We sang a song just a few minutes ago. It says, I cast all my care upon you. That's taken from over in 1 Peter. But the truth that's there permeates all through the Word of God. And this morning, I want to invite you to take your Bible and turn to Genesis 22. Genesis 22. It goes on to say, I lay all my burdens down at your feet, and at any time I don't know what to do, I'll cast all my care upon you." Wonderful words. Genesis 22 says in verse 1, Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, And he said, here I am. Then he said, take now your son, your only son, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son, and he split the wood for the burnt offering and rose and went to the place which God had told him. Then on the third day, Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, Stay here with the donkey, and the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you. So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took the fire in his hand and a knife, and the two of them went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, and he said, My father, And he said, Here I am, my son. And he said, Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for an offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering. So the two of them went together. Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order. And he bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. So he said, Here I am. And he said, Do not lay your hand on the ladder. Do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son from me. Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its thorns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place the Lord will provide, Jehovah-Jireh. As it is said to this day in the mouth of the Lord, it shall be provided." Now I read that this morning because I believe it's a perfect example of what I want to talk about. And that's the subject of how to be worry-free. And I know you're sitting there and you're asking yourself, is that even possible? And I just want to ask you the same question, is it? Is it possible to be worry-free? Is it possible to go through the things in our life not chewing our fingernails to the nubs? Is it possible to handle the trials in a joyful way? You see, I believe the story that we read is a perfect example of approaching the impossible worry-free. Over in Hebrews 11, verses 17 through 19, it says about this account of Abraham's life that he, by faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, And he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten Son, of whom it was said, in Isaac your seed should be called, accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from which also he received him in a figurative sense." Abraham believed by faith that if he was to take his son, God would have to raise him up because he was the son of promise. That was faith. All that we just read was by faith. All that Abraham did that day was by faith. He trusted God. And as he trusted God, he knew that God would take care of the situation. He didn't have to understand it. God would take care of it. You see, Abraham didn't make his journey to the place God had chosen biting his fingernails or even questioning why this was going on. No, it says over in verse 3 that Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son. He split the wood for the burnt offering, rose and went to the place in which God had told him. He was faithful. He was obedient. But you know, I have to think that if this was some of you or even myself, I'm not so sure that we would do the same thing. Because for some, being worried over one thing or another is a way of life. That's just how we deal with life. We take one problem to the next, and we worry over it until we make our way through it somehow, and then we just await the next battle. Steven Arterberg, who is the founder of the New Life Treatment Center, he said, if the truth sets you free, why are so many Christians depressed? Good question. The Florida Times Union back in 86 reported this, and I can imagine what the statistics are today, but they say suicide among the young has increased 200% in the last 20 years. Among young people in the 16 to 24 age group, suicide is the number two killer behind automobile accidents. You would be surprised to know that there are Christians that are included in those statistics. But for many, depression is a reality, and so is anxiety. But I really believe that there is a way to overcome that. In the Bible, the word joy itself is used 157 times. Did you get that? 157 times. The word praise is used 234 times. The word rejoice is used 195 times. If these words occur this many times, then I really believe that we can be worried free. I really believe what the problem is a lot of times is our perspective and making the choice to rejoice. Making the choice to praise God. Making the choice to delight in Him. It is a choice you make. A lot of times, we choose to be miserable. We choose to be depressed. It's our choice. Now, let me just say this. I think we need to make some distinctions between being concerned and being worried. Webster, in his dictionary, defines worry as being anxious, being troubled, being uneasy, to feel distress in the mind. It further defines a worry warrant. I haven't heard that word in a while. as one who is anxious or distressed over non-significant issues. Now, I can be concerned about something and not worry, but the opposite is true as well. I can be concerned and worried at the same time. Let me give you an example. I'm concerned about what my kids will face in the world as they get older, but I don't go around chewing my fingernails about it. I have to trust God with their life, but at the same time, I have to be involved in nurturing them in the things of Christ, don't I? And I have to trust Christ in the process and trust His plan for their life. So don't misunderstand that. We're talking about those who are anxious, those who are troubled, those who are distressed. And I really believe that God provides in His Word a way to deal with this. In fact, I want to give you six steps how to be worry-free. Six steps. in 30 minutes. The first one is this. Learn contentment. Learn contentment. If there's ever an attitude that you and I need to master, it's this one. We need to be content. Now let me just define that word as well. Webster defines the word contentment or to be content as happy enough with what one has or what one is. To be content, then, means having or showing no desire for something more or different, but being satisfied. Contentment, then, is the state, the quality, or the fact of being satisfied. A satisfying or being satisfied. It's the state of being satisfied. And you know, these definitions do not differ in the Greek language at all. Because the Bible talks a lot about that, about being satisfied with what you have and being satisfied with who you are. You know, there are a lot of people that are not happy with who they are. And the Bible says that He created you. The Bible says that He made you in His image. So we need to be satisfied. There are some people that are not satisfied with what they have. They want more. They want better. And they spend all their life seeking to consume that. And you know, we've said a few things about the TV lately, but I just have to say that that's what the commercials are geared to do. They're geared to make you dissatisfied. You've got the wrong everything. You use the wrong deodorant, the wrong toilet paper, the wrong toothpaste. You eat the wrong food. I mean, you name it. It's geared to make you dissatisfied. I had somebody hand me one time, and I thought I'd read this to you. They took the 23rd Psalm, and they reworded it and called it the 23rd Channel. Let me read it to you. It says this, The TV is my shepherd I shall not want. It makes me to lie down on the sofas. It leads me away from the Scriptures. It destroys my soul. It leads me in the paths of sex and violence for the sponsor's sake. Yea, though I walk in the shadow of my Christian responsibilities, there will be no interruption, for the TV is with me. Its cable and its remote control, they comfort me. It prepares a commercial before me in the presence of my worldliness. It anoints my head with humanism. My coveting runneth over. Surely, laziness and ignorance shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house watching TV forever." Pretty good, isn't it? But you see, that's what happens. We have things in our world today that create a dissatisfaction. We don't like who we are. We don't like what we have. You could be out there driving a 1999 car and not like it, if you watched enough commercials that told you you were driving the wrong car. You know? We've always got to have something different. But I really believe that contentment begins with being satisfied with who you are. Let me give you a portrait of who you are in the Bible. This is why we shouldn't go around going, I'm a worm, I'm a worm, I'm a worm. You're not a worm. A worm can't be redeemed, you know. You're a redeemed child of God, precious to God. And listen to what the Bible says. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17, that you are a new creation in Christ. It says all things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. You are a new creature. You're a new creation. I look around and I say, I am not the one I used to be. I am changed. I'm not the same anymore. And I live that changed life now. I don't live the way I used to live. Praise God, I don't. And you shouldn't either, right? The Bible says over in Philippians 3.20 that we are heavenly citizens. It says over in Galatians 3.26 that we're a child of God. It says here, for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. You're children of God. The Bible says over in Romans 8.9 that if we do not have the Spirit, we're not His. But every child of God that believes in the Lord Jesus Christ gets the Holy Spirit, so you are a possession of the Lord Jesus Christ. You belong to Him. Over in Ephesians 2.10, it says that we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. We're Christ's workmanship. The Bible says over in Romans 8.17 that we're heirs. It says, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. Everything Christ has, we'll have. I mean, look at this portrait. See why you can't go around saying, I'm a worm, I'm a worm, I'm a worm, I'm miserable, I'm mud. You know? You can't do that. Romans 6.22. It says, but now having been set free from sin and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness and the end everlasting life. You are now a slave of Jesus Christ. You belong to Him. You're not a slave of sin anymore. And because this is who you are, you should be satisfied with who you are. You know, it says over in Matthew 10, 29, it says, Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will, but the very hairs of your head are numbered. Do not fear, therefore. You are of more value than many sparrows. Did you hear that? The key there is value. You're very valuable to God. Not because of what you offer Him. Not because of how good you can be. Not because of your job and your social status in life. Not because of any prestige you have. But only because He redeemed you. Only because He saved you. Only because He poured out His life completely for you. Only because He died for you. You're valuable. He purchased you. And I just have to say that the image that we produce today is far different. You know that there are some parents that are telling their children that they're not valuable. I mean, they're telling them that they're nobodies. They have no value. Steven Arterberg and Jim Burns in a book called Drug Proof Your Kids, they said, if you don't affirm your children, someone else will. And that someone could be a drug dealer. Many people with lifestyles contrary to your own are willing to praise your kids to get what they want from them. If you don't praise your kids, you don't affirm your kids, someone else will, and it might be someone you don't want to affirm them. That's peer pressure. And I tell you, I was watching yesterday at that concert in Georgia, and I was just looking around, and I was looking at the kinds of kids that they were hanging out with each other, and even though these are all church kids, they are all mimicking one another, aren't they? They dress the same, they wear their hair the same, they smell the same. They have the same things going on, don't they? Because they look up to each other, they don't see the value in themselves, and we need to build upon that. We need to show them in Jesus Christ who they are. And I really believe that preachers are committing the same sin. You know that? We're busy telling people who they are in Adam instead of telling them who they are in Jesus Christ. Because in Adam, you are a worm. A rascal at that, aren't you? But in Jesus Christ, you're redeemed. You're a child of God. You see, people everywhere are looking to be accepted. They're looking to know that they have value. And I tell you, in Jesus Christ, you can know you're accepted. Ephesians 1, 6 says that He has made us accepted in the Beloved. He made us that. You know, you can tell people that, you know? They're hurting. And they've got such a low view of themselves. And I'm not talking about this self-esteem garbage. I'm talking about the only esteem that I need to have is what Jesus gives me in His Word because of who I am in Him. A lot of times we pump up that self-esteem, but we don't give it any source. The source is God Himself. He made you. And I really believe too that we need to realize what God is doing. in our lives. You know, it says over in Philippians 1-6 that he who has begun a good work in you will complete that work, won't he? Until the day of Christ. He is working in our lives. He is doing a work. So we need to be satisfied with who we are. And if we're dissatisfied, we need to be more dissatisfied about our relationship to Him. Because we're not what we should be. You know what I mean? We fall short of that. Maybe we don't spend enough time in the Word. Those are the things I believe we should be dissatisfied with. We need to be dissatisfied with our sin. We need to hate it more instead of embracing it more or filling ourselves with things that will cause us to embrace it more. But we need to be satisfied. We need to be content. And we need to learn that. And if we're going to be those that are not worry warts, if you will, we need to learn contentment. Are you happy with who you are? Are you happy the way that God has made you? You know, for a long time, and nobody come up and talk to me about this, I'm going to tell you that, OK? I've been called Eggman already because I opened up my mouth a little big and I didn't apply my verse, but for a long time I used to hate my nose. Don't come talking to me about my nose. But when I was growing up, I was very conscious about that. Some of you are probably sitting there thinking, you know, I had little things that bothered me when I was growing up. I didn't like the way my hair was. Because when I left the 6th grade and went to the 7th grade, something happened and my hair started curling. And it went from straight to curly. Look out, Jeremy. Might follow you. Where you at? But you know what I mean? And I didn't like that. And I was very conscious about that. You're around kids and they make fun of anything. And we have some of that here. And I tell you, if you ever see that going on, you need to pull those kids aside and make them apologize and make them not do that. Because some kids carry that stuff and they're really hurt over that. But listen, God made us. Knows it all. Right? It's a little fried right now from yesterday. But I'm thankful for what He has made. I was very thankful, even more thankful about it after I got it broke one time. You know? I was like, God, I really did like that nose before it got broken. We need to learn contentment. You need to be happy with who you are, what you have in Jesus Christ. I look at everything He's given me. There are a lot of unfinished projects around my house. And it seems like my list never ends. Right, honey? It just gets longer and longer and we work on it and work on it. But you know, we do stand back and say, well, we've gotten a lot of this accomplished actually, but I'm very happy with what I have. Sometimes I feel a little worldly like you do and want a little bit more or want something a little bit better. But when I look back and I see how God gave me the things He gave me, I stand in amazement. I really do. Let me give you number two. And that is stop expecting from others. Stop expecting from others. You know, you don't have to look to other people to meet your needs. You need to look to God. And see, that's what happens when we're not content with what we have or who we are, we begin to look to others to fill that void. And that's exactly what our kids do when we don't show them attention. They start looking around and they look for someone else to meet those needs. In fact, I started to write in my notes, that's what happens to our kids when we don't play with them. Not true. We were at that theme park yesterday. We gave one rule and the rule was simply this. We're going to stay together. We're going to have fun together, you know. And we had fun, a lot of fun. I really believe that when we look to others to meet our needs, we place upon others unrealistic expectations. You know, the Bible tells us in Hebrews 4.16, it says, "...Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need." It doesn't tell us to go to someone else. It tells us to go to God Himself, to the throne of grace, to help in the time of need. If I'm struggling about something, I don't need to go to someone else. I can go to God. That's exactly what you have in the Psalms. It says over in Philippians 4, 19, that my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Jesus will supply all my need. You know what the background of that text was? Money. Did you know that? They had gave a gift. The church of Philippi gave a gift. And Paul was saying, God will supply your need for that gift you've given. We focus on money a lot of times, don't we? We get a little miserable if we've got more month left and no paycheck to cover that month, don't we? We become worriers. We worry about that. How am I going to make that next bill? How am I going to give to the church? How am I going to be faithful in these things? Unlike you, I don't want a late bill. But we all deal with it, don't we? We've got to learn to be content. We've got to stop expecting from others. We need to set our expectation on God alone. We can go to Him and say, God, I don't have enough money to meet this bill. What shall I do? Shall I lay it on the altar and sacrifice it? That's what I'd like to do. Show me what you want me to learn in this, Father. Maybe I'm not handling my money like I should. Maybe there's another reason why I don't have enough to pay this bill. Maybe it's my reason. Maybe I haven't been a good steward of what you've given me. Maybe I've misused it. Hebrews 4.16, I just remind you again, it says, Come, where? To the throne. Why? To obtain help in time of need. Right? Philippians 4.19, Who will supply all your need? Paul said, My God will do that. Psalm 62.5, I really believe you ought to mark this in your Bible. It says, My soul waits silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him. You need to put all your expectation in God Himself. So number one, you need to learn contentment. Number two, you need to stop expecting from others. Number three, you need to focus on the positive. Focus on the positive. You know how you focus on the positive? You silence the negative. How do you do that? Many of us have negative thoughts, negative actions, negative words. We talk about everything. And listen, if you want to find the manure pile in every patch, you go right ahead. But do it in your own corner. Know what I mean? It stinks, doesn't it? We go over there and have our little pity parties. Poor pitiful me. And then we begin to spread that negative attitude around the fellowship, don't we? And then after a while, you're over there feeling like that and you don't even know why you're feeling like that. Doesn't that happen when you've got someone a little upset in the home or in your job or somewhere and they've carried on a little bit of an over-anxious attitude and after a while you kind of pick up on that and you find yourself doing that and someone says something to you and you snap right back to them and you go, good night, where did I get that from? Because you were around that. And that breeded that. You know what I mean? And if we want to breed healthy relationships in the church and in the home, we need to look to focus on positive things, don't we? We need to teach our kids how to deal with that. Listen, God will take care of this, we can say. So we need to major on the positive. As much as you major on the negative, you need to major on the positive. You need to get rid of those negative thoughts. Get rid of those negative words. And really, this is where faith comes in. And I wanted to show you some passages from En Acts, but let me just read these other passages. Listen to Philippians 4. It says, Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I'll say rejoice. You say, oh, that sounds so spiritual. But you don't know what I'm going through. How can I rejoice? You know what Paul was going through when he wrote that? He was chained in a prison with his feet locked in the stocks, having been beaten because he casted a demon out of a demon-possessed girl, and that caused her masters to lose their money. And he said, Rejoice. In fact, in that passage in Acts 16, him and Silas were sitting there singing hymns and singing praise to God. Now, they could have been sitting there complaining, complaining about what just happened in their situation. They could have been sitting there, God, we do this for You. And look what it's got us. But they didn't do that. They offered praise to God. They were singing. They were in pain. They were human. You got beaten before on the back, the legs, the backside. I know my kids cry when they get beaten on the backside. Do yours? But I mean, can you rejoice in the midst of pain? I heard that, yes. 1 Thessalonians 5.16 says, Rejoice always. I didn't say sometimes, I didn't say half the time, I said all the time. 1 Thessalonians 5, 18, And everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Everything we can rejoice. So we need to focus on the positive and put to silence the negative things. Learn to be thankful. Practice that. Allow that to come out of your mouth. God, I don't understand this situation, but I thank God that I have a problem that I can bring to You and I know You can solve the problem. It might not be solved today. It might take a couple of days, but You're going to help me with that because You're in my life and You're my God. And I serve You with all my heart and I'll do whatever You want me to do. If there's something in this situation You're wanting to teach me or You're humbling me, please help me see it. Help me not to miss it. Because see what happens when we miss it, sometimes it has to be repeated. Doesn't it? Sometimes you wonder why you're going through so many things you're going through and maybe you're not getting the message. Because trials are geared to bring us to Christ. They're geared to strip us of our resources. They're geared to mature us. To perfect the faith in us. To strengthen that faith. Number four. It just might do it. Redirect your thinking. Redirect your thinking. Now, I believe that this is a direct attack on a negative attitude. This is another way of majoring on the positive. And simply, the first one is this. Develop an intense relationship with God and His Word. Now, I say develop because I've been giving you a lot of things and I know that it takes time to develop a right kind of habit and a right kind of attitude. I am not ignorant of that. I know that for my own life as well. I mean, if you're wanting to pray every day for at least, and I say start small, ten minutes, then you've got to make it a goal that you can attain. And you do that for a month or so, and if you've got that down, you'll find 10 minutes ain't nothing. You'll go to 15. After a while, 15 minutes is nothing. You'll go to 30 minutes of prayer. Hey, if you've got to drive somewhere, I tell you, I can pray 30 minutes easily if it takes me 30 minutes to get somewhere. I can turn that radio off and talk to God for 30 minutes. It can be done. You look at our prayer list. There are many things to pray about outside of this, you know, with this church alone and the needs that are here. You take your own needs in your own life. You take the needs of your family. There are many things to pray about. But I believe that we have to develop an intense relationship with God's Word. It says as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the Word that you may grow. That's 1 Peter 2.2. You want to develop that relationship and you want to develop it with prayer. So we want to take the Word of God and we want to apply the Word of God directly to issues in your life. And really, this flows from your time in God's Word. Let me tell you what I mean. You know, many times when we have a problem, we don't come to God's Word because we don't know where to go in God's Word to address that problem. I have a solution for you. In fact, it only costs you about a buck. Just about any Christian bookstore carries a little topical Bible size enough to fit in your pocket and is put together by topic. If you're struggling with depression or anger or anxiety, you look up those words and it'll give you a string of verses that deal with that topic. That is a topical Bible. Now, the only danger you have in using that resource, you better make sure you know what the context of all those verses are talking about. So get those verses, open up your own Bible, and go back and look and see what those verses are talking about. That is, what's going on before and after those verses? What's the context of those verses? But most of the time, it's put together very well. And you can take those things and apply it to your situation. Let me give you an example. If you're dealing with trials, you can go to James 1, verses 1-12, and it'll give you some instruction about trials. If you're dealing with temptation, go to Matthew 4, verses 1-10, or James 1, verses 13-18. This is what you would find in here. If you're dealing with doubt, you can go to 1 John 5, verses 13. If you're dealing with anger, go to Proverbs 15, verses 18. If you're dealing with forgiveness, Go to Luke 6, 35-38. You're dealing with gossip? Go to Leviticus 19, 16. You see, this is what it will give you. If you're struggling over guilt, go to Psalm 103 and verse 12. He's casted your sins away as the east is from the west. Buried Him in the deepest sea. You need help in troubles? Go to Nahum 1-7. You say, I can't even find Nahum. Spend the afternoon going over the content of your Bible. Right? You need hope? Go to 1 Peter. 113 jealousy, Proverbs 27 for loneliness, John 14, 18 money, Proverbs 23, four and five sickness, James 5, 14 to 16 success, Proverbs 22 for. You can find all that in a topical Bible. You don't have to have a whole lot of Bible under your belt in order to deal with the problems in your life with the word of God, just be willing to go to God, be willing to go to his word. Let that be the first place you go. I tell you, I read through the Psalms and I see the Psalmist going to God with his problems. Saul chased him around everywhere. And he went to God with all those problems. And yes, there were times he poured out things that you read and you go, good night, is that in the Bible? Yes, there. But you find as he's pouring all that out, as you get toward the end of that Psalm, his focus has been redirected, hasn't it? He's redirected his thinking. Number five, practice Christ's presence, or practice the presence of Christ. All that simply means maintain a constant prayer life. Maintain a constant prayer life. Ephesians 6.18 says, praying always. Colossians 4.2, continuing earnestly in prayer. 1 Thessalonians 5.17, pray without ceasing. You know what it means to practice the presence of Christ? It means I take everything in my life and I order it in God's presence. That's why, this is funny, Friday night, Albert asked me, Josh, are you listening? He said, my son was telling me that I can pray with my eyes open because Brother Steve said that. I said, while you're driving. Right? You better pray with your eyes open while you're driving. If you don't, I don't want to know where you are. I don't want to be around you. But I tell you, I think that everything that goes on in our life throughout any time of the day, that we can talk to God about it, can't we? We can bring every issue in our life to His presence. That means if anything goes on in the morning, the afternoon, in between, any of that time, you're getting up in the morning, you're heading down the hall and something happens, or something comes to your mind, talk to God about it. Do you end the shower? Talk to God. Quit singing and start talking. Right? Talk to God. Spend time with Him. Develop that relationship. Maintain a constant prayer life. And let me just say this. Be specific when you pray. Don't go, God, please save all the people in all the world. Why don't you name some of those people? We have to tell our kids not to do that because we want them to localize their world. You know what I mean? God, I pray for so-and-so. I lift up this person. This person needs Jesus. God, help me to be a witness to them. Be specific when you pray. God, my foot's been hurting me this morning. Will you help me with it? God, I can't sleep too straight this morning. Or God, I woke up with a headache this morning. The last couple of days I've been waking up with headaches. I've just been praying about that. I kind of prevented one this morning and decided to take them early. We can bring it all to God, can't we? Everything. Be specific when you pray. James said over in James 1, verse 5, if you lack wisdom, ask of God. Right? Number six, invest in others. Invest in others. You do this in two ways. Number one, you give yourself away. In other words, get your eyes off of you and make yourself accountable to somebody else. You see, because when you begin to invest in other people and you get your eyes off yourselves, your problems get a little smaller, don't they? You start focusing on the problems of the people you're investing in. That is the ministry that we have. I'm going to run it by you real quick. The Bible tells us to receive one another, to greet one another, to bear one another's burdens, to be kind to one another, to forgive one another, to admonish one another, to love one another, to comfort one another, to edify one another, to exhort one another, to consider one another, to confess our sin to one another, to pray for one another, and to submit to one another. All these one another concepts the Bible gives us to tell us that we have a relationship with each other in the body of Christ. And we're to be involved in each other's life. And listen, we can invest in other people, can't we? I spend my life investing in other people. Sometimes the return ain't that great, but I'm not doing it for their return. I'm doing it for God's. You know what I mean? He tells us to do this. And you see, the church has become a place where impersonal relationships occur, and this must stop. It's got to stop. Proverbs 27, 17, this is a verse that we're using for the men's Bible study. It says, as iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend. You know, we rub shoulders with one another, we ought to encourage each other, shouldn't we? Invest our lives in them. The second way you do that is do the things that draw your attention off yourself. Get involved with the needs of someone else around you. Proverbs 3.27 says, Do not withhold good from those to whom it's due when it's in the power of your hand to do so. Don't say to your neighbor, go and come back and tomorrow I'll give it when you have it with you. Meet their need today. Minister to them. Plan quality time with somebody. Invest in time with them. Now, you know what I believe? That the negative effects of worrying produce four things in your life. It produces a lack of trust in God. It produces unrealistic expectations. It produces self-centeredness. And it produces a false perceptive. But when you learn not to worry, the opposite is true. You trust God. You build confidence. You focus your expectations on God. You become God-centered. And you have a proper perspective. That's what happens when you don't worry. Which looks better? Curtain number one or curtain number two? You choose. Because it's your choice. I choose number two. How about you? If you choose number two, that means you've got to give yourself away, doesn't it? It means you've got to get your eyes off yourself. It means you've got to redirect your thinking. It means you've got to stop expecting things from other people. It means you've got to learn how to be content, doesn't it? That's going to take some work, doesn't it? And you know what? God is in that kind of business to build your life for Him, isn't He? He wants to make you this kind of person. And if you want to go around worrying about everything, I would just have to say you're sinning against God. Think about it. Because I want to trust God in all that I do, don't you? Why don't we stand up together? We're going to give a hymn of invitation. Why don't you be the first to step out of your seat and come forward and choose curtain number two? Doesn't that sound good? Why don't you be willing to come forward and say, God, I'm willing to go all the way. I want to be content. I want to stop expecting from other people. I want to begin to put my expectation completely on You. God, I don't want to worry about things in my life anymore. I want to give all that to You. If that's what you believe and that's what you want to do this morning, Why don't you come forward and get on your knees and make that commitment to Him? I know you can make it from right where you're standing, but it means a little bit more if you're willing to walk a little bit of a distance for that commitment, doesn't it? If you're willing to do a little sacrifice. And I tell you, if anybody sees you walking around and coming forward to make that commitment, you can basically look at them and say, you saw me here, keep me accountable to this. Right? Help me to live this life. Help me to live this way. God wants to do that work in you. Let's pray. God, we trust You this morning and we trust that we can come and pour out our heart before You in all that we do this morning. That we can come and cast all of our cares upon You because You care for us. We can lay all of our burdens down at Your feet. And anytime we don't know what to do, we can cast all our care upon You. And I know that's true, Father. But I know at times we need to be reminded of that, Father, and sometimes we get so caught up in our problems and ourselves and things that are going on in our life and we forget that You're right there and You want us to come and pour out our heart before You. So I pray this morning You'll take the things we've talked about and You'll just weave a pattern of good works in our life, Father, and weave that desire in our heart to come to You and to say, I'm willing to make that commitment. I'm willing to be faithful and obedient to You, and I'm willing to learn what it means to be content. Maybe my eyes have been focused on the wrong things lately, and I want to get them right back where they should be. God, do a work in every heart here this morning, I pray. Father, I just want to pray too for those that are here this morning that never trusted Your Son as their Savior. They don't know anything of what we talked about this morning. But I know right now that they can ask Jesus to come into their life, and they can become a new person. They'll be willing to repent of their sin, Father, and so I pray that You'll bring them to Yourself this morning. And I also pray, Father, that You'll make us faithful and obedient to those who know You and love You. Lord, I just pray that You'll do a work in our heart this morning. We pray that in Jesus' name, Amen.