Rev. Derrick Drover - Life, Breath & All Things (08/16/2026) [Live Messy Church Service]

Jesus tells anxious hearts not to worry about life, food, drink, clothing, or tomorrow, because the Father is already taking care of what he has made. The birds do not sow or reap, the flowers do not toil or spin, and the grass is clothed by God even though it is here today and gone tomorrow. The point is not that trouble disappears. The point is that God is in control, God is paying attention, and God gives life, breath, and all things.

Psalm 139 brings that truth right down close. God searches and knows his people. God knows sitting down and rising up. God knows thoughts from far off, words before they are spoken, paths taken, motives hidden, and days not yet lived. The knowledge is “too wonderful,” high enough that the mind cannot get around it, and yet personal enough that God knows who is sitting down in a room. That small detail carries the weight of the whole thing: God cares to see it, and his people have his attention.

The psalm also says that God’s thoughts are precious and more than the sand. One handful of beach sand is already too much to count, and God’s thoughts toward his people are greater still. That leads to the fitting response: if God’s thoughts are continual, great, and attentive, then the thought of God should also become continual, great, and attentive. The life of faith invites God into daily life, into homes, workplaces, friendships, families, and the church, acknowledging him in all ways.

Paul’s words in Athens say the same thing another way. God made the world and everything in it. God does not need anything from human hands, because he is the one who gives to all “life, breath, and all things.” In him people live and move and have their being. No one pulls a fast one on God. No calamity, turmoil, headline, or fear sneaks behind his back.

Jesus does not tell anxious hearts to go home and doomscroll. Jesus says to look at the birds, look at the flowers, take a breath, and remember the Father. Trouble is real, and each day has enough of it. But Christ has overcome the world, overcome death, and secured eternal life. Nothing, not angels, demons, powers, darkness, sickness, trouble, or the next frightening thing on a screen, can separate God’s people from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. God notices even sitting down God’s care is not vague or distant. Psalm 139 says God knows the ordinary movements that hardly anyone else would think to notice. Such attention means no life is lost in the crowd, and no detail is too small for the Father who rules the universe. [40:01]
• 2. Tomorrow already has God there Tomorrow can feel frightening because human strength has not arrived there yet. God’s presence, help, patience, kindness, love, peace, and hope are already there waiting. The soul does not need tomorrow’s strength today, because God gives grace where and when it is actually needed. [33:06]
• 3. Creation calls anxious hearts outside Jesus points to birds and flowers instead of panic and speculation. Creation becomes a living reminder that the Father sustains what cannot secure itself. A worried mind often shrinks around fear, but the world God made keeps preaching, “take a look around.” [50:03]
• 4. Dependence is not weakness Complete dependence upon God is simply telling the truth about creaturely life. Every breath, every movement, every future moment, and every eternal hope comes from him. Faith does not pretend to control big things, but rests in the God who gives life, breath, and all things. [57:03]
• 5. Christ secures the final future Trouble remains real, and Jesus never asks anyone to deny that. But Christ has overcome the world, overcome death itself, and given eternal life. Because God’s love is in Christ Jesus, no power, darkness, sickness, or coming fear gets the final word. [58:02]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [06:10] - Jesus Says Do Not Worry
• [07:17] - God Is Taking Care of Everything
• [15:20] - The Name Above All Powers
• [27:48] - Look at the Birds and Flowers
• [32:29] - Psalm 139: Known Completely
• [39:19] - God Knows Sitting and Rising
• [41:32] - Continual, Great, Attentive Thoughts
• [45:58] - Paul in Athens and the Unknown God
• [49:23] - Stop Doomscrolling, Look Around
• [52:42] - God Knows Every Name
• [55:22] - Trouble and Christ’s Victory
• [58:22] - Prayer of Dependence and Trust

Bible Reading

Matthew 6:25-34
“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.” [05:43]

Psalm 139:1-18
“O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,’ even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.” [33:58]

Acts 17:24-28
“The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’” [47:23]

Observation questions

1. In Matthew 6, what everyday worries does Jesus name directly, and what examples from creation does he use to answer those worries? [50:03]
2. In Psalm 139, what are some of the specific things God is said to know about a person’s life, thoughts, words, and days? [41:09]
3. In Psalm 139, what small ordinary movement is singled out, and why does that detail stand out so much? [40:01]
4. In Acts 17, what does Paul say God gives to all people, and what does he say is true “in him”? [50:48]

Interpretation questions

1. Jesus says the Father feeds birds and clothes grass, and then asks, “Are you not of more value than they?” What is Jesus teaching about the Father’s care for people when he speaks that way? [06:10]
2. Psalm 139 says God knows sitting down, rising up, thoughts, words, and every day before it comes. How can that kind of complete knowledge be both comforting and unsettling at the same time? [40:39]
3. Psalm 139 says God’s thoughts are precious and more than the sand. What does that suggest about the nearness and attentiveness of God, not just his power? [38:52]
4. Jesus says each day has enough trouble of its own, and yet he still says not to be anxious about tomorrow. How do those two truths fit together? [54:52]

Application questions

1. What has been most likely to stir up anxiety lately: provision, health, family, world events, or the future? What would it look like to bring that one concern under Jesus’ words, “your heavenly Father knows that you need them all”? [06:48]
2. Tomorrow does not arrive empty; God is already there. What part of tomorrow feels heavy right now, and how might it change things to remember that God’s help, peace, and strength will meet that moment when it comes? [33:06]
3. God knows even the simple act of sitting down. When has it been especially meaningful to remember that God is paying attention to small, ordinary parts of life that nobody else notices? [40:58]
4. Jesus points anxious hearts toward birds and flowers instead of panic and constant scrolling. What practical change could help make more room this week to slow down, look around, and remember the Father? [50:28]
5. If God’s thoughts toward his people are continual, great, and attentive, what would it look like for thoughts of God to become more continual in daily life—in the home, at work, in conversation, or while alone? [42:24]
6. “In him we live and move and have our being.” Where is there a tendency to act self-sufficient right now, and what would honest dependence on God look like in that area? [57:07]
7. Trouble is real, but Christ has overcome the world and nothing can separate God’s people from his love. Which fear most needs to be answered by that truth right now? [58:02]