I do invite you to take the Word of God and let us turn back to Matthew 6. As we are looking this morning at what I am calling God's answer to anxiety. Matthew 6, we'll begin reading at verse 25. to the end of the chapter, verse 34. These are the recorded words of our Lord Jesus Christ in what has come to be known to us through Augustine, who called this passage the Sermon on the Mount. But it was a sermon that Jesus preached to His disciples. to his future apostles, and this is what he expressed in this portion. Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious 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? 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." This is the Word of God for the people of God on God's holy day. I want to begin our study this morning in Matthew chapter 6, 25-34 by asking a rather simple but pointed question. Do you ever struggle with anxiety? Do you ever struggle with anxiety? Are there ever times or seasons or even just moments when you feel overcome, as it were, with a gripping fear about the future you can neither see nor control? You are concerned about what may be called legitimate things, but your concern is over the top. It's obsessive. It is all you can see and think and feel. In fact, it is a concern that actually cripples you, immobilizes you, it controls you, whereby you end up losing touch with reality. Has this ever happened to any of you? Ever? Beloved, what I'm describing is the vice grip. of anxiety. And I firmly believe that if we were all painfully honest with ourselves and with one another, we would have to admit and confess that there have been occasions or seasons where our greatest struggle has been with feeling deeply anxious or worried. Indeed, there is no one, and I repeat, no one who can honestly say, I have never worried a day in my life. Such a claim is not only delusional, but arrogant. And at the very least, it is a claim, listen to this, it is a claim that falls just short of being human. Because frankly, there seems to be nothing more human for fallen creatures like us living in a fallen world than to be given over to a greater or lesser degree to anxiety. So I ask the question, do you ever struggle with anxiety? And the answer for all of us has to be, yes. Yes. But following this question, we have to raise another. What do you do with your anxiety? Or to be more exclusive, what do you do as a Christian with your anxiety? Well, answering this question, Brings us now to our study in Matthew 6, 25-34, where our Lord Jesus expresses very plainly for us as His people, three different times, do not be anxious. As human as it may be for us to be anxious, listen, it is not normal. Did you hear me? Let me say that again. As human as it may be for us to be anxious, yet it is not normal. God did not create us to be an anxious people. Anxiety was never part of God's original creation. Thus the only reason there is anxiety is due to man's fall into sin. In fact, anxiety is the result of man's fall into sin and is therefore the product of sin. Hence, there is nothing normal about anxiety, because anxiety does not conform to God's righteous standard for the way He has created us and redeemed us to live for His glory. This is why, then, when we come to the Word of God, as here in Matthew 6, 25-34, we have a thrice repeated command, do not be anxious. So then when we are anxious as Christians, we are sinning against God. Anxiety is a sin. Yes, it is. And it is a sin whereby we actually distrust God's providence to govern our lives to our good. It is a sin, therefore, rooted in unbelief. When we are anxious, we are not walking by faith, but we are walking by sight. So as a Christian, how do we combat anxiety? How do we win the battle against this sin? What will it take for us to put anxiety to death? Well, answering these questions takes us now into our exposition of Matthew 6, 25-34. I want us to underscore and unpack two major points. First, the reasons against anxiety. Second, the remedy for anxiety. To begin with then, let us consider first the reasons against anxiety. Look with me at verses 25-32. Jesus says, therefore I tell you, do not be anxious 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? 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. Now, as we begin considering this first major point of our study, we must recognize that our Lord Jesus opens up this teaching on anxiety with the word, therefore. Therefore. What this Word is indicating is that this entire passage from verses 25-34 cannot be separated from what has preceded it. In fact, since Jesus employs this term, therefore, as the launching pad into His teaching about anxiety, it is clear that what He will say about this problem and its solution is a conclusion to what He has just been expounding. So, to keep the subject before us in its proper context, we need to remind ourselves as to what our Lord has just taught. In verses 19-24, Jesus has challenged us and called us to live life in the fullness of an unfettered and unencumbered devotion to God and His kingdom. How is this done? First, it is treasuring heavenly treasures as opposed to treasuring earthly treasures. This is what Jesus commands in verses 19 and 20. What does this mean? It means that as Christians, what we prize and value and cherish more than all are the things of God and His kingdom. So then, more than our marriage and family, more than our education or career, more than our health and diet, more than our hobbies or personal projects, none of these legitimate earthly things should ever be what we live for. They must never be our treasure, despite how precious or valuable they may indeed be. But rather, the treasure of a true child of God are the things of Jesus Christ and His kingdom. We treasure heavenly treasures. This means practically that we treasure our growth in grace and the development of greater Christ-like character. It means that we are devoted to the building up of God's kingdom purposes through the local church, fulfilling the Great Commission by reaching and teaching converted sinners to become disciples of Christ. This is what we're devoted to as believers in Christ. Thus, everything else in our lives, which is of this earth, of this world, comes under subjection to God and His Kingdom. Secondly, the focus and vision of our life are the things of God and His Kingdom. This is what Jesus taught us in verses 22 and 23. It is the difference between having an eye that is healthy or having an eye that is bad. A bad eye is metaphorical for having a vision that is worldly and earthly. All one sees by such a vision as this and all they understand about life is that it is all about what you can get and gain from this world only. And Jesus condemns such a vision of life as being nothing but what He calls great darkness. An eye that is healthy is having a spiritual vision which is single-minded on Christ in all that He has called us to be and do for His glory. This is how a Christian is to see everything in the world. It is with Jesus Christ at the beginning, at the end, and at the center. This is what real life is all about. Life is Christ. Life is Christ. But lastly, our service and devotion to God must be wholehearted. This was the thrust and point of what Jesus taught in verse 24. Listen to our Lord's words. 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 mammon. Here is the essence of what it means to be a Christian. My life is lived under the rule and reign and mastery of God Almighty. Nothing else masters me. Nothing else calls the shots, as it were, concerning the direction and the ambition of where my life is going and what it is to be about. God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit master my life. That is at the heart of being a Christian. Hence, our devotion and service to God is to be wholehearted, since God is our Master. It is He alone, listen to this, it is God alone who tells us what to think and feel, what to say and do, and where we should go. Nothing in this world has that kind of dominion over our lives but God. So then, on the heels of this teaching, In verses 19-24, Jesus expresses to us by way of command, therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life. The effect of these words can be understood in this way. If God is your Master, if your vision for life is centered on God and His Kingdom, with your heart treasuring heavenly treasures rather than earthly treasures, then I tell you, do not be anxious about your life. You see, what our Lord is pressing on us in the whole of this passage before us is that if our devotion and service is given to God and His purposes, then when it comes to our life and its necessities here in this world, we have no justified reason to be anxious. Our lives are in God's hands. He is our Creator. He is our Master. He is our Heavenly Father. And He will thereby take care of all our needs. To be worried, therefore, about our life is both irrational, it is unreasonable, not to mention unbelieving for a child of God. But while we have this general scope of Jesus' teaching regarding anxiety in the Christian, we need to look more closely at how our Lord actually deliberates with us as to the irrationality and sinfulness of anxiety. What then are the reasons Jesus gives us as to why we should never be anxious? Well, first of all, notice, Our Lord calls us to consider that our life is more than taking care of our physical needs. Our life is more than taking care of our physical needs. Jesus says, therefore I tell you, do not be anxious 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? While we are not to be indifferent to food, drink, or clothing, and how can we be since they are necessities for living in this world, yet none of these things in life are to master our life. The necessities we have for living, listen to this, the necessities that we have for living, they are to serve us, not to rule us. In other words, life is not about what we need to live in this world. Life is not about food. It's not about drink. It's not about clothing. Such things are very important. They have their rightful place of service to each one of us, but they are not, they are not what determines the true value and estimate of our lives. Life is so much, much more than any of these things, and it is to this reason that our Lord commands us not to be anxious about these things. Now let's think about this. If, in our own perception, life is about food, drink, or clothing, than eating in the most fashionable restaurants, cooking the most elegant meals, wearing the most expensive clothes, or the latest trends in clothing, these things will consume our lives and determine whether we're happy or accepted or valuable in the least degree. This means practically that if such things are lost or destroyed or beyond our reach to possess, then we will be consumed with anxiety. Why? Because this is what we think life is all about. But Jesus calls us to reflect how wrong such thinking is. Is not your life, is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? In other words, what our Lord wants us to see is that the fullness of life is so much more than taking care of our physical needs that relate primarily to our body. Yet this is how the world thinks, isn't it? This is how the world thinks. Everything we see and hear from the world is all about how we can pamper the body, decorate it, exercise it, protect it from disease and pain, build it up, slender it down, drape it with jewelry, keep it warm, keep it cool, train it to work and play, help it to get sleep, and a hundred other different things. The world is consumed and driven by such carnal ambition which always results in having great anxiety. But for the Christian, for the child of God, this is not to be what we think life is all about. Hence, Jesus commands us, do not be anxious about your life. We have no right to be worried over whether or not we will have those necessary things to meet our physical needs. God has promised, as we've already read this morning from Philippians 4, He has promised to supply all our needs according to His glorious riches in Christ. Therefore, whether the Lord gives or takes away, we will always have our physical needs sufficiently met because the source of our life is not food, drink, or clothing, but it is in God. And saying this leads us to the second reason against anxiety. Our Lord calls us to consider the all-encompassing, sovereign provision of our Heavenly Father. Looking at verses 26-30, Jesus says, 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? Now, what I so appreciate about this section of our text is that it really exposes the fact that the problem with anxiety is a spiritual problem. This is a spiritual problem. Listen to me. It is not a mental illness. Now, that flies in the face of modern pop psychology, but my friend, this is not a mental illness. It is a sin of distrusting the sovereign provision and promise of God to meet all our physical needs. And adding even more layers to how sinful anxiety is, I want you to consider what John MacArthur wrote. It's like, you think I'm hard? Listen to this. Anxiety is not a trivial sin because it strikes a blow both at God's love and at God's integrity. Anxiety declares our Heavenly Father to be untrustworthy in His Word and His promises. To avow belief in the inerrancy of Scripture, and in the next moment to express anxiety, is to speak out of both sides of our mouths. Anxiety shows that we are mastered by our circumstances and by our own finite perspectives and understanding, rather than by God's Word. Anxiety is therefore not only debilitating and destructive, but maligns and impugns God. So, as I just said, anxiety is a spiritual problem. This is a spiritual problem. Yes, it does affect how we think and feel. And yes, it also affects us physically as well. But at the core, anxiety is a spiritual problem because it is a problem of the heart. Our hearts are not fully and completely trusting in God to provide what He has promised. This is why right here in verse 30, look at this, Jesus indicts His own worried disciples as men of what kind of faith? Little faith. That was not a compliment. Little faith. When we as Christians are gripped by anxiety, listen, we are proving ourselves to be a people of little faith. You say, what does that mean? This means that while we believe that God has saved us and will keep us saved in Jesus Christ, yet we do not trust Him to meet our daily needs. We have a difficult time praying to our Heavenly Father, give us this day our daily bread. Anxiety chokes the strength of such day-by-day faith in God for His ever-constant provision. This is why, therefore, our Lord Jesus turns our attention to the all-encompassing, sovereign provision of our Heavenly Father to enable us to see and understand how needless and worthless it is to be anxious. In the first place, notice, Jesus tells us to consider how sufficient God's provision is for the birds of the air. Look at the birds of the air, our Lord says. We can just imagine, right at this moment, birds flying over. Jesus says they neither sow, nor read, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father does what? He feeds them. The object lesson here is the fact that birds do not have any complex and intricate process and procedure for gathering their food. But instead, the resources for what they will eat is abundantly provided by our heavenly Father. Now, Jesus is certainly not indicating that birds do nothing to find their food. By the very instincts God created them with, they spend the greater part of their time and energy seeking out food for themselves, their mates, and their young. However, the glaring point which Jesus is making is that you never see birds worried of where their next meal is coming from. God is always providing for the birds of the air what they need to eat. Concerning the glory in this illustration, Martin Luther observed, you see, Jesus is making the birds our schoolmasters and teachers. It is a great and abiding disgrace to us that in the gospel, a helpless sparrow should become a theologian and a preacher to the wisest of men. Whenever you listen to a nightingale, therefore, you are listening to an excellent preacher. It is as if he were saying, I prefer to be in the Lord's kitchen. He has made heaven and earth, and he himself is the cook and the host. Every day he feeds and nourishes innumerable little birds out of his hand. But adding another layer to this illustration, yet in the form of a gentle rebuke, Jesus says to all of us, are you, are you not of more value than they? What does our Lord want us to see by this rhetorical question? If our Heavenly Father so abundantly and sufficiently takes care of such relatively insignificant creatures as birds, then how much more will He take care of us who are created in His image and have become His children through faith in His Son? The question answers itself. It is worthless to worry. In the second place, Jesus reassures us that our life is fully in God's hands from the beginning to the end. Our Lord declares in verse 27, And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life? The point of this question has to do with the longevity of our life. But the implication undergirding this question is that our life, from the first breath to the last, is entirely in God's hands. In other words, God has bounded the life of every person. Exercise good eating and other common-sense practices They are beneficial when done in a reasonable way and looked at in the right perspective They no doubt can improve the quality the quality and the productivity of our lives But listen to this they will not force God in extending our span of life Not a bit Now connecting this truth with the problem the problem of anxiety our Lord's point is deeply profound in searching. Since our life has been designed and determined by God in every step we take and everything we need to fulfill His purpose and carry out His plan, He has provided no more and no less. Now listen to that. Let me say it again. Since our life has been designed and determined by God in every step we take and everything we need, everything we need to fulfill God's purpose and carry out His plan, He has provided no more, no less. Furthermore, Once God's purpose is accomplished through us in this world, He will then take us home, listen, not an hour too soon nor too late. Therefore, why should we ever worry or be anxious when our life in the whole is so firmly fixed and stable in God's hands? Summing up this point, consider what Martyn Lloyd-Jones expressed. It is a great mystery, but we cannot escape it. Our times are in the hands of God, and do what we will. With all our food and drink and our medical profession and all our learning and science and skill, we cannot add a fraction to the duration of a man's life. In spite of all modern advances in knowledge, our times are still in the hands of God. And so our Lord argues, why all the fuss and bother? Why all the excitement? Why all this worry and anxiety? Life is a gift from God. He starts it and He determines the end of it. He sustains it and we are in His hands. Therefore, when you tend to become worried and anxious, just pull yourself up at once and say, I cannot start or continue or end life. All this is entirely in His hands. If that greater thing is there in His control, I can leave the lesser also to Him. In the third place, Jesus tells us to consider how sufficient God's provision is for the lilies of the field. In the same way that God provides food for the birds of the air, He also abundantly clothes the grass of the field, which Jesus reminds us neither toils nor spins to make their clothing. In other words, there is no effort whatsoever on the part of wild flowers to clothe itself in the beautiful colors it is arrayed with. Such beauty is nothing but the sovereign, all-sufficient creation and provision of God. However, The greater point here, which our Lord is making, is that if, listen, if God bothers, as it were, to array the grass of the field with beautiful but short-lived flowers, then how much more is He concerned to clothe and care for His own children whom He has predestined to eternal life? Once again, we come face to face with how unnecessary and foolish it is for any of us to ever give our time to a single measure of anxiety. It simply shows that we are not walking by faith. We are not fully trusting God to meet all our needs, which He has graciously promised to do. And with this point before us, we turn to the final reason Jesus gives against anxiety. And what is that? Our Lord calls us to consider that to be anxious, listen to this, to be anxious is to be like the world without God. To be anxious is to be like the world without God. In verses 31 and 32, Jesus declares, 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." When Christians worry, they act like the world. That's the point. When Christians worry, they act like the world. As John MacArthur pointed out, when we think like the world and crave like the world, we will worry like the world. Because a mind that is not centered on God is a mind that has cause to worry. So this is what Jesus presses on our conscience here in Matthew 6, 31 and 32. To be anxious. To be anxious about what we will eat, drink and wear is to be worldly. It is to be worldly. It is to seek after the very things which the Gentiles pursue. By the term Gentiles, Jesus is describing all unbelievers and pagans. Having no hope in God, the ambition and drive of every unbeliever is centered in themselves and what they can get from this world right here, right now. They have no God to supply their physical or their spiritual needs, their present or their eternal needs. So anything, anything they get, they must get for themselves. Furthermore, they are completely ignorant of God's supply and have no claim on it since they are outside of His grace and mercy in Jesus Christ. This is the true plight of every unbeliever and this is why all unbelievers are choked with anxiety. Thus, when we as Christians give in to anxiety, you know what we're doing? We are denying who we are in Christ as God's children, and thereby, we are denying our God who is our Heavenly Father, knows what we need, and is both able and willing to supply all our need to live in this world He has created. Based in on Matthew 6, 25-32, what are the reasons our Lord Jesus gives us against anxiety? Why should we not be anxious? What are the reasons that Jesus gives for why we should be anxious? Number one, our life is more than taking care of our physical needs. Number two, we must consider the all-encompassing, sovereign provision of our Heavenly Father. And number three, to be anxious is to be like the world without God. These are the fundamental reasons that Jesus Christ, our Lord and King, the eternal Son of God, sets forth for us as His people to stand against the sin of anxiety. But from the reasons against anxiety, we now consider our final major point of study, the remedy for anxiety. The remedy. Look at me in verse 33. Jesus says, but seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Since anxiety is a spiritual problem, it therefore takes a spiritual remedy to conquer it. Now hear that again. Since anxiety is a spiritual problem, It therefore takes a spiritual remedy to conquer it. And the divine remedy which our Lord gives is a resetting and a reordering of our life priorities and ambitions. Rather than seeking first the things of this world, even those things we need in this world, which only ensnare us to be crippled by anxiety, we must seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. It is right here where all our anxiety receives a moral blow. So, let's unpack what this means and how it looks. Beginning first, by seeking first the kingdom of God, what does this mean? We are driven by the supreme desire for the spread of the reign and rule of Jesus Christ. Such a desire will start with ourselves until every single department of our life is joyfully and freely submissive to Christ. That's home, marriage, family, personal morality, professional life, and business ethics, money, tax returns, lifestyle, citizenship, and on and on it goes. Moreover, This desire for the spread of Christ's kingdom rule will continue through our service in the local churches. We help to build up the body of Christ to greater maturity and faith and seek to spread the fame of Christ to our immediate community and beyond. You see, when we are seeking first the kingdom of God, listen to this, when we are seeking first the kingdom of God, we are being mastered by the things of God as opposed to the things of this world. And by this, the things of this world do not rule us and thereby consume our every thought and feeling. Hence, we are freed from the grip of anxiety. To say this another way, since God's kingdom purposes have become what we treasure, then we are settled and content in God's providential care to supply all that we need to live in this world. But in addition to seeking first God's kingdom, we also seek God's righteousness. We seek His righteousness. What does this mean? It means that we seek to conform our lives in greater consistency to God's righteous standard. We might could say it's living out the principles and precepts of what Jesus has expounded to us in the Sermon on the Mount. And this would be a more accurate interpretation of what our Lord means by the term righteousness, since it is keeping it in its immediate context. So then, Seeking God's righteousness is hungering and thirsting after righteousness as our Lord opened up in the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-6. It's also seeking to live by the truth of what we are in Christ as the salt of the earth and the light of the world. By fleshing out a godly life, a word indeed that slows down the process of the moral decay that is around us and bears witness to the truth of Christ. Furthermore, It is obeying God's moral law as opposed to relaxing the law and downplaying what God has commanded us to be and do. This means that we seek to be a people who are forgiving and reconciling as opposed to harboring murderous anger in our hearts toward others. We also seek to be self-controlled by maintaining sexual purity of both the heart and the actions that will not even permit us gazing at others with lustful intent. Moreover, we strive to honor the sanctity of marriage by holding forth God's design that the man and woman He has joined together should not be severed through divorce. We will also seek to be a people whose words are credible because they have been proven as honest and worthy of trust. And whenever we are personally insulted, we will not give in to revenge by repaying evil for evil. Thus, when it comes to even our enemies, we will seek to show them love rather than hate. All of these examples are expounded to us by our Lord Jesus right here in the Sermon on the Mount as snapshots of what it means for God's people to live in the righteousness of His righteous standard. Therefore, when Jesus commands us here in Matthew 6.33 to seek God's righteousness, our Lord is calling us to pursue a standard for living that unbelievers never pursue. It is conforming our lives to God's righteous standard. And listen, when our lives are more conformed to God's righteous standard, then the less we will be captivated by the things of this world, and thereby, the grip of anxiety will have no grip at all. and drawing his teaching to a close as it relates to the foolishness and worldliness of anxiety for the child of God. Our Lord Jesus concludes in verse 34 with these words. Look at this. Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. There are two lessons we should draw from this passage as it brings our study of Matthew 6, 25 to 34 to an end. Two lessons. Number one, a Christian should never be anxious about tomorrow since like the rest of his life, tomorrow with all its troubles are in God's hands. Listen to that again. A Christian should never be anxious about tomorrow since like the rest of his life, tomorrow with all its troubles are in God's hands. The Bible makes it clear that we do not know what tomorrow will bring, but the Bible also makes just as clear that God is in control of all that will happen when tomorrow comes. And this is where every Christian must find their rest and reliance when it comes to the future. It is in God who changes the times and the seasons, and in whose book every day of our life has already been written before it ever existed. Moreover, whatever we will face in the future will never be against us, but for us, because God is working all things together for our good. So why then should a Christian ever, ever be worried or anxious about the future? It is a waste of time. It is a waste of thought and nervous energy. Or, as John R. W. Scott put it more bluntly, it is distrustful of our Heavenly Father and it is frankly stupid. This is what pagans do, but it is an utterly unsuitable and unworthy ambition for Christians. Well, you can't get any more blunt than that. That's how we need to feel about anxiety. Because that's exactly what it is. No excuses. No excuses. The second lesson is this. A Christian should never be anxious about today with all its troubles. but rather prepare to meet them with His reliance and confidence fixed firmly in God's rule, power, and provision to get Him through. This means very practically that if we are seeking first God's kingdom and His righteousness, then we will cast, listen, we will cast all our anxieties on Him through prayer, trusting in the fulfillment of His promises to supply all that we need in every step we take. This is what it means and here I say it again. This is what it means to walk by faith and not by sight Anxiety therefore is never it is never if you haven't gotten this yet get it now Anxiety is never the norm for the child of God This is not the norm. It is a sin and it must be put to death our life Our life is a life of faith and trust in a faithful and holy Father who loves us and has promised to keep us now and for all eternity. That is where our thoughts, that is where our ambitions, that is where our affections must always be centered and fixed. And when they are, listen to me friend, when they are, You will not be anxious. You will not be worried. You will not. Because as we read this morning from Philippians chapter 4, the peace of God which passes all human understanding will guard your heart and mind from the invasion of anxiety. Why? Because your trust, your hope, your certainty, your faith is anchored in God alone. It's anchored in Him. Amen? Amen. Let's pray.