Finding Peace: Trusting Our Heavenly Father's Provision

"Knowing God as our heavenly Father not only delivers us from hypocrisy, but in verses 19 to 34, Jesus is teaching us that this is the cure for our anxiety. If hypocrisy is a plague among religious people, then it is certainly true that, especially in our own time, anxiety is an almost universal plague in the Western world." [00:01:19]

"There is another big word I want you to notice that appears in this passage, and in some ways it is a key to this passage. It is the word 'therefore.' You will notice at the beginning of verse twenty-five, it links together these two sections, verse 19 to 24 and then verse 25 through to the end of verse 34." [00:02:44]

"So this whole section, when you see that there is this link, 'Therefore,' He says, 'Do not be anxious.' He is really referring back to what He has already said, and if you understand what He has already said you begin to see what it is that delivers you from anxiety." [00:04:37]

"The first symptom is this; you see it in verse 19 to 21. It is putting your treasure in the wrong storehouse. So He says, 'Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.'" [00:06:50]

"When I have misplaced the real nature of lasting treasure, then that is a recipe for anxiety. The more you have, the more insurance you buy and the more you get, the more anxious you become." [00:09:17]

"And so if my eye is focused on things of passing value then at the end of the day He says my body is going to be full of darkness, and I am just not going to know where I can find lasting treasure. And so, I will bounce from one thing to another to another in order to find lasting treasure, and it is a recipe for anxiety." [00:12:11]

"This, above all things, creates anxiety that we trying to serve two masters. We would like the blessings of the gospel, but we simply cannot let go of other things. The superglue of this world is so strong that we just cannot be free from, we depend on this, and Jesus is saying, 'You understand what the problem here is?'" [00:13:36]

"Now He is saying all of these things will produce anxiety in our lives, and part of the reason is because we are not thinking clearly about the gospel. That is where this 'therefore' comes in in verse 25, 'Therefore' He says, so listen to the physician now, 'Sir this is the situation, this is the sickness; therefore, I am about to give you the only remedy that will cure you.'" [00:16:22]

"He calls us to understand the gospel. He calls us to understand what it means to be able to call God your heavenly Father. And you will notice how He does it; 'Therefore,' He says, and here is the first aspect. He says, 'I have couple of prescriptions for you. The first is this, you need to think through the implications of the heavenly Father's reign in the world.'" [00:17:48]

"And the only way you can be delivered from this is to understand that is a bad master, but the Father who reigns over all things is the best of all possible masters. And He tells us how this so. He says 'Look, just think about it. Life is more than food and drink and clothes,' verse 25." [00:19:55]

"These famous words in verses 33 and 34, He says, 'Do not be anxious about tomorrow.' How not? 'By seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.' Is that not a promise?" [00:21:48]

"And that is how it is here, throw yourself into the hands of the Father, and anxiety will begin to diminish. That is the way to live." [00:23:32]