God's grace will be enough I'm just sufficient in the good times But even when the going gets rough And though I do not know what tomorrow holds I know who holds my hand And by His grace I'm going to make it to His blessed promised land, His promised land. Oh, thank you, Lord, for another day of grace, another day of grace. Thank you, Lord, for the joy of serving you another day. It's so good to know that you love me so as I walk along by faith. Thank you, Lord, for another day. It's true. Every time I feel the Spirit moving in my heart, I will pray Every time I feel the Spirit moving in my heart, I will pray Jordan River Every time I feel the spirit It's when the devil uses the spirit, cause he's crafty. I need the Spirit to keep me wise. Every time I feel the Spirit moving in my heart, I will pray. Every time I feel the Spirit moving in my heart, I will pray. I have sorrow. I have woe. I have heartaches here below While God leads me, never in fear For I know, for I know that He is near Every time I feel the Spirit moving in my heart, I will pray Every time I feel the Spirit moving in my heart, I will pray Every time I feel the Spirit in my heart, I will pray. I know it's getting 15 minutes in, but I just want to introduce a Christmas song that I've been learning. If you'll listen to it, I have music in your hands. So, tell me a little bit about it. I actually think it's one of my favorite Christmas songs, and I think it's a nice song. It's very good, and I have a brother, and I think it's a very nice song. Now that you've introduced it, can you tell us a little bit about it? ♪ Oh Oh Oh ♪ Who triumphed o'er the grave ♪ ♪ Who rose victorious to the strife ♪ ♪ For those He came to save ♪ ♪ His glories now we sing ♪ ♪ Who died and rose on high ♪ ♪ Who died eternal life to bring ♪ ♪ And lives and death may die ♪ a a a a welcome this morning to Temple Baptist Church. We're so grateful to have you with us this morning for a wonderful day of worshiping the Lord. He is worthy of us being here, putting him first and worshiping him this morning. I trust that you've had a great day. I trust that you've had a wonderful week. And again, thank you for being here this morning. We want to start the service with a word of prayer. And I want to invite you, as I lead us, to pray and ask God to minister to our hearts, to help us, to strengthen us, to draw us closer to Him. We need the Lord, don't we, now more than ever before, as a nation, in our homes, in our churches, in our individual lives. And so let's seek the Lord together. Let's come before is thrown boldly or confidently, as the Bible says, knowing that He hears our prayers. Raise your hand if you believe that this morning. And so let's seek the Lord together in prayer this morning. Heavenly Father, we love You. Thank You, Lord, so much for allowing us to assemble once again on this beautiful Sunday morning. Lord, thank You for this time of worshiping You. Lord, of exalting the name of Jesus. And Lord, I pray today that You would be exalted, Lord, through every word, through every spirit, through every thing that's said and done, Lord, that Christ would be magnified. Lord, I pray today for many who are out of town during this fall season, as many join us online, Lord, that you would use the online service to be a blessing to them. Lord, I pray that in here that you would minister to us, you would speak to our hearts, you would challenge, you would convict, Lord, that you would comfort us, you would conform us to the image of Christ. May we leave here different. than we were when we came. Lord, bless all of our children's ministries today, many of our volunteer staff as they minister to our young people today in the educational wing. We'll thank you for what you do there. Use our choir, Lord, may they sing out with a touch of God, with all of their heart, their soul, and their mind as they seek to exalt you. Lord, as we minister together, Lord, I pray that our hearts and minds will be upon you and nothing else. Lord, that we would be strengthened, helped in the faith. Lord, if there's someone not saved, Lord, that they would trust Christ today. And we'll thank you for what you do in our hearts. We'll give you all the glory for what you do in Jesus' name. Amen. The choir's gonna sing for us once again. I know you'll be blessed and helped as you worship with them this morning. ♪ Stand for Jesus, don't be ashamed ♪ Stand for Jesus, to claim His name ♪ For He loved you on a running cross ♪ With arms held open wide ♪ Stand for Jesus, be standing by your side God is looking for someone to fill an empty place. To live a life of holiness and defy the world's embrace. So count all gain as loss for the glory of the cross. A city on a hill for everyone to see. Stand for Jesus, He's standing by your side. Stand up, stand up for Jesus. Stand for Jesus, He's standing by your side. Let us all stand together all over the building this morning with a song in our heart. I want to invite everyone to join us in song. Lift up your voice unto the Lord. Magnify Him. The Bible exhorts the whole congregation to sing. That's what we're doing this morning. Everyone give it your best. To God be the glory. Great things He has done. Let's sing together. ♪ To God be the glory ♪ Great things he has done ♪ So loved be the world that he gave us his son ♪ Who yielded his life and atonement for sin ♪ And opened the life gate that all may go in ♪ Praise the Lord, praise the Lord ♪ Let the earth hear his voice ♪ Praise the Lord, praise the Lord ♪ Let the people rejoice ♪ O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son ♪ And give him the glory, great things he hath done Amen, let's take a moment now. Turn around and shake hands as the choir comes down. so All right, as you're making your way back to your seat, getting settled in, let's sing a couple more verses together. Words are on the screen, let's sing together. ♪ Oh, perfect redemption, the purchase of blood ♪ To every believer, the promise of God ♪ The vilest offender who truly believes ♪ That moment from Jesus, a pardon receives Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear His voice. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice. O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son, and give Him the glory, great things He hath done. Great things He hath taught us, great things He hath done, and great are rejoicing through Jesus the Son. But purer and higher and greater will be our wonder, our transport when Jesus ♪ Praise the Lord, praise the Lord ♪ Let the earth hear his voice ♪ Praise the Lord, praise the Lord ♪ Let the people rejoice ♪ O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son ♪ And give him the glory, great things he hath done Good singing this morning, I want you to remain standing if you will. Jesus said, if I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me. And we certainly want to lift him up today. We're going to sing together this morning, His Name is Wonderful. His name is wonderful. His name is wonderful. His name is wonderful. Jesus, my Lord. He is the mighty King, master of everything. His name is wonderful, Jesus my Lord. He's the great shepherd, the rock of all ages. Almighty God is he. Bow down before him. have a we're here to worship the Lord. And it ought not to be a time where we're just looking on to others who are worshiping the Lord, but that we are a part of that as a church family. And that's the biblical example. That's the way it should be. And I appreciate you being a part of the service by singing. And there's so many different areas and ways to be a part, involved of a worship service. Giving is the next one that we're gonna do. and I want to thank you for your faithfulness in your giving unto the Lord. You may be seated for just a moment. Before we take the offering, let me go over with you just a few quick things. One, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for being so gracious and kind to my family and I. with pastor appreciation i know i speak for brother holly as well and uh... i you know i know that you're sharing him with gifts as well as a received three or four of those accident and uh... you'll be glad to know that uh... i'd use those from myself and uh... you know uh... it losers weepers what is that and uh... but i'm just kidding i'm joking of course And, but I know I speak for Brother Holly of that, of course, I appreciate that, you've been so good and so gracious to us, and I pastor the greatest church in the world. And, you know, there may be a megachurch or something that may be larger, there may be a lot of churches that are larger, that doesn't mean that it's a better church. And by the way, I don't think God has done here numerically either. I'm excited about the days ahead, spiritually, financially, numerically, and what God's gonna continue to do, I believe, with all of my heart. But I believe this is the best church in all the world because of the spiritual aspect of things, the faithfulness, the consistent, the sweet spirit of our church, the giving aspect of our church, the volunteering aspect of our church, When we do volunteer work, there is an enormous amount of people that are part of that And I appreciate that so very much and I said all to say thank you Not only for pastor appreciation giving being so kind and gracious to us But also I want to thank you so much for being so kind and gracious to us Or thank you for being involved rather to the harvest festival or the fall festival. We had a lot of volunteers I appreciate that we had many many of our community they came and visited with us and we're so grateful for that many of our church family and Of course, we're able to be a part of that. We thank you for that. We're grateful for God's blessings in that. Now, just a quick few things that I want to mention to you. If you're here for the very first time, we do have several first-time visitors all throughout the auditorium. We have many families that are back with us. We're grateful for you coming back, and thank you for that. But if you're here and have not yet received a gift visitor packet, it's a white, large bag, and it's got some gifts in there for you. And we want to get that to you. We're not going to embarrass you, but just simply ask you to raise your hand. So we try to get folks and get that to them when they come in. But if you have not yet received that, our greeters are looking around the auditorium right now. If you have not yet received one, would you please raise your hand and we're gonna get one to you real quick. Okay, we wanna make sure you receive one, wonderful. If you'd be so kind to look inside of that bag, there should be a card there that says welcome, it's a visitor's card. If you'd be so kind to fill that out for us and place that at the offering plate, we'd love to have record of you being here with us this morning, all right? And so keep that in mind if you will, please. Now, let me remind you of our service this evening at five o'clock, what time? Five o'clock, that was almost everyone. Let's have everyone know what time, at least. You say, Pastor, I've got other plans. Well, I hope that you know that we're having service at five o'clock anyway, okay? So five o'clock, let's all say it together, what time service tonight? Now, tonight, I want you to grab everybody that you can, don't grab them, but bring everybody that you can, because we're gonna be preaching on the tongue tonight. Oh, all right. And we just started a brand new series last Sunday night on walking in wisdom. And this is a study from the book of Proverbs. Proverbs is known for giving us wisdom. And last week, we talked about obtaining wisdom on Sunday night. How do we get wisdom? Did you know that You can operate your life, you can make decisions in relationships and many other things with the wisdom from God. Did you know that? And that would be so much more beneficial to all of us to have wisdom from heaven rather than using our own wisdom. or wisdom from a YouTuber. The wisdom from heaven is the greatest wisdom there can be. And I want to encourage you to tap into the wisdom of God. But tonight we're going to talk about the many, many, many verses the book of Proverbs talks about with the tongue. And we're going to be looking at that. You know the tongue can be so helpful. and it can be so destructive. And we all must learn to deal with that. Every one of us has got a tongue, and every one of us make decisions daily on how we're gonna use that tongue. And so tonight, we're gonna be talking about that, and very crucial for you to be here. You can change, listen, the message this morning could help you too, but the message tonight, I'm not just trying to get you here, I want you to come because I've spent a lot of time seeking God and studying this, and I wanna be a help to you. And I'm telling you tonight, this morning, that what we're looking at tonight can change your home. It can change your whole life. I promise you that. Because it's from the Word of God. It's not what I'm going to say that's going to help you. It's what we're looking at from God's Word that will help you in your life if you'll receive that. So tonight at 5 o'clock, you say, Pastor, I'll just watch online. No, come and be a part. and feel the Holy Spirit of God, the sweet Spirit of God, enjoy the choir, looking forward to all of that. Wednesday evening service as well, which is a friendly reminder of that. This Wednesday, outreach, team program, Kids for Truth program, all of that, keep that in mind. All right, ushers, if you'll come at this time, please. We're gonna receive our offering tonight. I keep saying tonight. Somebody asked me this morning coming in if I got the extra hour sleep and the answer is no I did not receive that some of you may have already guessed that but but unfortunately, I missed out on that deal But anyway today is building fun Sunday, and I'm very excited about what God is gonna do in the new building we're still talking with our construction company and trying to fine-tune our blueprints for the new building and And we've got to do a little bit more work on that to get that to a little bit more reasonable cost. And so just bear with us, continue to have patience. But I want to encourage you to continue to give by faith. And somebody was asking me just this weekend, Pastor, what are you doing in the building program? I said, well, really, we're just giving by faith. We have a diagram over here. so let's pray and ask offers blessings Lord, I thank you for allowing us to be part of such a giving church. Some give online, some give on the plate, but Lord, regardless of which avenue, we thank you, Father, for such a giving church. Lord, we ask that you bless each gift and giver this morning for your glory and honor. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen, I appreciate that. Take your Bibles if you have them, please, and turn with me to the Gospel of Matthew in chapter number six this morning. Matthew chapter number six. As you're turning to Matthew six, let me remind you to please be in prayer for Don Lewis. We miss he and Judy this morning, and Don is at Forsyth Hospital with some heart complications, breathing complications, and I want you to be praying for him. The Lord would help him today at Forsyth Hospital. And then also I want to encourage you to pray for Adam Chinlan. His father has passed away and gone on to be with the Lord. And I want you to pray for him, that God would comfort them, give them grace and strength and help during this time. Some of you, I'll encourage you to reach out to the Lewis family, the Chinlan family. and be an encouragement to them if you're able to do that. Let's remember to pray for them. Matthew chapter number six, they've taken the clock down from the wall, so I guess that means I can preach as long as I want. What a blessing. Matthew chapter number six, I'm joking of course, if you're visiting with us and making you nervous, I apologize. All right, we usually get done about 12, 15. Matthew chapter number six, and I want you to begin reading with me, please, in verse number 25, and we're gonna read down through verse number 34. After I read this, we're gonna have another song, and then we'll get right into the word of God this morning, and this continuation of the series. We've been talking about motivating messages from the Master. I trust this has been a blessing and a help to you, and I'm looking forward to continuing with the help of the Lord this morning. Matthew chapter number six. I've preached from this text quite a bit. I preached from it about a year ago, but it's a totally different message. And so if you take notes in your Bible, I know some of our folks take notes in the Bible of what I preach and so forth. So you may find a record of this. I preached this about a year ago, but I couldn't get away from it. I was seeking the Lord and saying, Lord, what would you have me to preach? What do I need, Lord? And what do our people need? and the Lord just really hammered this in my heart for today and Honestly, I think that we could hear a message on anxiety four or five times a year and it would be beneficial Because it's something that we all deal with on a regular basis Matthew chapter 6 verse number 25. Let's begin reading there The Bible says therefore I say unto you take no thought for your life now that does not mean don't care about your life Your life is important Your life is valued by God, as we'll see in just a moment. And it means that we're not to worry. It means that we're not to have anxiety and stress. Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink. That doesn't mean you eat whatever, drink whatever you want either, okay? Nor yet some of you splurgers like me are saying, well, praise the Lord, I'm back to the soda and I'm back to the hot dogs and all of that. Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat. what you shall drink, nor yet for your body what you shall put on. Is not the life more than meat and the body than raiment? Verse 26, behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. You ever thought about that? Where do birds get their food from? It's kind of hard to feed a bird. You can have a bird feeder, but they're flying all over the place. You can provide that for them. But how would you provide for all the birds? in the world. You couldn't. God does that. You're heavenly father, feedeth them. Notice this phrase, are ye not much better than they? I love my animals. We've got probably too many right now, but I like them. We've got two dogs, cat, hamster. I'm probably missing one or two, but I enjoy my animals, but there's a difference. There's a difference. The Bible says God created man in his own image. And we're to have dominion over them. We're to take care of them. The Bible says a righteous man regardeth his beasts. You take care of your animals. You provide for them and care for them. But there's a difference here in the birds and the human being. Jesus says, are you not much better than they? Let's continue reading verse 27. In other words, that speaks of the days of Revelation, the Tribulation period, doesn't it? when the wrath of God will be cast upon the earth and mankind because of the rejection of Jesus Christ, and many things will be burned up. Tomorrow's cast in the oven. Shall he not much more clothe ye, O ye of little faith? Wow, that convicts me right there. Do you have all faith? I don't. I want more. Verse 31, therefore take no thought. There it is again, that phrase, take no thought. Don't worry. Saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewithal shall we be clothed. For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. For your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. Verse 33, we repeat this a lot, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. There it is again, our phrase today. Let's pray. We'll have a song and we'll get right into this with the help of the Lord this morning. Heavenly Father, we love you. Thank you, Lord, for this time together. And Lord, I pray that you'd use me for just a few moments, Lord, to be a blessing. to our church family. Lord, I pray that you would help me to say everything I should and nothing I shouldn't. Guide my tongue, my lips, and heart, mind. Lord, give me clarity of mind. Help me, please. And we'll thank you for what you do. Bless the song and, Lord, the message, please, to follow in Jesus' name. Amen. O Lord my God, and I in awesome wonder consider all the world thy hands have made. I see the stars, I hear the rolling Thy power throughout the universe displayed Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee How great Thou art ♪ How great Thou art ♪ Then sings my soul ♪ My Savior God to Thee ♪ How great Thou art ♪ How great Thou art and when I think that God his son not sparing sent him to die I scarce can take it in By burdens gladly bearing He bled and died To take away my sin And sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee. How great Thou art! when Christ shall come with shout of acclamation and take me home what joy shall fill my heart Then I shall bow in humble adoration, and there proclaim, my God, how great thou art. Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee. how great thou art how great thou art then sings my soul my savior God to thee how great thou art how great thou art How great Thou art! How great Thou art! If you enjoyed that, would you say amen? What a great song and a great truth. God is great, isn't he? I appreciate that. The greatest preacher that has ever lived was Jesus, the Son of God. And sometimes I think that we are, a lot of times, boasts of men as preachers, and there's nothing wrong with that. We talk about having some preachers as our heroes, but we must understand that Jesus is the greatest preacher and make more of Him than anybody else. And Jesus was the Word. As the Bible tells us, He lived exactly what He preached. He taught with love. He taught with authority. And that's why we teach with authority, not because of what I am saying today or a preacher standing behind this pulpit, but the authority upon the Word of God. He taught with love. He taught with authority. He taught with compassion. He taught with truth. And Jesus preached different sermons, such as the Sermon on the Mount, which, to be honest, is in this. This is a portion of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 6. And there's different, all those sermons he preached, if you will, but there's also different messages that he gave. Maybe it was an individual, maybe it was to a group of people, maybe to a multitude, maybe to just his 12 disciples. But Jesus would give these messages. Maybe they were a few words, maybe they were a subject matter, such as what we read this morning, but he would give a message. Now, that's what we're looking at in this series, Motivating Messages from the Master, because these messages that the Master, the Jesus Christ, gave to not only them but now to us, because they've been recorded, and preserved in the Word of God, they will motivate us. They will move us in some way to be closer to the Lord Jesus Christ. And I would like to share with you some of these things through this series that we've already looked at that Jesus gave. Now, today, As we've already mentioned, we're going to be looking at, with the help of the Lord, how not to worry, okay, but rather to seek the Lord and trust in Him. Worrying is something we all do. I heard on the radio the other day, and I can concur with this, that If there was nothing to worry about, I would worry, because there's nothing to worry about. I am a warrior, and this is just part of my life. I try to work on that. I know I must trust the Lord, and I do. I get victory, and everything's wonderful, and then next hour, Not the next day, the next hour, I'll say, well, I hope this is going to turn out all right. And I'll worry and stress. But we all do that. And we all, raise your hand. I want to know if I'm in good company or not. I know I'm in good company. I shouldn't have said that like that. I'm sorry. I love you. But if you're a worrier, would you raise your hand if you were? Oh, look at the hands. Wow. A lot of us deal with this. Worrying and that's a lot of times and the Bible uses a lot of scripture God uses a lot of scripture to help us with this and this is one of them number one if you're taking notes on this Worrying or take no thought of your life again. We are to take care of our life It's just simply saying we are not to worry about it number one if you take a note so let's look at the temptation to worry verse number 25 look down if you will in your Bibles with me and And if you don't have your Bible, just listen very carefully, please. But if you have your Bible, I always encourage you to take your Bible and read it with me. Therefore I say unto you, take no fault for your life. You know, there's many temptations that the believer can fall into. There's the temptation to sin in so many different realms, is there not? And we're tempted to do that, but Satan tempts us. We understand that. Our own flesh, if you're saved, we are a new creature in Christ. I am a child of God. The Bible says old things are passed away. In other words, the old man, we study this in my committed Bible class this morning at 10 o'clock, that we have an old man, my past, before I was saved, before I was a new creature, before I was a child of God, that old man, he sinned, right? And we all have an old man or an old life, and our flesh, that old man, tempts us in our spirit to sin and to do wrong, something that would not please God the Father now that we're saved. And so we all have temptations to fall into. One of this that we all struggle with, even Christians, is that temptation to worry, to stress, to fret. Jesus says in verse number 30 of our chapter here, O ye of little faith, And often that categorizes your pastor, I have little faith that you know that you can't have fear and faith at the same time. They do not work together. You're either going to have faith, and that's going to expel the fear, or you're going to have fear, and that's going to keep you from having faith or trusting the Lord. You can't have two at the same time. And so, I want to say that this morning we are tempted to worry about two different things that we see in the text. One, we're tempted to worry about today's needs. Do you see that in verse number 25? We worry about what to eat, and this really is a cover. Oh, really, we could apply this to so many things about, again, today's needs. We eat every day, most of us. Most of us eat seven or eight times a day, and, you know, morning, mid-morning, later morning, and then early lunch, mid-lunch, later lunch. and then early supper, mid-supper, and then late supper, and then a midnight snack to be on top of that. Now, we all eat many times a day, and so there's times where we worry about the different daily things of our needs. It is true that God, in His infinite wisdom, uses things we can all relate to. Everybody eats. You have to eat. and unless there's a health condition of some sort, some degree, but most of us are all going to eat, and we're concerned about this or other things that we need in our life. We worry not only about what we eat, but we also worry about what we wear. This is another thing to— some of us may worry specifically about this, but it also could be applicable for the different daily needs of our life that we worry about. We worry about, what am I going to put on? There in verse number 25. So we worry about today's needs. And then we also find, in verse number 34, that we worry about tomorrow's concern. We worry about today. What's going to happen today? Is my needs going to be fulfilled today? And we also worry about tomorrow. What's going to happen tomorrow? I love this phrase. My pastor used to say it all the time, and it's ingrained within my brain. Worrying is like a rocking chair. It'll give you something to do, but it will not get you anywhere. And the truth of the matter is, we worry so much about tomorrow. What is going to happen? What is going to take place? How is this going to affect me? How is this going to affect my family? But it won't get you and won't be any productive to your life. And Jesus tells us in verse number 34, take therefore no thought for tomorrow. Don't worry about tomorrow. Everything's going to turn out all right. We're tempted to do that. Oh yes, we're tempted to do wrong, but we're also tempted to worry, which would be in complete disobedience to what God's told us to do. Trust Him. Notice the second thing. God says there's some things that we're tempted to do. Namely, worry. The second thing, God says, I want you to consider some things. Listen very carefully. There's four things we see here in the text that Jesus says, I want you to consider. The first thing is the fowls. Look in verse number 26. Jesus says, don't worry. Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not. In other words, they don't have a garden. They don't go to Walmart. They don't go to Target, they don't do their grocery order, they don't go to Aldi or Kroger or wherever you go, Food Line. They don't do that, they don't sow, they don't have a garden, neither do they reap. They don't get what they sow because they don't sow it, they don't have a garden, nor gather into barns. They don't store up, they don't can, for some of you that can. They do not have a stockpile of different canned goods in their closet, pantry. Get your heavenly Father feedeth them. Notice what Jesus says. He asks a question. Are you not much better than they? Jesus said, I made the birds, I made the fowls of the air, I made the beasts of the field, I made the creatures in the deep of the ocean, I made those things, but I made you in my image. I made mankind to worship me and to serve me. I believe the animals that worship God, I believe that when we hear those birds chirping, I believe they're saying, God is great, God is good, God is wonderful. I believe that. I really do. I believe that all the creatures exalt the Lord Jesus Christ, but we are just a little bit different. We communicate through understanding words and so forth, and God has created us to worship Him, and He says, are you not much better than they? I take care of the fowls of the air. I take care of the animal world. I'm gonna take care of you. Consider that. Jesus said, I want you to consider something else. I want you to consider the flowers. Look what he says in verse number 27. Which of you, excuse me, I'm sorry, I'm skipping around a little bit. I guess we could do that if we didn't have it on the screens. But let me, for the sake of the screens and Brother Mike's sanity over there, let me go in order. Letter B, consider your frailty. I like this one, verse number 27. Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit unto his stature? In other words, by worrying, and stressing about today or tomorrow, how can you change that? Are you gonna be able to change things? Some things we can, and some things we will not be able to change. But there's something, I cannot change my height. I cannot change my body build. I know some of you look at me and you think, wow, what a muscular man. I understand. But I must confess to you that under this suit, I'm not. I'm frail. I know what it looks like, but I'm not as muscular as you think I am. I'm joking. Some of you visitors are like, This guy's a nut. And that's OK. And I've got to be myself. And sometimes myself just gets out there somehow. I try to tame him, but he just gets out. But truth of matter is, I cannot add any more to my height. I love to be just at Mayberry's height. I mean, 7 foot 5, something like that. I don't know. I know he's high. I look up to him. And he looks down at me, respectively. And I love to be Jay Staley, so I'd love to be some of you guys' height, you know, six foot plus. I think it would be great to look down on people. I look either in the eyes to most people or up to most people. I'm just not the height guy. Somebody asked me the other day, how tall are you? And I said, be honest with you, I really don't know. I've not taken my measurements in a long time. When I was 16, I went to get my license the day I turned 16, and they said, how old are you? And I think I guessed 5'10", and they wrote that down on my license, so that's what I tell everybody. So I hope I'm 5'10", I don't know. Close, probably. I may be 5'9". They say when you get older you shrink. I hopefully haven't gotten to that point yet. But I'm not really high. Sometimes I wish I could be a little higher in some ways. I was dating my wife and she'd wear these high heels. They were about 8 inches high on the heel. And I was dating her, and I can't remember how it went about, but I felt intimidated. And I said, you know, maybe we could wear some maybe three inches or something. And I'm joking a little bit, but I'm not that high, but you know, I can stress and I can worry, and you can worry and stress, but sometimes you're not gonna change anything. And Jesus is saying, look here, he's saying, you're frail. You can't change things no matter how you worry about it. It's not gonna change some things. He said, consider the fowls, consider your felted, consider the flowers. Verse number 28, 29, look there, please, and why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toll not, neither do they spin. Verse 29, and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. You know, Solomon was one of the richest kings of the nation of Israel. Matter of fact, He was one of the richest people ever. Are we good on the mic? I just heard something crazy. He was one of the richest people ever. He had treasures and gold and silver in great abundance. He was given that, he mined that, and Solomon was known amongst the Jewish people as a man of great wealth. And God is comparing a flower of a field to him. Jesus says, I want you to consider the flowers' growth. He said, consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. Isn't it interesting how God has made these little daisies, these little pansies, these little flowers that grow and they're so beautiful. He says, I want you to consider their greatness. They toll not, neither do they spin. You know, the wind can blow and they're still there. Something so frail that we could take, my little girl could take her little fingers and just pluck those flowers, all the pieces, yeah, but it stays there through the wind and through the rain. They have endurance. They're great in their making from our Maker. And Jesus says, I want you to consider not only their growth, Consider their greatness, but consider also their glory in verse number 29. Aren't they so beautiful? I love flowers. I love them. This time of year, we're getting ready to paint, plant pansies around the church campus and our neighbors and so forth because they're so beautiful, and they last through the wintertime. And I love those pansies. They're an abundance of different colors, and a lot of those little flowers are abundant. Each flower has different types of colors to it, multiple colors arranged. And I want you to think about the glory of that and how God made that flower. And he said, I want you, pause, is basically what Jesus is saying. Those that stress, those that worry, I want you to consider, do I take care of the fowl, the birds? Do I take care of the flowers of the field? Can you change things the more you worry and stress about something? No, you can't. And this is my favorite part of this section, letter D, I want you to consider, Jesus says, consider the Father. In verse number 33, for after these things do the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly Father knoweth. Can we say that word together? Knoweth. Let's say it again, knoweth. Your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. You know, while we're sitting and stressing and we're worrying about the needs of today, we're worrying about what's going to happen tomorrow, Jesus said, hey, I want you to consider some things. I want you to consider how I take care of the flowers, take care of the fowl. You can't change anything, and I want you to consider the Father, the Heavenly Father, and I want you to consider how the fact He knows. He knows what you have need of. You know, God delights to hear your prayer. You know, I'd encourage you to text me and call me and say, Pastor, would you partner in prayer with me? But that's what it should be, a partner in prayer. Because if I'm praying for you and you're not praying for yourself, you're not learning how God hears and answers prayer. You ought to pray for it yourself. And pray and seek God and understand when you're praying to God, He delights to hear your prayer, but God knows. God knows what you're going through. God knows what you need. I want you to think about that for a minute. God knows. You say, God doesn't know, but he knows. You're talking about the creator of the sun, moon, stars. God knows. Consider God's acknowledgement, but consider God's ability. I like this verse number 33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. I don't know how that works, but I know it does. I don't know how that, when we cry out to God for our needs and He knows and how He adds those things to us, He always meets our needs. I don't know how that works, but I can testify that it does. That God's Word is true. I hope that you found that to be true also. Notice the next thing, number three, if you're taking notes, I want to see the temptation, number one, that we are tempted, we are tempted to worry, to stress about today, and we're also stressed about what's going to happen tomorrow. But God says, Jesus says, I want you to consider some things. I know, I take care of this, I take care of the flowers, you can't do anything about it. Notice the third thing, and that is the perception. This is where we get a little applicable. This is here, we're passing from the knowledge aspect of this message to the putting the boots on the ground. This is how it'll help you. Notice this perception. And that's in verse number 33. In order to refrain from anxiety, our perception must change. Do you know change is a good thing? If you're changing to be like Christ and changing to his word. Notice the pursuit we're to have. But seek, notice that word seek in verse number 33, and I want you to circle it, please, in your Bible. Seek, let me know when I ask you a question. Jesus says, seek ye first the kingdom of God. What are you seeking after? I didn't ask you, are you seeking something? Because I know the answer to that, it is yes. Everybody is seeking something. Everybody is seeking something. Everybody, I believe a lot of people are seeking somebody simply to love them. I think some people are seeking forgiveness. I think some people are seeking salvation. By the way, if you need to be saved, you're in the right place. Trusting Christ as your Savior. He's the only way to go to heaven. I think people are seeking the way to have an abundant life. Well, Jesus told us it's in Him. People are seeking peace in their soul because there's unrest. It's through accepting Christ as your Savior. There's people that are seeking eternal life. Well, it's through Jesus Christ. You can't get to heaven, you can't have a relationship with God by your works, by you came to church today, but only by your decision to trust Christ as your personal Savior. There's a lot of people that are seeking relationships, they just want a friend. There are a lot of people seeking recognition. Everybody's seeking something. I don't care if you're seeking ice cream, you're seeking something. Everybody's seeking something. And I want to encourage you to seek after God. What are you seeking? Notice the next thing here about our perception. If you're gonna quit your worry and fear, there's gotta be some thing, it just don't, poof, it disappears. But Jesus gives us the ingredients to take away the anxiety. And the first is, you gotta seek after him. the one who takes care of everything. Notice the priority. First. Circle that word. Seek first the kingdom of God. First. Let me ask you a question, another question. Not only what are you seeking, not are you seeking, but what are you seeking? I hope it's the Lord. But what priority is God, are you seeking God? Where is that in priority? Did you come to church today because you said, I don't have anything else going on? By the way, some people say, I can worship God and I don't have to have the church. Well, they have not read their Bible. Uh, that bothers me because the Bible says Jesus purchased the church with his own blood. There's a great sacrifice for this body of believers. The Bible teaches us that we are to assemble together faithfully, consistently, to worship, and to get encouragement one to another, to hear the Word of God taught, a place to serve others, a place to encourage others. It's about Him, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says this is the body of Christ. If you read your Bible, you'll find the church is very dear and important to the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you love God, you'll love His church. There's faults and failures with it. I'll agree with you. Everybody's not perfect in the body of Christ. There's some nuts out there But I love the church But did you come to church today to seek after God because you didn't have anything else to do? Did you have a choice? Was it, well, I'm gonna, and I'm not talking about people that are on vacation. We got a lot of people, half of our church, I think, is out of town right now. And that's fine. And everybody needs a vacation. Everybody needs a, sometimes people have to work. We got people gone from work today. And everybody has to work. And I'm not talking about all that. I'm talking about, did you have a choice? Well, I'm gonna mow the yard to go to church. Well, I'm grateful that you made God a priority. Praise the Lord. You're to be commended for that. But it shouldn't be a debate in your heart and mind. It should be seek ye first! Seek ye first. This is a priority. Worshipping God is a priority. Amen. And it ought not to be, well, just pastor says so, and pastor will text me if I'm not here. There ought to be a burning desire in our heart to worship my Savior because of what he's done for me. Dying on the cross. What's your priority? I hope you're seeking God, I think we would all testify, yes, I'm seeking after God, but what level? If we had to do a zero to 10, what level is your seeking Him? Is it a seek ye first, or does God and His church and His people and His word and His prayer communicate, does it come in a distant second? And if it's second, then it's out of God's will, because He says seek ye first. There's no debate. It's not even a close second. Put God first in your heart, in your mind. And when you put God first in your heart and your mind, it will come out of your action somehow, some way or the other. Notice the pursuit we're to have, seek. Notice, circle the next word, first, then circle the next word, kingdom of God. And I want you to see the perception we're to have, not only we're to pursue God, we're to have that priority of putting Him first and foremost in every aspect of our life, but then we're to have a purpose. Let me ask you a question, what is your purpose? Well, not only what are you seeking, and are you seeking God and putting Him first in priority in your life? And then the next thing is, what purpose are we having in our life? And I hope that purpose aligns with what Jesus is teaching us. Seek ye first, what? The kingdom of God. In other words, seek God's will and His way. the kingdom of God. Things that matter to God are things that ought to matter to us. And life, by the way, the greatest life in the world that's lived is living the Christian life and pursuing after God and His will and His way. You say, Pastor, how do I know God's will and God's way? Pick up your Bible, read it. This tells us exactly what God wants us to do. Circle the word seek, circle the word first, circle the word kingdom of God, and then I want you to circle the word his. Do you see that in verse number 33? But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And I want you to see the person we're to be like. You see, if we're gonna stop this worry and this fret, and by the way, I'm preaching to Josh Bowles, number one today. Josh Bowles, if you're to stop your worrying and fret, this temptation to worry and fret about what's going to happen today, what's going to happen tomorrow, you've got to consider some things and you've got to perceive things. You've got to change your perception of things. And we've got to understand we've got to seek God. A lot of times, you know what, we're seeking things for ourself. But seek Him. as a priority. Seek His will, His way, the kingdom of God, and seek His person, His righteousness. You've got to seek after Him. Christianity is based not off doing things and a protocol and a principles, it is seeking a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice the next thing. Not only do we see these things, but lastly this morning, I want to see the conclusion. And that's verse number 33 as well. And we're almost done. Verse number 33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things. Notice the word shall. That's a promise shall be added unto you. You see, when we trust in God's direction, we obey his will, his way, we seek after him, we do what he says do, and everything's going to be added to you. You know, you may not get that Lamborghini that you're worried about, but God bless you with a good Ford. I'm trying to help the Chevrolet people be converted today, and I'm just joking. Some of you, Jay, you say he's shaking his head back there. No way, Jose, is what he's saying to me. I don't even have a Ford anymore. You have Tacos and Highlanders, Toyotas. Let me ask you some questions, and I'm done. Don't close your Bibles, please. I'm closing a little bit earlier. But I want you to listen very carefully. I'm gonna ask you this question. Are you tempted to worry? Look this way. Are you tempted to worry? You don't have to answer, but I'm trying to get you to think about it. Don't think, well, I know so-and-so down the road from me, they're really stressed about things. I'm talking about you. Do you stress? Do you worry? I'll be honest with you, as a pastor, I get to talk to a lot of people. I have the privilege and honor to talk to a lot of people on the phone, text, in person, and I don't know many people that are not worrying about something. Do you do it? Most of us do. Would you consider the fowls of the air? that God provides for them. Are you not much better than they? Of course you are. Would you consider the lilies of the field that grow wildly and how God allows them to grow? He allows the sunshine to hit them. He allows the rain to come down so that they can grow. He allows their glory and their beauty to be displayed for all the world to see. Say, what a God. Would you consider that God takes care of them, He builds them, even though they're so tender in some regards, they're so tough in others? Would you consider that you can stress and we can worry all day long, but it's not going to change some things? Would you consider that? And based upon that, would you change your perception and seek after God? Don't worry about the issue at hand. Seek after God, and when you do, and you put Him as a priority, and you seek after Him. And by the way, let me just make this very plain so we all understand. We talk about seek after God, we're talking about getting in His Word. Sometimes we need to hit the X button on the YouTube. I like to watch YouTube. I like to see people do dumb things. I get a kick out of that. I watch YouTube some. I'm not against it. I think it's a great tool. We just now, I think, getting ready to be live streamed, not only on Facebook, but now YouTube as well. I'm excited about that. What a great tool. I'm not against it, but I'm simply saying if you're getting your spiritual edification and encouragement from YouTube only, you're missing it, friend. Open up this book for the Word of God. It's quick. It's alive. It's powerful. Sharper than any two-edged sword. We've got to get back to the Bible. Seek after God. This is how we know about Him. This is how we know how He came to save us. This is how we know He will provide and care for us. Seek after God. The other thing is prayer. He's just a voice away. to church, to get instruction, to fellowship with the believers, to be influenced with other godly men and women. Seek God. Put Him first and foremost in every aspect of life. Seek after Him and His will, His way, His kingdom, not yours. And you watch God. take care of every need you have. It may not always come out the way you thought it was going to or the way it should have gone, but God, I've witnessed this, and God has been so good to me, but I've watched God, he does all things well. And a lot of times I'll look back and I'll say, well, I didn't expect it to come out like that, but it came out a whole lot better when I trusted in God. And I did my best to seek after him. This message is not about me and how I've done something. I'm trying to be a help to you in saying, this is what Jesus has said. Would you change your perspective instead of thinking and meditating and worrying and stressing about this? Or who's gonna be elected? Or what's gonna happen with elections? Or what's gonna happen here? Or what's gonna happen there? What's gonna happen to my family? What's gonna happen? Seek ye first. the kingdom of God and His righteousness. All these things that you're worried about will be added to you. In other words, God will take care of you. If He takes care of the birds, He takes care of the flowers. He'll take care of you, child of God. But our perception has to change. Let's bow our heads and close our eyes. Let's stand together all over the building. While heads bowed, eyes closed, nobody's leaving, please. This is the most important part of the service when we have an opportunity to respond to what the Holy Spirit has hopefully done in our hearts. I want to say to you this morning as our instrumentalists begin to play very softly, I want to talk to you for just a moment. If you're here today and you've never trusted in Jesus as your personal Savior, you will face this temptation to worry and stress, and the sad part about it is you don't have a Heavenly Father with that relationship. The first thing you need to do is simply get saved. You need to trust Christ as your Savior. If you're here today and you've never trusted Christ as your Savior, I want you to look this way. Only people who need to get saved. If you're here today and you need to trust Christ as your Savior, one of our men is right here. We have ladies that are available also to talk to you about getting saved. I want you to come see Matt right here. If you need to be saved, I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand today. I'm just going to ask you to slip out here in just a moment when we sing to slip out. Nobody's looking. Everybody's got their heads bowed and eyes closed. And I just want you to talk to somebody. Let them help you, answer your questions. This is a time to respond. I'm not trying to convince you or push you, but I want to give you a wonderful opportunity to get saved. If you're here today and you are a child of God, listen carefully. If you're a child of God, And you needed that. You're like me. Because you stress, you worry. And you need to be reminded today. You've heard this a million times that you need to be reminded this morning that God cares. He knows. And if He takes care of the flowers or the fowls, He'll take care of you. But we've got to do something. We've got to seek Him. We've got to put Him first. We've got to seek His will and His way. We've got to seek His righteousness. You've got to get close to God. He'll take care of it. He's promised. All these things shall, what a great promise, shall be added unto you. If you're here today and you need some help, spiritual, if you'll come around this altar, God can help you. Would you come and respond this morning? As we sing, heads bowed and eyes are closed, Brother Holly's singing. Would you come? Would you step out of that pew right now? Maybe you want to come this morning and say God, I've been worrying about this. I give it to you. I'm going to start seeking you instead of the problem. I'm going to start meditating on you and your word instead of the difficulty. I'm going to start thinking of you, Lord, instead of the stress, the worry. Would you come? As he sings, has bowed eyes or closed, would you come? Would you respond to what hopefully God, you've allowed God to do in your heart? If you're not saved, would you come? Would you get saved this morning? Would you trust Christ? Would you come and allow us to take the Bible and show you how you can know for sure you're going to heaven? While heads are bowed and eyes are closed, we're singing the next verse. Would you think about the words of God this morning? Oh, what peace we often forfeit. ♪ Oh, what needless pain we bear ♪ All because we do not care What a great truth. Everything to God in prayer. Let's look this way. Let's sing the next verse as one mighty choir together. Sing it now, both Hollies leading us. ♪ Have we trials and temptations ♪ Sing it now, think about it. These are great words. ♪ Is there trouble anywhere ♪ We should never be discouraged. ♪ Should never be discouraged ♪ Take it to the Lord in prayer. We're singing all the chorus. Think about the words now. Can we find a friend so faithful? Who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows! Sing now. Let's bow for prayer once again. Father, we love you, and Lord, I pray that you would help us, Lord, to hide these truths into our hearts today. Lord, help us to implement these truths, to apply them. Lord, if we're not doing so already, Lord, to seek You instead of the issue, instead of the problem, instead of the stress, the circumstance that we cannot do anything about in many cases. Some cases we can, but often we can't. Lord, help us to seek You. Look to You in Your Word and prayer. Seek You first, instead of the YouTuber, instead of this or that. Seek You, Lord, first in Your will, Your way. Find out what You say about it. In your righteousness, the Lord will trust you that you will provide, that you will add those things to us, we will take care of those things. We trust you for these things. We love you. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, I trust that God's word was a help to you today. And I want to say to you that I love you. If you have a need of any kind, I'm usually one of the last people to leave campus. And if you need somebody, talk to somebody by the mats right here, he'd love to talk to you. console you, take the Bible, help you with any need. Salvation, anything that you need. Myself, my wife, other ladies, Brother Holly, our youth pastor, others. And so if you have a need, don't leave without taking care of that need with the Lord. You can be seated and we're going to have our video announcements. These last maybe a minute and a half, two minutes maybe. And after these video announcements, we'll be dismissed. So I want you to listen carefully about things are happening and it's a busy season, but I want us to put God first and these activities will be a help to you for that. And so listen carefully and then we'll be dismissed when these are finished. Thank you for joining us here at Temple for our morning worship service. If you are visiting with us today, we trust this service has been a blessing to you and hope that you are able to be with us again very soon. We would like to remind you of a few upcoming events during this fall season. There will be a 30-minute choir practice following this evening's service for all who are a part of this encouraging ministry. For church members who would like to be a part of joining the choir, please see our music leader, Brother Holly, about being involved. Mark your calendars now and make plans to join us on Tuesday, November 25th at 6.30 p.m. as we enjoy a chicken stew and brief Bible devotion for the week of Thanksgiving. As a reminder, this will replace our regular midweek service and ministries for this particular week. Ladies, make plans now to be a part of our very special Pie and Praise meeting next Thursday, November 13th at 7 p.m. in our Heritage Hall. We are looking forward to this great time together with the Ladies Bible Study, Fellowship, and Refreshments. A sign-up sheet is now available in the entryway for everyone planning to be a part. Also, for those who would like to bring a savory and or sweet pie to help with the event, please indicate on the sign-up sheet as well. Our next team activity is coming up next Saturday, November 15th. Mark your calendars now and make plans to join us as we look forward to a great time administering to our shut-ins, as well as a progressive dinner. For any questions, please see Brother or Mrs. Holler. We are looking forward to a special Veterans Day recognition next Sunday morning, November 9th. Join us at 11 o'clock as we recognize and present gifts to honor those who have served our country. We are very excited about this year's opportunity to reach children throughout the world with the love of Jesus through the Operation Christmas Child ministry. For those interested in being a part, please pick up a shoebox and information sheet today located behind the organ. For any questions, please see Joe Eskridge. Thank you for being with us today for our morning worship service. We would like to invite each family to be back with us again this evening at 5 p.m. for more special singing and another helpful message from God's Word. Thank you so much for being here. If you're glad you came, would you say amen? I appreciate your faithfulness so much. Don't miss tonight at what time? Five o'clock for Walking in Wisdom for the Book of Proverbs. God bless you. Turn around with a smile and shake three hands before you leave your place, please. You are dismissed.