Matthew chapter six, verses 19 through 34. This is the inerrant word of the Lord Jesus, which he spoke in the Sermon on the Mount, beginning in verse 19. 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 lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body would be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness. No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food in the body, more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you, by worrying, can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin, and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Father in heaven, we thank you for your precious word. We come as your people in great need of hearing it. Oh Lord, open our eyes and we might behold wondrous things from your law. Help us to prepare our hearts to apply what we hear today. And we thank you for your goodness to us. Thank you for your grace lavished on us in the Lord Jesus. We rejoice in your word now and we thank you for this time to hear it in the precious name of Jesus. Amen. Please be seated. I don't know if you have those notes, if those are passed out. You might see the title of this sermon is called Worry Warts. And I don't know, maybe that expression isn't known by many people. Maybe it's a Nebraska thing, I don't know. But my mom called me a worry wart when I was growing up, a lot. And I figured out that she wasn't praising me for that. Because I was worried all the time. I was a great worrier. I trained myself very, very highly in it. And I did not have assurance of my salvation. I wasn't practicing this exhortation that we are seeing today. But the Lord, praise God, redeemed me. He pulled me out of the pit, so to speak, of a life like this, given to worry. Everybody worries, right? But I had made it a real major part of my life. And it was not pleasant. And now, when I looked up that word, worrywart, because I thought, well, I remember my mother calling me that, rightly. And so I looked it up, and it doesn't really say where that came from. So I don't know if worrying actually gives you more warts. I had warts when I was a kid, but I didn't think it was because I worried a lot. But I think worry is bad for your health. It's bad for your physical health, and it's bad for your spiritual health. And we'll see that here in just a second. When I first started looking into this passage, and I've been meditating on it a lot over the years, it's a passage I review frequently. It's one of the earlier passages I memorized. because I needed to have this in my mind so the Holy Spirit could bring it to mind. And I saw this kind of a caption, it was a cartoon, and there's a counselor and he's speaking to the patient on his counseling couch. I don't think they even do that anymore, but he's telling this man on the couch, you worry too much, it doesn't do you any good. And the patient said, oh, it does for me. 95% of the things I worry about never happen. Okay, it's true. We worry a lot, don't we? We worry about what will not and maybe even cannot happen. And so I wanna talk about what that means and some of the principles here from this passage. Why do we worry so much? What do we worry about? And what does God give us in order to not live this kind of life? So why do we worry? First of all, We worry because our treasure is in the wrong place. At least our mind is set on something else. And we don't understand or we don't think about what lasting treasure is. In other words, we need to remember what is our treasure. It isn't on this earth. It isn't what we may be laying up. Verse 19 says, 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." If you know where your treasure is laid up for you, where it cannot be destroyed, then you don't need to worry about it. But if your treasures are laid up here, like moth-eaten garments, which back then was a measure of a person's wealth. If you had even more than one, you were fairly wealthy. Or food being eaten away, that's what rust here also speaks of. That the food or the stored grain, which is another measure of wealth, was also, became your treasure, became your security. It could be eaten up in many ways, and your treasure could be stolen, of course. Then, if that's your thinking, then you will worry. But if your treasure is kept in the most secure place that exists, then you won't worry. It's protected there by the Lord of hosts for you, promised for you. It's your inheritance. 1 Peter 1.4 tells us that our true inheritance through the living hope that we have in Jesus Christ, which is incorruptible, it's undefiled because it's kept in heaven for us. And it does not fade there. It does not fade away. It's reserved in heaven for us. It's kept for us. The parable of the rich fool, Luke 12, if you would like to turn to that, I'm gonna refer a little bit to this, beginning in verse 15, this is in Luke 12. Jesus said to us, to them and to us, take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man's life or one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. That is not how the Lord Jesus defines what life is. Life, as Jesus defines it, is not according to the amount of our possessions. Verse 16, then he spoke a parable to them, saying, the ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, what shall I do? Since I have no more room to store my crops, so he said, I'll do this. I will pull down all my barns and build a grater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. He's secure, he feels. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said to him, fool, this night your soul will be required of you. Then whose will those things be? Which you have provided, which you've labored for, which you cling to. Verse 21 says, so is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. So true richness is laying up what God says is treasure, dear family, which is Him, which is the Lord Jesus. He is our treasure. Our relationship with Him makes us rich indeed. And eternal life, according to John 17 3, eternal life is knowing the only true God and His Son, Jesus Christ. That is what life is. Luke 12 again says, the Lord Jesus said, sell what you have and give alms, give, provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail. Where no thief approaches nor moth destroys, for where your treasure is there your heart will be also. So the true treasure cannot fail and it's kept in heaven for us. They are, or can be, a present joy and not a burden for us. Possessions, a lot of them can be, can be very tempting. And they are a future reward, of course, for us, praise God. Randy Alcorn, in a book called The Treasure Principle, maybe some of you read this, I just want to make a few points from his book. The subtitle is called Discovering the Secret of Joyful Giving, so it's a book about giving. And here's a few principles. In the first page, he said, you can't take it with you, but you can send it on ahead. It's a good principle to think of. So just a few points from that book. God owns everything. I'm his money manager, in a sense. In other words, a steward. We are called to manage the assets that he entrusts to us as stewards. That's what stewards do. And it's important to remember that it's all his. And we should invest it as he desires it to be invested. Secondly, my heart always goes where I put my money. That's a general principle. So we should wisely allocate our temporal blessings to invest in eternal things. We should invest in eternal things. Our hearts follow what we treasure, turns out. And God wants our hearts. Third, heaven or the new earth, not the present one, is my true and my lasting home. We have to remember where we are citizens. We're citizens of heaven. And citizens usually invest in their own country, I suppose. They feel that's more secure. They store it up there, where they will end up, hopefully, where their true home is. Fourth, I should live today, not for the dot, but the line. So the dot, if you look at your life as a line, the dot is here, your present life on earth. The line goes on forever by the grace of God. And so in other words, we're to have an eternal perspective in all of these areas. The next point, giving is the only antidote to materialism. Interesting, interesting thought. The only antidote, I'm not sure, but it is an antidote to materialism, giving is. Giving is a joyful surrender to a greater person with a much greater agenda. It dethrones us. It dethrones me and it exalts him. It's a key way to lay up treasure in heaven. So, a paraphrase of verses 22 and, excuse me, looking at the wrong page. God, in verse six, the Lord said, excuse me, let me go back. The sixth point. God prospers me, not to raise my standard of living, but to raise my standard of giving. So God gives us more money than we need. Most of us in this room are in that group. And so we can give generously and we can lay up treasures in heaven and bless many other people. So these principles are also illustrated by a famous quote by Jim Elliot. He said, he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. In other words, the treasure for us, the treasure of the gospel. to gain what he cannot lose. So, dear family, lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where your lasting treasure is kept, the treasure which does not fail, and you won't worry about them. Secondly, we worry because we are not generous with what we consider our treasure, with these blessings that the Lord has given us. The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness? So the eye is the window, in a sense, which allows light to be known, of course. And the amount of light especially the light of the word of God, entering a person's heart and soul impacts his vision of the future, impacts what he does with what he is given and how he sees what is eternal. What he sees is valuable. And if we are blinded by worry and we are not disposed to use and to invest the treasure that the Lord has given us, especially the treasure of his word here on this earth to help people for kingdom purposes, that indeed is darkness. And there are two kinds of eyes in scripture. In this context, the Greek word good means generous. It means bountiful. It means someone with a liberal heart. And for bad, it means grudging or covetous or just ungenerous. So it's a good eye and a bad eye. Proverbs 28, 22. This is related to the evil eye or bad. A man with an evil eye, it says, which means bad or ungenerous, hastens after riches. That's what they do. They're gonna go for that, a grudging spirit. And it says, they do not consider that poverty will come upon them. That is a result of that line of thinking, of not being generous. A grudging spirit distorts our vision, and then we don't see what lasting treasure is. We lose sight of that. We lose sight of what is eternal. What are eternal investments and blessings and treasures? Now, on the other side, Proverbs 22, verse nine. He who has a generous eye It means good, a good eye will be blessed for he gives of his bread to the poor. That's his lifestyle, that's his desire. He gives his bread, which is a basic food, to the poor. A person with a good eye or a cheerful giver will be blessed. He gives his bread, his basic meal, to the needy one. He doesn't hoard it, in other words. And so I paraphrase verses 22 and 23. If your heart is generous, then your whole life will be filled with light and you will see what it is to be treasured. And if your heart is not generous, you'll be filled with darkness, it says. You will be mostly blind to what are the true riches. And there's nothing like generosity to give you a clear view of what is lasting. And what I mean by that is people, the souls of people and the word of God, the kingdom of the Lord. Be grudging or ungenerous because we worry, we're just so worried, how can I give this away? We're worried about our own needs. It distorts our view of what is lasting again, what is eternal. There are riches, treasures in heaven to those who are generous for God's glory. Proverbs 11.25 tells us the generous soul, the one with the good eye, will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself. The Lord will bless that person, certainly spiritually. 2 Corinthians 9, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver. So a generous eye seers clearly because he sees more as our generous God sees. Paul said to Timothy this, 1 Timothy chapter six, command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty or proud of that fact, of their accumulated riches, nor to trust in uncertain riches, because they can fade away, but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they may be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come that they may lay hold of eternal life. And so dear family, our generosity, our liberality now, our good works now, has an impact on what we store up for eternity, and on helping us to not become worry warts, to become given over to worry. And then third, we worry because we try to serve two masters. We take our eyes off of our only master. No one can serve two masters, right? For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Now the original meaning of mammon was that which is entrusted to another, that which was given to someone for safekeeping. but the meaning gradually changed and it was used here to mean that in which a man puts his trust. In other words, it has become a god, become an idol. There are many possible idols in our lives, right? Certainly, like we're talking material gain, those kind of treasures, there's reputation, there's status, there's acclaim, there's success, there's comfort, many. As Jesus said to the rich young ruler in Matthew 19, if you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have, I think he meant everything, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me then, come follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had many possessions, great possessions. His possessions possessed him. They were his master, and so he couldn't follow the Lord. But we are to look to our only master, our Lord Jesus. In Hebrews 12, we're to look to him. We're to run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Our focus should be on him. as we run this race that he's set us on. He is the author of our faith, he is our master, and he is the one who shows us the finish line, the place where our eternal riches are stored. Our master commanded and gave a promise in Hebrews 13. He said, let your conduct be without covetousness. Be content with such things as you have, for he himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. That is the promise we should cling to. If we covet, if we are not content, if we're living a life of discontentment because we're worrying, it is clear that we don't believe this promise. And we're not acting, at least, on this promise. I will never leave you, nor forsake you, if we stop looking to him. But if we look to our master, who is our ultimate treasure, really, we will not fear. We will not live lives of worry about our future. And then, next, we worry because we misunderstand what true life is. We kind of forget. We need to be reminded. Verse 25 says, the Lord said, therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Certainly it is. But it's hard to see that in this world that we are in and that we've grown up in, which worships things. And it basically says, give your life to these things. Lord Jesus is our life. And in 1 John 5, it says, this is the testimony that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his son. He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life, as the Lord defines true life. And because he is our life and he gave us life, he gives us breath each day to live, not to worry. Worry is a sin against the Lord our God. And worry is one of those sins that so easily ensnares us on this race that we are in as we look to Jesus. It hinders us. So all those who do not know that Jesus Christ is eternal life, and I was one of those. I was not assured as a young man when I lived a life of worry. They have great reason to worry, don't they? And all those who know him have life, praise God, and are commanded here not to worry. It's a command. This is not about saying that you shouldn't exercise prudence or foresight or planning, any of those things. The Lord here is forbidding us to worry, which takes the joy out of life and distracts us from true life in him. God gives life in Christ and so we should trust in him. for the things which are necessary to support life. And we should act in faith. That pleases Him, that's clear in Scripture. Worry does not please Him. We worry because we misunderstand our value to our Heavenly Father, who we are in Him. He purchased us, we are His. Verse 26 says, look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? The point is that birds, it isn't that birds don't work, they work hard, but they don't worry, and they sing. They go around singing all the time. Maybe we should do that rather than worry. Maybe we should sing. Sing the Psalms and worry less. Matthew Henry said this, he that provides for inferior creatures, that means people not made, creatures not made in the image of God, he provides for these inferior creatures without their labor, will much more provide for us. He who does that will provide for us by blessing our labor, which he has made our duty. So birds trust instinctively in their creator's providence, and so should we as his children. Luke 12, verse 24 says the same thing. Basically, consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn, and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds. So the answer to that is that you are so valuable and you are so loved that the Lord of life came and became like you and he died for you and he paid the penalty for you. That's how much you are loved. And the more we grasp our value to him, meaning the more we understand the gospel, the good news in Jesus Christ, the less we will worry that he won't provide all that we need. Romans 8, 32. I could ask you all to quote this. He who did not spare his own son, the living God, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Yes, indeed. Why would he withhold? He did not withhold his only son. He freely gave him. Later in Luke 12, verse 32, our Lord Jesus said, do not fear, little flock. For it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. And so our inheritance is also beyond comprehension, as is our salvation. We are so wealthy, dear family, that we can't even begin to grasp it. And because he values us as his own, It is God's good pleasure, it is his free grace to abundantly give to us. He is continually giving to us. We are heirs with God and joint heirs with Christ who is himself our treasure again. He is our portion. And so how can we justify continued worry when we have an inheritance like we do awaiting us because we are so valued and loved by our Heavenly Father? Well next, we worry because we think our worry actually does something. It actually accomplishes something, we think. We maybe think it's helpful somehow, it's productive. I used to think so. Oh, I'm gonna worry about this and maybe I'll come to some solution. Verse 27 says, which of you, by worrying, can add one cubit to his stature? In other words, increase the length of your life. Can we add 18 inches to our stature? No. Well, I don't think so. I mean, you can do it mechanically, I suppose, but you know what I mean. The meaning here is can we add anything to the length of our life by worrying? Well, no. In fact, there's a lot of studies that show It shortens our lives, the length of our lives. Heart disease increases with worry. Ulcers, stress-related illnesses, they all reduce quality of life and length of life. This is not a good way, dear family, to take care of our body, the body that our master gave to us to be stewards of. Worry is not, plainly, worry is not good stewardship. In Luke 12, verse 26, the Lord pointed out, if then you are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest? Worrying does not make us able to add even the shortest amount of time to our lives. So it is useless, it is not pleasing to the Lord to worry about that which we cannot know and cannot do. Yes, indeed, family, we are called to work, and we're called to provide, and we're called to create, but to do it all as we trust in Him and rely on His grace. And thank Him for enabling us to be involved in this work, in the work of the kingdom. 1 Corinthians 4, 7 asks this question. What do you have that you did not receive? Unless he had created it all, and unless he continues to give to us, we couldn't even meet the basic needs of our lives. Faith accomplishes great things because it brings us to the storehouse. It brings us to our provider who has promised to never leave us or forsake us. So we do not accomplish much by worrying. I might have shared some of these before. I think maybe I did share this here, but I found this quote, and it said, worry is like sitting in a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn't get you anywhere. Well, lastly, we worry because we don't want to let God provide in his time. He is our provider. We don't want him to do it in his time. We don't want to follow him in his way. We want to do it our way. In other words, we simply are not living by faith. Verse 28, why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. And yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Now in his time, Solomon was really decked out amazingly. He wore these fabulously rich clothes. But none of that, according to the Lord Jesus, compared to the beauty of a flower. The beauty of flowers is beyond really our ability to imitate. And yet if God so clothes them that way, as short-lived as they are, will he not much more care for us, his chosen people? So this section ends calling worriers, you of little faith. And so maybe back then, instead of being called worry warts, they would have been called little faiths. Now Paul explained to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6, we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. So in other words, eternal treasure can be, should be sent on ahead. Having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves with many sorrows." So most non-Christians, and too many Christians try to ease their worry by various ways, but one is by being greedy and hoarding. And they do not let the Lord provide in his wondrous ways when we trust him in faith. And he works that out for his glory in his perfect time. That pleases him because it is by faith again. Without faith it is impossible to please him. So my question would be, are you developing the habit of asking him to provide? And will you let him provide, trusting that he will in his good and wise providence? If you then, being evil, in other words, being a sinner, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him? Matthew 7. So ask in faith to the one who is your provider. So just a quick review. We worry, a lot of reasons for worry. We worry because our treasure is possibly in the wrong place and we don't understand or we lose focus on what is lasting treasure? What is our eternal treasure? What should be our eternal focus? Also, we worry because we aren't generous with what God has given us, with the wealth that he has blessed us with, with our possessions on this earth. And the Lord gives us those so that we can serve and so we can bless others. We worry because we try to serve two masters. Can't be done. We take our eyes off of our only master. We misunderstand. Another reason for worry, we misunderstand what true life is. It is to know the Lord Jesus and to serve him as our master. And we misunderstand our value to our Heavenly Father, how much He loves us and His work of redemption for us. We also worry because we think it will accomplish something. Somehow we've convinced ourselves that this will work. And we don't want to let God provide in His time and His way. So the final question is to conclude, how do we stop this habit? The bad habit. First of all, ask the right questions to the right person. If you're gonna ask all these questions, ask the right person. Verse 31 says, therefore do not worry, saying, what shall we eat, what shall we drink, what shall we wear? For after all these things the Gentiles seek, for your Heavenly Father knows that you need these things. So they were all asking those questions. That's what they thought about all the time. What are we gonna eat next? There are many of our brothers around the world who ask these questions. They don't know where the next meal comes from. They barely have enough to drink or wear. Verse 32 says, after all these things the Gentiles seek. Everybody. for your Heavenly Father knows that you need these. So remember that I mentioned earlier that to the people Jesus was speaking to, stored up food was a measure of wealth and security. And of course, it's a legitimate need, as is clothing, certainly having water, those kinds of things. And unbelievers sought, and they still seek, after all these things, as ends in themselves though. They seek them as ends in themselves, as their security. Because they are not citizens of heaven. They don't even understand what it means to lay up treasures in heaven. And their idols cannot provide ease from habitual worry. But before the Lord taught the disciples the pattern of prayer earlier in this passage, Matthew 6, he said, your father knows the things you have need of before you ask him. He knows what we need before we ask, but he commands us to ask in prayer, in faith, that his name would be glorified. And so our questions to ourselves about our necessities should not be out of worry, or despair, certainly, like, you know, what shall I eat, what shall I drink, what shall I wear, or any number of questions that you may have in particular to your own life. And for all of us, maybe you could be asking even now, what am I gonna do about a recession? What am I gonna do about rampant inflation? What am I gonna do about supply chain disruptions? You can worry about all those things if you want to. And if we're asking these questions to ourselves in fear, it shows that we don't really trust that he knows our needs. We're not trusting him. And that, dear saints, is called the sin of unbelief. And it grieves the Holy Spirit. The better question to ask ourselves and to remind ourselves of are, for example, who is my provider? To remember who my provider is. Who is my provider? I must remember the Almighty God is my provider. And who has promised to provide for me? Oh, the one who died for me and rose again in victory. He's the one who promised to provide for me. And will I trust in him? That's a good question. And what promises can I cling to that I would live by faith? But seek first, it says, the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. The Lord Jesus is king of the true and the lasting kingdom, the one where our treasure can accumulate. And it is wise to seek his kingdom first, to make that the priority of our lives on every single day. And it's wise to seek the king of righteousness always, and thus grow in his righteous character, rather than sin against him by our worry. So we should expend our energy, first and foremost, on every day, every given day, in seeking him, not in worry. If we begin our day with that, it tends to color everything. If we begin our day with him, then we're looking to the one who provides, who gives us precious and very great promises. Family, worry expends a lot of energy. I think I wore myself out worrying about all those things. I would go from one to the other. So all these things here, all the necessities that we worry about so much, those are just added to us, given to us, even beyond our necessities by His grace as we seek Him first. Those who are busy seeking Him will not waste so much time and energy with a life of worry. Finally, stop worrying. We should stop worrying by living by faith today. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. There is usually plenty of challenge in a given day, right? To exercise the faith that the Lord is developing in us. Pray about tomorrow, certainly. Cling to his promises, yes, for tomorrow. Commit your fears to him. Commit your worries to him about tomorrow, to the Lord. And so you'll be living by faith today, not presuming that you have strength to deal with today's trouble and tomorrow's also. Now again, worry is the sin of unbelief and the sin of fear and we have to confess that. It's important that we confess when we worry like this. And then repent by turning in faith to the Lord and to his promises daily. I'd like to conclude with two quotes, two famous people. First of all, John Newton. John Newton said, we can easily manage if we will only take each day the burden appointed to it. But the load will be too heavy for us if we carry yesterday's burden over again today and then add the burden of tomorrow before we're required to bear it. It's too much. Corey Tenboom. said, worrying is carrying tomorrow's load with today's strength. In other words, carrying two days at once. It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time. It's a presumption. Worrying does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength. May the Lord keep us from this. So dear brothers and sisters, let's ask the right questions to the right person. the Lord Jesus Christ, let's seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and exercise faith daily. And may the Lord keep us from being consumed and weakened by worry. Let's pray. The Lord of all, you are our provider and you are our master. Oh Lord, forgive us for the sin of worry, for not seeking you first, for not trusting in you and in your precious and very great promises. Oh Lord, develop in us, we pray, hearts which trust in you and know the joy of laying up treasures in heaven, those invested in your kingdom. Oh Lord, open our eyes to see that you value us and you love us far beyond what we can comprehend. and enable us, we pray, by the power of your Holy Spirit to walk by faith in your provision and in your timing and in your way. Oh Lord, may we be so focused on you that we will worry less and less and glorify you as the Lord who bought us and cares for us. And Lord, we pray all these things in the name of Jesus Christ, our Master and our King. Amen.