Trusting God: Fasting, Treasures, and Overcoming Anxiety
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Bible Study Guide
Sermon Clips
### Quotes for Outreach
1. "Friends, we live in an anxious age, don't we? Just by a show of hands. Who here feels behind? We all do, right? Whether it's the stuff that has to be done at our house, whether it's how we view our families or our romantic relationships, whether it's how we view our long-term wealth, whether it's how we view our Christian maturity, whether it's how we view anything in life. We all feel so behind. I think all generations feel this. Why do we always feel so behind? Well, we live in an anxious age in which we always are trying to catch up." [52:06]
2. "We have a mental health crisis in our country. We have a depression crisis, an anxiety crisis, a suicide crisis that is happening in our nation. We have more leisure and more creature comforts than any other generation before us. So even though our leisure time has exponentially increased and our creature comforts have exponentially increased, our anxiety has exponentially increased. And the irony is no one's asking the question, how can a society that is increasingly not looking for God, or relationship with Jesus, that same society is also increasingly vastly anxious. And no one's asking the question if that's a coincidence or not." [53:52]
3. "Maybe one of our most effective tools of evangelism in the 21st century is a non-anxious life in a world where everyone is losing their minds. Seriously. And so Jesus is not saying here that we'll never worry. There are some things to properly worry about. But Jesus is saying here, my disciples don't worry about the same things as non-Jesus followers. See these pagans? See these Gentiles over here? They're so worried about what they're going to eat and what they're going to wear. And what tomorrow holds? He says, my disciples, I'm not going to operate that way. We're going to worry about different things, more important things." [59:48]
4. "The irony is no one's asking the question, how can a society that is increasingly not looking for God, or relationship with Jesus, that same society is also increasingly vastly anxious. And no one's asking the question if that's a coincidence or not. But here's the beautiful thing about Jesus, is that he gives us a beautiful prescription for our anxiety. And he has some wonderful commands for us to rest in him, in the light yoke that he offers us." [53:52]
### Quotes for Members
1. "Jesus is addressing fasting in the same way he just previously addressed giving to the needy in prayer. He names an association. He assumes two things. One, that his disciples will fast. This is an assumption. And in modern church, we have often neglected the ancient practice of fasting. But Christians have been doing this. Followers of Jesus have been doing this for 2,000 years. So Jesus assumes, my disciples will fast. Two, that there is a distortion of the practice being taught by the religious leaders of Jesus' day." [29:44]
2. "Jesus is warning us here that any kind of material wealth or possessions that become the ultimate treasures of our heart, we are then putting our trust and our love in the wrong thing. And Jesus doesn't want us to focus on building treasure on earth for a couple different reasons. One, it's foolish because there's nothing you can gain in this world that won't be subject to what? Moth and rust and thieves. It will deteriorate. It will eventually break down, or someone will steal it eventually. And so there's nothing we can hold on to." [44:29]
3. "Jesus is not saying, love your material possessions a little less, and then you'll be a little bit better Christians. Jesus is not interested at any point in marginal behavior modifications, that we would just dress ourselves up a little bit. Can we make a pact? Can we just agree to that forever here at New City Church, that Jesus is not interested in marginal behavior modifications? He is not interested in self-help. We can agree to that? Cool. I'm going to hold you to that. You hold me to that. He just isn't. He wants the entirety of your heart, and he wants nothing less." [50:25]
4. "Jesus is providing a classic rabbinical and wisdom argument here. He's moving from lesser to greater. He's saying, look at the birds, look at the lilies, look at the grass of the field. If he takes care of these things with intimate care, how much more? Those of you who are walking us by the hand through all the anxious moments of our lives. Lord, today and beyond, would we feel your warmth? Would we feel your patience? Would we feel your love tangibly?" [58:09]
5. "Fasting doesn't make us have some kind of leverage over God. It's not a, Lord, don't you see me? I skipped three meals today. You better answer this. It doesn't indebt God to us. He doesn't owe us anything if we fast. It also doesn't make you more obedient. Fasting doesn't necessarily mean you're just going to wake up the next day and it's all going to be rainbows and butterflies and you're just instantly going to be like 20 years more sanctified because you fasted for a day. It doesn't work like that." [39:04]
Ask a question about this sermon
1. "Friends, we live in an anxious age, don't we? Just by a show of hands. Who here feels behind? We all do, right? Whether it's the stuff that has to be done at our house, whether it's how we view our families or our romantic relationships, whether it's how we view our long-term wealth, whether it's how we view our Christian maturity, whether it's how we view anything in life. We all feel so behind. I think all generations feel this. Why do we always feel so behind? Well, we live in an anxious age in which we always are trying to catch up." [52:06]
2. "We have a mental health crisis in our country. We have a depression crisis, an anxiety crisis, a suicide crisis that is happening in our nation. We have more leisure and more creature comforts than any other generation before us. So even though our leisure time has exponentially increased and our creature comforts have exponentially increased, our anxiety has exponentially increased. And the irony is no one's asking the question, how can a society that is increasingly not looking for God, or relationship with Jesus, that same society is also increasingly vastly anxious. And no one's asking the question if that's a coincidence or not." [53:52]
3. "Maybe one of our most effective tools of evangelism in the 21st century is a non-anxious life in a world where everyone is losing their minds. Seriously. And so Jesus is not saying here that we'll never worry. There are some things to properly worry about. But Jesus is saying here, my disciples don't worry about the same things as non-Jesus followers. See these pagans? See these Gentiles over here? They're so worried about what they're going to eat and what they're going to wear. And what tomorrow holds? He says, my disciples, I'm not going to operate that way. We're going to worry about different things, more important things." [59:48]
4. "The irony is no one's asking the question, how can a society that is increasingly not looking for God, or relationship with Jesus, that same society is also increasingly vastly anxious. And no one's asking the question if that's a coincidence or not. But here's the beautiful thing about Jesus, is that he gives us a beautiful prescription for our anxiety. And he has some wonderful commands for us to rest in him, in the light yoke that he offers us." [53:52]
### Quotes for Members
1. "Jesus is addressing fasting in the same way he just previously addressed giving to the needy in prayer. He names an association. He assumes two things. One, that his disciples will fast. This is an assumption. And in modern church, we have often neglected the ancient practice of fasting. But Christians have been doing this. Followers of Jesus have been doing this for 2,000 years. So Jesus assumes, my disciples will fast. Two, that there is a distortion of the practice being taught by the religious leaders of Jesus' day." [29:44]
2. "Jesus is warning us here that any kind of material wealth or possessions that become the ultimate treasures of our heart, we are then putting our trust and our love in the wrong thing. And Jesus doesn't want us to focus on building treasure on earth for a couple different reasons. One, it's foolish because there's nothing you can gain in this world that won't be subject to what? Moth and rust and thieves. It will deteriorate. It will eventually break down, or someone will steal it eventually. And so there's nothing we can hold on to." [44:29]
3. "Jesus is not saying, love your material possessions a little less, and then you'll be a little bit better Christians. Jesus is not interested at any point in marginal behavior modifications, that we would just dress ourselves up a little bit. Can we make a pact? Can we just agree to that forever here at New City Church, that Jesus is not interested in marginal behavior modifications? He is not interested in self-help. We can agree to that? Cool. I'm going to hold you to that. You hold me to that. He just isn't. He wants the entirety of your heart, and he wants nothing less." [50:25]
4. "Jesus is providing a classic rabbinical and wisdom argument here. He's moving from lesser to greater. He's saying, look at the birds, look at the lilies, look at the grass of the field. If he takes care of these things with intimate care, how much more? Those of you who are walking us by the hand through all the anxious moments of our lives. Lord, today and beyond, would we feel your warmth? Would we feel your patience? Would we feel your love tangibly?" [58:09]
5. "Fasting doesn't make us have some kind of leverage over God. It's not a, Lord, don't you see me? I skipped three meals today. You better answer this. It doesn't indebt God to us. He doesn't owe us anything if we fast. It also doesn't make you more obedient. Fasting doesn't necessarily mean you're just going to wake up the next day and it's all going to be rainbows and butterflies and you're just instantly going to be like 20 years more sanctified because you fasted for a day. It doesn't work like that." [39:04]
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