Worry Warts

Worry Warts

Matthew 6:24-31

Introduction

I. What do people worry about?

A. Results of a national poll: Industry Week Magazine

1. Own health and fitness - 73%

2. Lack of time for family or leisure pursuits - 49%

3. Their children’s problems - 43%

4. TIE - Job related stress - 43%

5. Personal investments - 39%

6. Estate planning - 37%

7. Relationship with children - 34%

8. Aging - 30%

9. Income Level - 22%

10. Their marriages - 21%

B. Findings from the study

1. Estate planning comes before relationship development with spouse and children

2. The more important things such as relationships were low on the scale - is this a sign of under value?

C. What do you worry about?

* Finances - Do we have enough money?

* Family & Friends

* Being alone in life

* Failure at something

* Eternal existence

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Main Body

I. Worry is unfaithful

A. The Nature of Faith

1. “If we worry, we can’t trust; if we trust, we can’t worry.”

2. The nature of faith is simply a matter of trust

a.) We put our trust in many things

 Airplane: we arrive at our destination safely

 Mail: it will get where it is going

 Car: we have faith that it will start: we take these kinds of things for granted

b.) Do we ever place our trust in God?

B. Life a matter of trust

1. The nature of life is guarded by God

a.) God guides us in life – we choose if we follow Him

b.) God wants us to have a fullness of life - He wants the best for us,

2. Worry is merely a thief

a.) Worry robs us of the quality of life God wants for us

b.) Worry places our focus more on our problems than on God

C. The nature of worry

1. Worry is rooted a German term meaning to strangle or choke worry chokes the quality out of life,

2. Worry is destructive

a.) Quote: “Worry is a thin stream of fear that trickles through the mind, which if encouraged, will cut a channel so wide that all other thoughts will be drained.”,

b.) Worry corrodes and corrupts the mind – removes our focus in life

c.) Worry will erode the good and positive thought and replace them with negative and damaging thoughts

II. Worry is unnecessary

A. The Widow’s Story: A widow who had successfully raised a very large family was interviewed by a reporter, she had raised six of her own children and adopted 12 others, she always maintained stability and confidence, the reporter asked what her secret was, the woman said that she was in a partnership, she replied - “Many years ago I said, ‘Lord, I’ll do the works and you do the worrying.’ And I haven’t had an anxious care since.”

B. Worry about food:

1. The example of the birdsBirds always seem to have food, birds have been provided with rich resources of food and the instinct to find that food, they spend a great deal of time and effort to find food - they never store it up, they live from day to day

2. God’s care for us

a.) God takes care of birds

1.) Birds are not made in the image of God

2.) Birds are promised to be eternal heirs with Christ

3.) Birds do not have a place prepared for them in heaven

4.) There are aspects of God’s special relationship with humanity

b.) God will take care of us If God takes this much care of the birds, how much more will he care for you?

D. Worry about longevity:

1. America’s quest for longer lives

a.) We do all sorts of things to increase our life span

b.) all of these things are beneficial and helpful to our bodies and need to be done

c.) However, when we place too great an emphasis on these thing they become harmful,

2. Life is a gift from God

a.) God has entrusted our bodies and our life span to us - good stewards of God’s gifts

b.) Dr. Charles Mayo -”Worry affects the circulation, the heart, the glands and the whole nervous system. I have never met a man or known a man to die of overwork, but I have known a lot who died of worry.”

c.) Worry has a negative effect on us and if we want to increase our quality of life and possibly the length, we need to stop worrying

d.) God has given us the gift of life, it is to be used for His purposes, our task is to obey - leave everything else to Him

E. Worry about clothes:

1. The example of flowers