TITLE: Victory over Worry

TEXT: Matthew 6:25-34 ²⁵“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? ²⁶Look 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? ²⁷Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

²⁸“So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; ²⁹and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰Now 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?

³¹“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³²For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. ³⁴Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

PROPOSITION: Jesus gave us a sure formula for victory over worry.

QUESTION: How?

KEY WORD: Keys

SCRIPTURE READING: Matthew 6:25-29

INTRODUCTION: All of us worry – at times.

We often make a distinction between worry and concern.

Worry is like a rocking chair – Keeps you busy, but goes nowhere.

Dr. Livingston – return from Africa – Did elephants bother you? No insects.

Big things we handle- little things eat at us.

It is not the tornadoes which trouble us – its the termites.

Realize what is important.

1. Clothes and food are secondary. 25

2. Kingdom of God is FIRST. 33

3. Don’t waste time on secondary things.

4. Don’t panic.

5. Postpone passing judgment.
   Providence says – God is still in charge.

Learn to trust the knowledge of God.

1. God already knows what you need. 32

2. He often waits for us to realize what is needed.

3. Four illustrations from science –
   a] Biology – Birds – 26 To “eat like a bird” man would have to eat 9 pounds a day
   b] Physiology – 27 Can you add 12 inches to your height?
   c] Botany – 28 Flowers in a field are fed, grow, nourished by God
   d] Geology – 30 God can even make a rock look good – He can clothe it.

4. Let’s trust God to know what is best for us.

Learn to live one day at a time.

1. Learn this from verse 34.

2. Forget (don’t dwell on) the past.

3. Learn the art of starting over each morning.

Conclusion

1. Send your worries to Worry, INC.
   Hire someone to worry for you.

2. Have a worry box. No time now – put worry in box.
   Write it down – put in box.
   Later – read what you worried about.

3. Opposite of worry = FAITH.