There was a new survey conducted by the Harris Poll on behalf of the American Psychiatric Association. It tells a story of uncertainty and disillusion. Three-quarters of adults, 75%, agreed that violence and crime are a significant source of stress in their lives. Inflation was reported as a source of stress for the vast majority of adults, 83%. And the majority of all adults also said the economy, 69%, and money, 66%, are a significant source of stress. 70% of adults reported they do not think people in the government care about them. And 64% said they feel their rights are under attack. Further, nearly half of adults, 45%, said they do not feel protected by the laws of the United States. More than 3 quarters of adults, 76%, said that the future of our nation is a significant source of stress in their lives, while 68% said this is the lowest point in our nation's history that they can remember. Two in three adults, 66%, said the current political climate is a significant source of stress in their lives. Further, three in five adults said that the current social divisiveness in the nation causes them stress. And slightly more than three in five adults reported that the racial climate in the US is a significant source of stress in their lives. What's more, an alarming proportion of adults reported that stress has an impact on their day-to-day functioning, with more than a quarter, 27%, saying that most days they are so stressed that they can't function. Nearly half, 46% of those under 35, agreed with that statement. Well, since anxiety seems inevitable in people's lives, and since our desire should be to conquer those fears and stresses, we're going to pray this morning, get into our text, and see what God has to say about this issue that seems to be gripping so many of us in our world today. Heavenly Father, we do thank you and praise you again, because although things around us, Lord, oftentimes seem to be coming apart and chaotic and out of control, we have you and your promises to fall back on. And so as we look today here at what our Lord and Savior has to say about the issue of anxiety, the issue of anxiousness and worry, Lord, that it would be cemented into our hearts and ingrained in our minds the truth and the reality of who you are so that we, Lord, can have victory over these things that plague us day in and day out. And we pray it in Christ's name and for his sake. Amen. Well, the topic for this morning's sermon is simply that, anxiety. What is it? Why do we have it? How do we remedy it? Anxiety is defined as a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome caused by fear or danger or misfortune. Our text for this morning's sermon is found within Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6, verses 19-34. Now, just follow along as I read. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness. No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about the body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. I think we can divide the text into two parts. The first part being the cause of anxiety, and that's going to be found in verses 19 to 24. The cause of anxiety. And secondly would be the remedy for anxiety, and that's going to be found in verses 25 to 33, with then our Lord's conclusion to his teaching found in verse 34. Well, in verses 19-24, we find three different contrasts in perspective given to us by Jesus for the purpose of clarifying and simplifying our understanding of the root cause of anxiety. Let's take a look at the first contrast. In verses 19-20, Jesus contrasts two types of treasure, earthly and heavenly. Earthly treasure, according to the Son of God, is subject to corruption, decay, and theft. It doesn't last. And over time, it breaks down and becomes less and less desirable. That's one of the reasons why, when people set their hearts on obtaining and enjoying things, they find that they are continually unsatisfied with these things once they get them. Because of this reality, people just flip from one thing to the next, holding out hope that the next treasure they grab, hold up, will finally satisfy them. But they don't. Now contrast our Lord's description of earthly treasures with those treasures in heaven. Treasures that is not susceptible to corruption, decay, and theft. These treasures are eternal, infinite, and secure. But what are these heavenly treasures? We'll find out later in verse 33 that these would be all things related to the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Many of these treasures are those very things he has been talking about in chapter 5 and up to verse 19 of chapter 6, teachings on inward motives and outward conduct, which would be evident in those who belong to the kingdom and the family of God, those whose lives are marked by behaviors and desires as those listed in the Beatitudes, and being salt and light, loving your enemies, and correctly handling issues of anger, retaliation, and lust. So that's the first contrast Jesus wants us to consider here. But we don't want to stop there because, of course, there's a second one. And this is the contrast between a healthy eye and a bad eye, one eye that lets in light and one that prevents light from coming in. Now, what exactly is Jesus talking about here? We want to be sure to keep in mind the context of these verses, which have as their main focus the idea of treasure and the proper perspective one has in regards to those treasures as well as their effect on a person's behavior as they live out their lives. This picture of the eye is just Jesus' way of describing the way in which we look at things. And as I see it, he only gives two ways of looking at everything in the world. There is what he calls the good, or healthy eye. And in the original Greek, the word for healthy is haplos, which literally means without folds. It's as if Jesus wants us to understand that one's vision needs to be unfolded with a single focus without a double agenda. It is that type of eye which prevents a person from becoming needlessly distracted with the temptations and the lusts and the concerns of the world. Light in scripture is always connected to God and godly things like righteousness and holiness. John chapter 8, verse 12. Again, Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. Psalm 27, 1. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? Psalm 119, 130. The unfolding of your words gives light. It imparts understanding to the simple. John 1, 9. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. John 3.21. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out by God. 2 Corinthians 4.6 says this, For God, who said, Let light shine out of the darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And that's just a few of the many examples in scripture of light being tied to godly things. On the other hand, darkness is always associated with Satan, godlessness, sin, death. Jesus connects the bad or evil eye with an overwhelming and an all-encompassing darkness. He says your body will be full of darkness and how great will that darkness be. So these are your two options in the second contrast. Good, healthy, and full of light. Or bad, evil, and full of darkness. I hope you're beginning to see the pattern here in relation to these contrasts, since Jesus' purpose here is to drive home a particular point. So if you're going to look at a third contrast, it should become clearer for you. The third contrast Jesus shows us in verse 24 is between two masters. God or mammon, which can be any type of wealth, not necessarily only money, although money certainly is included in the description. Jesus again says here that a person must choose between these two masters because you cannot serve them both. And why? He says because you will love the one and hate the other, and be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money, says our Lord. Now we like to think we can. We are great compromisers. Or we think we are serving God by making money. True, we can use our money to serve God. Some people do. But if our hearts are set on possessions, which is probably an accurate description of most of us most of the time, we're not actually serving God, whatever we may suppose we are doing. There's a story told of an old farmer who reported happily to his wife that his best cow had given birth to twin calves, one red and one white. He said, you know, I've been led of the Lord to dedicate one of the calves to him. We will raise them together, and then when the time comes to sell them, we will keep the money from the one calf and the money from the other we will give to the Lord. His wife asked which one he was going to dedicate to the Lord, but he answered that there was no need to decide that now, since he was going to treat them both alike. Several months later, he came into the kitchen looking very sad. When his wife asked what he was troubled with, he answered, I have bad news. The Lord's calf is dead. But you had not decided which was to be the Lord's calf, she objected. Oh, yes, he said. I had always determined that it was to be the white one, and it's the white one that has died. Now, that may be a humorous story, but unfortunately, it probably is a good description of most people when it comes to giving up earthly goods in favor of heavenly treasure. So what is the point that Jesus is making here in this section with these three contrasts? Well, all three of these examples relate to the topic that he begins with in verse 19, things we treasure. All the positive sides of these contrasts are talking about the same thing, just in various forms. Heavenly treasure, with all of its qualities. The good or healthy eye, with a single focus, letting in an abundance of light. and God as our master with all of his qualities and attributes. He wants us to see this massive difference between the quality and the benefits between these two choices. He does it three times to drive home the certainty of what he says, and as a result, the absolute absurdity of choosing earthly stuff over our glorious God with all the blessings that come with him. Jesus wants our perspective to be the right perspective, Because you see, at the root of anxiety, the thing that causes it most often is our inability to see and understand things correctly, that is, biblically. When we lower ourselves to pursuing temporal earthly treasure with all of its uncertainty, we will inevitably fall into feelings of anxiety. Depending on which treasure you seek after, that choice will determine how you face those circumstances that come into your life that produce those feelings of anxiety. Jesus expects those who have put their hope in God and all of his promises to choose the right road. Because to do otherwise would be absolutely foolishness, actually bordering on insanity. And that brings us to our second point this morning, which is the remedy to anxiety. And that's in verses 25 to 33. So Jesus, having laid out the case that anxiety is caused by choosing the wrong treasures and having the wrong perspective on life, now starts verse 25 with the word, therefore. Now we know from our lessons on how to study the Bible that any time a passage begins with the word therefore or so, it references back to what came before it. This is why we started our sermon by briefly looking at verses 19 to 24, talking about the perspective we have and where our heart is pursuing different treasures. Verse 25 is a bridge from what came before to what is about to follow. And that bridge clearly tells us, therefore I tell you, do not be anxious. Now the first thing I want to be clear to point out is the word I in verse 25. It is vastly important to understand clearly and without any shadow of doubt that the person giving us this command is none other than our Lord and our Savior, the Eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ. Yes, I do use the word command here because the Greek language used by Jesus as He spoke the words I say presents this action as something real or certain. In other words, it's an objective fact. So these words carry the full weight and authority of God himself. And why can Jesus speak with such certainty regarding anxiety? Because of the earlier contrast we just looked at. As believers in Christ, having chosen God as our treasure, we now see and understand with a clear eye all that this union with God through his Son Jesus means. As a result, Jesus commands believers not to be anxious about our lives, And then just to make sure that we fully understand the significance of our calling as believers, Jesus now gives examples to support his statement. Well, he begins in verse 25 by telling us not to be anxious about what we will eat or what we will drink, nor about our body, what we will put on. But why? Because he says, his reason is this, is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? So in that reason that he gives, he mentions two things. Almost as a summary, before he ever gets into his examples of the birds and the flowers, they are our life and our body, both being of greater importance and value than those things that support them. Well, why does he do this? Jesus wants us to take a step backwards, actually, to see the forest and not be overwhelmed by all the trees. He says, in effect, stop and think about this before you become anxious about what is happening to you and around you. Martin Lloyd-Jones, in his commentary on the Sermon on the Mount, puts it this way. He says, quote, What does our Lord mean by this? Well, the argument is a very profound and powerful one, and how prone we are to forget it. He says, in effect, take this life of yours, about which you are tending to worry and become anxious. How have you gotten it? Where has it come from? And the answer, of course, is that it is a gift from God. Man does not create life. Man does not give being to himself. Not one of us has decided to come into this world, And the very fact that we are alive at this moment is entirely because God willed and God decided it. Life itself is a gift, a gift from God. So the argument which our Lord uses is this. If God has given you the gift of life, the greater gift, do you think he is now suddenly going to deny himself and his own methods and not see to it that that life is sustained and enabled to continue? End quote. As it says in the hymn that we sang, God will take care of you through every day or all the way. He will take care of you. God will take care of you. Now, Jesus does not here in this passage tell us how he will do that, or what it will look like, or even whether it will be painful or not. But he is assuring us that it will be done. Romans 8, 32 says this to us. He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, How will he not also with him graciously give us all things? And of course, that same argument applies to the body. If the body is also a gift from God, then he will most assuredly see to it that it has all it needs for covering and protection. God is the giver and the sustainer of life. Now, I would like to point out to us all that this truth is not meant to be understood only in the general sense, but rather in an individual, case-by-case situation. You see, our Lord is intimately involved in our individual lives. We're not simply a blob of cells that somehow was spit out by some evolutionary process. Absolutely not. God is concerned about us, one by one. To put it in simple and straightforward language, since it is God himself who gives us life in our body, in which we live out this life, we can then conclude that his purpose with respect to us individually will be fulfilled. God always finishes what he starts, and whatever he has purposed, he will surely accomplish. Since we can be certain that God has a plan and a purpose for our lives, and that it will certainly be carried out, we must, therefore, never be anxious about our lives or what is necessary to sustain it. That is in the hands of God Almighty. And this is Jesus' argument, based ultimately on the sovereignty of God, that God is the ruler of the universe. And yet, we are known to him one by one, and are in a personal relationship to him, if you're a believer. Hebrews chapter 11, called the Heroes of Faith chapter, gives us a whole list of people who didn't always understand why things were happening, but they knew that God did. They had a confidence not in themselves, but in God who had brought them into being for a certain purpose to be fulfilled and that he would always be with them. And once their purpose was fulfilled, he would receive them into his glorious presence in heaven for all eternity. We must apply that same understanding to our lives as well. So Jesus now goes from his general statement about the life and the body to give some specific visual examples to drive home this truth about our tendency to get overly anxious about our earthly existence. He wants again, as he mentioned in verses 19 to 24, to have our perspective focused on who God is and what he has done, not only for us, but for his entire creation. His care and concern overspreads all that he has made. Verse 26 says to look at the birds of the air. They don't plant crops. They don't harvest a crop. They don't build barns to put their stores in. Now, it is certainly true that there is definitely a difference between the way of life of a bird and that of a man. For the bird, their sustenance is provided for them. For the man, God has established a process. He sows. Later, he reaps the grain from the seed. And after harvesting, he gathers it into barns and stores it until he needs it. That is man's way. And it is the right way. Genesis 3.19 says, by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread. You see, at the beginning of creation, seed time and harvest time were determined by God, not by man. Sowing, reaping, and gathering was how God had always designed it. Even before the fall, man's task was to care for the garden. However, after the fall, agriculture became difficult with thorns and thistles, instead of beautiful, bountiful crops every year. Man always was supposed to work the ground, and it is still the right way today. The Bible says that if a man will not work, then he shall not eat. So, yes, we are to do whatever is in our power to do, but just like the weather, we cannot control the results of our work. But the point Jesus is making here is that if God will supply the needs of the birds through His general providence, how much more your needs? You being of so much greater value to your Heavenly Father than they are. Matthew 10, 29-31 tells us this, Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father, but even the hairs of your head are all numbered. If you're not, therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows. Now here's a point that must be made, of course. Although God does deal in a providential manner with all of mankind, as we see in Matthew 5.45 where it says, for he makes his son rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust. Although he does that, these specific statements that Jesus gives us here are for God's children only. For those who have been adopted into the family of God through faith in God's Son. And it is only a Christian who can know fully what it means to be able to call out to God, Abba, Father. It is important to understand that the word Abba is a term of tender endearment by a beloved child who is in an affectionate, dependent relationship with their father. Sometimes it's translated as daddy or papa. Romans 8.14-17 says this, For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. You do not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, Abba, Father. And the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him, in order that we may also be glorified with him. As children of God, we are to rest in the safety and security of his arms and cast all of our cares upon him. Why, you ask? Well, verse 27 tells us why. It says, then which of you, being anxious, can add a single hour to a span of life? What Jesus is not saying here is that anxiety is unhealthy, although it is. Rather, what he is continuing to tell us here is that our life, our gift from God, is in his hands. Again, we do all we can within the scope of the ability that God's given us, yet with all of our food and drink, all of our medical knowledge, and all of our learning, science, and skill, we cannot add a fraction to the duration of our life. God's word tells us in Psalm 139.16, your eyes saw my unformed substance. In your book was written every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. So in spite of all our modern advances in knowledge, our times are still in the hands of God. And since this is the undeniable truth, Jesus argues, why the fuss and the bother? Why all the getting worked up? Why all the worry and anxiety? Life is a gift from God. He starts it. He determines the end of it. He sustains it. And we are in His hands. So when you tend to become worried or anxious, as we all will, and inevitably we do, remind yourself of God's truth. He sovereignly controls your entire existence. So then we are able to leave those cares to Him and really recognize the utter futility and waste of time and waste of energy involved in worrying about these things. So do those things that are within your power to do and remember this truth. The remainder of your life here on Earth is in the hands of God, your Heavenly Father. So Jesus brings us another example from nature in verse 28 where his focus now turns to the issue of clothing and covering. He tells us to consider the lilies and the flowers of the field and how they grow. They don't toil or spin, yet look at them. Look at their beauty and their perfection. Whenever we get a chance to get to St. Cloud, we always take time to stop at the Munsinger Clemens Flower Gardens. If you've never been there, I would encourage you to go. It's 21 acres of hundreds of thousands of flowers of varying size, shape, and color. Really beautiful. It does give you an appreciation of the detail that God puts into even the smallest of flowers and plants. Our Lord then tells us that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. And Solomon's glory was legendary among the Jews. The Old Testament is full of examples of his marvelous clothing, the garments of all of his servants and staff, his palaces of cedar wood, and his furniture overlaid with gold and many precious stones. And yet, Jesus tells us that his glory pales in comparison to just one of these flowers. That's because there's a special quality in the flowers, in their form and design, texture and substance, and in their coloring, that man with all of his skill simply cannot truly imitate. I mean, think about this. Many of these grasses and flowers out there in nature are never seen by a human eye. They're here one day and gone the next. And yet God takes the time and care to make sure that each one is just right. which is exactly the point that Jesus is making here again in verse 30. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow thrown in the oven, will he not much more clothe you? The lilies and grass are here today with all of their radiant beauty and perfection, and then just as quickly they're gone. They're what we call transient. They don't last very long. We, however, are immortal. As the crown of God's creation, we are not only a creature of time, we also belong to eternity. It's not an accurate statement to say that we are here today and gone tomorrow, because man is not meant to die. It is true that God says in Genesis 3, Till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken, for you are dust, and of dust you will return. However, that was not spoken in regards to the soul of man. Being made in the image of God certainly gives us a natural dignity and greatness, but we also have eternal existence beyond death in the grave. And once you come to understand and believe that truth about yourself as a believer, can you also believe that the God who created you and destined you for such a glorious future is actually going to neglect your body as you live your life in this world? Of course not. As he says, oh, you have little faith. Now, that sounds rather harsh and a bit judgmental, some might say. You don't know what it's like. You still have a job. You didn't lose your house in a fire. Your car still runs. You don't have all my medical bills. If you were in my shoes, you wouldn't say that. Except, it isn't me saying it. It is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So here Jesus gets to the root of the problem. After spending time explaining logically and clearly why we should not worry, he says that the real problem is that we have little faith. Now thankfully, he doesn't say no faith, and that is because, as we were reminded earlier, this teaching is for believers. So what exactly does he mean? What Jesus is saying is that these believers have a little faith, but it is an insufficient faith. It's a little faith which believes unto salvation, but has not fully taken hold of the promises of God. I would encourage you to do a study on the promises of God. Go through the Bible and make a list, and you will find the number of his promises to be positively overwhelming. As Peter describes him in 2 Peter 1, 3-4, his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. There isn't any aspect or area of our lives that is not covered by these promises of God. But since we often concentrate on some particular promises, mostly regarding salvation, we do not fully grasp all that is promised to us. And because of that, we will at certain times and in certain areas do well while failing miserably in others. instead of Christians that we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, but that we do not believe him when he makes statements like this one found in Matthew 11, 28 to 29. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. And yet we keep our problems and worries to ourselves and then become weighted down by all the cares. We get defeated by them, become anxious about things. And yet there are so many other promises from both the Old and New Testament that we simply just do not grab onto. That is the ultimate trouble, isn't it? Little faith does not really take the scripture as it is, and believe it, and live by it, and apply it. You see, God doesn't change. He is exactly as He was at the beginning, exactly as He was 2,000 years ago shown to us in Christ Jesus, and exactly as He is today as we see Him in His Word. His Word is absolute and eternal, which means for us today, we must take the Bible and its teachings as it is in its context and know that it is speaking to us so that we don't dismiss it in any way. We have to learn to take it at face value. But it's not enough to simply stop at the point of belief and then fail to apply what we know and claim to believe to our circumstances. If we don't apply it, do we really believe it? Imagine a tightrope stretched over a quarter of a mile spanning the breadth of Niagara Falls, the thundering sound of the pounding water drowning out all other sounds as you watch a man step under the rope and walk across. This stunning feat made Charles Blondin famous in the summer of 1859. He walked 160 feet above the falls several times back and forth between Canada and the United States as huge crowds on both sides looked on with shock and awe. Once he crossed in a sack, once he crossed in stilts, another time on a bicycle, and once he even carried a stove and cooked an omelet. The story is told that on July 15th, Blondin walked backward across the tightrope to Canada and returned pushing a wheelbarrow. It was after pushing the wheelbarrow across while blindfolded that Blondin asked for some audience participation. The crowds had watched and oohed and aahed. He'd proven that he could do it. Of that, there was no doubt. But now he was asking for a volunteer to get into the wheelbarrow and take a ride across the falls with him. It is said that he asked his audience, do you believe that I can carry a person across in this wheelbarrow? Of course, the crowd shouted that yes, they believed. It was then that Blondin posed the question, who will get in the wheelbarrow? And of course, nobody did. That's what it means to say, I believe, but not really believe. Actions don't match up with words. Remember the incident during Jesus' ministry found in Luke chapter 8. Jesus was asleep in the stern of the boat, and a windstorm came up, and the waves were crashing into the boat, causing the boat to fill with water. The disciples became worried and anxious, so they woke up Jesus and cried, We're perishing! Jesus proceeds to rebuke the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased. Jesus' response to them sums up what we've been talking about. Where's your faith? Where is it? You have it, but where is it? Why don't you apply your faith to this? You see, it's not just enough to say we have faith. We have to apply that faith. So Jesus now a second time says, therefore do not be anxious about all those things you've been talking about, food, drink, clothing, for all the reasons he's already stated. He then compares the responses of believers and unbelievers to the stresses of life. For the Gentiles, or unbelievers, seek after these very things Jesus tells us not to be anxious about. We as believers ought to have a different focus of our desires. Now this word seek is a very strong one. It means to earnestly, continually pursue after. Jesus gives us this truth so we would have a kind of litmus test to use in examining our own responses to the circumstances in our life. He's saying, don't be like them. They don't have any options because their minds and hearts are all caught up in their earthly existence. They don't know any better. They don't know about eternity. They don't know about joy in Christ or about forgiveness of sins. They simply can't do anything else. But you, you must be different. You must be better. And why? Because as he now states for the second time, your Heavenly Father, Abba Father, knows that you need them all. I would, just by way of reminder, direct you to all that it means to have an all-knowing, all-powerful, ever-present God as an Abba Father who personally and individually loves and cares for you. So Jesus has a better plan. He says, seek, and there's that same Greek word again. So we are to earnestly and continually run after, pursue the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And then when we do this, all those other things will be added to us. So earlier I mentioned that the Kingdom of God and His righteousness refers in large parts to the Sermon on the Mount, including the Beatitudes, as I mentioned. As Paul says to the Colossians in chapter 3, he says, If then you have been raised with Christ, seek things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ and God. And when Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will also appear with Him in glory. The nearer we live to God, the less we are aware of the things of this life and of the world, and the greater our confidence in Him and His promises. The more holy we are, the better we will know Him as our Father, and then nothing that happens will upset our stability because it's founded on that relationship with Him. It's important to point out, though, that this commandment, 33, also comes with a definite, specific promise. The promise is this, if we do truly seek after the things of God first and foremost, these other things will be added to us. They're going to be thrown in as part of the package deal. Remember the story of Solomon. Solomon did not pray for riches and length of days. He prayed for wisdom instead. And God said, in fact, because you've not prayed for these other things, I'm going to give you wisdom if you ask for, and I'll give you those other things as well. God threw those in as a package deal because Solomon's perspective and his desires were right. So what do we have to do? We have to put God, His glory, and the coming of His kingdom, our relationship to Him, our nearness to Him, our holiness as the central focus of our life. And then we have the promised Word of God Himself through the lips of His Son and all these other things, as they are necessary for well-being in this life and world, shall be added unto you. That's the way to increase your faith. Don't be like the Gentiles. And we let God, your Heavenly Father, Abba Father, knows all about you and is watching over you. So let tomorrow worry about itself. And so we trust God for what you need today. Let's pray. Lord, I do thank you again that your word has the answer to our anxiousness, our worry. If our perspective is right, and we know you as our Heavenly Father, Abba Father, who cares for us individually, knows us personally, loves us infinitely, that we can have confidence and not fear. As your word tells us, every one of our days is in your hand. And so we pray and ask that you would quiet our hearts, give us peace in that understanding, in that truth of who you are and who we are as believers. And for those who aren't believers, I pray that they would beg you to save them, cry out to you, to know you. Because apart from that, they simply will not know what it means to be loved by a heavenly, caring Father, and who gave us His Son as proof. And we pray it in Jesus' name and for His sake. Amen. All right, we're going to finish up by singing a hymn that's in your insert in your bulletin. Be still, my soul. I'm