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00:04 Good morning. Let me just uh adjust my my screen a
00:10 little. All right, we are we are back in the um
00:15 book of James. Uh we've been going through it uh for a couple of weeks now and uh today we're coming to the ending
00:22 of um chapter 4. Uh James has five chapters. So we are almost done. We have
00:29 almost gone through the whole book of James and we have been taking it uh uh small chunks at a time. So, we really
00:34 had a good in-depth look at the book of James. Um what we're going to do today
00:39 is we're going to look at this passage. And I know in your bulletin it says worries, but I just adjusted it a bit
00:45 for this morning. It said my plans, God's will, and my worries. And these
00:51 are the things that we're going to look at uh today. And it's from James 4:13-17 as we just had read to us just now. And
00:58 we're going to exactly go through it exactly how the title is. We're going to go through my plans. Well, not my plans,
01:04 but we're going to go through what God says about us planning and then God's will and then my worries. And yes, I
01:12 will share some of my worries and hopefully that can reflect on some of your worries as well. So before we get
01:18 into that, um let us pray. Um Father Lord, we thank you for this morning. We
01:25 thank you that we able to come here and hear your word. Father, we we pray and
01:31 that this word will not just be an intellectual exercise in our brains, but it will be truly transforming to our
01:36 hearts and to our lives. So, Father, right now, I ask for your grace as I speak your word, that I may be speaking
01:42 clearly. And Father, I pray for everybody here, including myself, and that we hear your word clearly. And I
01:48 pray all this in Jesus name. Amen. plans uh planning is is is very
01:55 important in our lives. I mean our whole lives revolves around planning and we
02:01 need to make good plans. I mean in our jobs we know that right? I mean we need
02:06 to have a plan for our jobs. If we just go into work and have no plan what we're doing eventually we will not have a job
02:12 anymore. Right? And in in our lives and our family lives as well we need good family planning. We need to know at what
02:19 age our children are going to come so we can have the necessary finances to plan uh for our children as well. And it
02:25 brings us to the next part of planning. Financial planning. Now financial planning is also very important. But I I
02:31 want to tell you this all this planning is not just relevant in the secular world. It's also very relevant here in
02:37 church. See right now we're going to have what a kitchen ministry planning. Right. Right. It's very important if you
02:44 want to do things right. We got to plan things right. You know there's a saying that says whoever fails to plan plans to
02:51 fail right and and and it's true so much areas of our lives are planned out and
02:59 it's good to plan and it needs to be planned even ministries right here in the church if you look at the ministries
03:05 in this church who are really successful are doing well are ministries which are highly planned right not ministries that
03:12 just come here let's just do how we want to do but ministries which are highly planned And so what I'm trying to say is
03:18 that we need planning in so many areas of our lives and we plan in so many
03:25 areas of our lives. So it's really interesting and really good to know what does the Bible say about planning
03:32 because it's going to affect so many areas of our lives. And that's exactly
03:38 what James is going to speak into today. He's going to speak to us about
03:43 planning. Well, he says and he starts off with this phrase, come now. He says, you
03:49 here, everybody here who is a businessman. He's talking about a businessman clearly, but of course,
03:55 whatever he's talking about that businessman here can be applied to any of us. He just chose the example of a
04:01 businessman, but it could be any of us who plan. And he says, "Come now, you who say today or tomorrow we will go
04:08 into such and such a town and we'll spend a year there and trade and make a profit."
04:13 Now he's talking about somebody who is very very well planned. You see if you
04:19 look at this passage properly and I tried I took liberty to rearrange it a bit. This person has everything covered.
04:26 He's covered when things will happen, where things will happen, what will be
04:31 done. He will be doing trading, why he's doing the trading, he'll make a profit, and how long it would take to do this.
04:40 He's he's truly a really good planner. I mean in business what we have right we have the five W's and the one H right
04:47 and the only thing is missing is I put here is the who who but he says we will do it. So the who is also covered, you
04:53 know, he's he's got everything covered. And and what's the problem with that?
04:58 Because James immediately starts to rebuke that. Well, the problem with it is that he had
05:04 left no room for God to enter into that space.
05:10 You see what we call this? We call this autonomous planning. You see, and there's two things which
05:17 are problem with autonomous planning. Autonomous planning for once it assumes
05:23 longevity. It assumes the fact he assumes that he will have one whole year.
05:31 I mean where does this assumption come from? And then it assumes ability the fact
05:37 that he will be able to go to such a town. The fact that he will be able to trade and the fact that he will be able
05:44 to make a profit. He assumes ability
05:50 and immediately what James does he rebukes at planning right away. What
05:56 does he says? Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. You have no idea what could happen tomorrow. How can you
06:03 assume what happens tomorrow? How do you guarantee your ability? And what is your
06:09 life? For you are in a a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
06:17 You see, he rebukes the autonomous plane right away by saying, "Your future is
06:22 unknown." And as humans, we are ignorant to what the future brings.
06:29 We do not know what tomorrow will bring. And that's so true for any of us right
06:35 now. We we have plans and it's good to have plans, but any of our lives could change immediately by a ring on a cell
06:42 phone right now. Our lives could change right now by somebody else tweeting something.
06:51 Our lives could change through an email, through a Facebook message.
06:59 Our lives could change immediately. Right now, you don't even know what I'm going to say in the next 5 minutes and
07:04 how that could change your life. I pray it will, but you've got no clue how it will right
07:10 now. Hopefully, in 5 minutes, you will, right? You you've got no idea. And what
07:15 he's saying here, humans are ignorant. We are. We have no idea what the future brings. And then he says, the future is
07:22 uncertain. Human life is transient. It's here for a short while. He says, we're nothing but the mist, right? That's what
07:29 he says. And he's not thinking of a a nice morning fog which lingers for a long time by the sea. No, he's thinking
07:36 more of ecigarette puff, okay? A little vapor and then it disappears
07:42 and this leaves no smell and nothing behind. We are we're nothing but a vapor. Eigette puff and we're gone.
07:50 That's what he's referring to. And that's so true because we have no idea
07:56 if tomorrow we will be around. I mean it takes so many things for just
08:01 our kidneys to work and I think it takes a lot of things. I mean ask Dr. Peter but I'm sure it takes a lot of things for our kidneys uh to work that
08:09 something can just go wrong and we don't even know. Many of us know people who suddenly got
08:15 a phone call and they found out they had a sickness or or somebody who who drove in a car and they they quickly crashed.
08:22 We we have we have everybody here has somebody who they know where something
08:27 instantaneous changed their life or even took their life. To assume that it's not
08:33 one of us is ignorant.
08:40 Some of us don't even know if you're going to be around here tomorrow. Any of us could go outside this building
08:47 right now and drive on a highway in a swerve with a car and we might get hit. Now I hate to be the person who's
08:53 morbid. Yeah. But but it's true. We have no idea.
09:00 See, humans, we are ignorant and we're insignificant.
09:07 That's not a great start for being arrogant. Right? And that's exactly what James
09:14 says. He says, "You have no idea yet you do not include the person who is
09:21 everlasting in your planning and you do not include the person who is all- knowing in your planning because God is
09:28 the person who knows all things and has been around for all things." You see, God is omnipotent. He's all powerful. He
09:35 is capable of all things. We assume our capability. He has all capability. He's
09:42 omnipresent. He's everywhere at the same time. time and his least text about doing anything. Ever felt that you have
09:48 put yourself on too much, you spread yourself a little bit too thin, that you put on too much and you cannot
09:55 cope with all the work that you've put on yourself. Well, God never had that feeling,
10:00 right? God is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omnisient. He knows everything. See,
10:05 he owns all. He dwells everywhere and he sees all things. and therefore not
10:12 including him who has all the knowledge
10:17 is arrogant and see that's exactly what James says which is called autonomous planning
10:24 unmasked a it's it's arrogant
10:30 because it's believing that we are capable of making our plans and our decisions without the person who
10:36 actually has the answers. Imagine your business right now. You have a you have a boss who has the
10:43 experience of of doing the business for many many years and then you as a as a new manager come in and then suddenly
10:49 you you call all the shots without asking your boss. That's arrogant.
10:55 That's believing that you have the knowledge and it's believing that you do not need God.
11:05 It's believing that you are sovereign and not God. And because of that, it's not just arrogant.
11:12 James calls it evil. All such boasting is evil. Because when
11:20 we presume to take this sovereign position in our lives, think that we have all the capability and we do not
11:26 need God, it means this, we put ourselves above God.
11:32 And that is evil. That's idolatry. And James in the very end of this
11:39 passage in verse 17 says, you know what it is? It's sin.
11:45 It says, "All of you who know what you ought to do and don't do it, for you it's sin." And as Christians, we know
11:52 that God is omnipotent. We know that God is omnipresent. We know that he has all the knowledge and all the capabilities.
11:59 And we know that he is sovereign. We know that he's in control. So not to include him in our planning is
12:07 sin. So what is autonomous planning? It is
12:12 arrogant. It is evil and it is sinful.
12:18 So how then should we plan? Are we supposed to not plan at all? Are we
12:23 supposed to just leave all planning aside and just say, you know, if the Lord wills? Is that what the passage is
12:29 telling us? Clearly not because it tells us do this or that. It just still tells us that we should plan. This passage is
12:35 not a passage that goes against planning. It just tells you how you should plan.
12:42 And how you should plan, it says here, if the Lord wills.
12:49 So, we're supposed to include God in our planning. Now, now, let me just point out what if the Lord wills is not.
12:57 Okay? If the Lord wills, we're going to talk about God's will. Now, if the Lord wills is not a call to fatalism,
13:04 you know, inshallah. Yeah. It's it's it's not a call to fatalism. It's not a call to relieve
13:11 yourself of all responsibilities and say if the Lord wills, he will do this or that.
13:17 No, we still have responsibilities to do good planning. So if the Lord wills is
13:23 not a call to fatalism and it's not a call to engage in pious talk
13:28 you know I'll see you guys on Wednesday in GMA if the Lord wills
13:34 and you know I I I'll see you next week if the Lord wills. You know people who engage in this kind of pious talk. You know the Lord told me to tell you,
13:42 you know what the person is doing right there is giving you no opportunity to argue back because otherwise you're going against the Lord. Right? It's
13:50 pious talk. Actually in one of the um Wesley's books on on how a minister should behave, it says do not engage in
13:56 pious talk. So it's not a call to say if the Lord
14:01 wills every time ending a sentence. No, it's something very different than
14:07 that. It's this. If the Lord wills, is a call to convict our hearts of God's
14:13 sovereign will in every area of our lives, even as we seek to please him by
14:19 following his moral will as best as we can discern it.
14:26 So, you see, there's there's two wills. God has two wills. He has a sovereign will and he has a moral will.
14:37 What's the difference? Well, God's moral will is what God would prefer all of us to do. That can be thwarted. We can go
14:44 against sovereign God's moral will. And then there's God's sovereign will. What
14:50 God will accomplish. No way we can that.
14:57 And that's good news. It's good news. You know why? Our failures
15:03 are never going to land us into a position where we are going to be responsible that God's plan did not work out.
15:09 It's good news. Our insufficiencies
15:14 are not going to thwart God's sovereign will. He will accomplish it besides your
15:21 lameness, my lameness, my incapabilities, your incapabilities. That's good news.
15:29 But God's moral will is something that we need to focus on.
15:34 You see, the Bible says this. It says, "Many other plans in a man's heart, but it's the Lord's purposes that will
15:40 prevail." So, whatever you plan, plan, but God's sovereign will will still come
15:47 true. The problem is all of us are always so
15:53 focused on God's sovereign will. We always want to know his sovereign. Oh Lord, what are your plans for me?
16:02 Lord know who should I date? You know which is the person you have
16:07 prepared for me? Lord, next time I go to the petrol station, let her buy me a drink and fill up my petrol.
16:15 You know, we we are so worried about what God will do. Lord, Lord, show me a sign. Send me a burning bush.
16:22 And God is up there. He asked me for a sign. I gave you a book.
16:27 I gave you a whole book. Don't worry about what I will do. I will do what I will do. I will be faithful.
16:34 I have kept my track record. Whatever I said I will do, I have always done. Don't worry about my sovereign will.
16:40 Worry about my moral will. And I've given you a book. Read it. Understand it.
16:46 And none of us are concerned about his moral will. We always concerned about his sovereign will. We always want to
16:52 plan in accordance to God's will. And we have his will right here. We always God reveal yourself to me. He
16:59 says I have revealed myself to you in great detail.
17:04 Many chapters, many passages, many words.
17:11 So then how do we plan? And I've got three examples here. And uh the first
17:16 two are examples I would say are not good planning strategies. And uh the third one I would humbly propose is a is
17:23 a good way to plan. Well, the first one is kind of like the businessman, me and my life. So we draw a big center. We put
17:30 ourselves in the center. I draw a big circle, put me inside. And then I'm going to look at how do I want my family
17:35 life to look like and how do I want my work to look like so it best suits me.
17:41 And then how which friends I'm going to hang out with that best suit me. And
17:46 then my desires. What desires can I indulge in that best satisfies my soul?
17:54 That's me and my life. And many of us, we plan that way. We put ourselves in
17:59 the center and we see how do we want our lives to look like.
18:05 But then some of us become Christians and we become good Christians. So we hear about the put God first approach,
18:12 right? So we put God first. We put God first in the place. You know, we go to church on Sundays, we go to gama on
18:20 Wednesdays. We we we tick tick tick check check done all the God thing and we reserve those days for God. So, we're
18:27 putting him first on those days. And then we only put our families because our families we love them. We put them second and then we put our work cuz we
18:34 need our work to make money to make our happy families. And uh then we put our friends because our friends can give us
18:39 good networks so we can work and then have good families. And uh because we
18:45 are uh people, we just put our desires below that. And because we are humble, humble people, we put ourselves last,
18:53 right? Looks like a good Christian plan. The problem is that this still is
18:59 autonomous planning because you're telling God, "Be here.
19:05 Be here on my Sundays and I check you off. Be here on my Wednesdays and I check you off, but don't get involved in
19:10 my family. Don't get involved in my work.
19:16 I don't want you with my friends. Or or please stay away from my desires.
19:22 And please don't tell me who I need to be. It's still autonomous planning, but we
19:28 think we have done the Christian thing that we've checked off God and then we
19:35 go through the rest of the list. You see, the Bible tells us this in Proverbs 3:6. Seek God's will in all you
19:44 do and he will show you the path to take.
19:50 So if you want to see God in all we do, how does that look like? Well, we draw a big circle and we put God in the center.
20:01 And then we say, God, who are you? And we find out he's omnipotent. He's
20:06 omniscient. He's omnipresent. He is good all the time.
20:12 We we take up this book and we find out who God is. And then we ask him, Lord, how is my
20:19 family supposed to look like? And we we we go through his moral will and we read and we understand and we understand how
20:24 families are supposed to look like. And then we plan to make our families look
20:30 like he wants our families to look like. And then we look at our work and we
20:37 understand what does the Bible say about work? work is good. God made us to work. So yes, your secular jobs are are good.
20:43 God values them. And then say how, Lord, how we're
20:49 supposed to behave in our work. What are things we can compromise on? What are things we cannot compromise on?
20:56 Again, we we flip through his moral will. We we come into community. We discuss with our friends how is work
21:02 supposed to look like? And then we plan in our work.
21:07 Same thing with our friends. Lord, how what kind of friend do you want me to be? I understand what kind of friend
21:14 Jesus is. How can I be that kind of friend? So that we can come in community and
21:20 encourage our friends and sometimes rebuke our friends and admonish our friends to help our friends walk
21:26 alongside with God. And those friends who do not know Jesus, we help them to know Jesus. How? By lavishing grace and
21:32 grace upon them and and being a Christian model for them. God, how do you want me to look like as
21:39 a friend? And we go to our desires and we read this book and we realize that our
21:45 desires are terrible. That we have hard hearts. That we hardly
21:51 desire God. And we fall on our knees and we pray, "God, change my heart.
21:56 God, change my heart." So that our desires will align with God's desires.
22:02 And then we can plan to fulfill those desires.
22:07 And last, we look at ourselves. God, who am I? And we realize that the book tells us
22:13 that first and foremost, we are children of God.
22:18 And then we find out we get our identity from Christ.
22:24 And then the Bible will tell us what our giftings are. And we look how we can
22:30 steward them for God. And so many times we invite God into our
22:36 house and tell him you are guest. You can take the master bedroom. I treat
22:42 you like a king. Just don't just don't enter my kids room.
22:48 Don't enter my office. Stay away from the kitchen. You're just a guest.
22:57 Don't come into my children's room, my entertainment room.
23:02 be a good guest and stay in the guest room. But God comes and he takes over our
23:08 house. He becomes our landlord and he tells us how our lives should
23:15 look like, how our houses should look like and he will renovate
23:21 and he will realign all these rooms for us
23:27 and then he will take over. If we seek God in all things, he will
23:35 show us our paths. So then we will be ready to plan with
23:42 regard to God's moral will and be content regardless of what God's sovereign will brings.
23:50 But that's not easy, right? It It's difficult. Nobody said it was easy
23:58 because we desire control. It's an innate desire in all of us to
24:05 want to control things. We want to be sovereign over things in our lives.
24:11 We want to be the masters of our kingdoms. You see, I I was recently in Hong Kong
24:19 and I thought it's a good time to put some pictures of food up there. Um, and yes, I had some fantastic food. I had um
24:26 dim sum and roast goose and I had a good time. But the reason why I I put that
24:31 picture up there is to tell you what happened. What God revealed to me when I was in Hong Kong. Now it was no vision
24:37 or or an audible voice, but he revealed to me my desire to control things.
24:43 You see, we have recently started a a a service here at 4:00. Um the plant at
24:48 17, little promo, right? Uh is here at 4:00 for all you urban young adults. Um
24:54 so we started a couple of uh weeks ago and um I've been there uh throughout planning everything and um you know when
25:02 the worship team was supposed to practice I conveniently was there to have a look and oh they're doing the practice that's good you know and uh
25:08 when people were preparing I was there when the usher supposed to arrange the chairs I was there you know and when they were not doing it right I was there
25:14 you know carrying the chairs myself and putting it just right the way I wanted it to be
25:20 and you know always lending my my humble helpful hand. That was what I thought I was doing. And
25:27 then I left and I was not able to be there. I was not able to control things.
25:35 And the first Sunday I was in Hong Kong, I was on my knees. Oh Lord, help me. I I
25:40 I mean, I was texting everybody. Hey, hey, hey, hey, have you sent out the social messages. Hey, hey, hey, have you arranged the chairs? Hey, hey, have you
25:47 done this? Have you prepared a love gift for the speaker? Have you done this? And I was getting back all these roll eyes emoticons, right? And everyone was like,
25:55 "Masimos, we got this." You know, people starting getting annoyed with me. I was kind of condemning them. And who do I
26:01 think I am? Thinking that I'm I'm I'm I'm more capable than any of these people.
26:09 I mean, who are the people running the shows there? lawyers, doctors, senior accountants, scientists,
26:15 all far more intelligent and more capable than me, right? They're running the show. And but
26:20 yet I had this this desire to to control things
26:26 until I I spoke to one of my friends. He says, "Masimo, don't worry. We got this.
26:32 Don't worry, we got this." And because I I trusted my friend
26:38 because his track record is good, I was able to relax a little.
26:47 But I had worry, right? My worry drove me to want to control
26:54 things. And all of us have worries.
27:01 I mean, what do you worry about? Number one thing, the future of your children.
27:09 You worry about that. And in return, because you are worried about your future of your children, what
27:14 do you do? You control your children. You worry about your finances. What you
27:21 do? You control your finances. You're worried about your health. So,
27:27 you control your diet. Can you see how how whatever we worry about leads us to
27:32 control those things? Our anxieties and fears push us to be
27:40 controlling over those areas.
27:46 But the question is what I did in Hong Kong. I realized masmo what are you really worried about?
27:53 And I started digging deeper and what am I really worried about? Am I worried that my my friends are not capable? No.
28:02 Am I am I worried that people who will come to that service will not experience a good worship service and and not meet
28:08 Jesus? No. I was worried that if something goes
28:13 wrong, my reputation is on the line. Just just right there. That's that's the
28:20 honest truth. My my my worry was nothing godly.
28:28 It was nothing great or shout about. It was something very worldly.
28:34 And I ask you today, what are the worries that you have which are godly and which one are worldly? When you worry for your children, what are you
28:40 worried about? Are you worried that they will know Jesus and read their Bibles or are you worried that they will have
28:46 great finances and read their study books?
28:52 When you worry about your finances, are you worried that you have enough to to contribute to God's kingdom? Or are you
28:57 worried that you have enough to have a nice house and luxury at your pension?
29:03 What are our worries? You see, our worries really show us the problems of our heart.
29:12 And then we start controlling those things because our worldly worries will draw us to worldly actions.
29:19 and we control those areas. And sometimes when we are not in control of certain areas, our need for control is
29:27 put into another place. For example, we we don't have the possibility to be controlling our workplaces. So we
29:33 control our spouses or we can't be controlling in our
29:38 spouses, we control our children or we can't control anything and then we will control the kitchen.
29:45 The kitchen is mine. I am lord of the kitchen.
29:51 Or maybe we control the car. Nobody gets to drive this car.
29:57 You know, it's it's me. And the worst song that ever was written in Christian radio was Jesus, take the wheel.
30:03 It's my wheel. Jesus, you don't get it
30:09 right. We we we start controlling things. And then the problem is we're willing to pay a price for it. Right?
30:16 The first price we're willing to pay for our control and our planning is spontaneity. Hopefully I'm pronouncing
30:21 this right. Being spontaneous, right? We rather be managing everything
30:26 and being controlling everything and let go of anything spontaneous. The second price we're willing to play
30:32 is we're willing to be lonely.
30:38 Because if we want to control things, it's a lonely lonely place.
30:44 Because you can't be friendly with people who you try to control. You can't be loving with people you're trying to
30:49 control. You know, I used to build um control pl rooms in in Ging and I used to build control rooms in in high-end
30:55 security places. The most lonely job was the person behind the controls.
31:02 Really, it was the most lonely job. You know, in ging in fact they had to sign indemnity forms. You know, I will not
31:08 mingle with the staff. I will not make friends. Right? I will, you know, really they had
31:14 to sign this stuff. I will never gamble. I will never enjoy myself. Yeah. I'm not promoting gambling here.
31:19 Just side note. Yeah. They had to sign this form. It's a lonely job being in the control room. And another reason why
31:27 we're going to be lonely if you try to be controlling is because we keep on nagging at everybody, right? This is my
31:33 kitchen. Don't don't you touch that glass. Don't you cook with that oil.
31:38 You know, don't you do this. And we start criticizing people. And we don't realize that other people also pay a
31:45 cost for us being controlling. Other people feel condemned
31:52 where we we might say we worry for them and we love them. I'm not disputing that you do and we do. But our worry, our
31:59 fears, our worldly fears drives us to control people and then we
32:04 condemn them. Ah, you cannot drive this car. You know, every time you you take this car, you you have an accident or
32:10 you never put in petrol, right? We we start condemning people.
32:17 You know, don't don't you know you you leave the kitchen behind in a mess all the time. Don't don't don't use this
32:22 kitchen or we start condemning our children for getting bad grades because our greatest
32:28 desire, our worries that they will not have a good job. And that's a big problem. You know how many people have
32:34 jumped out of buildings recently? how many teenage suicides we had
32:40 because they felt condemned by their parents for the grades they were getting.
32:49 And and it was a worry. I'm not saying that they didn't love their children,
32:56 but our worldly worries pushes people to feel condemned. And I
33:04 think that's why it's by no surprise that the number one command in the Bible is what? It is not love your God. It is
33:13 not love your neighbor. It is not go and make disciples. Now these I think are the most important commands in the
33:19 Bible. But it's not the fre most frequent command giving. The most
33:25 frequent command given in the Bible is this. Do not fear.
33:31 Do not worry. It appears over 300 times in the Bible
33:37 and I just put on some of them from Genesis. Fear not Abraham, I am your
33:42 shield. Your reward shall be very great. Fear not, for I am with you and I will bless you and multiply your offspring
33:50 for my servant Abraham's sake. Fear not, for you will be not be ashamed. Be not
33:55 confounded, for you will not be disgraced. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.
34:02 Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body and hell. You see our
34:09 worries are always worldly. They are never godly. And God tells us fear not.
34:15 And I think the most profound passage about that says that we should
34:20 not be anxious and we should not fear and we should not worry is found in a
34:25 sermon on mount in Matthew 6. I would like to go through it together
34:31 today. It says, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life.
34:37 What you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you
34:42 will put on." You see, he's he's pointing out right now what are the things we're truly worried about. It's
34:49 always worldly worries.
34:54 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
35:01 gather into barns and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
35:07 If God can provide for the birds, does he not value you more than birds?
35:14 Will he not provide for you and your children and everybody who you love? What are we so worried about?
35:23 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to a span of life?
35:29 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the liies of the field how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. Yet I
35:35 tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But
35:41 if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is alive, and tomorrow is thrown into the ovens, will
35:46 he not much more clothe you, oh you of little faith? If he can take care of
35:51 people of liies which lives are transient, the even more transient than our lives, will he not take care of our
35:58 lives which are transient?
36:03 Will he not clothe us? Will he not provide? And here he pits the nail on
36:09 the head. He says, "Oh, you of little faith." You see, the number one problem of our
36:16 worries is that we do not trust God. We do not trust in his sovereign will.
36:23 We don't trust that he is a good father. We don't trust that he will provide. We don't trust that all things are meant
36:30 for good for those who love him. We of little faith.
36:38 And Jesus continues to say, "Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, "What shall
36:44 we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? Or what are my children's
36:49 future going to be like? Or or what are my finances going to be like?" Or or what's my health going to be like? Or or
36:55 who's going to use the kitchen? For the Gentiles seek after these
37:01 things. It's a pagan thing to do. People who do not know God have such
37:06 worries. But we who know God should not have such worries because our heavenly father, he knows
37:14 our every need. He knows our every need and he will provide because he's our loving father
37:21 who cares for you and loves you. And then it says this, but seek first
37:28 the kingdom of God and his righteousness. So don't worry about God's sovereign will. He is good. He
37:34 will provide. worry about his moral will.
37:39 Seek ye first to righteousness. Figure out what God's moral will is, and
37:46 he will add all things to you. He will provide all you need. He will clothe you. He will feed you.
37:57 And then it says, therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.
38:04 sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Every day we will have trouble.
38:11 Today, Sunday, Monday, we'll have Monday trouble. Tuesday, we'll have Tuesday trouble. Wednesday, we'll have Wednesday
38:17 trouble. Let's let's focus on a trouble today. And when we focus on a trouble today, we we have this beautiful,
38:22 beautiful passage in the Bible that tells us this that the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases and his mercies
38:28 never come to an end. They are new every morning. Even though we have trouble every day,
38:35 there are new mercies every day. There's new grace every day. God will provide
38:41 for us every day. All we need to do is what the passage says in verse 24. The
38:46 Lord is my portion, says my soul. Therefore, I will hope in him.
38:54 Let us put our hope and our trust in him.
39:01 And we when we start putting our hope and trust in him and trust that he will
39:08 provide, we exchange our worldly fears with godly fears. We do not fear about
39:14 finances and everything. We fear the Lord. And suddenly when we put our trust in
39:21 God and feel satisfied and can lay rest in it because why? Because his track
39:26 record is always complete. He always does what he says he will do.
39:32 God's track record is immaculate. When he says he will provide, he will
39:38 provide. And we can rest on that. Then suddenly
39:44 we don't feel the need to worry. Then suddenly we don't feel the need to
39:49 control. And we are ready to lavish grace upon
39:55 grace upon people.
40:00 Let me close and ask the worship team to come up by
40:05 going through what we talked about. See, the first thing we talked about was that
40:11 we forget God. We forget God in our planning.
40:18 We are people who are autonomous in our planning. And why is that so bad? Well,
40:24 how do you like to be forgotten? How do you like to be forsaken? We
40:31 forsake God. We forget God. And you know what the Bible says? We deserve
40:36 the wicked shall return to shaw. All the nations that forget God.
40:42 When we forsake God, when we forget God, what we deserve is to be forgotten. And
40:47 we deserve to be forsaken by God.
40:55 But what happened on the cross when when Jesus was about to breathe his
41:02 last breath? What was his words? He says, "Oh Lord, oh Lord, why have you forsaken me?
41:10 Why have you forgotten about me?" God forgot about his son. He ignored his
41:16 son. He poured all the forgetting that we deserved
41:21 onto his son. You see, he forgot about his son so that we can be remembered.
41:28 That's why God says, "I will remember you always." And because he remembers us, we can
41:35 remember him. And when the anxieties come, when we
41:40 when we have fear because we do not know what tomorrow brings because we have these
41:46 uncertainties, we look back on the cross and we see what Jesus has accomplished. You see, he
41:52 rose again. And with his rising again, he guaranteed
41:58 us a future. See, our hope is not an uncertainty.
42:04 It's a certainty of coming back into the presence with God.
42:09 In Christ, we have a future that's guaranteed. So, if you do not know what tomorrow will
42:15 bring, it will bring you heaven.
42:20 In Christ, we know what tomorrow will bring. And when we set that into our hearts,
42:28 we do not need to fear. We do not need to fear. Let us pray.
42:37 Father Lord, we thank you for your son. Lord, we we thank you that for all the
42:43 times we forget about you, that your son receives all the forgetting that we deserve.
42:52 Lord, help us. Help us follow your moral will. Let us look at your world or your
42:57 word and see how you revealed yourself to us. And father, when we are anxious, let us
43:04 let us see in the future glory that you have prepared for us.
43:10 Because we know that all things work for good for those who love him and
43:16 love you, oh Lord. So we know that you are sovereign.
43:22 And Lord, whenever we are faced with difficult decisions, let us look at your word and choose you. And whenever we are
43:28 in situations where we have no choice, Lord, let us trust that you are in
43:33 control. Let us know that you're with us.
43:40 For Jesus, I pray. Amen.
