This sermon is tailor made by the word of God for every person here today. Stop worrying and start living. How many of you have a Ph.D. In worry? Worry is like a rocking chair. It'll give you something to do, but it will accomplish absolutely nothing.
I'm going to say this several times today, worry is, in fact, practical atheism. You really don't believe God can come through in this moment to protect you, to provide for you, to heal your body, to deliver you, how to set you free from the addictions that are destroying you, how to break the chains of misery and habit that have enslaved you or the members of your family. From the word of God today, I'm going to prove that God is absolutely in control of planet earth. And he can be absolutely in control of your life if you'll let him. He will not demand to override your freewill.
But if you give Him the opportunity, He will make a way where there seems to be no way. And He will scatter your enemies like the shucks of the summer threshing floor, because our God is an awesome God. He is Almighty. He is all knowing. This sermon is a penicillin shot for worry addicts. Roll up your sleeve: the Great Physician is in the house. Philippians 4:6-7, ready? "Be anxious for nothing. But in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds through Jesus Christ". Read the first four words, "Be anxious for nothing".
Father, thank you for the word of God. Let it be a light unto our feet: that we may leave this place transformed by the truth that heaven has given mankind. In your precious name, we pray and ask it. And all of God's children said, amen.
Let me give you proof out of the Bible that God's in control of planet earth. Consider the flood of Noah in which God is judge of all the earth, proved to humanity that he was the Creator and was controlling specifically and exactly what happened on what day. Genesis 7:11, "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, and in the seventeenth day of the month, on that exact day, all of the fountains of the deep were opened up and the windows of heaven were opened". That was caused by the hand of the God Who created this earth. Water was gushing out of the ground, and raining, because God was punishing Noah's generation because they turned their back on Him.
I'll just take a moment to say to America, we are running God out of our society. We are throwing God out of our schools. Many churches are throwing God out of their pulpits and preaching anything but the truth of the Bible that God has given us. If this nation is to long endure, we must embrace the God of Heaven, embrace His commandments, embrace the Word of God, and live by them: or otherwise, we will lose this country! May the Lord help us to have a spiritual awakening that brings us back to the heart of God! It happened on an exact year, exact month, an exact day. On creation's morning, an all-powerful God flung the glittering stars against the velvet of the night. Why? They were to become celestial evangelists to every nation on the earth: that there is a greatness and grandeur that they do not understand that is the majestic hand of God.
An all-knowing, all-powerful, omnipotent God calls the stars by name. We can't even locate them with the massive telescopes we have. But God calls them by name. He holds the seven seas in the palm of His hand. He measures space with his fingertips. He weighs the mountains in a scale and the hills in a balance. The God that we serve has total control. He said, "Let there be light," and in that moment of time, darkness was shattered and conquered forever. His Son, Jesus Christ, walked upon the raging sea of the Sea of Galilee, and he held the winds in his fist, and said, "Peace, be still". That's control. That God is in control of planet earth, not the United Nations, not the European Union, not the tyrants and the dictators in New York, not the power-hungry politicians in Washington, not the fake news frauds that are tearing up this country. But our Father, which art in heaven, he is in charge of this nation! God is in charge of your life, if you'll let Him.
Hear again that God made you a free moral agent. And you have the right not to believe in Him. But He also has the right to judge you for not believing in Him. Don't ever believe that you're going to thumb your nose at God and get away with it. That is a stupid theology being put out in the universities of America. He's not a doting grandfather sitting benignly in the heavens. He is an all-mighty, all-powerful God that created Heaven and Earth. This is my Father's world. Is your life in a state of chaos and confusion? Are you stressed and depressed? Is your life constantly difficult with unending disappointments? Have you given up hope and embracer anger and anxiety? Hear the words of the text, "Be anxious for nothing". Say that with me. "Be anxious for nothing".
Now we go to Matthew 6 where Jesus is giving a stress seminar. Five times in this text, he says, "Take no thought, be not anxious, don't worry". In verse 25, it says, "Don't worry about life". It's the Greek word "Suke," which means the temporal physical life, and it has the implication of "Stop worrying". Verse 27, "Which one of you can add one cubit to his body by worrying"? A cubit is 18 inches. Verse 28, "Why do you worry"? Verse 31, "Do not worry about food and drink". Half of America right now is on Weight Watcher's for heaven's sake. Verse 34, do not worry about tomorrow. The Greek word there is "Don't start worrying".
So, you have two Greek words here that say, stop worrying. And "If you are worrying, stop it," and "If you stop worrying, don't start worrying again. Why? Because God is your Father. He is your provider. He is Jehovah Shammah. He is the Lord who is there. He is the Lord your healer. He is the Lord your defender. He is your rock. He is your fortress. He is your high tower. He's the One who calls and says, I will answer in thee time of need. His angels go before you to make a way for you. They are your rear guard. He guides and he provides! He leads in paths of righteousness for his name's sake! Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, because the God of heaven is with me!
Now I'll talk about something sensitive. Don't worry about growing older: it happens. You know you're growing older when someone compliments you on your new snakeskin boots, and you're barefoot. Have you ever noticed how worry comes at a bad time? It comes at a time of crisis. Just when you need a clear mind and steady nerves to make a great decision, here comes worry like a dark cloud to hide the sun, like a leech draining creative ability to think. Worry is a killer. It makes cowards out of strong and aggressive men. It fills the face with wrinkles and apprehensions. Are you listening, ladies?
Wrinkles and apprehensions. You're smearing goo on your face that cost $50 an ounce, hoping it'll remove a wrinkle. The best thing you can do for your face is quit worrying. Worry paralyzes the man so that he can't produce a better idea to solve a new problem. It robs your body of rest at night. It sends you to work shattered, shaky, second rate. You are on the naked edge. Again, medical science, not theologians, medical science, proclaim that worry is the mother of cancer. Worry is the source of heart disease. Worry is the thing that causes high blood pressure and ulcers. It's not what you're eating: it's what's eating you that matters.
Worry proves that you don't believe God can take care of you. Worry is faith in fear. Worry is faith in fear. The two words in the New Testament from the mouth of the apostles, "Fear not". "Fear not". Fear not the past. Why? Because your past has been forgiven and forgotten. Fear not the present. "I will never leave you, nor forsake you". Joshua 1:9, "Be not afraid: for thy God is with you wherever you go". David said, "Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me".
Remember that death is now just a shadow. The shadow of a lion cannot bite you. The shadow of a serpent cannot hurt you. The shadow of a sword cannot cut you. Death has been reduced to a shadow. "The Lord is my light and my salvation: whom shall I fear"? "The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid," Psalm 23:1. Hebrews 13:6, "The Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man can do with me, free and not death". The Bible says, "I am he who was dead. And behold, I am alive forever more". Fear not sickness because this is the book of the Great Physician. Fear not poverty. "For it is the Lord that gives you the power to get wealth".
Fear not other people. The Bible says, "I will make your enemies to be at peace with you". God can be the best public relations firm you ever hired. "I will drown Pharaoh at your feet". You will climb the impossible mountain. I'll give you the ability to defeat the impossible foe. A thousand shall fall at your side. Ten thousand shall fall at your right hand. David said, "I will fear no evil". Why? "Because God Almighty is with me".
That's why. Listen to this closely. Worry is trust in the unpleasant. Worry is assurance that disaster is coming. Worry is believing in your personal defeat and despair. Worry is a polluted stream that flows through your brain that drowns hope and optimism: that kills faith. Worry is interest paid on trouble that never happens. Think about that. One old man said, and I quote, "Most of the trouble I've had in life never happened". How many of you have worried yourself silly about something you just knew was going to be disaster, and it never happened? Again, how many of you have trouble telling the truth? You see people going... We're not taking a Gallup poll here. I'm asking you about you!
What do we worry about? The average husband worries about what his wife spends, and what the government spends. The difference is he's not afraid to criticize the government. We worry about being unfavorably compared with other people. But let me remind you, lady, there will always be someone prettier than you. Mister, there will always be a Brad Pitt hanging around to remind you how average you really are. There will always be a better salesman, a better lawyer, a better preacher, a better teacher, a better doctor.
The point is this: stop worrying about who you're not, and start being happy about who you are! You are unique! There's not another person on the earth just quite like you. When you were born, the genius of heaven exploded and made you a divine original. Don't die a cheap copy. You are a masterpiece from the hand of God. Lift your head, square your shoulders, act like it, talk like it, live like it. You are royalty! You are a child of the King! You are kings and priests unto God! You are an ambassador! You are somebody!
"Stop comparing yourselves among yourselves". Say that with me. "Stop comparing yourselves among yourselves". How many of you've ever gone to a class reunion? Listen. You can never change what you will not confront. Say that with me, you can never change what you will not confront. I hear parents say, "My children won't mind me". Confront them. Sea World trained a porpoise out there to play basketball. If they can train a porpoise to play basketball, you can train your child to carry the garbage out of the house, and to make up their bed, and to wash the dishes. I can guarantee you that. Don't worry about what you can't change. Don't worry about what you can change. Change it! Don't worry, period. It's an absolute waste of time.
When Jesus was talking, he said, "Don't worry about food and water". Why food and water? Because the only water supply in Israel was the Sea of Galilee. They were farmers. And when a farmer has water, he has a crop. A crop brings money. That brings prosperity and life. When Jesus looked at them and said, "I can give you water," He was simply saying, I can give you what you need. And He's saying to every person here, "I know what you need. I have it in abundance. I can give it to you, but you've got to ask for it." When you ask, you will receive. "You have not because you ask not". It's as simple as ABC. You must ask and then you will receive it. Food, some of the wealthiest people I know are afraid they're going to run out of something to eat.
I read the article the in the Wall Street Journal a while back where wealthy people are digging huge bunkers, filling it full of food. By world standards, the poorest person in this auditorium is very, very rich by world standards. Let me close with this illustration. Worry is a rat. I read the story of an aviator, who was making a flight around the world. And he stopped every four hours to selected landing fields. On one leg of his journey, he was two hours from where he was supposed to land, and he was two hours from where he took off. He was exactly in the middle when he heard a noise on his plane that he recognized as that of a gnawing rat. Not knowing which delicate indicators could be sabotaged by his sharp teeth of the rat, he began to worry. He remembered that the rat is a rodent. It's not made for the heights. It's made to live in the dark holes of the ground.
So, he nosed his plane higher and higher and higher and higher until the gnawing stopped. Two hours later when he landed safely, a dead rat fell out of the cockpit onto the nor. The point: worry is a rat. It cannot live in the secret place of the Most High. It cannot breathe in the atmosphere of faith. It cannot breathe where there is abiding confidence in the God that controls everything. If your life's course has been altered by crisis, if you are living with stress and worry, climb, climb, climb into the presence of the living God! Feel His peace! Feel His reassuring touch! Feel the love of God! Worry will disappear and victory will be yours!
How many of you here can say, "Pastor, there are things in my life right now that worry me, that stress me, that concern me, to the point that it is destroying my peace and my mental health. I want to turn these over to God today and go home liberated from anxiety over the future"? Because you worry about the future, you worry about the past, you worry about the present, you worry about your job, you worry about finances, you worry about relationships. Today, I want you to receive the gift of the peace of God, because that's what Paul said will happen. "When you are anxious about nothing, your mind will be flooded with the peace of God". You're reading this today and there's an area in your life right now that's worrying you to the point that it's controlling the way you feel. If that describes you, Pray this prayer with me: will you please?
Heavenly Father, I come before your throne of grace, knowing that you are an all-powerful God. And I am confessing to you that I have been carrying things in my heart and mind that today I want you to take from me. I want to be immersed in the peace of God. And so today, the things that I have allowed to control me, the thing that has taken the joy of my life away, I'm giving these to you. And I'm going home today happy, full of peace, because now it's your problem, in your name. Amen.
