's a powerful testimony. Did you know everybody else in the world is afraid to die except Christians? If you don't believe it, you ask them. We worked among Roman Catholics for many, many years. They won't even talk about death. They're terrified of death because every Catholic in the world is going to fire, either hell or purgatory. Nobody goes to heaven in the Catholic religion, not even the Pope. So it's no wonder they don't want to talk about it or think about it. But Christians are not afraid to talk about it, because it means that one moment we're breathing terrestrial air, and the next moment celestial air. One moment we're walking down here on the gravel, and the next moment we're up there walking on streets of gold. We're not afraid to die! We don't want to die, but thank God we're not afraid to die. We're not afraid of the future. But we all sometimes, I'm afraid, get our eyes on the circumstances and off the Lord. We need to do what Isaiah told us to do. Behold your God. Have you had a good look at your God lately? Do you remember that He made everything out of nothing? He's an awesome, powerful God. He's everlasting. He's incomparable. Do you know anybody that knows everything? He does. Do you know anybody that can do anything? He does. Behold your God. Isaiah 40.28 says our God's never faint. He's never tired. He's never weary. He's always in control. He's always working in our behalf. So I say in closing, the good news is Christians don't have to worry. Come what may. Paul said to the Philippians, be anxious for nothing. But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Worry about nothing, he said. Sitting in a prison cell, he said, worry about nothing. If God puts you in the prison cell, it's so you can win the jailer to the Lord. That's what he always did. Instead of worrying about everything and praying about nothing, Christians ought to just worry about nothing and pray about everything. And take our burden to the Lord and leave it there. That's the formula for faith. Pray about everything. and worry about nothing. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. He promised. Let's bow our heads please for prayer We're going to pray and have a time of invitation. I'm glad Jesus said, there's no need to worry. You don't have to worry about your soul's condition. You can be saved. You can settle that. You don't have to worry about a thing. Are you not much better than the fowls of the air? Have you considered the lilies lately? How they never don't toil or spin, and yet Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these. God will take care of us. Father, in Jesus' name, in these times of trouble and in these days, Lord, of so much anxiety and fear and worry, I pray that there would be in our lives a peace and a faith that will carry us through. Lord, You've never forsaken us. You've never failed us. You never will. Lord, You know what we're going through, what lies ahead of us. I pray, Lord, that our faith would shine in the midst of the darkness. Make us a testimony, an example, a blessing. Meet the need in this invitation, we pray in Jesus' name, and amen. Would you stand with me please? What shall we sing, brother? 352. 352. Let's sing together, the altar's open. If you feel the need of prayer, I invite you to come. Whatever your need may be, you know and God knows, and that's all that matters. Just mind the Lord while we sing. Yes. Yes. La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, I invite you to come. God speaks the heart. Singing another verse, would you come? Why worry, Jesus said. No need to worry. Take it to the Lord and leave it there. I invite you to come. Yes. We'll sing another stanza as these pray and God speaks to hearts. I invite you to come. It's too big for us to handle on our own. We better trust God. Lay it in His feet. Pray for His will. Yes. Think about those words. He'll draw nigh to God and He'll draw nigh to you. Amen. We're going to sing one more stanza. Sing a final stanza, please. It's not too late. You want to come and pray for yourself or somebody else. God's able. I'm glad he knows our situation. He knows the hairs of our heads. God loves his children. I'm glad you can tell Jesus all about it. Let's pray together. Father, I pray for these who came to the altar today, that you'll hear and answer their prayer, give them what they stand in need of. Lord, we pray with the disciples, increase our faith. Lord, I pray for those who should have come and ask you to continue to deal with them, that they find that place of surrender. Lord, help us to honor and glorify you by our faith. For without faith, it's impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he's a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. And Lord, we thank you for every valley and every trial that made us more Christ-like, more humble, more trusting. Thank you, Lord, that when you get done with us, will be perfect. And now bless and answer every prayer for Jesus' sake. Amen.